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Posted: 3/4/2010 9:55:21 AM EDT
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I got some 308 ,169gr. HPBT bullets from a maker up north & I have never used of bought solid bullets before. I measured my 172 gr. & 150 gr. bullets & they measure .3075 (digital caliper + or - ) the solid copper measure .3055 . Is this the norm or is some thing not right ?
The test lot of twenty shot par with my 172's ,did have a few that were pushed into the case a little & failed to feed. I use only a taper crimp & have never had a problem . I 'm thinking ,not enough case retention . The solids have a canilure & I reloaded twenty more today and put the case mouth dead center of the canilure & taper crimped & it crimped some the case into the grove . Will try out this weekend . |
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Quoted: I got some 308 ,169gr. HPBT bullets from a maker up north & I have never used of bought solid bullets before. I measured my 172 gr. & 150 gr. bullets & they measure .3075 (digital caliper + or - ) the solid copper measure .3055 . Is this the norm or is some thing not right ? The test lot of twenty shot par with my 172's ,did have a few that were pushed into the case a little & failed to feed. I use only a taper crimp & have never had a problem . I 'm thinking ,not enough case retention . The solids have a canilure & I reloaded twenty more today and put the case mouth dead center of the canilure & taper crimped & it crimped some the case into the grove . Will try out this weekend . SOLID copper? Sounds expensive...are you sure they aren't frangables? |
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Quoted:
The tsx in224 that I loaded were a little smaller also. If your using a bushing die did you use the right one? You could try turning the expander down a little if your using one. But it sounds like your not getting enough neck tension. I'm using a carbide ball expander on my 308 RCBS die. I agree neck tension is probably why I had a few set them self's back . I am hoping the double crimping will help, just wonder about the increase in pressure. I dropped the charge down a grain , to compensate. I also made some up with a little more taper crimp ,which did show some case mouth was crimped into the canilure ,by measurements. Not sure if they are frangible ,I will ask my contact up there . I will also post some photo's this weekend. I'm not sure of the expense , I got 500 free to try. I also have 5.56 , but have not had time to try them out yet . I will measure them to see how they compare to other 5.56 's I have. As said ,they show good potential so far. |
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Try using the normal rcbs expander ball. chuck it up in s drill. Turn it down on fine sandpaper to get desired neck tension and put it in a bag marked accordingly when you are finished with it. That's a good Idea, I have extras . My main reason for asking about this type of bullet is because I have never used them . It doesn't sound like any ones sounding alarm bells about there dia.. |
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Went to range today & first round feed from open bolt ,set it self back . Well, A good double crimp did not help . I will take some measurements to see what this bullet needs to get more case tension.
Man I single fed them for a couple of rounds & they shoot real good @ 100 yds. ! |
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After some measuring ,I found my RCBS expander & the carbide ball expander have measurements of ,.3055 for the RCBS & .3060 for the carbide ball.
I took a measurement of one of the sized/expanded cases inside neck dimensions. & came up with some where around .297 +/-. I then took the carbide seizer ball off the decapper stem & sized a case & measured it to be .294 +/-. I then sized ,but not expanded some brass & seated some of the solid bullets, a couple of dummy rounds for function testing & they worked with out a problem . I will load some live rounds up for testing this week. This is pretty interesting to me . I have always just been able to but a bullet & load it to spec's . Just wonder if it will be worth it . |
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Quoted:
After some measuring ,I found my RCBS expander & the carbide ball expander have measurements of ,.3055 for the RCBS & .3060 for the carbide ball. I took a measurement of one of the sized/expanded cases inside neck dimensions. & came up with some where around .297 +/-. I then took the carbide seizer ball off the decapper stem & sized a case & measured it to be .294 +/-. I then sized ,but not expanded some brass & seated some of the solid bullets, a couple of dummy rounds for function testing & they worked with out a problem . I will load some live rounds up for testing this week. This is pretty interesting to me . I have always just been able to but a bullet & load it to spec's . Just wonder if it will be worth it . If you're shooting unknown bullets of suspect dimensions, then you need to ditch those bullets. I've loaded up the Barnes TSX 168gr HPBT copper bullets and but for their unusual (for me) driving bands on the bearing surface, they were pretty much plug and play. I loaded up 50 for a buddy in California, where one needs 100% copper bullets for hunting in the State parks (condors). Copper doesn't compress and hence they make the bullet with said 'driving bands' to reduce friction. You look at most rifle 'solids' whether they be copper, brass or whatever and they'll have the bands. Unless you have thousands of these bullets, I'd either single load them or ditch them entirely. Life's too short to be dicking around with undersized bullets. Chris |
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