Neck turning or reaming?

[muznut 54]

Neck turning or reaming what do you prefer?

[quickdtoo]

The Forster Hand Held works great for outside turning, the Lyman works too once it's properly adjusted which can be a pain, the Forster makes smoother finish tho, the shell holder could be better, but works, it has good reviews. I've never inside reamed, turning worked for me.

Tim

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/219509/forster-hand-held-outside-neck-turner

[stimpylu32]

I do both depending on the cartridge case being used , for the most part I like outside turning , it gives me an even thickness to the case neck while Reaming will remove the same amount of material all the way around , yet one side of the neck may be thicker than the other .
 
But on the other hand , reaming trues up to the center axis of the case while outside turning may offset the case neck slightly , however I have not found it to make a difference on such a small scale .
 
stimpy

[Hooker]

Reaming to me seems like a waste of time your sizing die should eliminate any imperfections on the inside of the case neck.
If your die is not keeping your center axis true then reaming wont fix the problem anyway. Turning on the other hand gives you a more consistent neck tension and consistency is the main ingredient in any accurate load.

Pat

[LaOtto222]

I have a Forster outside neck turner and use it when ever I need to reduce the neck thickness. I use a cordless drill with a key less chuck to hold the case and then run in the turner pilot into the case mouth. I have a 3/8" drill for the 222 class of cases and a 1/2" for the 30-06 class of cases. I have not done any rimmed cases yet. I will be in the near future however as I plan on making some 30-30 AI out of Win 375 brass. I will have to figure out some thing for those as i do not like the case holder that comes with the neck turner very well. Thinking maybe of making a holder that centers on the primer pocket and screws down on the case head; similar to the head of a Lyman Acculine case trimmer. It helps to have a lathe and mill, you can make things you need/want.

I have recently been working on a 22 BR with tight necks from 6 BR cases. I first outside turned the necks. Then I fire formed to my chamber, then inside reamed the necks before forming with a .224" reamer. Time will tell if it is worth all the bother, but preliminary results are very encouraging.

Overall I prefer outside neck turning, in the case of the 22 BR I got a ring on the inside of the neck right at the shoulder/neck union. The only way to rid it, is to ream the neck. I used a vertical mill to do the reaming, so it went pretty quick. I set up a case holder and centered in under the reamer, then held the case with rubber gloves in the case holder while I lowered the reamer into the neck. I like to use power, whenever I can. More POWER (Tim Allen is my hero  ).


Good Luck and Good Shooting

[wncchester]

Stimpy has it right.  Reaming only cuts the inside diameter, turning makes the outside match the inside and allows us to cut the thickness to whatever we wish.   As a practical thing, I only ream reformed cases that have a much too thick neck and then turn to uniform it - like, I sometimes make .22-250 from .20-06 so the first step is to ream but IF I'm just uniforming factory cases I only turn about 60-80% of the circumference of the necks.
 
Buying 'BR' grade turners for factory chambers is meaningless, using a turner device on a case trimmer is fine.  But if your trimmer doesn't allow that option or you want a hand-held type try the Forster HOT-100; it has some unique features in it's price range, is easy to use, and the price isn't ridiculus.

[Land_Owner]

I decided on the RCBS Trim Pro Manual Case Trimmer, which I chuck into a 1/2" drill and whirl away easily reaming and neck turning hundreds of cases.  In an hour I'm done for a couple of years until range pick up and gift brass collects to a point that another drilling session is needed.  I only prepare my hunting cases this way.  All others are bound for paper target shooting and not especially deserving of the additional effort, IMO.

[gypsyman]

I've always outside neck turned. Liked the idea of having the brass with the same thickness all the way around. It's suppose to be more accurate, really need a better shooter than me to find out. gypsyman