Neck Reaming vs. Turning...or Both?

Neck Reaming vs. Turning…or Both?

This will be my first endeavor with the 7 mm Remington Magnum cartridge. I am going to be launching projectiles from the Savage 11/111 Long Range Hunter (AccuTrigger, AccuStock and muzzle brake with 24 total inches of rifled barrel). My goal is to maximize the accuracy potential of this system by hand crafting ammunition of the most consistent that I can produce.

My questions are:

1. What method of addressing neck thickness/projectile gripping tension/concentricity is the most beneficial?

2. Should I be looking at outside neck turning or neck reaming?

3. How does one establish the correct thickness for the neck wall? What is the optimum dimension for this cartridge?

4. I anticipate using standard Redding dies and setting them so that only the neck is resized and the shoulder is never set back after the first firing. Should I instead be looking at a neck sizing only die? This will be the only platform in my battery of this caliber and so the product will never be used in another firearm.

5. What brand brass does one recommend? I was originally drawn to the Nosler offering but read some less than flattering reviews on the Midway USA website. Many others were comparing the Nosler brass to Norma very favorably???
I have never had good success with Remington reloading components or ammunition but have thoroughly enjoyed their firearm products.

6. Winchester Western brass is currently used in all of my long arms, pistols and revolvers. Should I go for WW?

1) Make some popcorn, crack a beer, enjoy the ensuing argument you've started over whether or not to neck turn with factory rifles :p.

2) Neck turn rather than ream.

3) Since it's not a tight neck chamber set the cutter deep enough to just take off the high spots.

4) You can't neck size forever. You'll need to full length size at some point. More important than neck vs fl die is knowing how to set-up an fl die properly. I use a headspace comparator to take direct measurements of the datum length but there are other methods.

5/6) I dunno

5) Ive gotten excellant consistancy and extended life from Lake City. Got lucky sometime back on once fired, cleaned up the brass,F/L sized,cut to lenght,de-crimp,d primer pockets etc.....
Ive run the LC brass thru there pace,s. Ive FL...Small Based...neck sized and vise versa.... The brass just keeps taken a licken and keeps on ticking. Course,the brass is much thicker and bound to last longer. While running thru my reload process, Im always cking for stress cracks, primer pocket swell etc... and out of the 500 I purchased 4 yrs ago, Ive only had to chunck about 50 of them.
6) IMO....WW brass life span is much shorter hence the price.

You could rechamber in the same caliber for very little $ fifty bucks or so. I wouldn't go with a tight neck but a no turn would get you tighter and the spec of the reamer would be available. Also, unlikely turning necks would be needed. It has been my experience so far with my 7mm that the hot loads tend to bulge the case above the belt so more than two firings require some body work. Innovative technologies makes a collet body die that uses a sleeve to remove that bulge very well getting all the way down to the belt increasing brass life but they are crazy proud of it. Someone here might have a cool little mod to a die or case holder to do the same.

Ted

- If you are using a factory chamber, neck turning won't likely have any added benefit...factory chambers are rarely that tight...

- If you opt to neck turn, you'll likely need collet dies to take advantage of it and get proper tension

- As TC260 said, you can't neck size for ever, especially with a factory chamber and a belted magnum...with my 7mm Mag I get best results from FL sizing every 3 loads...especially if I don't get the shoulders set back.

- I have had excellent results with Nosler Brass in a 257 Roberts Ackley Improved and in 2 of my 308's...from my experience it is every bit as good as any premium brass out there an much more reasonably priced...in one of my 308's I have 7 loadings on one box of 50 Nosler brass with no signs of failure yet and good tight primer pockets still. In the 257 Bob I have been very happy with the results from fire forming Nosler brass. I think you'll find plenty of good and bad reviews for every brand of brass out there...I have a 243 that prefers Remington Brass, my 7mm Mag prefers Remington bras, then i have a 223 that loves LC brass an another that really doesn't....and a 308 that only wants to eat WW brass....find what you and your rifle likes and shoot it.

In my opinion and past experience, it would improve your ammo accuracy with neck turning for those custom chambered rifles only. Factory SAMMI specs chamber do the same or even worse if you messed up the process...

I tried reamming some 6.5CM cases with the Forster trimmer and it's quite tough aligning the case mouth perfectly against the reamer... But if you must, I would recommend neck turning vs reaming as turning the necks is easier and more effective in my opinion...

Now with turning the necks it is advisable to use bushing dies to give that proper neck tension on each of those cases...

Now if you want your ammo to be more accurate and consistent, why not start with press, dies, bullets, brass, powder, primer and most importantly a consistent and reliable scale lol and the list just keeps going :D have fun and good luck!!!

