Innovative Technologies Reloading Products?

gamehawker

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Does anyone use or have experience with the Innovative Technologies Reloading Products?

Their Digital Headspace Gauge and their Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die look interesting and possibly useful for my belted magnum reloads:

257 Weatherby Magnum

7mm STW
 
I have the Digital HeadSpace Guage but find it is difficult to use on wby cases. I can not get an accurate reading on them. It also is hard to get them standing perfectly up right to where you get identicle readings. I have not talked with him about the issues i am having with it, but when i bought it he assured me that if i did not like it or found it to be worthless he would refund my money.

Take what i have with a grain of salt, he tells me that no one has ever had a problem with it. I beg to differ, but i believe it is me not using it correctly, I wish there were better instructions.

His contact jig that contacts the shoulder of the case is designed for straight taper shoulders and not for the wby radiused shoulder.

Talk with him, he will spend time with you before you order to let you know about his systems. Customer service from him is very good, and he does not strike me as the person to put out junk.

I guess to sum it up there is a learning curve and im not sure it works well with a WBY shoulder. But as far as the build of it and construction it is great, sturdy and heavy which i like.
 
Does anyone use or have experience with the Innovative Technologies Reloading Products?

Their Digital Headspace Gauge and their Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die look interesting and possibly useful for my belted magnum reloads:

257 Weatherby Magnum

7mm STW

His belted magnum sizing die is simply the best that can be had by the average Joe. Not real keen on his headspace gauge, but he's on the right track with it. Just needs some refinements
gary
 
From the photo, I can't figure how his HS gauge could possibly be accurate/repeatable. It appears to have the indicator off to the side. But, maybe I'm not looking at it correctly.

Either way, headspace doesn't have to be a particular precise value. It simply needs to be within a couple of thousandths and remain consistent. Once your dies are set and your load is good, it should remain consistent until something changes.

The Hornady/Sinclair comparators are a good value.

If you're a benchrest shooter and weigh/sort/measure everything, then perhaps you need something like the Redding instant indicator or RCBS case mic. I neck size mine until it's time to bump the shoulder.

JMO
-- richard
 
A 2 piece system that screws together, bumping the shoulder on one end and the case base on the other, then measure the over all length of the gage would work.
He has no way to hold the measuring platform parallel to the base.
 
It needs a way of holding the case centered beneath the gague. A pin the same diamiter as the Flash hole would work great, and making the indicator to where it can only go up and down, not twist side to side.
 
It needs a way of holding the case centered beneath the gague. A pin the same diamiter as the Flash hole would work great, and making the indicator to where it can only go up and down, not twist side to side.

Agreed.

I'm in the process of sorting several boxes of used 7mm Wby ammo using this as a measurement device. It's a mixed bag from the three rifles we own and while it's easy to use and decide which rounds came from which rifle, you can definitely get variation by wiggling the bottom of the case just a bit. Not enough to mix up the brass, but enough you wonder how you could arrive at "one" value for the headspace pre- and post-sizing.
 
When i had my 338-378 wby i was bumping the neck 1.5 thou, so the bolt was hard to close. It was at best a guess as to what i had. It needs work, Unless he can give me a fix for it I may end up adding the spike i was taking about.
 
I have the Digital Headspace Gauge and, while it seems to work, I've yet to get a repeatable measurement. So, in this respect, it is similar to some of the other, (easier to use) devices. I've used this unit, a handmade gauge and a Sinclair OAL gauge along with Hornady bullet comparator. The latter combination works best for me but, just my opinion. I've not given up on the Innovative Technologies gauge because I really like the concept.
 
I don't own one, never will, but have seen it used and have to agree with the other posters', it does not give accurate repeatable readings.
A far better device is the RCBS Precision Mic, simple to use and repeatable. It will work with Weatherby radiused shoulders once you get the technique down.

The collet die is a waste of time, UNLESS you're getting excessive case bulges where the web meets the case wall, this only happens if you FL size back to SAAMI specs, if you partial FL size by bumping the shoulder back only .002" you will never have this problem.

