about to get started reloading

[doctnj]

Here is why we do it.

Last night when some of the stuff arrived I went to un boxing and carrying it downstairs. My daughter who has now seriously begun to shoot came up and started asking questions. I started telling her what all the stuff was for. She jumped in and helped carry it. Then she turned and asked if she could help me make bullets.

Thats a Mastercard moment.!!! screw halmark.

[doctnj]

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151106_192937.jpg

Got a few things in!!! At least enough to start to de prime the creedmoor.

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151106_204227.jpg

After just a few minutes the resizing fairy's showed up. They even caught on to reading the calipers to check their work.
Im renting them out every other week. Gotta love daughters.

[doctnj]

I do have a question though. When I was setting up the de priming / re sizing die. The shoulder started bulging and rounding out. Once I finally got it adjusted right it went away. I had tried to make adjustments and re run one casing multiple times and it started rounding out at the shoulder. Weird! I culled it of course. We were successful except for 3 shells to get the remaining 160 shells to match what we wanted down to the 1 thousandth.

[sixonetonoffun]

Thats awesome!

Mine will but they are 16 now. Hard to get time to do anything with em.

[sixonetonoffun]

Like LongeRange said just barely bump the shoulder .001-.002 is plenty.

[doctnj]

Im using my cheap brass, winchester, to learn on. I put the sizing die in initially till it touched the shell holder and backed out a full turn and ran my first case. Then kept advancing by a small increment and re running the same case till I could measure some movement. I was using some re loads I had gotten back from Chad and cross checked those lengths with Nosler Custom's and crossed referenced the Berger manual for length goal. Some where in that final adjustment I must have gone too far because when I put it back in the comparator the number went up; quite a bit! After inspecting the case, then entire sholder to the neck was rounded outward. Back and fourth a bit but it settled in nicely. That Co ax is a fine press. If my powder and bullets get here I can finish my first reload. P.s. the sierra reloading manual doesnt list 6.5 creedmoor. At least I couldnt find it.

[LongRange]

just an FYI...its easier to start with the die touching the shell holder and then back it out slowly to the spot you want it at...also keep in mind that different brass will size differently because of the thickness....domestic brass(winchester and remington)are thiner than lapua and nosler.
a few other things ive found with the 260 is that a trim length of 2.028 seems to be the sweet spot...2.025 gives me more erratic ESs and 2.030 gives me fliers every now and then and .003 neck tension has worked the best for me in every barrel ive shot.

here is the creed info outta the hornady book for 140g bullets.....

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/1446896599.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/1446896599.jpg.html)

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/1446896593.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/1446896593.jpg.html)

[doctnj]

I bumped them all back till the comparator read 1.632 which is what the loaded brass read. I found it in the berger book. by the way anyone need a berger manual. seems I purchased two.

Hopefully the bullets and powder come today but kinda doubt it. So Ill prob move on to depriming the 338 lapua brass. Ill get to see what good quality, big heavy brass feel like on the press. The wax was very effective but by the time I was finished it felt like everything on the work bench was coated!! note to self go get a rag.

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151017_150259.jpg

The girls on the serious side of it. This is why the interest in making the bullets. They love shooting them.

[doctnj]

One more observation. I got the Hornady caliper and am not so sure I like it. Seems like I have to constantly having to zero it and twist the case to get it to read the absolute minimal measurement. Its a little flaky. Yes I went a little cheap on this and may be going back for another one.

[doctnj]

Discovered that I need the LS case holder for 338 Lapua. Was thinking I would but waited to see.

Also on the bullet comparator for the same. Going to order the rcbs mic because I dont have the ability to machine the hornady and honestly dont trust any of the local machine shops (small town). I wil hold off the order to hear if there are other options. Its only money!

[doctnj]

Had to set the trimmer to 1.911 to get 1.910 which is the trim to length of creedmoor. I was also going to ask about that long range. You gave me your trim to length on 260 but the page for creedmoor. Did you mean to? I got the jist however. anyhow I thought you would like this picture. We just got back from cheer and they had to jump back in the process. Thank God I opted for nearly foolproof trimmer.

