A primer has enough energy to jam a bullet into the rifling. A good way to mess up your day. I would check for light primer strikes using just a primer (no bullet / powder) at the range, or elsewhere where it is legal to discharge a firearm.
reloading Super newbie here, looking for advice.
- Thread starter Rifter
- Start date
A primer has enough energy to jam a bullet into the rifling. A good way to mess up your day. I would check for light primer strikes using just a primer (no bullet / powder) at the range, or elsewhere where it is legal to discharge a firearm.
Read my post again. I wrote "without a bullet or powder..."
In that case,they're not exactly dummy rounds.
I've always used the die manufacturer's instruction when setting up the resizing die: bring the ram to the top of its stroke, screw the die down to touch the shellholder, bring the ram down, screw the die in about 1/8 to 1/4 turn, and tighten down the lock ring. I haven't had a problem with reloads being difficult to chamber.
Please do not do this. It is a dangerous and malfeasant suggestion. The projectile could Lodge in the bore and lead to an explosion if another projectile is fired after it. The only way to do this safely would be to use a previously fired primer. Many suggest using a small amount of pencil eraser in place of the primer in the dummies to ensure the firing pin is gently bounced.
Please pay attention to what I wrote. I specifically wrote "without a bullet..." so, in essence, a " primed case". The purpose is to make sure that headspace is properly set.
Of course, running a squip round through the chamber would be downright stupid. That is not what i suggested!!!
Sorry, I missed the "without a bullet". My bad. One of my many boners lately.
If it is primed with a live primer it is NOT a dummy round. Don't matter if there is nothing else in the cartridge. A proper dummy round does not require a primer to be present, just the opposite. A primer sits in the pocket, below the case head and has no other purpose other than holding in the powder and providing the initial charge to set off the gunpowder. The case should also have been full length resized for a semi or fire-formed in the rifle for a bolt gun. It should be measured and trimmed if necessary to length. It should have the shoulder set back about 1 to 2 thou for a bolt gun and 2 to 3 thou for a semi. The case should have a bullet in it seated to allow clear feeding with proper crimp or neck sizing to set the neck tension which sets the proper neck size. The bullet should be seated at the proper depth for your rifle with the ogive at the appropriate distance off the lands or at the proper OAL for your magazine.
EDIT ->>> The OP should read a reloading manual, or two or three. Every new reloader should start with a decent manual, THEN go out and start shopping around for a press.
Everyone here has great advice. So here's my part.
Before you start reloading spend some time reading a reloading manual. Buy a couple different books like Lyman or Lee etc.
Study the process carefully and cross reference from one to the other. Follow the steps carefully.
Never hurry when reloading. Thats when mistakes happen.
I also reload alone, so avoid having too many people around when you reload. You don't need any distractions. Like your buddies phone pinging every few seconds.
Some of the stuff on Youtube is fine to watch, but only reload to the specs. in your reloading manual.
I find reloading relaxing and fun.
Once you start you will get the reloading bug, just like everyone else.
Before you start reloading spend some time reading a reloading manual. Buy a couple different books like Lyman or Lee etc.
Study the process carefully and cross reference from one to the other. Follow the steps carefully.
Never hurry when reloading. Thats when mistakes happen.
I also reload alone, so avoid having too many people around when you reload. You don't need any distractions. Like your buddies phone pinging every few seconds.
Some of the stuff on Youtube is fine to watch, but only reload to the specs. in your reloading manual.
I find reloading relaxing and fun.
Once you start you will get the reloading bug, just like everyone else.
Ok so im setup and could theoretically start reloading .308 now. I have 2 different powders on hand and 4 different bullets, im going to start seeing what my rifle likes. But have a few questions.
Ive taken everyone's advice and read multiple reloading manuals, i am familiar with the process now. The issue im finding is there are many ways to do things so its almost a i have more questions than answers situation, and the factory manuals tend to have a different viewpoints vs books written by target/benchrest/high accuracy shooters from what i have noticed.
Im going to start off by saying what im after by reloading, in the hopes that will help you guys guide me in the right direction.
Im reloading strictly for cost and for only one gun currently a weatherby vanguard S2. High performance hunting ammo is not cheap. This will be my one hunting rifle not a range rifle, i intend to develop one all around hunting round for it crank out a bunch of them and practice practice practice in various field positions with this one single round, so when im in the field on a hunt i will know exactly how the rifle and round will perform there will be no doubt. I want to keep it simple stupid. Because cost is the biggest factor, brass life is also a priority for me. The only way to truly become proficient is to shoot alot and i intend to do that.
