Tidus56
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2018
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Okay so virgin brass, fire formed from your gun and then minimal bump. That makes sense. With mixed stamped, once fired how would you approach that with an AR how?
Frustrated...need help!
- Thread starter BoomFlop
- Start date
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What am I not understanding? I resized my brass too far, as I apparently made to large of an adjustment at a critical time. Based on my research/reading of my manual, I knew I was in a bad place for my knowledge. I am not comfortable jamming a bullet to fire form which is why I posted my question.
???
Steve
I use small-base .223Rem dies. I turn the die down 1/6th of a turn after the mouth of the die contacts the shell holder; gives me a slight bit of cam-over. I never get a problem with the bolt carrier not closing on the AR-type rifles in which the resized and reloaded ammo is fired. I manually deprime before I resize so as to not break the pin in my decapping die.
redneckdan
Well-Known Member
One firing with excessive head space wont usually seperate a case. Repeating that habit will. All depends how the tolerances stack.
Anecdotally speaking, pre '00 I saw more than a few cases in range brass barrels with incipient or fully separated case heads. All sorts of calibers, belted, flanged and rebated, magnum or otherwise. Reloading internet forums were not yet well developed and a lot of reloading information was gleaned from a few sources such as manuals. Wide spread peer to peer sharing of information was stymied by the lack of platforms.
Fast forward to the modern era and with a short google search anyone can find more than they ever cared to read about headspace, fire forming and bumping shoulders.
Nowadays I rarely find seperated or incipient case heads in brass buckets. At the range I go to there is one younger guy with a 300 win mag that full length resizes to cam over and gets separations in 3-4 firings. An older gentleman with a 308 buys really nice peterson brass, also cams over and tips the bottle way too hard. He gets separations in 2-3 firings. Other than those two, I havent found an overly stretched case in many years.
When it comes down to getting it to .002"-.003" shoulder bump, it will be very, very small adjustments to your sizing die when you get close. One way I was able to get a hang of it was by using shims that go under your locknut instead of making micro adjustments (Brownell's sells them). Keep lube off of the shoulder and when you pull your lever down to size your case, hold it at the bottom of the stroke for a second to get a good consistant sizing application. Always check your measurement without a primer. As you are sizing and checking your shoulder measurement, dont be surprised if it gets longer before it gets shorter. That will mean you're getting close, keep screwing it in slightly until it starts bumping the shoulder back a few thousandths.
I use an L. E. Wilson case comparator. I always get the head to be flat & flush with the groove on the head end; there is almost always a bit of the neck sticking out of the other end. I trim that off with a Lee Precision case trimmer and case-specific trimming mandrel.
There was a day when I did not have the comparator. I used a lot of bad language out in the desert when my reloads would not allow a full closure and lock-up of the bolt carrier. Good thing that just the tumbleweeds heard the things I said. My mama never taught me that language!
https://www.brownells.com/reloading...adspace-tools/wilson-case-gage-prod33287.aspx
59FLH
Well-Known Member
Like others have posted, FL size and de- prime your once fired brass according to the die MFG instructions.
Pick a start load from a reliable published source and follow it exactly, powder charge, seating depth etc.
Take your rifle to the range and shoot.
If your new to reloading, there is a learning curve as it is for us all, the vig is a few boxes of bullets, and a few pieces of brass.
I consider elevated powder charges above published maximum, shoulder bump, jump, and jamb advanced reloading. Your not there yet. Learn the basics and THEN move forward as your understanding and confidence increase.
59FLH
Well-Known Member
The Wilson case gauge measures length only it does not measure diameters.
The Hornady case gauge measures both length and diameter at SAAMI minimum.
This is exactly why belted cases got a bad rap.
59FLH
Well-Known Member
Boomflop, you have not messed up, you are just going to have to do it different this time. Adjust your die to the MFG's instructions, and run all your brass back through the die, shoot and start over. Or discard the brass and start over. Your choice, loosing sleep ain't worth it.
I would resize the brass.
59FLH
I can not resize them as they are already "too short". And fire-forming with a jam is definitely an advanced technique I'm not will to try.
As you said, I'm just going to start over with some new Starline brass. I do have about 40 pc of Remington brass that I am going to process (clean, decap, clean flash holes) so that I can learn my die seatings. I will have no intentions of loading these, but just practice with.
I am also thinking about getting the PMA Micro Die Adjuster for a better reference tool. We will see.
Thanks all!
Steve
I can not resize them as they are already "too short". And fire-forming with a jam is definitely an advanced technique I'm not will to try.
As you said, I'm just going to start over with some new Starline brass. I do have about 40 pc of Remington brass that I am going to process (clean, decap, clean flash holes) so that I can learn my die seatings. I will have no intentions of loading these, but just practice with.
I am also thinking about getting the PMA Micro Die Adjuster for a better reference tool. We will see.
Thanks all!
Steve
