Questions about brass consistency.

[maninthemaze]

Ok, I've got a few questions about brass. I've got all my brass annealed, full length sized with a .002 shoulder bump and neck turned to .014. I'm currently measuring them so I can trim to length. And here lies my conundrum. My Nosler reloading manual says that they should measure 2.100. Out of the 127 pieces of brass I'm working with, 59 of them are long (which is fine) and 23 are within .001 of the 2.100 needed. However, 45 of them are short. The shortest one measuring 2.089. When I measure them with my head space comparator all 127 are within .001 of each other.

So what do I do with the short ones? Load and shoot them again until they stretch enough to measure the 2.100 they are supposed to be?

I'm sure this is all my fault. I had previously just mixed all my brass together. All the once and twice fired brass got mixed in with new brass. I though, hell, it's just brass. But the accuracy bug bit me and now I'm wanting to wring everything I can get out of my rifle accuracy wise. I'm hoping the increased accuracy will help my down range confidence, hopefully stretching that range.

Thanks for any advice given

 

[tbrice23]

Here's what I do, after the 2nd firing those 'stragglers ' will get grouped by themselves for foulers or sighters.

I like long necks, so I'm not going to trim the good 90% just to match the shorties.


Also , I know that reloading manuals have suggested (SAMMI) trim lengths (for safety reasons ) but most factory chambers are MUCH longer than that. The worst I've seen was .050" longer than SAMMI.

I take a fired and PROPERLY FULL LENGTH SIZED case and cut 1/2 of the neck off then seat a bullet in the case,
take the cut off piece and and ream it till it has only .0005 to .001" neck tention then slide it on to the bullet ogive.

Chamber the round and measure, repeat till you get a consistent measurement. Thats your max chamber length.

Once I have this measurement I'll 'grow' them. I always trim to 15 or 20 thousands shorter than max chamber

 

[rcoody]

I too like long necks and don't trim till they are approaching max

that said there is an overall case length and a trim to length on a cartridge. That gives you a range of trim length. you didn't say what cartridge this is so I couldn't check. If you look in your reloading manual do you see a trim to length?

I like them all to be the same length and trim a whole batch at the same time. I have been know to throw any that got trimmed short away. But that is just my bad temper showing. For most shooters they would never know the difference.

 

[maninthemaze]

Thank you for the help. I will definitely load and shoot the short ones again before I trim any of the others. My only concern is the neck thickness. Now that I've turned them to .014 they might get thinner as they stretch in length? And the cartridge is a 7WSM which is why I'm reluctant to just start chucking them in the trash.

I will definitely use your trick and find out what my max case length is. It might be fairly long since the gunsmith supposedly throated it for the longer Berger bullets, whatever that means. It's built on a Stiller Tac 300 long action, so I have plenty of room in the mag well.

This is probably just another reason I should buy Norma 300wsm brass and neck down.

Thanks again!!!!

 

[tbrice23]

Thank you for the help. I will definitely load and shoot the short ones again before I trim any of the others. My only concern is the neck thickness. Now that I've turned them to .014 they might get thinner as they stretch in length? And the cartridge is a 7WSM which is why I'm reluctant to just start chucking them in the trash.

I will definitely use your trick and find out what my max case length is. It might be fairly long since the gunsmith supposedly throated it for the longer Berger bullets, whatever that means. It's built on a Stiller Tac 300 long action, so I have plenty of room in the mag well.

This is probably just another reason I should buy Norma 300wsm brass and neck down.

Thanks again!!!!

Your necks will NOT get any thinner ,ever.

 

[tbrice23]

Your gunsmiths throat reamer will not affect your max chamber length .

 

[maninthemaze]

Thanks tbrice23 I wasn't sure about the brass necks or the throat reamer.