I have 100 once fired and cleaned/deprimed .308 brass ready to go, they were fired in my rifle that i intend to shoot them again in. I have done no sizing yet. I bought the Lee Ultimate dies which come with the neck size collet die. I know this is a very hot topic from reading multiple threads about it on various forums but..... should i neck size only, or FL size the brass? Reloading manuals say always FL size for the most part, but most advanced/accuracy oriented books tend to say neck size only, or neck size and bump shoulder back a very small amount(how much this"small amount" is seems to also be a hot topic).
For what its worth i can feed these once fired cases through my rifle, bolt is a very slight amount sticky compared to factory ammo but im talking ever so slightly as to be almost not noticeable.
I did FL size one piece of brass as per lees instructions just to see how it worked, screwing the die all the way down to shell holder and adding 1/4 turn following instructions exactly. It seemed to work the brass alot, i mean i lubed the case and it came out fine it just seems to me that this method is working the brass much more than is needed for fire formed cases. I obviously understand the need to do this to return it to specs if reloading for another gun or when using brass not fired in your gun, but for fire formed brass this seems overkill to me????? opinions??
Then there is the whole how to FL size discussion, ive read alot of people saying factory instructions do work the brass to hard and they setup there dies to do a "lighter" resizing, using many methods to define"lighter" from using feeler gauges to back off the dies specific amounts after measuring headspace or screwing the die into the shoulder of a fired case in the shell holder and then removing case and counting turns of the die to push back shoulders only slight amount. Opinions on this???
Then there is the scale situation, ive only got the lee safety scale, it is deadly accurate, i wanted it not to be so id have a reason to replace it but i tested it with some test weights i got from a buddy who works in a lab(these weights are accurate to .001 grains) and the lee scale is bang on accurate. But it is a pain to use, i mean its cheap it is what it is but user friendly it is not.
Im thinking of getting a real beam scale, one of the $100 dollar ones from RCBC or hornady, dillon, redding etc, they all have beam models in the $100 price range that seem to get good reviews. As well as a cheap less than $50 digital for weighing brass/bullets. I would use the beam only to weight powder charges. As long as i have a reliable beam to make sure the digital doesnt act up i dont see an issue with using a cheap digital for some tasks whats your guys opinions?
Ive taken everyone's advice and read multiple reloading manuals, i am familiar with the process now. The issue im finding is there are many ways to do things so its almost a i have more questions than answers situation, and the factory manuals tend to have a different viewpoints vs books written by target/benchrest/high accuracy shooters from what i have noticed.
Im going to start off by saying what im after by reloading, in the hopes that will help you guys guide me in the right direction.
Im reloading strictly for cost and for only one gun currently a weatherby vanguard S2. High performance hunting ammo is not cheap. This will be my one hunting rifle not a range rifle, i intend to develop one all around hunting round for it crank out a bunch of them and practice practice practice in various field positions with this one single round, so when im in the field on a hunt i will know exactly how the rifle and round will perform there will be no doubt. I want to keep it simple stupid. Because cost is the biggest factor, brass life is also a priority for me. The only way to truly become proficient is to shoot alot and i intend to do that.
I have 100 once fired and cleaned/deprimed .308 brass ready to go, they were fired in my rifle that i intend to shoot them again in. I have done no sizing yet. I bought the Lee Ultimate dies which come with the neck size collet die. I know this is a very hot topic from reading multiple threads about it on various forums but..... should i neck size only, or FL size the brass? Reloading manuals say always FL size for the most part, but most advanced/accuracy oriented books tend to say neck size only, or neck size and bump shoulder back a very small amount(how much this"small amount" is seems to also be a hot topic).
For what its worth i can feed these once fired cases through my rifle, bolt is a very slight amount sticky compared to factory ammo but im talking ever so slightly as to be almost not noticeable.
I did FL size one piece of brass as per lees instructions just to see how it worked, screwing the die all the way down to shell holder and adding 1/4 turn following instructions exactly. It seemed to work the brass alot, i mean i lubed the case and it came out fine it just seems to me that this method is working the brass much more than is needed for fire formed cases. I obviously understand the need to do this to return it to specs if reloading for another gun or when using brass not fired in your gun, but for fire formed brass this seems overkill to me????? opinions??
