neck turning ?

[shakes]

I bought some lapua .260 brass and after sizing Im getting scratch marks around the neck. Didnt think any thing of it and loaded 50 rounds so far. Im sitting here tonight loading more and the thought pops into to the ol knoging, when I fire a round and the brass expands into the chamber will those sratches prevent the case being extracted and also score the inside of the chamber. Do I need to turn the necks down smooth to prevent this from happening? The scrathes do not appear to be that deep. Thanks guys.

[lone ringer]

Shakes, what you need to do is polish the sizing die, clean the brass really good and lubricate before sizing. You may want to consider buying a carbide sizing die if you can find one in the caliber you are using. You do not need to turn the necks unless you figure out that the brass is too big for your chamber. Lapua brass is one of the best made and you do not need to prep it or sort it out like other brands.
Nothing is going to happen to your chamber if you fire those rounds you loaded and they will extract fine.

[Jason]

I use a body die to size the body on new brass and never touch the neck with anything other than the titanium nitride bushing in my Redding Type S Bushing Neck Sizer Die. It gives precision sizing to the necks only and no lube is necessary with those bushings. Note that I decap with a Lee decapping die, uniform/clean the primer pocket and tumble before the brass touches the neck die. That gives clean brass on a precision bushing, so no scratches.

Oh, and there's no need to pay twice as much for the competition micrometer version of the bushing die in my opinion, unless you actually want to size more or less of the necks for different loads. The micrometer function is useful for seater dies, for which I prefer Forster, but I think it's actually needless complication and risk of the die getting changed compared to a locked down neck die.

[shakes]

Thanks guys

[Jerry G]

The only time you need to turn your necks is if your brass has been used many times. The brass flows forward when you shoot and eventualy the necks get thick and they don't do it in an even manor.

[Trent]

The die is scratching your brass. Here is what I do... take it for what it is worth.

I buy the .410 shotgun mops used for cleaning shotgun barrels and mount it in my cordless drill. Then I coat the mop with Flitz polishing compound and polish the heck out of the interior of my dies, paying particular attention to the neck area. Be sure to get the full-length mops so that it will reach all the way to the neck area.

Here are before and after effects on my brass. You can see that it makes a big difference. I also remove the expander and mount it in my drill and run it through a rag with Flitz and polish it until smooth. The case on the left is resized before polishing and the case to the right is resized in the same die after polishing.

[Trent]

Also, I can FEEL the difference when resizing after polishing. Much smoother.

[shakes]

Thats exactly what they look like; the before picture. Ive got a big tube of flitz at home and will try that. The die is brand new from redding so I was a little dissapointed that it would leave scratch marks like that. Thanks Trent

[jjp]

A big +1 for Jason and Trents post. Exactly as I do. Very good post explaining them.

[Bob259]

I was having similar marks on my Lapua brass and sent my titanium nitride bushing back to Redding and thy polished it and had no problems since.

[Trent]

Thats exactly what they look like; the before picture. Ive got a big tube of flitz at home and will try that. The die is brand new from redding so I was a little dissapointed that it would leave scratch marks like that. Thanks Trent

Yep, the die that was causing those scratches was also a Redding die. It only takes a couple minutes, but I was surprised too that a Redding die would be that rough. The "rough neck" was rough enough to feel with your fingernail. Very rough.

[Bob Mc Alice]

Trent, you fail to mention if you are lubing the out side of the necks. Like Tony said, you have to lube them when using standard dies or else each case up the die will leave brass deposits going in and coming out. Too much friction when reducing the neck diameter. You have to lube the neck inside for the very same reason or the button will get build up and score the neck inside.I think this is why your brass looks and feels so bad. I doubt the die was at fault. The Flitz on a spinning mop was only removing the brass build up, not smoothing the die steel.

[Trent]

Those photos above are from an absolutely brand new Redding die. That "before" piece of brass was the third piece of brass to ever enter the die. The "after" one was number four through it after polishing. The Flitz definitely polishes the die.

Maybe Redding is slipping in the finishing steps?

Don't you sass talk me Mr. Guru!

[Bob Mc Alice]

I will ask again. Were your necks lubed properly? The proper amount of lube film will not allow the brass to touch the steel enough to scratch it. Brass CAN NOT damage the die steel whether lubed or dry. Repeated high speed spin polishing with Flitz on a mop, in time, will open up the neck diameter and start to create damage to the intended dimensions of the die.

[cslcAl]

I had the same problem with my Redding 260 die and my RCBS 30-30 die. What I actually discovered to be the problem was the tumbling media I was using. I was using the treated Lyman media. I found out these types of media have like a jewelers rouge in them and it will leave a coating on the cases. If this gets built up in the sizing die it can be very abrasive and scratch your cases.
I switched to a plain corn cob media and have not had any more scratching. I cleaned up my sizing die with JB.
Al