(BTW, I have never seen this case bulging in a properly headspaced barrel, which must be held to .220" for proper functioning, no more, no less!)

gun)
 
From the photo, I can't figure how his HS gauge could possibly be accurate/repeatable. It appears to have the indicator off to the side. But, maybe I'm not looking at it correctly.

Either way, headspace doesn't have to be a particular precise value. It simply needs to be within a couple of thousandths and remain consistent. Once your dies are set and your load is good, it should remain consistent until something changes.

The Hornady/Sinclair comparators are a good value.

If you're a benchrest shooter and weigh/sort/measure everything, then perhaps you need something like the Redding instant indicator or RCBS case mic. I neck size mine until it's time to bump the shoulder.

JMO
-- richard

exactly right as there will be too much lateral stem movement in the indicator. But there are a couple simple fixes to make it much better, and would have maybe added $15 to the price tag.
gary
 
most all of us do not think in centerlines when we are trying to make a good case. An imaginary centerline right thru the center of the case is your true gauge line that will never change. Then you cbase everything off that line. The shoulder to base should be based off a gauge line (books like to call it a datum line, but that is incorrect in precision measuring). There are specs that call out a diameter for the gauge line point at the shoulder, or you can simply develop your own diameter and use it. I prefer to split the difference between the neck O.D. and shoulder O.D. Finding the correct headspace number with that method is not hard to do, and you really don't need any serious measuring tools. Just a good digital caliper and the correct bushing for the shoulder is all you really need.

The folks here that happen to own their own chamber reamer may even have a print showing the gauge line data on it. That's a good start, but after that your at the mercy of the gunsmith's chambering job. If a go gauge headspaces in your chamber about right then your home free, but if not you got a place to start anyway.

Don't let the issue beat you up, cause it just ain't that hard to do.
gary
 
most all of us do not think in centerlines when we are trying to make a good case. An imaginary centerline right thru the center of the case is your true gauge line that will never change. Then you cbase everything off that line. The shoulder to base should be based off a gauge line (books like to call it a datum line, but that is incorrect in precision measuring). There are specs that call out a diameter for the gauge line point at the shoulder, or you can simply develop your own diameter and use it. I prefer to split the difference between the neck O.D. and shoulder O.D. Finding the correct headspace number with that method is not hard to do, and you really don't need any serious measuring tools. Just a good digital caliper and the correct bushing for the shoulder is all you really need.

The folks here that happen to own their own chamber reamer may even have a print showing the gauge line data on it. That's a good start, but after that your at the mercy of the gunsmith's chambering job. If a go gauge headspaces in your chamber about right then your home free, but if not you got a place to start anyway.

Don't let the issue beat you up, cause it just ain't that hard to do.
gary

...never mind the fact that the case head to body aren't perfectly square on virgin brass and you may be dealing with banana cases to a small degree even after firing in the perfect chamber due to uneven case wall thickness, all of which assumes your chamber and bolt face are true and concentric to begin with as you pointed out.

I think I'll stick with the HNL comparator to get a workable setting for my dies and then spot check just every now and then to be sure there hasn't been any meaningful drift.

One option might be to use your reamer to make a die which could sit neck down on a flat base and then use a flat/square ground disk on top of the case head to measure with an indcator. That might mitigate the effects of the ellusive centerline much like your Wilson seater doesn't have to be dead center under the arbor press. ...a simpler, home made version of the the Redding Instant Indicator. But, you don't fire your ammo in a die or in a Redding indicator. You fire it in a chamber made from a particular reamer as you pointed out.

It really comes down to what you want to accomplish. If you're out for speed/efficiency, then indicators are faster/easier for me than calipers and mics. But, I don't check HS on every case.

If you only want to be within a thou, then calipers are pretty easy to spot check.

If you want to go to tenths, then I suspect you need to reasses not only the measuring apparatus and technique, but the general behavior of brass (temperature, spring back, settling, work hardening, etc) as well as your process for sizing and staying within your desired tolerance which may or may not have a bearing on precision shooting.

-- richard
 
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