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Turning necks

Marinevet1

Full Member
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Feb 14, 2017
    2,957
    5,315
    Several months ago I bought a Century 21 neck turning lathe, off this site.........the drill powered one.........only took off enough to make the brass shine..............shot them today, and they seemed hard to chamber..........like they didn't want to go in to the chamber..........not the bullet, but the case........new Lapua brass...........I didn't chamfer the ends before the reload..........any ideas..............shooting from an AIAT..........
     
    I would guess that neck turning creates more neck clearance.......I would say it creates more concentric neck clearance........

    I shot another 100 rounds of FGMM 175 gr..........and everything was good .........the hand loads were the same length that I had shot before I tried the neck turned ones........+ or - .005..........
     
    Would you mind telling us a little more?
    What cartridge are you working with?
    Did you use an expander mandrel before turning the neck on a turning mandrel?
    Does an un-turned case chamber okay?
     
    Several months ago I bought a Century 21 neck turning lathe, off this site.........the drill powered one.........only took off enough to make the brass shine..............shot them today, and they seemed hard to chamber..........like they didn't want to go in to the chamber..........not the bullet, but the case........new Lapua brass...........I didn't chamfer the ends before the reload..........any ideas..............shooting from an AIAT..........
    I've done a lot of neck turning over the years and never had such an issue. . . mainly because neck turning itself just does not do something to the brass making them harder to chamber. Something else is going on.

    The best thing you can do is to take various measurements of the brass before turning and after tuning to actually see what's going on. I'm talking about measuring the key areas of the case, like the diameter at the .200 mark above the web and at the shoulder-body junction, the case's head space. Even neck wall thickness (e.g. measuring neck diameter of a loaded round, subtract caliber diameter and divide by 2). Then let us know what differences you find . . . if any.
     
    .308.......Lapua brass..........haven't been reloading for long.........Covid thing...........I've loaded a probably 7-8 hundred rounds...........have a load that shoots really close to factory 175 GMM...........got a good deal on a great neck turning tool, and thought I would give it a try.........I do use an expander before I reload, and the brass was run thru it before it was turned..........I also use a neck sizing die before I load the bullet.......I shoot for .002 neck tension.........

    And I have never had an issue with chambering any reloads............

    It just seemed like the edge of the cartridge was catching on the entrance to the chamber.............I had an assortment of 20 rounds..........+ or - .005 in length , + or - .5 gr. of powder, which doesn't count..........
     
    Do the cases have a burr on the outer face of the mouth? Maybe get a bit heavier with the deburring tool?
    Neck turning will remove any burr at the case mouth and can also remove any deburring chamfer depending on the amount of any chamfer on that outside of the case mouth. It could square up that edge, which theoretically could catch on something in the chamber. My neck turning as always been the last part of my case prep procedure for neck turning and there's never been such an issue.
     
    I had an issue when I first started reloading for bottleneck rifle a few years ago. I was full length resizing in a full length bushing die. Even though I was sizing down with a bushing, I wasn’t sizing down far enough and the brass would chamber hard, and then I’d have to bead the bolt open to get it out. Someone on the hide caught it when I posted up a bunch of measurements. This was all when I was setting up my dies, not loaded rounds. I realize your brass is brand new, but I’d measure the necks compared to the loaded rounds you know run well. May not be the culprit, but figured I’d share.
     
    If it’s a hard stop then it’s not brass dimensions. The case mouth catching on something is the likely culprit.
    It will be a hard stop if the shoulders are too long. Been the case each time I didn't bump back enough. Very hard stop on a gas gun. Have to use a mallet on the charging handle.

    @Marinevet1 Possible the chamber is head spaced short and the new FGMM brass is coming out the box shorter at the shoulders than the new Lapua brass. A comparator would reveal if this were the case.
     
    It will be a hard stop if the shoulders are too long. Been the case each time I didn't bump back enough. Very hard stop on a gas gun. Have to use a mallet on the charging handle.

    @Marinevet1 Possible the chamber is head spaced short and the new FGMM brass is coming out the box shorter at the shoulders than the new Lapua brass. A comparator would reveal if this were the case.

    No. A hard stop is when a sharp case mouth catches on the inside of the chamber in the shoulder area. It feels like a center punch hitting a steel plate.
     
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