Cartridge Gauges, General Hornady Question

[GBMaryland]

Folks,

I'm gonna post lots of pictures, but the question is really simple:

Has anyone noticed Hornady FL cartridge gauges to be match chamber like tight, as opposed to SAAMI?

The reason I'm asking this is that I've been playing around with the f'ed up lot of 300WM brass, attempting to see if it's recoverable. (I was clearly shot out of something with a larger than normal chamber, or saw some crazy pressures... but appears fine and without metal migration above the belt (300 Winchester Mag).

Full length resized, not fitting into Hornady Cart Gauge:

Fits into a Sheridan Engineering die...

Seems totally concentric:

Found that a Larry Willis collet resizer for belted mags shows the base is not where it should be (according to the checker part of the collet resizer):

As such, we run it through the collet:

Et voila!! (No, the French still can not be trusted, but it sounds cool. )

Still doesn't fit into the Hornady case gauge... Fit's in every other gauge, in a TRG-42 300WM barrel, a KRG 300WM barrel, pretty much every other gauge I have.

...and I can't find a spec sheet on the Hornady case gauge.

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller, Anyone, anyone, anyone?

Just curious if anyone else can seen this?

(Yes, I know, I should attempt to measure a bunch of stuff... but, well, you guys all know EVERYTHING... so... I'm being lazy... "...and you know why I'm doing it this way? Because I'm FRENCH and I'm LAAAAZY!" - One of my instructors back in the day. )

 

[AllenOne1]

Yes the Hornady case gauge is tight. In contrast the LE Wilson is fairly loose.

Using Redding dies I could never get cases to fit in the Hornady gauge when shooting a factory barrel or a Proof barrel. I switched to a Whidden die and things started to actually fit even in the Hornady Gauge. I didn't try a Hornady sizing die but suspect it may have a better fit than the Redding in some calibers.

 

[GBMaryland]

It's funny you should mention that... I used Redding body resizer on the brass, then sent it out and had it annealed. Then went though it again....

(This 300WM brass saw some pressure with a loose chamber, that I'm able to tell.)

 

[spife7980]

(Yes, I know, I should attempt to measure a bunch of stuff... but, well, you guys all know EVERYTHING... so... I'm being lazy... "...and you know why I'm doing it this way? Because I'm FRENCH and I'm LAAAAZY!" - One of my instructors back in the day. )

 

[Halfnutz]

I gave up on case gages. If it chambers easily you should be fine, otherwise it seems you are just "creating" a sloppy chamber and over working the brass.
Bump the shoulder .002 to .003 thou to headspace off the shoulder instead of the belt and check with a comparator.
Haven't had an issue yet that I need the Willis collet. Yet.

 

[GBMaryland]

I gave up on case gages. If it chambers easily you should be fine, otherwise it seems you are just "creating" a sloppy chamber and over working the brass.
Bump the shoulder .002 to .003 thou to headspace off the shoulder instead of the belt and check with a comparator.
Haven't had an issue yet that I need the Willis collet. Yet.

That's a fair point, and what I typically do when reloading belted mags... but this is going from one gun to another.

 

[GBMaryland]

View attachment 7517884

Well, it WAS a Frenchman saying it.... so it still counts.