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Posted: 10/12/2013 7:07:09 PM EDT
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ok so I just started relaoding 308.
my first 50 rounds did very well. 175 SMKs in My REM 700 I loaded up some completely processed LC brass. After firing the rounds in my rifle, for shits and giggles I put them in my LE wilson gauge and they all gauged fine. chambered them in the rifle (empty brass) and went in and extracted fine. I even seated a couple SMKs to see if they would and sure enough they did without even neck sizing. So am I ok to load without even neck sizing as long as they are for the same rifle and I'm loading boat tails? I would think I have to at least neck size but if I don't I was thinking it would help the life of the brass?? any thoughts? |
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Quoted:
You'll find pretty good neck tension for some of the fired cases, and for others it will be nil. I've done the same exercise. Neck sizing at minimum is required in order to insure adequate neck tension, and for uniformity of neck tension in all of the cases. Ok, thanks for the confirmation. I was thinking I had to neck size at minimum, but never had a fired case that would hold a bullet before, thats why I asked. |
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For a bolt-action gun, neck sizing only is actually ideal, for top-notch accuracy in that particular rifle. That's why they make rifle die sets that only neck size. In theory your brass should last longer too, as it's now perfectly fire-formed to the chamber of the rifle and therefore won't have to stretch/flex much when fired.
Someone will probably throw in a comment about annealing here, but I don't know much about that. |
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Quoted:
... never had a fired case that would hold a bullet before, thats why I asked. I am puzzled by this. I came up with two possible issues. The necks sprang back a lot (rather than conforming to the chamber). This implies the brass is quite hard. Neck annealing may be needed or case life will likely be short. You have a tight-necked chamber and don't know it. IMO, this is bad ju-ju! If this is true, your brass did conform to the chamber, it's just that your chamber's neck is small. Neck turning may be needed to keep pressures safe, especially for LC brass which is sometimes very thick. Typically, I have been able to fire cases about three times before I need to size the body to allow chambering. Typically, the bullet slides into a fired case neck, even on my match rifles' chambers. |
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Quoted:
I am puzzled by this. I came up with two possible issues. The necks sprang back a lot (rather than conforming to the chamber). This implies the brass is quite hard. Neck annealing may be needed or case life will likely be short. You have a tight-necked chamber and don't know it. IMO, this is bad ju-ju! If this is true, your brass did conform to the chamber, it's just that your chamber's neck is small. Neck turning may be needed to keep pressures safe, especially for LC brass which is sometimes very thick. Typically, I have been able to fire cases about three times before I need to size the body to allow chambering. Typically, the bullet slides into a fired case neck, even on my match rifles' chambers. Quoted:
Quoted:
... never had a fired case that would hold a bullet before, thats why I asked. I am puzzled by this. I came up with two possible issues. The necks sprang back a lot (rather than conforming to the chamber). This implies the brass is quite hard. Neck annealing may be needed or case life will likely be short. You have a tight-necked chamber and don't know it. IMO, this is bad ju-ju! If this is true, your brass did conform to the chamber, it's just that your chamber's neck is small. Neck turning may be needed to keep pressures safe, especially for LC brass which is sometimes very thick. Typically, I have been able to fire cases about three times before I need to size the body to allow chambering. Typically, the bullet slides into a fired case neck, even on my match rifles' chambers. I am going to lean towards the brass. It only happened in a few rounds of Lake City Brass. It also only happened on LC loaded with H4895. None of the Win 748 loads I tried did this. All other cases, WIN, PPU, HP, factory or reloaded were not like this. Oddly enough, these were from my tightest 5 shot group of the day I think Ill put the few out that did this and put them in the "need to be annealed pile", or maybe just scrap them to be safe |
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