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Found a Good Load But Have Ejector Marks on Brass

My son has the same rifle and he has only shot Prime and 129 gr American Whitetail in it. Pretty amazed at the accuracy of it for the $$. He shot 2-2.5" groups on steel at 550 yards with the Hornady.

I can measure the distance to the lands on his rifle, but no telling if they would be the same. I don't have any 147s, but I have a lot of the 140 ELDMs. I use a modified case that is shot in the rifle, pull the ejector, and measure the COAL after pushing it into the lands.

 
My son has the same rifle and he has only shot Prime and 129 gr American Whitetail in it. Pretty amazed at the accuracy of it for the $$. He shot 2-2.5" groups on steel at 550 yards with the Hornady.

I can measure the distance to the lands on his rifle, but no telling if they would be the same. I don't have any 147s, but I have a lot of the 140 ELDMs. I use a modified case that is shot in the rifle, pull the ejector, and measure the COAL after pushing it into the lands.




I tried to do the same thing shown in that video. Got the ejector out, but couldn’t get the firing pin out. Milo is setting me up with everything I need to find the lands. He’s even giving me some 140s to test out for free. I appreciate all the help from you guys.
 
To find the lands take a fired case and see if a bullet will slide into the neck.
If it slides into the neck put it against something hard and push on it so it flattens enough to hold a bullet.
Put that empty dummy round into your rifle and close the bolt.
The closing of the bolt will push the bullet into the caseneck.
Remove the dummy round and give us your measurement.
Your load isn't producing ejector marks on enough of your brass to worry about.
Did you mean 0.001 or 0.002 growth in length or 0.010 0.020 .
Normally brass gets shorter when you fire it not longer.
 
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It will get him close enough since he has no tools is in highschool and on a budget.
 
No it won’t.

To do it correctly he should use a FL sized case with a slit in the neck, and use a cleaning rod to eject the round instead of ejecting it with the bolt.
 
That is a waste of time.
If he marks the bullet with a Sharpie the neck will scratch the ink and allow him to put it back in the neck at the exact same spot should it get stuck which it probably won't.
If he full length sizes the brass that will allow for more errors.
 
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It would be better for him to wait until he receives the oal gauge, modified case and comparator he is getting from milo 2.5 and do it right, no point in doing something that may give a false measurement when he will have the tools.
 
I think we need to wait till we hear if he has his shoulder bump under wraps. Numbers are conflicting right now.
 
It would be better for him to wait until he receives the oal gauge, modified case and comparator he is getting from milo 2.5 and do it right, no point in doing something that may give a false measurement when he will have the tools.

Numbers won't change and there are many different ways of finding it.
It would be nice to see him do it using all of the methods and post his results.
More urgent would be why is his brass growing.
 
That is a waste of time.
If he marks the bullet with a Sharpie the neck will scratch the ink and allow him to put it back in the neck at the exact same spot should it get stuck which it probably won't.
If he full length sizes the brass that will allow for more errors.

It is not a waste of time. It is an easy and accurate way to do it.
 
He was given an easy and more accurate way of doing it already.
The kid has said he sharpied a bullet and it came up negative on marks. I sent him an OAL tool and all the fixins, a moRon, or me can handle the tool, he'll be fine. Sometimes convenience comes at a cost, lol
Right now, we need to figure out If he bumped his shoulders .001". or .010". or .002" or ,020"
 
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The kid has said he sharpied a bullet and it came up negative on marks. I sent him an OAL tool and all the fixins, a moRon, or me can handle the tool, he'll be fine. Sometimes convenience comes at a cost, lol
Right now, we need to figure out If he bumped his shoulders .001". or .010". or .002" or ,020"

@Milo 2.5 you are a good man and I appreciate what you are doing for the OP. The world needs more people like you.
 
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@Milo 2.5 you are a good man and I appreciate what you are doing for the OP. The world needs more people like you.
Lol, Thanks! I'll support any kid who wants to get into shooting and keep a level head about themselves. With my way, he learns on his own, with minimal guidance. We all learn more if we have a hand in figuring solutions, rather than being told.
 