If you already own the 7mm mag enjoy I love mine. If not you can get very close to same performance with a 280ai without the added work of a belted mag not to mention reduced recoil.

Neck turn and use a bushing die our a Lee collet die for proper neck tension. I inside neck ream if a donut forms inside the neck. This usually occurs when forming brass. I make my 222 brass out of 223 and occasionally need to remove a donut.

Floyd

TC260 has it right on 1-4

5 Nosler brass is made by Norma, for Nosler, with the Nosler headstamp on it. It is good brass for sure.

6 If you absolutely want the most precision rifle accuracy you can possibly get, walk away from the Winchester brass. Or at the very least, buy 500 pieces and start weight sorting it, hopefully you'll come up with 100 that are pretty close to same weight.

Not sure if Lapua makes 7 mag brass or not? I don't own a 7 mag. But Lapua brass is also very good brass.

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Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim

TC260 has it right on 1-4

5 Nosler brass is made by Norma, for Nosler, with the Nosler headstamp on it. It is good brass for sure.

6 If you absolutely want the most precision rifle accuracy you can possibly get, walk away from the Winchester brass. Or at the very least, buy 500 pieces and start weight sorting it, hopefully you'll come up with 100 that are pretty close to same weight.

Not sure if Lapua makes 7 mag brass or not? I don't own a 7 mag. But Lapua brass is also very good brass.

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I don't want to pick a fight here...but Nosler brass is actually made by a variety of soucres and not just Norma, this according to their pro-shop staff and their website....a quick look at Norma's and Noslers brass offerings will point out that Nosler sells several calibers Norma doesn't make (17 Rem, 257 Roberts...just a couple I know of)....they may well source some of it from Norma but certainly not all of it. That being said, I use Nosler brass in several of my rifles (257 Roberts and 308) and have been very pleased with it....My 257 Roberts is an Ackley Improved and I've yet to lose a piece of brass from fire-forming it, which right there speaks of it's quality.

Well I can only go off of what the factory Nosler rep told me when he was in my store in person (I'm no longer there btw). Norma makes all their brass, with their (Nosler) headstamp on it. Some of the cartridges they have an exclusive deal with Norma on, so you won't see it offered by Norma themselves, nor will Norma supply it to anyone else (supposedly) in the future.

And I also have a 257 Roberts AI. I would hope you're not losing any brass when FF'ming AI brass. That's kind of the whole idea behind the true AI chambering. I have also fired factory ammo from Rem, Fed, and Hornady out of mine, and it FF'd perfectly fine.

If you are of a mindset that turning brass is appealing to you then buy the bushing die now.
Otherwise you will own 2 dies eventually. Even turning the high spots could possibly reduce
neck tension enough to cause problems extracting unfired rounds. If the gun will be used for hunting,
a valid argument could be made for full legnth resizing your cases. As for brass, of those you mentioned
my choice would be norma. Ive found they hold up better with the hotter magnum loads.

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Originally Posted by yobuck

If you are of a mindset that turning brass is appealing to you then buy the bushing die now.
Otherwise you will own 2 dies eventually. Even turning the high spots could possibly reduce
neck tension enough to cause problems extracting unfired rounds

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I'll grant you that it could possibly happen but from what I've seen, a substantial amount of material would have to be taken off the necks to get the tension low enough that a standard die with an expander ball wouldn't provide enough tension to hold the bullet properly. I neck turn for almost every bottleneck case I shoot and use bushing dies to reduce tension vs standard dies as opposed to using them to further increase tension.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim

Well I can only go off of what the factory Nosler rep told me when he was in my store in person (I'm no longer there btw). Norma makes all their brass, with their (Nosler) headstamp on it. Some of the cartridges they have an exclusive deal with Norma on, so you won't see it offered by Norma themselves, nor will Norma supply it to anyone else (supposedly) in the future.

And I also have a 257 Roberts AI. I would hope you're not losing any brass when FF'ming AI brass. That's kind of the whole idea behind the true AI chambering. I have also fired factory ammo from Rem, Fed, and Hornady out of mine, and it FF'd perfectly fine.

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All I know is what it say on their website ... "Nosler Brass is manufactured by a variety of the industries top manufactures to Noslers exacting standards"

I grew up in near Bend, OR (my grandparents still live there)...I've been buying components from Noslers Pro Shop at their factory for around 30 years and know most the sales and pro-staff and had the pleasure of meeting John Nosler more than once....what a great man he was and an awesome family. I own one of the first 5 "prototype" Nosler/Noveske Varmageddon AR15's....John's signature is on my receipt! Not a better bullet on the market!