I would think neck turning is one of those things you do when you have meticulously loaded your ammo and worked up loads carefully and are looking for that extra .10 inch shrinkage in your groups. I have never done it and I have some rifles that willprints 1?2" groups at 100 yards. I suppose if I was looking to shoot out at 500 yards or so I might get anal about turning necks, but it doesn't seem to have any real world practical purpose for hunting big game at least.

Dead wrong. Some of the most accurate, yes benchrest winning guns don't have turned necks.

1) Case fit to chamber
2) Bullet fit to throat
3) Charge to charge variation
4) Bullet match to twist

Turning necks is a misnomer because all BR guys used to do it. Powder variation is also a misnomer because BR guys don't weigh. They don't weigh because high end measures are more accurate than a scale. They just add a click or remove a click. They also use heavy BR actions. Accuracy will suck before the action fails.

All of the above can and does have some effect to accurate reloading. I personally feel that the most important factor is consistency. If your not consistent from round to round you can load fairly accurate ammo, when you ensure that each round is the same as the last and the one before it then you have some consistently accurate handloads.

Guys... he stated a few posts ago that he was in fact meaning neck "trimming", not "turning". Man, what a difference a word makes lol. A rookie mistake, we have all done it. I have been reloading for two years now and am just now figuring out and understanding what a difference setting your sizing die up and down makes. I have come up with some pretty nice shooting loads, but am very excited now that I think that I pretty much know the basics of reloading real well now.

Still trying to get there.

Tom

Maybe I should rephrase that and just say that "I think that I understand the basics of reloading now" lol. I don't think that I will ever fully "have it all down" though. I have met an awful lot of people who are much older than I am and have been reloading for many many years that act as though they barely know what they are doing. Reloading is truly one of those hobbies that we do that is a lifelong commitment to learning. I myself am looking forward to it and meeting many more good people.

Why is trimming key to accuracy?

Ah, so! Trimming is a different proposition. Cases must be kept under the max. length in order to avoid a condition in which the bullet gets "stuck" in the case mouth on firing. This can cause high pressures! Cases should all be the same o/a length, as well. But how much effect cases of variable lengths has on accuracy I cannot say, since I've never experimented with this factor to find out.

Ok, I think there is some confusion here so I'm going to dummy this up in hopes of understanding this and for the sake of everyone else too.

The old guy, Steve, was using a tool that the case mouth fits into and has a cutter that cuts the outside of the case so that the thickness of the mouth is uniform all the way around.

He said that what he was doing, (Can't recall what he called it), is the most important reloading measure for accuracy. Though in honesty I think he was assuming I was doing most other things right or mostly right.

So what was he doing?

Is that the most important measure?

Just some background, this guy is a really good shot and has probably $100K in rifles and another $20k in reloading equipment. He used to shoot with guys like Sinclair and other big names. He actually just refers to them by their first names.

Tom

That would be case neck turning, which trims the case neck to the same thickness all the way around (if done right) to hopefully square up the bullet entering the chamber. At least that is the way that I understand it. This is not a procedure that I have yet done, as I am only reloading for my own hunting needs and do not shoot competitively.