Neck Tension

[GatewayShepherd]

Clean the necks up about 75-80% with the neck turner..then measure the neck wall thickness….times it by 2 and add your bullet diameter…Buy a Wilson or Redding neck bushing die and the appropriate bushings to go along with it. For starters buy one that will give you .002 tension and one on either side of it to start with.

 

[J300UM]

If you have the means to do it, try sorting your brass by neck wall variation. I do this and use everything with a variation of .002 or less and use the rest for foulers and sighters. This will give you more consistent neck tension from case to case. It will also give you more consistent case capacity as I have found the variation in neck wall thickness to be linear. Like suggested before you could give H1000 a try as well.

 

[ofdscooby]

Thanks for the suggestion gentlemen I tore my Achillies and have surgery tomorrow. So I'll have plenty of time to get everything dialed in but i'm trying to be frugal while on the injured list.

 

[Firearrow]

Just out of curriosity, how many times have your cases been reloaded? I noticed on my 300wm that my ES went crazy when my cases became work harden. I then started anealing, for various other reasons, and this really helped my ES get below 10.

 

[jhfleming]

Having done extensive measuring, Nosler Custom brass is the best, Fireform it, use a neck bushing die to set the neck tension .002" for target, .003" for hunting. Precision Shooting –Reloading Guide- ISBN # 1-931220-12-3 is a great resource for precision loading. Good Luck.

 

[SabreCross]

So from my research that would be to turn the neck then use a bushing die to get the neck right where I need it?

Yes. Measure the diameter of the neck on a neck-turned loaded round, then subtract .001"-.002" from the neck measurement, and order that size bushing. I use the Redding neck-bushing dies and get great results. That should do it.

 

[Lone Hunter]

Yes. Measure the diameter of the neck on a neck-turned loaded round, then subtract .001"-.002" from the neck measurement, and order that size bushing. I use the Redding neck-bushing dies and get great results. That should do it.

+1 on this I go from .001 to .003 and it seems .002 works best. Each weapon is different though.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

Not disputing what has been said but if the rifle is shooting sub 1/2 moa out to 725 and ES is bad, the bs of fooling with neck tension when you already have .002 will likely not help anything.

Of the suggestions made I would do the following, in order.

1. Weight sort your lot of brass
2. Use magnum primers if you aren't already
3. Switch to H1000 like someone else suggested. See if it helps. Usually slightly faster burn rate can work wonders.
4. If safe, keeping working up in charge with the Retumbo. I know you said you've stopped at 69.5, and probably with good reason, but if safe keep working up. 3 of the 7mag's I've loaded for settled in around 71.5-71.8 with your combo.

What are your velocities on a string? What is the SD on your load for comparison?