Flatning Primers and Blowing out Primers

[gdc]

BH- love to reload, then go pick on the p.d.s w/.204. I reload w a progressive, so the small dia. of the neck, I use ball pwdrs. have never just neck-sized, but to use a shim @ that location, to do so intriges me. Between shooting the .17HMR, .17m/2, .204, .223, the p.d.s have a hard time stayin alive. jc

[Gene]

Most die manufacturers instructions say to turn the sizer die down until it contacts the shell holder, and you are good to go. Sometimes, this will properly full length size your brass. The problem arises when it pushes the shoulder back too far; thus increasing headspace, allowing more space for the shell to move forward then back, on ignition.

Start with the sizer die turned up about two turns above the shell holder. Size, try the empty unprimed case in the rifle. If the bolt is difficult to put down, turn the die about 1/8th turn and try again. Keep doing this until you can feel the bolt go down easily about half way, then with just very slight resistance (thus the shoulder is just touching in the chamber) until the shell is fully chambered. At that point, lock down your die and you can F/L size forever. To neck size, keep the die at the same setting, and get a set of Skip Otto's shims from Sinclair, Put one or two of these under the die, and presto. . . .now you are sizing just the neck. Remove the shims, and you are ready to F/L size again.

[bowhunthard]

Originally Posted by gdc

BH- love to reload, then go pick on the p.d.s w/.204. I reload w a progressive, so the small dia. of the neck, I use ball pwdrs. have never just neck-sized, but to use a shim @ that location, to do so intriges me. Between shooting the .17HMR, .17m/2, .204, .223, the p.d.s have a hard time stayin alive. jc

It makes sense, that way you can neck size, and when the case gets hard to chamber you just take the shim out and bump the shoulder and body down. You can also vary the size of the shim as to how much of the neck you want sized. You might want a smaller shim for the .204 Ruger, as it doesn't have a long neck. Either way you do it, the die should be correctly set for the headspace on your particular rifle (it was noted how to do this without headspace measurement tools in the post above this one), which is why (other than my Redding neck dies) I have a separate sizer die for each particular rifle.

Good luck.

[Jinx-)]

Out of curiosity, where did you get your brass, was it fireformed to your chamber? If its not then you got a problem...

[Antonio Guerrero]

could there be a possiblility that your scale might be off, could also be a chance that in the past wrong type of powder got mixed with the one you are using. (change powder same type but a new can or lot ) check all the other alternatives you have been given from sizing , actual load, to seatting.
The closer the bullet is to the lands the more presure build up, also have you checked the neck thicknes of your cases and if you are crimping them long cases can cause excesive crimping and preassure.

[7 loader]

Originally Posted by boomtube

"That's funny, cause I could swear that I've read, on this site multiple times, the old ball powders aren't all that stable. Things like temp sensitive, etc."

I'm sure you did.

Questions: What constitues "old"? What constitues "temp sensitive"? And how much do the changes matter?

Old matters but I've used 50 year old WWII surplus ball and tubular powders (it's what Hodgedon got started in the business on) and it all worked fine, as well as some very "old" surplus ammo, so powders of all types must be fairly "stable" for longer than most of us will care.

ALL chemicals are "temp senstitive" to some degree, it's the nature of chemistry. But consider what you already know; the US military uses ball powder ammo in temps ranging from 110F+ in world deserts to -60 F in high altitude aircraft so at what temp does powder become sensitive enough to become dangerous to any of us?

Moral: Most of what you read about old or temp sensitive powders is over stated B.S. so maybe you need to listen to a better set of web experts?

I am no expert, but doesn't the maufacturer say to not store ammo with "ball powder in large temp extreams ie. hodgdon? And with my limited experence while in Desert Storm. The ammo we used was less than 10 yrs old because the older ammo had issues with the high variable temperatures in the desert inviroment. And the tubular powders You used were cordite. For those of us that have really fired that highly corrsive and UNSTABLE explosive we will never use it again. Thank you for your imput sir. But stop beeing a internet expert that has done it all. 90% Of your advice I have used to build the most accurate ammo I have used EVER. And thank god for you sir. But stop the other 10% please.