Case neck sorting - worth the tool/time?

[OutdoorAg]

Setting up my own bench with my own equipment, and trying to dial in how deep of a rabbit hole to drop down when it comes to sorting and measuring and weighting.

Case Necks. Lets talk about em.

All the rifles I currently own are no-turn chambers. However, I see some guys - like Panhandle Precision - will still run brass across a case neck sorting tool to check for a wide variance.

What say you Rokslide reloaders...do you take the time and own the tools to check case necks?

Tool example: https://www.sinclairintl.com/reload...inclair-case-neck-sorting-tool-prod36959.aspx

 

[brisket]

Just buy premium brass and skip that step

 

[OutdoorAg]

Just buy premium brass and skip that step

That’s not a bad idea. That said, I have at least one rifle where I’ve got a ton of factory ammo and I plan to reload the 1x shot brass. Might be nice to sort it into great and meh, but then yes - buy better brass for other guns.

 

[wind gypsy]

I have a tube micrometer to measure neck thickness but I bought it for checking thickness of necks after turning while forming brass for a wildcat cartridge.

The only thing it gets used for now is just to check neck thickness if ordering bushings for a new cartridge or to see how much neck thickness variance there is in each case to decide if I want to go through the extra step of mandrel expanding or not. I spec most chambers with plenty of clearance so my gut (which could be wrong) is that the most important thing to address is how inconsistent neck thickness could cause inconsistent neck tension or runout.

 

[N2TRKYS]

For hunting ammo, I don’t fool with that garbage. I full length size and go about my business.

Also, I don’t waste my time worrying about runout either.

 

[LookinforDirt]

No for case necks. To much time, expense, and effort for my needs. But, I just reload for accurate hunting ammo. I look for 1 MOA accuracy to be happy. If I get better than 1 moa great. But I’m not chasing after another quarter inch or less. I do sort brass by head stamp and preferably the same lot, trim to same length, verify case capacity by checking a handful of cases, form it to my chamber, and keep records of measurements and components used for load testing. Then I keep those things consistent when I make batch ammo. If i change a component then I’ll go test my “pet load” again with that change. I feel sticking to the the fundamentals of brass prep and doing them well can make for some very accurate ammo. Then to get more accuracy out of it you really start running into diminishing returns. Not that those returns are not valuable to the right person. But just not to me and my needs.

 

[potatojudge]

For hunting ammo under a few hundred yards, it'll make no difference. Out to 600 yards it's worth a skim turn, but only if the rest of your shooting and system is dialed in so that you could actually realize the improvement. Cheapest way is to pick up premium brass and not worry about it.
I accidentally got a gun with a neck turn chamber, and having done it I decided two things: it's some work and expense up front, and on the back end it's rewarding for those of us who get satisfaction from uniform, perfect boxes of ammo.

 

[OutdoorAg]

So if a guy isn’t going to measure necks, would it be worth running an expander mandrel to at least give a nice clean, consistent neck diam and tension for bullet seating? Maybe reduce run out, and then avoid any neck work all together?