Armory Sponsor
Posted: 11/18/2008 4:10:16 PM EDT
|
Let me start off by saying that I have never reloaded. I'm going to try and get set up to do this sometime in the first half 09, but as of now, I do not. So I apologize if some of the terms I use are not correct, as I'm unsure of most the technical terms and procedures.
I have an old friend of the family that retired last year and is bored out of his mind. I do not have any questions of the skill or competence of this man. He has been reloading for 30+ yrs for many different calibers. He mostly shoots single shot or black powder for hunting game only, but loads .223, .308, 30-06, .45 and 9MM mostly. He has two RCBS single stage presses, weighs each cartridge and checks each cartridges OAL. I have complete faith in his reloads and his knowledge. I just wanted to get that in before someone says "never shoot anyone else's reloads". This gentleman has alot of experience in reloading, he's been doing it longer than I've been alive. I have alot of respect for the man. As all of his rifles are single shot or bolt action, he does not crimp-I believe this is the correct term for the method that helps prevent the bullet from setting back into the cartridge during feeding in auto loaders, sorry if I'm wrong. I had one bullet set back into the case and not feed in one of my AR-15's. This is the only failure I've had w/his loads after many thousands of rounds. So now I have 5-6K of his reloads that I'm afraid to shoot. I don't want to ask him to redo the loads or ask him to add that into his reloading procedures. I wouldn't think he would benefit from the extra time and effort in any of his guns. And the ammo only cost me some powder, so I hate not to use is w/the price of ammo these days. That and he's still got a few k for me he said yesterday. So my question: Is there any tool that I can buy where I can just do this by hand? I do not have a press or any reloading equipment and I don't want to bother him w/the extra task. Thanks for help in advance, and damn, sorry for the long drawn out post! ETA: The loads are just weak plinking rounds. They are a mix of 23-23.5 gr of BL-2, 55 FMJ, LC brass. |
|
Quoted:
No location in your avatar displayed, just "USA"... If I knew you was close by, I would run them all through a crimp die for you. Anywhere near west central Ohio / I-75 corridor ?? I'm near Denver, CO. But thank you very much, I appreciate the offer. And it looks like just buy the two lee pieces and I'm good to go. Thank you guys for your replies 
|
|
Just keep in mind that the setback in the AR's are generally from bad mags or not having the mag seated all the way.
Having shot many 100 k's of 223 through an AR, I've only had 2 setbacks, both from the same mag. Later found out that it had 1 bent lip (pushed down) from dropping on cement. I do not crimp ammo for either the AR or the M1a,, never have. 'Borg |
|
Quoted:
For about $25.00 you could purchase the Lee portable hand press and the Lee factory crimp die.This combo would apply the crimp you need for your ar15. Best, Don +1 I have been reloading .308 for several months and only put a small crimp on my rounds maybe .002 which by most people's standards is not much and have never had a setback in my M1A there are some that don't even crimp you can mark several in a mag and cycle them thru to see if you get any setback and go from there |
|
Bullet set back in semi-auto rifles is prevented by proper neck tension. Neck tension is set by sizing the cartridge neck properly. For semi-auto ARs tension is normally set at 0.003. This is the difference between the OD of the sized neck and the OD of the neck with the bullet inserted.
That being said, some sizing dies use a neck sizing button or mandrel that over-size the neck diameter so that it can be impossible to achieve 0.003 tension. When this is the case it is necessary to remove the sizing button or mandrel and to use a neck sizing collet in the die to set the neck OD to achieve the desired tension. Full length sizing dies with adjustable collets are available from multiple manufacturers. The danger in using a taper crimp die is that the cartridge can be over-crimped causing the bullet to have even less tension than before. This is because the crimp die can deform the bullet to a lesser OD while the brass springs back to a larger OD. I have taken the crimp die out of my press and have no problems with set back in my AR. |
Armory Sponsor