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151107_162526.jpg

[doctnj]

I completed my first round last night. A dummy round to check to see if indeed it fit the chamber. so far so good. The powder Ive selected is H4350 with 140 gr berger hybrid target. Going to start with a middle of the road charge and do some chrony testing. The bullet seat depth will be .001 less than the shortest measurement I recorded with the oal gauge that indicated touching the lands. That is also the reason for the lower powder charge because although Im relatively sure Im off the lands and my dummy round fed without noticeable friction, it will be close! Starting with everything .001 from touching; shoulder, neck, bullet. The Ill work back from there to see where accuracy drops off. This way all beginning measurements are solid and repeatable. Wont be doing much testing this weekend.

Its opening day!!! That is unless i drop one this morning.

[barrel-nut]

Good job Doc. Hunt safely this morning and good luck!

[LongRange]

Had to set the trimmer to 1.911 to get 1.910 which is the trim to length of creedmoor. I was also going to ask about that long range. You gave me your trim to length on 260 but the page for creedmoor. Did you mean to? I got the jist however. anyhow I thought you would like this picture. We just got back from cheer and they had to jump back in the process. Thank God I opted for nearly foolproof trimmer.

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151107_162526.jpg

doc sorry i missed this...yes because you asked about powder choices for the CM and said the sierra manual didnt list it and i think you asked about the 260 trim length as well?


I completed my first round last night. A dummy round to check to see if indeed it fit the chamber. so far so good. The powder Ive selected is H4350 with 140 gr berger hybrid target. Going to start with a middle of the road charge and do some chrony testing. The bullet seat depth will be .001 less than the shortest measurement I recorded with the oal gauge that indicated touching the lands. That is also the reason for the lower powder charge because although Im relatively sure Im off the lands and my dummy round fed without noticeable friction, it will be close! Starting with everything .001 from touching; shoulder, neck, bullet. The Ill work back from there to see where accuracy drops off. This way all beginning measurements are solid and repeatable. Wont be doing much testing this weekend.

Its opening day!!! That is unless i drop one this morning.

the hybrids seem to like a jump....035 off the lands is the sweet spot in my rifle...if i was you id shoot an OCW test with all bullets seated at .025 off the lands to find your charge weight then go out and shoot the best charge weight at .015 off and .035 off and that will tell you if the bullets want to be closer or farther off the lands.

now since ive been spending a LOT of your money(LOL)to make things easy and save yourself some time with range trips to test for seating depth...you can buy a hand held press or a wilson hand die and an arbor press that you can take to the range with you for the seating depth testing.
load your ammo at home with the bullets seated long...shoot a group then seat the next group .005 to .010 deeper and continue until you find the best depth.
when its nice outside i will prime several cases and take my digital scale,bullets,powder and my wilson hand die and arbor press and build ammo right where im shooting.

good luck today and keep us posted!

[doctnj]

Yes, I have an ultra sonic on the way to get the carbon out of the inside case and residue in the flash hole and primer pocked even though its de burred and uniformed etc there is still some buld up left behind. I was looking over Hornady's concentricity gauge but from the reports Im hearing with the average run outs with this die and press set up only averaging .002. I know I would be happy with that as max SD.

[LongRange]

Ive played with adjusting run out and it just makes things worse...with the equipment you have dont worry about run out.

[hafejd30]

Ive played with adjusting run out and it just makes things worse...with the equipment you have dont worry about run out.

I'll second. You bought the right equipment so you shouldn't need to worry about correcting runout.

[doctnj]

Good. I was thinking so but wanted another opinion. I saw where most on this set up got .002 or less.

[doctnj]

question.

This is hypothetical on the numbers but here it is. Why does say Nosler 140 gr match bullet say 42 gr is max load but Berger 140 gr says 40 is max load.
Is it solely because the bullet exits differently causing difference in pressure?

[sixonetonoffun]

Bearing surface and hardness of core and jackets. My 7mm load for 168gr vld is 2.5 grains less then my 162gr btsp load. The velocity is virtually the same. Of course seating depth comes into play there.