Milo 2.5
My Sharpie comment was not to see if he is his bullet was engraving the lands.
It was to mark the bearing surface of the bullet so it could be placed back into the case at the same depth in order to check his overall length.
I doubt seriously he is anywhere near the lands.
From his previous posts it sounds like he is bumping the shoulder too much and getting a very light ejector wipe on a few cases.
At one firing the shoulder most likely doesn't need any bumping at all.
 
Milo 2.5
My Sharpie comment was not to see if he is his bullet was engraving the lands.
It was to mark the bearing surface of the bullet so it could be placed back into the case at the same depth in order to check his overall length.
I doubt seriously he is anywhere near the lands.
From his previous posts it sounds like he is bumping the shoulder too much and getting a very light ejector wipe on a few cases.
At one firing the shoulder most likely doesn't need any bumping at all.
I agree, but until he gets some numbers to us, we are pissing in the wind and wasting bandwidth.
We could be in the bear pit plotting the first strike.
 
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Gotcha
And again Kudos for helping a young shooter out!!!
 
No, you gave him an inaccurate and sloppy way of doing it.
Actually I gave him the easy way but as you most likely don't reload all that much you haven't figured it out.
He is a highschool kid and you want him to bump his case first.
If you read the posts by him he has no way of doing that yet so your first mistake.
Next you want him to split a case neck.
A wasted case and it serves no useful purpose.
Next how does this highschool kid split that neck?
When the neck is split what does he use to deburring the kerf?
On the inside of said split?
Your method wastes a good case is overly burdensome and is less accurate.
My method is more accurate cheaper to do and he has everything required already.

Can you address his 0.01 - 0.02 case growth yes or no?
 
Update*

Took a spent .40 case and measured the shoulder bump with a 1x fired piece of brass.

Before resizing it measured 2.3785 with the .40 case
After resizing its was at 2.3795

Milo was generous enough to ordered a bumb gauge kit for me. When it gets to me I'll be able to take some better measurements. Note I was getting some inconsistent numbers, but those are the 2 that seemed to come up the most.
 

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Update*

Took a spent .40 case and measured the shoulder bump with a 1x fired piece of brass.

Before resizing it measured 2.3785 with the .40 case
After resizing its was at 2.795

Milo was generous enough to ordered a bumb gauge kit for me. When it gets to me I'll be able to take some better measurements.
You forgot one number, lol
And SOB, I'll ship my crap to you and you can bump my brass.
 
Your load is fine and your doing a good job keep it up!!!
 
Lol, his brass is growing in the die, he never said if it chambers yet
All brass grows in length in the die and as you keep screwing the die down the shoulder moves backwards and the neck gets longer.
I thought we already determined his reloads fit the gun?
Atleast we know now it was a errant decimal place.
 
Actually I gave him the easy way but as you most likely don't reload all that much you haven't figured it out.
He is a highschool kid and you want him to bump his case first.
If you read the posts by him he has no way of doing that yet so your first mistake.
Next you want him to split a case neck.
A wasted case and it serves no useful purpose.
Next how does this highschool kid split that neck?
When the neck is split what does he use to deburring the kerf?
On the inside of said split?
Your method wastes a good case is overly burdensome and is less accurate.
My method is more accurate cheaper to do and he has everything required already.

Can you address his 0.01 - 0.02 case growth yes or no?

Your method sucks.

For one thing, a bent case mouth does not hold a bullet straight. Two, bullet gets stuck in the lands and if you use the bolt to pull the round out you’ll pull the bullet out of the neck. Then when you try to measure the OAL it will be inaccurate.

My method is precise. You can cut a slit in the neck with a dremel. It does not leave much of a burr. I have used a skill saw in the past, or a table saw, or a needle file. The case holds the bullet firmly and straight.

My method produces better results because you push out the bullet with a cleaning rod. This counters the tendency of the bullet to get stuck in the lands. The bolt is not involved.

Yeah, you sacrifice a 50 cent case, BFD.

As far as your assessment of my reloading acumen, let’s just say it’s wrong and leave it at that. I don’t want to get in a pissing contest with you over this.
 
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Your method sucks.

For one thing, a bent case mouth does not hold a bullet straight. Two, bullet gets stuck in the lands and if you use the bolt to pull the round out you’ll pull the bullet out of the neck. Then when you try to measure the OAL it will be inaccurate.

My method is precise. You can cut a slit in the neck with a dremel. It does not leave much of a burr. I have used a skill saw in the past, or a table saw, or a needle file. The case holds the bullet firmly and straight.