Then there is the whole how to FL size discussion, ive read alot of people saying factory instructions do work the brass to hard and they setup there dies to do a "lighter" resizing, using many methods to define"lighter" from using feeler gauges to back off the dies specific amounts after measuring headspace or screwing the die into the shoulder of a fired case in the shell holder and then removing case and counting turns of the die to push back shoulders only slight amount. Opinions on this???
Then there is the scale situation, ive only got the lee safety scale, it is deadly accurate, i wanted it not to be so id have a reason to replace it but i tested it with some test weights i got from a buddy who works in a lab(these weights are accurate to .001 grains) and the lee scale is bang on accurate. But it is a pain to use, i mean its cheap it is what it is but user friendly it is not.
Im thinking of getting a real beam scale, one of the $100 dollar ones from RCBC or hornady, dillon, redding etc, they all have beam models in the $100 price range that seem to get good reviews. As well as a cheap less than $50 digital for weighing brass/bullets. I would use the beam only to weight powder charges. As long as i have a reliable beam to make sure the digital doesnt act up i dont see an issue with using a cheap digital for some tasks whats your guys opinions?
OP:
It would be an interesting exercise to see just how much your FL sized cases are being worked. I have, in the past, measured the diameter of the body right where it meets the shoulder on some fired, unsized cases and compared that to some resized cases. I don't recall exactly what the difference in diameter was, but it on the order of thousandths....
Not having any headspace gauges at the time, that is about all I could reasonably measure.
It would be an interesting exercise to see just how much your FL sized cases are being worked. I have, in the past, measured the diameter of the body right where it meets the shoulder on some fired, unsized cases and compared that to some resized cases. I don't recall exactly what the difference in diameter was, but it on the order of thousandths....
Not having any headspace gauges at the time, that is about all I could reasonably measure.
Since your brass is once fired in your rifle, then you have the good fortune to neck size with the collet die - this is easy to do (no lube), and works your brass the least. After a few neck sizing sequences, the brass will be harder to chamber - then its time to trim and FL size.
You can approximate the same objective as neck sizing by partially resizing the brass with the FL die. No need for fancy gages or comparators to do this. Start with the FL die in the "full" position, then back out 1/6 of a turn (1 flat of the locknut), size a case. Chamber it to see if there is any interference. If not, repeat another 1/6 of a turn out. Continue backing out the die until you have slight interference in the chamber. Theoretically, this is the ideal setting, however, from a practical perspective you should screw the die back in 1/6 of a turn to give you some "margin", to accommodate natural sizing variation.
Record the final setting, based upon the number of turns the die has been screwed out from datum, so you can repeat the process next time. Use this method any time you need to use the FL die, as it minimizes the amount of case work through the firing cycles.
In my case, I make ammo for several rifles of the same caliber. I don't bother to neck size, as I would have to segregate brass for each rifle. To make "universal " ammo, I partially resize to meet the tightest chamber.
You can approximate the same objective as neck sizing by partially resizing the brass with the FL die. No need for fancy gages or comparators to do this. Start with the FL die in the "full" position, then back out 1/6 of a turn (1 flat of the locknut), size a case. Chamber it to see if there is any interference. If not, repeat another 1/6 of a turn out. Continue backing out the die until you have slight interference in the chamber. Theoretically, this is the ideal setting, however, from a practical perspective you should screw the die back in 1/6 of a turn to give you some "margin", to accommodate natural sizing variation.
Record the final setting, based upon the number of turns the die has been screwed out from datum, so you can repeat the process next time. Use this method any time you need to use the FL die, as it minimizes the amount of case work through the firing cycles.
In my case, I make ammo for several rifles of the same caliber. I don't bother to neck size, as I would have to segregate brass for each rifle. To make "universal " ammo, I partially resize to meet the tightest chamber.
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I started reloading a few years ago and .308 was my initial calibre. It is still my favorite to load and once I got started, very easy. I started by reading numerous reloading manuals and watching many you tubes. You will likely find that your rifle will 'like' a certain bullet, powder, case, COAL combo as I did, interesting process. Go slow, be careful/patient and you will be fine.
cdn1canhunt
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Careful how deep down the rabbit hole you go... the more you learn, the deeper the hole becomes. What I mean is that the level of precision or OCD, call it what you want... increases exponentially as you dig deeper into squeezing every last bit of performance from your loads.
Enjoy the process but don't become Alice.
Enjoy the process but don't become Alice.
I am quickly learning that this is indeed a real danger you can fall into.
