How much neck tension on loaded rounds for BPC Rifles?

[ShortStake]

A loading question for this new year of 2005.

The question "How much neck tension on loaded rounds used in BPC Rifles" usually can get many varied answers.

What is your preferred method of neck sizing cartridge brass after having fired same?

Your personal knowledge and experiences are valued.

Thanks for contributing..........

[white feather]

I shoot a browning BPSR in 40/65, i use starline brass that is nickel plated, i full length sized it when it was new because i wanted to build up enough pressure to blow it out to fit the chamber.
I like the nickel brass because it adds to the thickness of the brass enough so all i have to do is slide the 400 gr. snover bullet down and seat it .40 over the walters wad and 60 grs. Swiss ctg. grade powder.
The nickel brass is also a lot easer to clean, i just drop them into a jar filled with 1 part simple green 1 part murphey oil soap and 1 part water, this is the same thing i clean my barrel with between matches, you dont get the rust you do from useing peroxide and alcohol, all i do with the cases is run a nylon 45 cal. brush into them and dry thrm and run in the tumbler, a lot less work than some people go through, i talked about useing simple green on the old shooters sight, now it seems lots of people are useing it, sure does help with the smell when your cleaning them in the kitchen sink.

[quickdtoo]

Just a note on the use of Simple Green....the the US military banned its use on airframes due to its corrosiveness....that's on aluminum, not steel, but still something to consider... :wink:

[Haywire Haywood]

Just a note on the use of Simple Green....the the US military banned its use on airframes due to its corrosiveness....that's on aluminum, not steel, but still something to consider... :wink:

If memory serves, I think the term used was "Metal Embrittlement".

Ian

[white feather]

MUMM
It made the inside of my cases very shinny and primer pockets were clean also, do you have the name of the sight where you got the info.
I dont want to make my brass brittle so it starts cracking or maybe worse.
I use simple green in my windshield washer cleaner to help with removeing bugs from my windshield, also good for cleaning your tires.
 Maybe the use of murpheys oil soap helped with the cleaning more than i thought.

[quickdtoo]

Here ya go...

https://safety.army.mil/pages/lessonslearned/simplegreens.html

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PCA/is_621/ai_n6184090

[white feather]

I think ill use the simple green to clean the tires on my truck and go back to water and murphys oil soap to clean brass.
Thanks for the info very interesting reading.

[flintski]

.001 neck tension for me.  Bullets drop out at .410 and expander plug is .409/.411 that way the bullet JUST touches the side before seating.

[sqball]

  I thought this would be a good place to start my membership on here. So here goes.

 I shoot seven different cartridges ranging from .22 WCF up to .50/90 and have found that, in general terms, if you get/make/have made an expander plug that is the same diam. as your lubed and sized bullet that, with the proper load, you'll get good results. For calibers under .30 you will need to crimp the case as the bullet wgt. doesn't give enough resistance to the initial burn to give consistent MV's.

[Lead pot]

I turn my expanders on the lathe, I have them from .004 to .001 X .001's for the molds I use. I use the one's that hold the bullet by .002. just snug enough that when you clean the lube off the bullet will still spin with out falling out or a hard pull to pull them out, and you wont swage the base out of shape by forcing that soft bullet in while seating it.
But it's also important to have the case walls with uniform thickness and keep the cases annealed to keep a uniform tension on that bullet no mater what your expander plug is to keep the SD in the low single digits.
My longer and larger volume cases like the .45/90 and the .50/90, especially the .45/3-1/4 filled with black seem to need more neck tension to burn more consistent then the .40/65 and the .40/70ss.

Kurt

[ShortStake]

Lead Pot/Kurt,

Your .002 neck tension on loaded cast bullet BPCR rounds is consistent with most other shared opinions.  When this thread was initially posted it included a poll on neck tensions.  When this website was hit by hackers the poll was lost.   

Having an assortment of neck expanders for each caliber is the dream of every serious loader/reloader of BP cartridges.

As we've all learned the actual diameter of the neck expander does not necessarily translate to the same exact .i.d measurements of expanded case necks.  Depending on the individual case, whether or not annealed, the amount of springback flucuates from caliber to caliber.

Thanks for sharing your opinions and ideas.     

[ShortStake]

Gents and Madams,

Previous poll lost during last website update.

NEW poll added.

Thanks for looking and contributing.

From the Land of Enchantment,

ShortStake

[John Boy]

Annealed fire formed brass only - bullet finger seated and then 0.002 neck tension

[John Boy]

Lead pot made mention of cutting his own plugs ...
Track of the Wolf has many diameter plugs for $3 Expander Plugs for use in Lee 7/8-14 Die
In addition to my 45-70 neck tensions, I shoot some smaller diameter 38-55's for gallery loads.  So I just order the larger diameter plugs and size them down for the proper neck tension