What is a best process for bullet press consistency?

bigHUN

bigHUN

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Aurora/ON
My focus is on single calibre only - Win 308 Lapua and Sierra 2155/2156.
Shot brass and outsourced for annealing with AMP.
So far what I see with a jewellery lupe inside brass neck walls are "longitudinal eroded" and not smooth.

I am after the most consistent press fit = neck tension on reusing a shot brass. I may also invest into a press force load cell down the road, tinkering about digital but will see after couple sleepovers.

I have invested in to a single platform LEE Wilson and not really inclined to mix with other Brands to keep the table cluster free.
This what I am tinkering with numbers:
- bullet OD 0.303
- brass resized with 0.332 bushing gave me
- brass neck ID 0.300 (press fit 0.003 with scratches in wall, seating a bullet feels inconsistent resistance - without a lube)

I feel it like I would need to use both a mandrel also a reamer to clean the neck ID ????

How shall I do it next time?
- resize with same bushing, push the mandrell for larger ID, and ream to 0.306, and resize again to 0.302?
- or, resize to larger OD, and ream to 0.306, and resize to 0.302 (this eliminates to mandrel?

How you guys doing it, what sequence, to get your 0.001-0.002 consistent pressfit = neck tension - but a neck ID clean and shiny wall?
 
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Curious why you are so stuck on inside reaming as opposed to outside neck turning? No disrespect....it is just more common...
 
bigHUN said:
My focus is on single calibre only - Win 308 Lapua and Sierra 2155/2156.
Shot brass and outsourced for annealing with AMP.
So far what I see with a jewellery lupe inside brass neck walls are "longitudinal eroded" and not smooth.

I am after the most consistent press fit = neck tension on reusing a shot brass. I may also invest into a press force load cell down the road, tinkering about digital but will see after couple sleepovers.

I have invested in to a single platform LEE Wilson and not really inclined to mix with other Brands to keep the table cluster free.
This what I am tinkering with numbers:
- bullet OD 0.303
- brass resized with 0.332 bushing gave me
- brass neck ID 0.300 (press fit 0.003 with scratches in wall, seating a bullet feels inconsistent resistance - without a lube)

I feel it like I would need to use both a mandrel also a reamer to clean the neck ID ????

How shall I do it next time?
- resize with same bushing, push the mandrell for larger ID, and ream to 0.306, and resize again to 0.302?
- or, resize to larger OD, and ream to 0.306, and resize to 0.302 (this eliminates to mandrel?

How you guys doing it, what sequence, to get your 0.001-0.002 consistent pressfit = neck tension - but a neck ID clean and shiny wall?
Click to expand...
It sounds like your neck tension is God. Forget about the loupe and what the brass looks like microscopically .Just shoot the rifle and analyze a number
of ten shot targets at 600 meters or so.
That will be far more helpful to sorting out issues. Oh. And concentrate on shooting in the wind
Cat
 
Dmay said:
Curious why you are so stuck on inside reaming as opposed to outside neck turning?...
Click to expand...
Because these are shot brass, not new shells to seize.

iron cat said:
... shoot the rifle and analyze a number of ten shot targets at 600 meters or so. That will be far more helpful to sorting out issues...
Click to expand...
This is my winter project = home work. I want to make the neck tension low force and consistent as much I can do in my basement.
I have only 200-300 M range with a heated cabin right next to it, at these distances not much to see. Sub zero these days waiting for first oportunity with weather.
600 M only when warms up somewhere in late April.
 
bigHUN said:
Because these are shot brass, not new shells to seize.


This is my winter project = home work. I want to make the neck tension low force and consistent as much I can do in my basement.
I have only 200-300 M range with a heated cabin right next to it, at these distances not much to see. Sub zero these days waiting for first oportunity with weather.
600 M only when warms up somewhere in late April.
Click to expand...
In that case shoot as much at 300 as you can . There is not much use in adjusting or changing things if you don't test on the targets .
Cat
 
bigHUN said:
Because these are shot brass, not new shells to seize.
Click to expand...
I presume you mean size?......
Anyway, the fact they are shot doesn't matter, you could still turn them. But carry on, seems you are a little too fixated on one small aspect without shooting to see any results.....
 
Dmay said:
....seems you are a little too fixated on one small aspect without shooting to see any results.....
Click to expand...
I shot them and big ES/SD with last load, so I just sit the new bullets last week (with incremental powder) for next batch to test, and I feel the difference when pulling the handle. Right now sub zero at my place, waiting for window anytime soon if any, with the temperature.
Thanks anyway.
 
You are at the point of diminishing returns, but hey, it's your brass and you can play with it all you want.
As far as neck turning goes I know some guys that do or at least just take the high point off, not totally change the complete wall thickness of the neck. Up until about 7-8 years ago most people didn't even anneal. Bullets were not sorted, just pulled out of the box and loaded. Brass was sorted to the same brand, no one weighed primers, and the best digital scale would get you to maybe within .1 gr of powder. Then along came F Class...(calm down F'ers I am not slagging you here, this time) with them came new reloading techniques because they turned "target rifle with a scope and bipod" into benchrest off the ground.

As you know there are many things that you can do to your brass, but at what point are you just wasting money, time and effort?
I do anneal every second loading. Trim to length every second time. I do weight sort brass to .5 gr batches. I dump every change with an RCBS Chargemaster but then reweigh every charge on an ACCU-Lab scale that weighs to .02 gr. before seating the bullet approx .020" off the lands with a Redding Competition seating die.

Things that I refuse to waste time on as I do not believe they will buy me a point for a week long Agg. I don't weigh primers, neck turn, uniform primer pockets, clean primer pockets ( unless they are really bad) lube necks before seating bullets, worry about seating pressure or what the inside of my brass looks like, rattle chicken bones in a sack or any other loading voodoo. We use ShotMarker electronic target that will tell you your velocity and SD at the target. My SD at the target at 1000 yards is less than 10 fps, so I think I am doing some things right.

You can spend all winter and most of the shooting season at your loading bench making every round exactly the same only to find out that when you miss a wind call that perfect round that you made just went into the 3 ring. On a wild windy day with heavy mirage you might be lucky to keep them all in the black.
 
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