Brass prep questions?

I have to lube the inside of my case necks because my neck bushing die will hang up and/or struggle to get the brass out of the die. The die has the Ti bushing coating on it, but the die maker says to lube the case necks anyway to prevent undue stress on the brass.
 
Generally speaking, one lubes the inside of case necks (during reloading) to ease the passage of an expander ball. Depending on the situation, and the type of lube, it may be desirable to remove this lube after sizing.

Friction between the neck and an expander ball ,that is being pulled back through it, can cause the neck to be pulled out of alignment with the body of the case, not a good thing.

Years ago, when I was spending all my time shooting rifles with factory barrels, I tried turning the necks of some brass for a good shooting .222. It didn't help. These days, I only turn necks for chambers that are dimensioned with that in mind.

If you want to improve your at-the-range accuracy, buy or make some wind flags. That works.
 
If you get the Forster Neck turner it will also be a good investment to get one of these from Midway or somethig similar

R W Hart Neck Turning Case Holder
Product #: 634624
Status: Available
Our price: $34.99
 
I wrote this a long time ago, but still think it is true:

The starting point is this: we want the bullet held as close to the bore centerline as possible. The easiest way to do this is to use a muzzleloader & be careful with seating the bullet. But since we want to use breachloaders, we need a different technique to get us to roughly the same point.

Here's the sequence that's been worked out:

(1) The neck portion of the chamber must be true (axially) to the bore.

(2) The neck of the case must be "a close fit" to the chamber, so when the round is chambered, the bullet (which is held by the neck) is very close to the center of the bore.

(3) The wall thickness of the case, at least in the neck area, must be the same.

In other words, think backwards.

If any one of these conditions isn't met, the other two don't matter too much. It's the old problem that if three variables matter, and you fix only one of them, the improvement to the system isn't much.

So benchrest rifles approach the matter from the beginning, the cut of the chamber. The neck portion of the chamber is not only held true to the centerline of the bore (.0002 to .0004), but it is undersize from SAAMI specifications. A SAAMI maximum cartridge shouldn't even chamber. This forces you to turn the neck just to get the round to fit the chamber, and has the additional benefit of ensuring that the wall diameter of the case neck is the same.

In short, you don't get much by neck turning if the other items haven't been done.
 
I've got and use that same outside neck turniing tool, works fine, instead or that shell holder I use a drill chuck or a RW Hart case holder/driver. As for neck turning, on tight neck reamed chambers you know you have to but on hunting guns I'll turn just enough to clean/uniform my brass and it helps the accuracy and it keeps me out of the bars at night,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,,

DD
 
My current system uses an expander that is .001 larger than nominal bullet diameter. I had some pilot bushings made (like those used on floating pilot chamber reamers) that are .002 under bullet diameter. The pilots run on very close fitting mandrels that are in my neck turners. I'm currently turning about .001 per side off of a bunch of used 6.5 brass to get a bit more clearance. Nothing is getting hot and the thinknesses are very consistent. I've got these bushing mandrels in K&M and Sinclair turners.
I use Lee "iris" type shellholders in a Taig baby lathe that I've added a jackshaft to, to reduce spindle speed from the Taig's minimum speed. I use a dab of DoAll wax lube on the outside of the case necks when turning.
There are many ways to turn necks.
 
schilla

Tell us a bit more about your dies, your process, and your application. All the replies are accurate but may not relate to your application. As an example, if you are using a die with an expander ball, and you turn your necks, you may not have enough left to hold the bullet.
 
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