Neck turning or reaming?

[muznut]

Neck turning or reaming what do you prefer and why?

[rossman40]

It seems with hot necked cartridges you push the case material forward and you end up with a "doughnut" forming. If you just trim for length it can come back and bite you with neck tension problems or even a stuck case. So neck turning is my choice. I check after resizing. You get the feel for each rifle. On my bolt actions I just neck resize and the problem didn't seem to be as much with the rounds I full length resized for autos. And then how many times do you reload the case? I have some 30-06 brass that I used in the bolt action go 10 or 12 times and maybe anneal a couple of times and check the necks a couple of times. Then I had some in the AR or M1A1 only go 3 or 4 times so after the initial neck turning that was it. With the higher priced brass like Norma, Lapua, Nosler you want to get your monies worth.

I will start off with brass in lots of 50 in a box and on the box will have the complete history of that lot. Now you will lose a few early due to splits and when the lot gets down to 25-30 serviceable cases I may scrap it or put it on experiment or plinking duty.

[muznut]

Rossman what do you consider is the best type the hand held jobbers or the ones that you use on a case trimmer and what brand do you consider is the best?

[rossman40]

I used a RCBS hand tool. I have also tried a Forster. I think the hand ones give you a better feel for whats going on or at least when somethings wrong. It is kinda a pain to get your resizing die expander to work with the mandrel on the neck turning tool but once that happens your in like flint. There are a lot more out there nowadays, some flat out fancy ones. To get that extra smiggin of accuracy you spend more time on case prep then the actual reloading. The main reason I turned necks on match ammo was to get even neck tension. I've only owned two rifles that had tight neck chambers, so tight that new out-of-box cases wouldn't fit after being loaded unless the necks were turned first.

[Richard]

Don't consider reaming necks to reduce wall thickness!!!! Your cutter will only follow the existing hole. If the wall is thicker on one side than the other, it will still be uneven after reaming. Just thinner In order to neck ream, you need a fixture made incorporating a neck bushing to hold the case and then an attached fixture with a drill bushing and corresponding straight shank reamer. It has to be held in rigid alignment so the reamer cuts the "fat" side.
For the average person, neck turning is the way to go since the pilot allows for alignment with the cutter. Sinclair Intl. has a lot of nice benchrest quality neck turners. You will need an expander and a pilot. The expander opens the neck enough so the pilot will not bid or gall. You should cut the neck all the way back until it slightly starts cutting the shoulder (cutters are usually made with a bevel on the shoulder side). By cutting the shoulder brass slightly, if the brass does grow a bit, you will not get the "dreaded donut" Rossman was talking about.
Been there and turned many, many hundreds of cases for everything from benchrest PPC's, to hunting rifle cases
All my benchrest rifles had tight neck chambers. Now I am leaning towards getting quality Lapua cases (for my 6mm BR and BRX) who's neck walls are very consistent...........then order a custom reamer to match those necks. My loaded necks are now .002" smaller than the chamber's neck. We call them "No turn" necks
Richard

[muznut]

Thanks guys I was leaning towards neck turning and you all confirmed this. I have most all the WSM and WSSM cals and the necks start to thicken,so I have to start turning soon.