Author Topic: Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?  (Read 1116 times)

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Offline minuteman

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Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?
« on: March 27, 2006, 02:03:00 PM »
I was told that you would have to inside neck ream the .308 cases after you size them to 7mm.  My question is, why can't you just outside neck turn them?  The mouth of the case should be the same after it goes over the sizing button no matter if there inside reamed or neck turned, right?  

Need guidance!

Minuteman

Offline nomad

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Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2006, 02:38:09 PM »
Depending on your chamber, it may not matter. (IOW -- unless you have a custom, tight-neck chamber or an unusually small factory chamber.)

In my Tikka I used Lapua .308 necked to 7-08 for a long time without any prep other than a trip through the sizing die. (Note that I tried using that brass for .260 and had to turn the necks. It wouldn't go down that far without further prep.)

YOU NEED TO DETERMINE whether your rifle will accept necked-down .308s without problems or whether you need to turn or ream them. FWIW, I've always felt that reaming was faster and turning was more accurate.

Running a chamber cast and measuring carefully should tell you what you want to know.
E Kuney

Offline minuteman

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Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2006, 04:56:54 PM »
So, if neck turning is an acceptable course of action, then why should you inside neck ream at all?  What's the purpose of it?  This of course is pertaining to necking down cases only.

Minuteman

Offline nomad

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Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2006, 07:08:58 PM »
Reaming is quicker and can be done in a trimmer with the proper cutter.  Turning requires a separate tool and takes a bit more finesse.

In my experience, if the brass is not even in thickness, the reamer will 'follow' the off-center hole and what you'll have in the end is thinner neck walls that are still non-uniform. If the brass is uniform, reaming works well. (Reaming will also remove 'doughnuts' if your brass develops them -- but lets not start solving those problems unless we know that we have them.)
The turning tool OTOH cuts to a mandrel and you can be fairly sure that you'll get uniformity -- but it's more work and you have to understand what you're doing at least a little bit.

All you're doing is creating brass that will accept the bullet and retain the needed clearance. I have found that most factory chambers are loose enough in the neck that necking down a caliber or so will usually not require thinning the neck walls (by either method). In fact, you may well wind up with a better 'fit' by leaving the brass full thickness -- but you HAVE to know the dimensions and the clearance that you have in order to be safe.

Make a chamber cast and measure it. Then measure your loaded rounds.
 
Frankly, unless you're talking about a high quality custom bbl with a carefully cut chamber done by a knowledgeable 'smith, running for minimum neck clearance is usually like putting lipstick on a pig. There are far more important loading considerations for a factory silhouette rifle.
E Kuney

Offline minuteman

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Necking down .308 to 7-08?!?!?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2006, 01:25:14 PM »
Thanks Nomad!  I have plenty of room.  I don't think I'll have to do anything to the brass, other than turn off a .0005 or so for uniformity.  I appreciate the input.

Thanks,
Minuteman

Offline PJ Smyth

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308- to - 7-08
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2006, 05:52:43 PM »
Hi all I use a K&M neck turner with a inside neck cutting Mandrell it works perfect  for 7mm Projectiles. Regards Phill