Let your rifle or pistol BE your GAUGE!

[Adam Helmer]

For decades, I only load for a rifle when I have that SPECIFIC rifle at the bench to set my resizing die. Some folks post about this or that specific cartridge gauge by Wilson, or some such company. Why not let your specific rifle BE the ONLY important gauge for your reloads? After reloading all the cases for THAT arm, be sure to LABEL the ammo for that rifle. It is really so simple.

For years I have reloaded .45 ACP cases with the Lyman #452460 200 grain cast SWC bullet. OLD NRA .45 reloading data allowed for a slight Roll Crimp on the .45 ACP and now it is the rage to Taper Crimp, ONLY. For 50 years I have Roll Crimped my 200 grain SWC cast loads without a stutter. My cartridge Overall length is 29.8MM as Determined by my pistol barrel. The old data said to go easy on the Roll Crimp and try reloaded cases in the breech of the barrel taken out of the pistol reloaded for. IF the seated and crimped cartridge was LEVEL with or just below the end of the barrel hood, ALL WAS WELL! For half a century, all my .45 reloads have passed the "hood test". I won two state championships and shot many PPC matches without a stutter. I still do not have a cartridge gauge since I have the guns I reload for. Whatever.

Adam

[skeet]

Well that all works for that rifle handgun whatever. But may not for other firearms of the same caliber. A case in point.. a friend loaded a bunch(over 1000 rounds) of 308 and made sure they worked in the 308 he had available. He got another rifle for his son in 308 and 3 out of 10 would chamber. PITA to pull 'em all down and resize 'em. Speaking of which. Part of the reason was he had a bit of a large chamber in his original rifle. Also he used the same shellholder to load for a 243 he had..only about a hundred rounds. First 10 fit so he loaded 'em all. He had 17 that would chamber. I got the shellholder and took .007 off the top. With nothing changed on the dies...every round chambered after resizing. I let him use a Wilson gauge I got somewhere and most were long in headspace before resizing. I also ran into another problem with some Winchester bulk bullets in 30 cal not long ago. About 40% were .3115 in diameter and would not chamber in a Armalite AR-10. After contacting Winchester they replaced them...but it was another PITA. I'm not a big fan of these AR types but that Armalite is very accurate as is a Bushmaster Varminter AR-15 I have. Just checked the zero on it as the varmint season is starting now..Bounty on yotes and then you can sell the hides. This problem only crops up if you have multiple rifles in each caliber. I also use a very slight roll crimp on my 45's. Works for me too...but I use the 200 gr H&G Number 68 bullet. I do taper crimp jacketed 45s...when I happen to load them.

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

I thought I was clear; ALL careful resizing is for ONE specific rifle and the ammo box so LABELED. NO, I do not Over-Work my brass in resizing to FIT ALL rifles of that caliber in the World! Your example of a guy who found out his reloads did NOT work in other similar caliber guns needs a brain transplant or he needs to buy ONLY Factory Ammo.

A factory cartridge die ONLY gives factory specs and NOT Individual rile specs. I reload for my specific arms and label ALL Ammo so. Further, before going hunting I go out back to the bench and "RUN" all hunting loads through the rifle intended to fire those specific rounds. Any hard to chamber are used for target practice. Your buddy should have done the same BEFORE he loaded a thousand rounds. Whatever.

Adam

[skeet]

skeet,

I thought I was clear; ALL careful resizing is for ONE specific rifle and the ammo box so LABELED. NO, I do not Over-Work my brass in resizing to FIT ALL rifles of that caliber in the World! Your example of a guy who found out his reloads did NOT work in other similar caliber guns needs a brain transplant or he needs to buy ONLY Factory Ammo.

Your buddy should have done the same BEFORE he loaded a thousand rounds. Whatever.

Adam

Sorry my friend I thought I made it clear he was loading with full length sized cases. He just used a rifle he had at the time to check fit. He was loading a large batch. He loads many large batches of other ammo and never had a problem with any before. He loaded a large lot of 44 ammo for me in the past. Only metallic ammo other than my own I will shoot. He is one of the most meticulous reloaders I happen to know. Turns out he had 2 things that worked against him. The dies(RCBS) were of absolute minimum dimensions and the shellholder was much too thick. Both were corrected and his 308s fit more than 8 rifles he has checked them in. A brain transplant Adam?? A little over the top...even for you ...since you don't know the fellow.

[Jack]

IMO, if you reload long enough, and for enough cartridges, you'll run into an issue like is described above. Maybe that's part of what makes reloading so interesting.
I have long tried not to have more than one firearm of the same caliber. For one, that makes fitting your reloads to a specific firearm easier.
Besides, it's always fun to work up a new caliber- if you don't fight it, you often learn something. :)

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

I reread your post (#2) and did not see where the fellow loading 1,000 rounds Full Length resized the 1,000 cases. It sounds like he was only partially resizing as he checked them in ONE .308. Why was that needed if he truly full length resized ALL cases? Not to put too fine of a point on this matter, but it seems he was not Full Length resizing anything.

My original point was that I reload for Each SPECIFIC rifle and handgun and label each box of reloads accordingly. I assume, and in some cases know, my reloads for one rifle of a certain caliber will not go in a rifle of similar caliber, hence the LABEL on each ammo box. I do not overwork my brass.

Be well.

Adam

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

Sorry if I offended you. I reread your post #2 and see nothing to indicate your friend loading 1,000 rounds Full Length resized the cases. His "checking the reloads in a .308" seems to me like he was only partially resizing the ammo. When I full length resize any rifle caliber, I never have a "need to check the ammo for fit." In my opinion the brass is overworked, but it will fit any rifle of that caliber on earth.

P.S. Sorry for the double post; my computer "froze up" and it indicated the prior post did not register.

Be well.

Adam

[Brithunter]

Problem is tolerances in chamber and amunition and it will happen at some pont that a chamber is cut with the reamer on the minimum and it will cause issues in reloading. Had this on a Century Arms P-14 sporter the new barrel they fitted is generous in the bore and grooves but minimum in the chamber. new factory ammo was fine but unles the cases came out of thet rifle they could not be resized to fit it. Another Century Arms P-14 sporter bought at the same time was fine and shot well at 600 yards on Bisleys Century range.

We tried 5 different dies sets of different makes and NONE would size cases down to chamber. As at that time I had 8 303 rifles keeping brass segregated was not really something that I wished to try and do so had the rifle rechambered to 303IMP.

Most of my 303's were sporting rifles and not milsurps and most had commercial production barrels on them.

It seems that many never give any thought to production tolerances and assume that guns and dies are all made exactly the same and there in lies the problem.

Another example of how this can lead to problems is my BSA 270 Winchester rifles of which I own 4 of different models and ages. The latest or youngest one is a 84 vintage CF2 model Stutzen with 20" barrel and full stock. This ones hammer forged barrel is tight especially when compared to the others and this causes higher pressures than the others as I discovered on the range one day when it blew the primer pocket of a once fired Norma case. The ammunition was fine in the other three older rifles they being a 1st Pattern Monarch and two Majestics dating from 1959-1968 as I recall. The early rifles had cut rifles barrels which were lapped at the factory ......................... yes BSA lapped their barrels back then!

It was a contract for barrels for the SLR I believe led to the purchase of hammer forging machines so later rifles have hammer forged barrels in the main.

The load was not a max load either but was a powder that was fairly new to me and my handloading. This was the only times an issue like this occured but it's one that i bear in mind when reloading rifle ammunition to this day. Not that I have loaded any for some years now but hopefully that will change in the coming new year.