Skinny Reminded me

[skeet]

in his post about loading different brass with the 357. Component changes can sometimes be a really big deal..in others not so much. Back when I started loading the 25-06 they didn't make brass as it was a wildcat. I mostly used 270 brass as I never had to ream necks. I sometimes had to with military 30-06..in fact quite often. Not always with commercial. One thing I did find out though... I bought a 100 lbs of 4831 from Hodgdon..and found that the easiest way to charge the cases was to dip the case in the powder..dribble it out till it was at the base of the neck..and seat the bullet. Can't remember the charge weight..but with Military brass the charge was lower than with commercial(brass was thicker with Mil). I was surprised to find that mixed ammo comm and mil..pretty much shot the same with the same bullet meaning to the same point of impact etc. I wasn't shooting benchrest of course..just groundhogs and other targets of opportunity...feral cats Hawks(it was encouraged back then) and an occasional coon or fox. I later found out that even Benchrest shooters mostly use powder measures to throw their charges..and most don't worry over a difference of a tenth or two of powder..but they do use very GOOD measures. I also found that primer changes in rifles USUALLY didn't make a big difference as long as you stayed with say a standard primer for a standard. In pistols with the very small powder charges involved I did make sure I started lower and worked up when I made a primer change. A case in point for me..when loading the 222 Remington I almost always use Rem 6 1/2 primers. but the primer....developed for the 222 was the 7 1/2. I use them in the 223 and they work well. I find my accuracy with the 222 to be better with the milder 6 1/2 primers. Now I do use 4198 and other stick powders in the 222 and mostly ball powders in the 223.. Any comments pro or con? Just a meandering mind on a trip down the yellow brick road..but I would like to know your thoughts

[GoodOlBoy]

Actually I agree completely Skeet. As many of the folks who have read my reloading posts before know I primarily have used Trail Boss loaded by volume the last few years. In 38/357 (for example) I have been given bucketfuls of brass by friends and despite using brass that spans not only dozens of makers, but some of it is more than 50 years old as well, it all shoots the same POA. What I use as a measure for my powder is a case of the same caliber (38/357) trimmed down to hold X volume of powder (around 85% case capacity in 38/357 with trail boss) and solder a brass wire handle onto the side of it. If I have more than one "measure" built this way then I label them with permanent marker. If I cannot make out the label I toss it in the recycle bin and build a new one from scratch for whatever load I am working on.

In my experience using the same basic components for the "same" load by volume works well, and gives great loads. This is what the lee classic kits with the lee powder "dippers" have been doing for decades, and let us not forget some world records in shooting were held by these very types of loads for VERY long times.

Richard