Honing Die Necks

[CliffM]

MagMan,
Glad to hear of your success, I like the idea of the packing tape. Did you use the tape to hold the emery cloth to the rod and make at least a full wrap with the cloth. The water not only keeps things flushed out but it also keeps the die from getting to hot to hold onto! Cliff

 

[MagMan]

Did you use the tape to hold the emery cloth to the rod and make at least a full wrap with the cloth.

Yes, if I get a chance I'll take a picture.

 

[VON GRUFF]

Good interesting post Magman.

Von Gruff.

 

[foreign]

magman, just found this posted. im thinking of doing the same. what i wanted to know is were you worried about causing run out via honing. i mean how did you hold it all straight.
just via hand?
die in one hand and drill in the other under the tap?
that simple???

 

[Trickymissfit]

Does anyone have advise on what tools and procedure would be used to hone the necks on various factory sizing dies?


Thanks

a good Sunnen hone with two or three grades of stones. Of course you could do it all with a diamond hone in the Sunnen
gary

 

[MagMan]

foreign, I was wasn't really worried as i was playing with a relatively cheap die. Yes, drill in one hand die in the other.

 

[foreign]

thanks magman. yea im looking to doing it to my fosters die. makes me a little nervous though. and my dies are in nz so shipping them to fosters is a little pricey.
cheers

 

[flashhole]

Very interesting thread and it sure gets the brain cell going. Will you please tell us if you experience improvement in accuracy from customizing your die to your guns chamber?

 

[MagMan]

More accuracy? who knows. Its more of a "feel good" thing when the comparator needle doesn't wiggle.

Wouldn't recommend doing it to a Hornady sizer as they have a goofy lip or ring in them. Wrecked one.

 

[flashhole]

Funny you should say that about Hornady. I was just thinking which "surplus" dies I have kicking around that I could try what you did to yours and it is a Hornady die.

 

[Bart B]

MagMan: Did a die a couple of weeks ago, very easy to do. I had a 40-65 die that sized inside of the case to about.395. then the expander button brought it back out to .407. It seemed an excessive amount to work the brass so I split the end of a dowel with a hacksaw and wound a strip of 220 grit wet or dry sandpaper on it until it was a snug fit, chucked in the cordless drill and held it under the faucet with a trickle of water running. It took a few strips to get it out to the size I wanted, then I finished with 320 grit. Now the expander will just barely open the neck a little more when I bell the mouth for the bullet. It worked well enough I may have to do some others. No postage, no waiting no problem. CliffM

Good idea.

This has been done since the 1960's with great improvement in case straightness which means bullets will seat the straightest. Sierra Bullets did this years ago with many dies used to resize fired bottleneck cases used to test bullets. I doubt anybody shoots 'em as accurate as they do. They now use Redding full bushing dies that do the same thing.

It's best to chuck the die in a lathe headstock so the chamber turns well on its center. Fit the emery cloth in the split dowel and lap it out. And yes, 2 to 3 thousandths smaller than a loaded round neck diameter is about perfect.

 

[Bart B]

Very interesting thread and it sure gets the brain cell going. Will you please tell us if you experience improvement in accuracy from customizing your die to your guns chamber?

The most accurate rifles I know of have their fired cases full length sized by such full length sizing dies with their necks lapped out which is what some folks did 50 years ago. Or with the modern full bushing dies by RCBS and Redding. And their barrels all have standard SAAMI dimension chambers in them. No tight chamber necks, throats, bodies etc.; not needed.

These super accurate rifles ain't benchrest ones, either.

All rimless bottleneck cases are well centered up front in the chamber when they're fired. And the back end of all cases is held against the chamber wall by the extractor pushing them that way. Doesn't matter if there's 1 or 3 thousandths clearance between the case body and chamber at the shoulder; centered is centered. Why? Simple. The firing pin drives the case forward slamming its shoulder into the chamber shoulder centering it, then the primer fires and the round fires.

 

[OKIE2]

find a machine shop where you live that has a honing machine.
will scost you maybe $10.00

 

[GNERGY]

I just did 3 different dies, 308, 7mm/300Wby. and my 338 Ultra mag. I made the expander ball smaller so it just clears the inside of the neck. It should make the brass last longer. We'll see if it effects accuracy. gun)
Tarey