Quote Originally Posted by fgw_in_fla View Post
I notice my long range guns that I reload for are usually dead nutz, on the money accurate. Every once in a while I get a few rounds that don't co-operate & I'm sure it's due to inconsistant neck tension. I'm thinking it's probably time to take my reloading OCD to the next level & start neck turning.

When seating bullets, I can tell which ones will suck by how they feel when I press them in. If they feel harder to press or scratchy, I put them in the back of the box & sure enough, they will not be as accurate / consistant as the rest.

SO..... To start neck turning & make all the bullets seat consistantly (and shoot consistantly), what do I need to buy? Which brands / types are good for us part time, up & coming, still learning long range shooters?

Or.... is there something else I should look at?

Thanks

Frank in Fla
Frank, neck turning isn't going to solve the problem. The most accurate rounds will be the ones that seat relatively easily, which I learned by listening to a great shooter who learned from Creighton Audette. I had been experimenting with tight, medium, loose, and when I heard that comment from my friend, I started looking for ways to make consistency. I dragged out my neck-turning stuff and did 100 cases, but they still had inconsistencies in bullet-seating pressure. When the bench-resters talk about consistent neck tension, they are talking about cases that barely fit in the chamber, and they can feel the pressure ring at the base of the bullet "pop" into its exact spot in the case neck. But they may not even size the neck. We aren't going to do that. I found that using the Sinclair mandrel body and the expander mandrel for the appropriate caliber, I can get very consistent tension on all my case necks, and without annealing. If the mandrel goes in tight, I run it back and forth until it gets as loose as it's going to get. Then when I seat bullets, they all feel the same, give or take, at least extremely close; and the accuracy is much improved. Do that experiment, since it's much cheaper than some other tests you could try.
Jim