Does this affect load development?

[Redlich]

hello reloaders, I actually have three questions, but the first is the one I'm most interested in.

In a couple months I am going to start developing a handload for my 300 win mag, once I have access to a range that allows its use (my current one doesn't). I want to develop this load "right", so to speak, as practice if nothing else. My question is this:

When developing a load for a specific rifle, is it acceptable to do development through the ladder test etc using full length resized cases, and then after settling on a load later switch to neck sized cases only? Or will the small change in the case volume/shape affect the performance to the point that further load tweaking or changing in POA will result?

I'm wondering because although I have about 100 or so brass for the 300 win mag right now, they're from 4 different manufacturers, so I was planning on just buying a bag of win brass and using it. But if you tell me that if I'm going to use neck sizing later then I have to start with neck sizing, then I suppose I'm going to need to learn how to fireform this stuff in my rifle.

As a secondary question, if I have to settle on one headstamp for brass for best consistency, is there anything useful I can do with small quantities of other manufacturers brass, like a buy back program or recycling of some kind? (aside from selling it used myself, I doubt anyone wants to buy and ship 20 rounds of once fired brass)

And my last question: is buying "once fired" brass with matching headstamps to the one I'm planning to use ever worth it? I assume that a fair amount of culling would be in order in some cases, and if I was scoring shots in a competition I probably wouldn't risk it, but for learning experience/shooting practice, is it a worthwhile way to save some money? I'm expecting disagreement on this issue, but I'm interested in the opinions.

I'm not planning on doing any competition with this rifle, but I do want to both reload and shoot it as a combined learning experience so I can do things right. Thanks for any responses!

Red

 

[rral22]

1. It is acceptable. Not optimal. Reloading is a science, and any scientific experimenting should control all variables. But your gun won't blow up.

2. The best practice is to have one type of brass. Anything else is not best. I use small lots (and I keep track of every Lot using my own records for times fired, times trimmed etc) for making small batches. Mostly I throw them out if there is less than a practical number of cases.

3. I won't buy once fired brass because I can never be sure that's what it is. I have bought used brass from friends, but I buy new so I am certain of the history. I know lots of people do buy it, but a new batch of 100 will last a long time. Why risk anything at all?

 

[ben hunchak]

I use all the same headstamp, but save the others in case i run across more of it or i want to trade/sell some. Your concern over load dev. vs. case sizing method is not a concern, enjoy your new hobby, but for just playing around a the range couldn't you have picked a cal. that doesn't kick/blast that much??

 

[jethunter]

What Ben said. You won't see any difference between the FL and Neck sized cases. BTW - best load i found in 3 different 300winmags used IMR4350 with 180 gr bullets.

 

[Redlich]

Thanks for the replies so far, I guess it's true that changing the resizing method isn't the biggest change but not as consistent either. Maybe I'll start with FL until I've used all the brass once, then switch over and get back to you all with a report on what kind of a difference it made

As for using the 300wm instead of a lighter cartridge, I decided on the 300 as a lighter kicking alternative to the 338wm to fill the "bigger than a 30-06" spot in my gun safe. When comparing the two rifles, my 26 inch barrel 10 pound 300wm setup is noticeably more comfortable to shoot than my 22 inch barrel 7.5 pound 30-06 setup. Aside from those two, I'll also be developing a load for 8x57 and 7mm-08, so it won't all be huge blast The difference is, however, that my 300 is the only rifle I have that has a heavy barrel contour, and I enjoy it. I will not use it for competition, but I would like to calculate bullet drop on it so that I can practice getting hits out to 600 yards with it, while keeping all the others mentioned at 300 or less. If I'm going hunting and walking around all day I'll choose a lighter rifle, but if I'm static (which I am about half the time) and expecting shots over 100 yards at elk/moose size game at the same time (which I am some of the time given where I hunt) then I'll use the 300 as a heavy, well designed rifle that is meant to be shot more than carried, and which I am more familiar with the bullet drop/drift characteristics of. Like I mentioned lots of people choose a 338 for this role but I chose something lighter since I'm not planning to use it on anything that can bite back. It may not be everyone's choice, but I did put some thought into it

Any further responses would be much appreciated on my three questions!

Thanks,
Red

 

[tigrr]

I would buy 100 or 200 pcs of the same brand of brass. Then when you find the ultimate load. Load them all up and shoot them all before reloading again. Or load them in batches of 50 and record how many times it has been loaded. That way you can control how many times the brass has been used. Its a method I've seen used over and over.

 

[Ganderite]

Is your rifle a bolt rifle? if so, neck sized is ok for hunting, but make sure you cycle all the hunting trip ammo through the mag and chamber. many of here can tell of screw ups on this issue.

With a lever, pump or semi, I suggest only FL sized brass for hunting.

As for the odd n ends brass. Load it up the same as the other ammo and use it for shooting sitting , standing and plinking for hunting practice.

 

[Redlich]

That's good advice Ganderite, I was assuming that I'd be using the exact same loads for bench/tripod as I would for shooting positions, as I was going to be doing both with this rifle (it's a bolt by the way), but I suppose using mixed headstamp wouldn't probably make a difference for field positions. I wasn't sure how much of a difference that would make exactly, nice to hear it's not enough to avoid such usage.

 

[22to45]

While perhaps you will work up a load for a rifle with one bullet, one powder, one primer, probably you will be like the rest of us and want to try a different bullet or powder or primer some time. Save your brass with different head stamps for that.

 

[Splatter]

You're experimenting, right? How about if you do the load development with your 'matched' brass, then transfer it to the other brass batches and tell us what happened?
I'm betting that the change you'll see will be pretty minimal.

22to45 has some good advise, and I use a similar idea myself. For one of my rifles, all my Lapua brass gets the same load, using match bullets, but my Lake City brass gets used for the hunting (soft point) ammo, because how much hunting-type ammo do you use in a year? a couple hundred rounds? How much match-type ammo? 1000+ rounds, right?