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    Do you use expanding mandrels after a full-length bushing die for neck sizing?

    Talking range brass here -- suppose you have 100 each federal, Lake City, IMI, and PMC range brass, load them all, throw them all into a pile, and shoot three groups. Now suppose you sort and load but keep the headstamps together. Shoot a group of Lake City and a group of PMC. Everything...
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    Do you use expanding mandrels after a full-length bushing die for neck sizing?

    Agreed. Assuming a pile of range brass, you can anneal all of the cases. Assuming that you use a mandrel, that will address the "number of firings" issue, neck IDs will come our more or less similar. But there are other differences between brass brands. Fixing the neck ID does not obscure...
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    Do you use expanding mandrels after a full-length bushing die for neck sizing?

    re: full length and/or bushing versus mandrel When you fire and size, brass migrates toward the shoulder and neck. When you full length - bushing or not - that donut is formed on the inside at the base of the neck. If you use a mandrel, the neck inside diameter becomes more cylindrical and...
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    Realistic expectations?

    I just noticed that you are shooting 3-shot groups. I feel a bit stupid for just noticing and not reading that in your original post but whatever. You should go to a benchrest match and look at the wailing wall. Remember, those are mostly 5-shot matches - unlimited matches are 10-shots...
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    Realistic expectations?

    Let's check assumptions. These are results from the 2023 Pennsylvania state IBS match, 100 yard heavy varmint. 100 yards, 13.5 pound guns. I included Bob White because I remember that name from the past - waaayyy past. Look at the match results for the winner - three of them are in the...
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    Lapua .223 Brass Broke in Half

    For what it's worth ... Suppose the shoulder is annealed before sizing (as opposed to only annealing the neck). If you take a headspace measurement following sizing, the measurements have a smaller range. With annealed shoulders, the range is usually plus or minus one thou - so, if the...
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    300 PRC rifling marks

    You are right about jam, that was a careless use of words. I am really curious why he is seeing three long marks and two short marks. I have other thoughts but I will listen while you guys hash it out.
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    300 PRC rifling marks

    oh yeah, the 'OTHER' 0.015 - thanks for clarifying :)
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    300 PRC rifling marks

    Something sounds strange to me about .015 neck tension. The bullet is about .308. Are you saying that you make the case neck ID .308 minus .015 (that is, 0.293), seat the bullet long, then chamber it? Jamming a .308 bullet into a 0.293 neck would be very heavy neck tension. If I was going to...
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    Winchester #41 issues

    One far-out possibility. In rare cases, the firing pin punches through the primer cutting a tiny round cup from the primer metal and leaving it on the point of the firing pin. In ever less common cases, that little cup of primer metal ends up inside the bolt and stops the firing pin short of...
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    Lapua .223 Brass Broke in Half

    One problem with the Redding solution, you need a new set of shellholders for each case type. This note is a variation on the competition shellholder idea: Buy these shims. They cost $15 from Brownells. Using your standard shellholder, set up your die so it contacts the shellholder...
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    Lapua .223 Brass Broke in Half

    Thought experiment: imagine that new cases are exactly chamber size in all dimensions. You load 'em up and shoot. Suppose your load is very hot - high pressure. The pressure will push forward on the chamber shoulder and back on the case head and stretch the chamber. At most shooting...
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    Scale drift A&D Fx-120 vs Sartorius

    I have a Sartorius 213-1s. I use with an AT v2. I turn it on before a loading session, enter the weight I want, and start throwing charges. My target 308 load is 41.52 grains of IMR 4064. I will accept 41.50, 41.52, and 41.54. It almost never underthrows - say 1 in 300 maybe better. I get...
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    Condensation

    I'm not sure what the current name is for this but water dissolves into air. As the temperature increases, air holds more water. When you heat a tea kettle and steam comes out, that steam is invisible. The water/air mixture called steam looks like air because the high-temperature water is...
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    Do I need a comparator?

    When using dies with 7/8-14 threads, one eighth of a turn is about nine thou. One quarter turn is about eighteen thou. When the current standard seems to be two to three thou I would expect that either would lead to under-sizing the shoulder and reduced brass life. I use the Hornady gauge...
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    Giraud trimmer blade position

    I think you need to move the cutter. If you loosen the set screw then gently push the case down, the cutter will be centered on that case mouth at that spot. Tighten the set screw. An improved approach, chamfer a case mouth (both inside and outside) with a hand tool so that the case mouth...
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    What is the most dumb-a$$ thing you did lately?

    300 PRC, inconsistent at 1k, been screwing with it for a few weeks. Yesterday, I noticed that the barrel was not quite tight - about 1/8-turn. Stripped it down to the receiver, pulled the trigger, inspected the bedding, cleaned all the screws, new loktite, and re-torqued everything. How...
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    308 Muzzle Velocity with 175gr

    I use 175 SMK and 4064 with Lake City LR brass and 210Ms, velocity around 2610. Recoil is light, accuracy to 800 is good even with my crummy shooting. The difference between 2600 fps and 2700 fps is just math. Even with moving targets beyond 300, it is a minor change in hold - again, it's...
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    Loaded my first Handloads ever. 6.5cm. Issues/questions

    There are several reasons that you see the swipe, one of them is pressure. Based on other signs such as the shape of the fired primer, the firing pin depression, and your other fired cases, most likely you are not yet getting high pressure. If a fired case fits easily into the chamber then...
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    Reloads, or Burned Out Barrel?

    What did it do at 100 yards? I had an expensive scope go bad. Over time I got a fuzzy image at 1k, parallax dial didn't do anything, and it was shooting 1 to 1.5 mil patterns. Swapped on a known good scope, did a 100 yard zero, dialed for 1k and shot a nice group. The gun is good but the...
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