Turning Necks with a Factory Hunting Rifle - Beneficial or Not?
- Thread starter South Pender
- Start date
if your rifle groups 1 MOA or less than that is pretty much all you need for a hunting rifle in distances your going to be shooting at game.
in almost all cases the answer would be no but I will say this:
buying better brass is going to be the best thing you can do. I bought into the neck turning thing but when you buy high quality brass like Lapua the difference can be negligible though small improvements were made even with Lapua brass mainly in slightly better SD's.
if your aim was top performance out of factory ammo brass than it would make more sense but myself personally, in cases where I demand that performance I buy better brass which pays off in better case life. personally haven't had an issue getting some stellar groups out of a cheap savage axis using cases from remington UMC ammo so I cannot justify neck turning and personally I find it tedious and a pain.
in almost all cases the answer would be no but I will say this:
buying better brass is going to be the best thing you can do. I bought into the neck turning thing but when you buy high quality brass like Lapua the difference can be negligible though small improvements were made even with Lapua brass mainly in slightly better SD's.
if your aim was top performance out of factory ammo brass than it would make more sense but myself personally, in cases where I demand that performance I buy better brass which pays off in better case life. personally haven't had an issue getting some stellar groups out of a cheap savage axis using cases from remington UMC ammo so I cannot justify neck turning and personally I find it tedious and a pain.
I turn only in special circumstances and only if it's needed, usually when trying to make an oversize bullet chamber cleanly. In my experience neck turning isn't worth the effort in a factory chambered hunting rifle, and can do as much harm as good, for the reasons Biged51 pointed out.
But he could strike out.
That's right, a person can strike-out by not trying to take a swing. The point of my comment is: try neck turning and reaming, take a swing at it. I did, I don't know how much they helped, but groups were better than ideal, with all my rifles.
That makes sense to me. I have much of the needed equipment for neck turning from my time shooting precision rifles, and would need only to pick up the appropriate expanding and turning mandrels.That's right, a person can strike-out by not trying to take a swing. The point of my comment is: try neck turning and reaming, take a swing at it. I did, I don't know how much they helped, but groups were better than ideal, with all my rifles.
I guess it comes down to the broader question of the extent to which using the usual benchrest loading techniques can improve hunting-cartridge accuracy--sorting brass, uniforming primer pockets, deburring flashholes, using precision dies like the L.E. Wilson bushing sizing dies and chamber-type seaters, and setting optimal seating depth, etc. I've gone that route with many other cartridges--.22 and 6 PPC, .222 Rem., .243 Win.--so know the drill.
I know that it doesn't make much difference in the field, but getting what was a 1MOA rifle with the usual hunting-cartridge loading techniques shooting .65MOA consistently with improved techniques would probably be worth the effort to me--a fun project.
That's exactly why I conduct precision reloading, for the experience, fun and to challenge myself, just like chasing mature whitetail bucks. I never weight bullets or conduct concentricity measurement, not unless I'm having poor accuracy, therefore I will check for run-out. It's the brass case that I concentrate on the most, and it's the most time consuming. Powder measurement is done with precision, right to the last kernel. Digital scale is checked and double checked for accuracy and consistency.
At the range, I better have great concentration, finger and eye coordination, reading the wind, etc. otherwise it's conducted in vain. I don't want one nice group, I want several in a row.
If you want to add more steps to your reloading process and spend more time in the reloading room - go for it.
If you want to see better precision and downrange performance, there's a lot of other things that will be more beneficial then heck turning, especially on a hunting rifle with a factory chamber and factory barrel.
If you want to see better precision and downrange performance, there's a lot of other things that will be more beneficial then heck turning, especially on a hunting rifle with a factory chamber and factory barrel.
Sure, I'm aware of other techniques and practices to enhance precision; there's no reason that they can't be incorporated along with neck turning. Was just curious about the value of neck turning specifically....
I would be very surprised if neck turning provided any measurably consistent improvement in performance down range with a factory chamber and factory barrel.
South Pender,
I got into neck turning to chase a neck tension problem for our hunting rifles. I do a lot of case work with respect to primer pockets, flash hole deburring etc. for all rifles we shoot but it's only a couple of cartridges to self declare in this post.
Is neck turning for hunting chambers worth it? I don't know. On one hand, I went down the rabbit hole to solve a problem. Did it increase accuracy? ... well the whole experience and related solutions made me a much better loader and results on paper make translated to confidence in the field. Is that worth it? Here that's not questioned.
Would I neck turn again for hunting rifles? - no. I would start with known consistent brass with all the other brass prep, maybe skim the surfaces but not to much material to create the dreaded donut later on, yes. For myself, when using a Lee collet die, the subtle neck surface differences (provided the right amount of material ductility, annealing ) even out over time to make things negligent for the most part.
From posts here already, I suspect you have your favorite head stamps already for reasons you have experienced. Myself, Lapua and PPU work well for what I do here. I am putting through the paces some R-P brass and it's working better than expected.
I've recently been testing weight sorting cases and different primer combinations against one particular powder and that has had more visible effects on paper than neck turning in the rifles I own...but don't let my 2 cents be downer for any of your endeavors. Swing for it if you want.
Best regards and Cheers!
Ronr
I got into neck turning to chase a neck tension problem for our hunting rifles. I do a lot of case work with respect to primer pockets, flash hole deburring etc. for all rifles we shoot but it's only a couple of cartridges to self declare in this post.
Is neck turning for hunting chambers worth it? I don't know. On one hand, I went down the rabbit hole to solve a problem. Did it increase accuracy? ... well the whole experience and related solutions made me a much better loader and results on paper make translated to confidence in the field. Is that worth it? Here that's not questioned.
Would I neck turn again for hunting rifles? - no. I would start with known consistent brass with all the other brass prep, maybe skim the surfaces but not to much material to create the dreaded donut later on, yes. For myself, when using a Lee collet die, the subtle neck surface differences (provided the right amount of material ductility, annealing ) even out over time to make things negligent for the most part.
From posts here already, I suspect you have your favorite head stamps already for reasons you have experienced. Myself, Lapua and PPU work well for what I do here. I am putting through the paces some R-P brass and it's working better than expected.
I've recently been testing weight sorting cases and different primer combinations against one particular powder and that has had more visible effects on paper than neck turning in the rifles I own...but don't let my 2 cents be downer for any of your endeavors. Swing for it if you want.
Best regards and Cheers!
Ronr
