Brass Preparation And Management By John W. Lewis

[Alycidon]

Differences are normally slight yes but once that have used a rifle that repeatedly shoots ragged one hole or cloverleaf groups mentally there is no going back. You know if you miss one with that rifle its down to you not the rifle or cartridge.

As a matter of interest my new 20BR has some very tight clearances even in my book but it shot every load over 3 .5 gr (28.0-31.5x N150) spread into one .7 group at 100 yards. That rifle uses Lapua brass fully prepped and then some. These tight clearances mean extra time spent checking and measuring each case after tumbling but it shoots in the .2s and .3s just off a Shooting Bag. For my vermin shooting with it I am now tending to just drop my powder loads.

A

[Michaeljcanoe]

I did read Mr. Lewis's article recently. But something on a related subject. My .17 Rem (standard neck) recently began putting bullets out there that weren't reaching the 100 yard target. (Berger 30 grainers with 25 grains of Varget). I checked for case length and for a burr to no avail. Gave it a good scrubbing and then shot at the 25 yard backer to find the smudges of a bullet coming apart (velocity has always averaged 3930 at the muzzle). The only thing I could realistically think of was extreme velocity causing destruction due to rotational velocity.

Walt Berger questioned the brass. Then I got to thinking...I have loaded this brass many, many times and shot them relatively hot, never needing to trim. My experiences have been that this small brass just does not show brass wear. Began to suspect brass flow to the neck where it might be accumulating , the thickening causing a tight-neck condition.

So threw those cases away and reloaded with virgin brass. Presto! Problem solved!

This rifle/load combo has taken around 800 coyotes over the years and a bullet not even reaching the critter might be thought to be a miss. But checking things out on paper occasionally will save the anguish of a certain kill being lost. Montana Mike