Optimum amount of neck-tension - technical question.

A

artist

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My question is this: For the best accuracy, is it the goal of the re-loader to have as little neck-tension as possible? (...while still maintaining the absolute minimal amount to retain adequate functionality in terms of being able to transport and chamber rounds without the bullets being knocked out of alignment in the case?) ...or, is there a certain amount of neck-tension needed which contributes to the dynamics of what happens within the chamber when the round is fired?

...or, let's word this another way.
Hypothetically, if the reloaded round could be transported from the reloading press into the chamber without ever encountering anything which would impact the bullet's alignment in the case, would it be the best that the neck-tension would be such that there is just enough tension to hold the bullet in its alignment?
 
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Most of the shooters I know, and including myself use a pretty fair amount of neck tension. I shoot a 268 neck with my ppc turn my brass to 11.5 and use a 264 or 263 bushing. To have as little neck tension as possible is not the goal.

Bart
 
What works for me....or what I discovered.
Shortly after I had my 6mmBR all put together for the purpose of using it for short range Benchrest shooting (100-300 yards). Everything was new to me. I had decided on Redding full length Bushing dies, and was trying out various sizes of bushings. My first choice was a .268. (270 no turn neck size)
This was a little too big as I discovered. When I got to the range I discovered my bullets had settled and were sitting on top of the powder. I shot them anyway and had very good results. I then went one size smaller on the bushing and the bullets now stay put. This is how I set neck tension now. Just enough so I can't push the bullet into the case by hand. I am having good results with this setup.
 
The one thing niether of the

artist said:
My question is this: For the best accuracy, is it the goal of the re-loader to have as little neck-tension as possible? (...while still maintaining the absolute minimal amount to retain adequate functionality in terms of being able to transport and chamber rounds without the bullets being knocked out of alignment in the case?) ...or, is there a certain amount of neck-tension needed which contributes to the dynamics of what happens within the chamber when the round is fired?

...or, let's word this another way.
Hypothetically, if the reloaded round could be transported from the reloading press into the chamber without ever encountering anything which would impact the bullet's alignment in the case, would it be the best that the neck-tension would be such that there is just enough tension to hold the bullet in its alignment?
Click to expand...

previous answers stated is that various powders need different neck tension. What works for a 6BR and it's powder and a 6PPC and 133 and a 22PPC .100 short are ALL DIFFERENT!! There is no universal rule.

David
 
There's no answer...

What a fellow believes is what his last success has been. Certainly, the better the barrel the more ways it can be done.

There's just no real answer to the question.....
 
Just have to find out what works for your particular rifle and load! To many problems with loss necks.

Joe Salt

Joe Salt
 
Lets go a little more in depth about the subject of neck tension. Look at neck tension being one of three categories, light, medium and heavy.

Most benchrest shooters use a Wilson type seater so lets establish some common standards. I consider light neck tension as being when I can seat a bullet with just thumb pressure, medium neck tension when I could seat a bullet with the heel of my hand, and heavy neck tension would require an arbor press to seat the bullet.

Within those categories you will find, for example, the 8208 family likes light neck tension whereas VV133 likes as much neck tension as you can manage. That is why some of the very top shooters, like Bart Sauter, use a thick wall case neck in the 0.266"-0.268" range.

As to your neck tension solution, considering your cartridge, barrel, powder, and bullet, you will need to determine that answer on paper. In any category of neck tension the most important factor is consistency. You sure don't want light, medium and heavy neck tension mixed within one batch of brass for best results.
 
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I agree with everything posted thus far. Every gun and every load are different. If I look at most of mine however, I usually end-up with 0.002 - 0.003" when tuning (the powders I shoot the most are LT, 8208, and H322).

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
Annealing makes a difference as well as to how much you need. I shoot a dasher in LG, and Varget likes light tension while rl15 seems to shoot better with more. I'd error with too much vs too little. Recently I have been working on a 338 edge shooting the 300 hybrid. It has a short neck and the brass was annealed. I use .004 of neck tension but the bullets seat very easy. I could not get this gun to group better than .5 moa and seating depth changes made very little difference. I finally try jamming and the thing came to life. I believe the issue is not enough neck tension to give the powder a chance to get a consistent burn when jumping.
Alex
 
I believe the primer pushes the bullet into the lands and the neck is fully opened before the bullet begins to move. If you use a lot of force with the neck and aren't seated into the lands I don't believe I know what happens. I do know that folks develop what they think is right for a rifle and go with it. Bottom line is that it may work equally as well some other way. As long as it's "equally" we're OK doing it however we do it. Try it all before you give up on a barrel and....then give up.

Keith Gantt sold me his killer rifle and threw in a barrel that wouldn't shoot at all. I put it on and the plain truth was, it wouldn't shoot. I put some fat bullets (.24+) in it finally and won almost every match I shot until it just wore out. Turns out that the barrel maker turned out some barrels that would really shine if you used fatter bullets. I sold a really big bunch of those "fatboys" at the time. They looked terrible....but shot like a house on fire in those barrels.
 
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