New brass prep?

[shaffe48]

I think I'm leaning more towards lapua or peterson. If I get 10 loading per brass, i still reload for half of factory $ and maybe go from about 1 moa with factory to much less. Or at least have less flyers. Having more consistent brass can't hurt on that process.

Already picked up some 4064, cci 200, and Redding dies.

 

[Addicting]

Weight sorting brass for hunting loads equals waste of time. mtmuley

I have the time today and I’m sorting bullet weight too! Actually, I was reading the post about RL 16 and I had a load that was good and 100fps faster than H4350 but would always end up with a flyer in a group of 5. Now that I’ve switch led to a digital scale, I’m wondering if it was a combo of inconsistency I loaded. I’m shooting SPS Seconds and am finding .8gn difference in the bullets, and the 20gns case, and my powder was to the nearest .1 on a balance scale. Makes me think it’s more my quality control than the RL16 I used. Anyway season is almost over and it’s too soon for tag applicantions. So this passes the time..

 

[mtmuley]

I have the time today and I’m sorting bullet weight too! Actually, I was reading the post about RL 16 and I had a load that was good and 100fps faster than H4350 but would always end up with a flyer in a group of 5. Now that I’ve switch led to a digital scale, I’m wondering if it was a combo of inconsistency I loaded. I’m shooting SPS Seconds and am finding .8gn difference in the bullets, and the 20gns case, and my powder was to the nearest .1 on a balance scale. Makes me think it’s more my quality control than the RL16 I used. Anyway season is almost over and it’s too soon for tag applicantions. So this passes the time..

Understood. In time I've given up on some of the steps I decided weren't worth the time spent. Good shooting. mtmuley

 

[Addicting]

Done sorting SPS 160g Accubond seconds groups are by .1 with the largest strip 160.0 to 160.09

 

[shaffe48]

Actually, I was reading the post about RL 16 and I had a load that was good and 100fps faster than H4350 but would always end up with a flyer

Did you say you were using this in 7mm 08 also?

Sadly don't think either of these work well in .308. My top contenders were varget, 4064, and rl15. 4064 seemed to be the best compromise between velocity and temp sensitivity listed for my bullets so that's what I got.

 

[Addicting]

I tested RL16 in my 6.5 Creedmoor before I switched to H4350. The stuff above is for a 7mm mag I’m working on.

 

[ImBillT]

Weight sorting brass for hunting loads equals waste of time. mtmuley

I agree if that’s all you’re doing, but I’ve retired a batch of match brass with a couple shots of life left and used it in huntingguns. I’ve also skimmed 20pcs off the high or low side of a batch of match brass after weight sorting. Brass weights tend to somewhat fit a bell curve. The ends aren’t as useful for matches anyway, but even they result in better uniformity than if the whole batch were mixed together.

 

[shaffe48]

So due to my leftovers from back when I reloaded .300 win and my purchase of one more box of bullets, I was able to compare five different .30 cal bullets, four in 180 and one in 150. I was using the scale on a Lyman dispenser, so no doubt less accurate then your rig. But I could tell that only one bullet stuck out (the Federal Trophy bonded tip) which had a higher weight deviation than the others. However, even this had an extreme spread of less than one grain. While it was at first surprising how close these weights are, I suppose that weight is an easy thing for the factory to detect and control.

Ballistic Tip, 180: Average 179.98, SD .15, ES .6
SST, 180: Average 179.89, SD .15, ES .7
Accubond, 180: Average 180.13, SD .15, ES .8
Trophy Bonded Tip, 180: Average 180.46, SD .27, ES .9
SST, 150: Average 149.92, SD .17, ES .7

 

[shaffe48]

If you’re looking to get maximum results, yes you would need to be using once fired brass. Your pressure and velocity, as well as the amount of powder required to get there will change very slightly from new brass to fired brass whose dimensions now match your chamber. To get maximum velocity, or to stay on an accuracy node you would need to make a slight adjustment.

Now there are many competitive shooters that will shoot new brass in a match rather than waste bullets, barrel life and brass life just shooting to form the brass to their chamber dimensions. Those shooters however are using customs chambered barrels that were chambered with reamers designed to cut a chamber to fit Lapua brass. They are one of the few companies that consistent. In that case, their brass doesn’t change dimension from new to the subsequent firing. Thise reamers usually use either a tight-neck, or a no-turn neck. Either way it’s a very good fit on the neck that keeps the cartridge well centered even using new brass. Those shooters also shoot numerous barrels chambered with the same reamer, and they already have great loads figured out that work with that barrel length, contour, and reamer. This allows even guys shooting AI’s, Shehanes, BRXs, and PPCs to shoot great even when fireforming to a wildcat cartridge. You’d be hard pressed to get match grade accuracy just picking a random load and using random brass fired through a SAAMI spec chamber.

Would the difference be enough to worry about for hunting? I doubt it, but I don’t know. I usually use 20 pcs of brass for a hunting rig, so if I’m not using brass from a match gun in the same cartridge, then I sight-in and work toward a hot charge on the first firing. I can fiddle with seating depth if I’m using VLDs and am getting poor results. That’s an 18 shot process that doesn’t require your finished powder charge, and you can get on paper with two, and work toward the center between three shot groups. If for some reason I’m sighted in quickly and have an idea where I’m going with load, I can practice shooting off-hand. I finish out my kid developement with once fired brass, and then I just keep those 20 cases loaded at all times. If I shoot 5 at the range, I reload them before I head out. If I shoot 2-3 on a hunt I reload then when I get home.

So here's what I am seeing:

I decided to once fire my brass since I had old powder, primers, and bullets anyways (I decided to use new Lapua for brass).

Before I noticed that the factory loads were only about .003 inches at the shoulder than the fired loads.

Now I notice that the full sized brass is actually longer than the fired brass. So it's clear that the full length sizing is just pushing the brass from the sides upwards but also that my shoulder is very close to the chamber anyways.

So what should I do? Should I full length resize? Or should I buy a neck only sizer for this case?

Thanks.

 

[shaffe48]

So I'm using the hornady headspace bushing on my caliper. With several different kinds of brass and load, I am seeing my fired brass at about 1 616/1000 across the board. I have two factory loads that shot well out of my gun. With hornady factory superformance 150 gr sst I get just about the exact same thing for loaded factory cases with a little more variance. With federal 180 gr trophy bonded tip I get about .004 shorter or 1 612/1000.

This is why I'm wondering whether it would make sense just to full length with my dies. However, this appears to push the case too long such that I am jamming the case into the chamber by 1 or 2 thousandths. So should I just neck resize?