My method produces better results because you push out the bullet with a cleaning rod. This counters the tendency of the bullet to get stuck in the lands. The bolt is not involved.

Yeah, you sacrifice a 50 cent case, BFD.

As far as your assessment of my reloading acumen, let’s just say it’s wrong and leave it at that. I don’t want to get in a pissing contest with you over this.

For a guy who doesn't want to get into a pissing contest you shouldn't tell someone who is a above average reloader his methodology sucks and then go on to use a terrible methodology and claim it's all roses.

You now want a highschool kid the cut caseneck with a table saw????
Every highschool kid I know has a table saw next to there mill and lathe right?
And his parents should be home to drive him to the emergency room right?
He is gonna need to save that 50 cents for bandages.
I won't bother with the holding of the bullet straight as the absurdity of the statement speaks for itself.
 
For a guy who doesn't want to get into a pissing contest you shouldn't tell someone who is a above average reloader his methodology sucks and then go on to use a terrible methodology and claim it's all roses.

You now want a highschool kid the cut caseneck with a table saw????
Every highschool kid I know has a table saw next to there mill and lathe right?
And his parents should be home to drive him to the emergency room right?
He is gonna need to save that 50 cents for bandages.
I won't bother with the holding of the bullet straight as the absurdity of the statement speaks for itself.

Yes you’re right, high school kids who reload shouldn’t be anywhere near power tools. Or cars.
 
Yes you’re right, high school kids who reload shouldn’t be anywhere near power tools. Or cars.

Your assuming he has either.
And suggesting someone use a table saw to cut a caseneck is ludicrous. It does show however what your reloading level is!
 
Got the OAL gauge in from Milo. With the 147s my oal to the lands is 2.013. My previous oal measured from the tip is 2.855. If I use the comparator to measure the 2.855 from the tip it comes out to 2.166 to the ogive. This means my previous loads were a whole tenth into the lands right? With the sharpie test I didn't see any rifling marks, however this tells otherwise.

I'm going to try a load with some 140 elds that Milo gave me as well
 
That sounds really short. Did you clean your gun really well before measuring? How many rounds down the barrel? Those numbers would put into the lands at 2.7 OAL which is really short, below sami even. It makes me wonder about a carbon ring.
 
Got the OAL gauge in from Milo. With the 147s my oal to the lands is 2.013. My previous oal measured from the tip is 2.855. If I use the comparator to measure the 2.855 from the tip it comes out to 2.166 to the ogive. This means my previous loads were a whole tenth into the lands right? With the sharpie test I didn't see any rifling marks, however this tells otherwise.

I'm going to try a load with some 140 elds that Milo gave me as well
2.855" base to tip OAL does not sound out of line, measure tip to base of your 2.013 number, that number is even short for 6mm creed. I'm with SCD that you may have a carbon ring. I have kids wrestling all day so I wont be around, be careful here.
 
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OP stumbled upon the tried and true method of creeping up to maximum and then backing off .5 grs and calling it good to go. Also, in my experience the lower speed and pressure could be headspace gap. Take a fired case and cut a strip of electrical tape around the Rim to create an improvised field gauge. If the bolt easily closes then you may want to investigate further.
 
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OP stumbled upon the tried and true method of creeping up to maximum and then backing off .5 grs and calling it good to go.
Right now the OP is in slightly over his head and truthfully, you do not bring much to the table with that shit. Either help him, or bow out.
 
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I edited my post but the next time you motherfuck me I'm going call out your stupid fucking shit, Milo. You're no fucking monument to this shit, Admiral.
 
As mentioned, try cleaning the bore real good before using this tool. Where are you located OP? Depending on location, maybe one of us is close enough to help you get started. I'm happy to help out if you aren't too far away.
 
As mentioned, try cleaning the bore real good before using this tool. Where are you located OP? Depending on location, maybe one of us is close enough to help you get started. I'm happy to help out if you aren't too far away.

I appreciate your offer. I'm in NE Ohio
 
I’ve probably shot 120 rounds so far through it. All but a handful of them have been suppressed. Could the extra gunk in the barrel from the suppressor cause a carbon ring with so few rounds?
 
Culpeper out of curiosity is your first initial "G" and did you used to post on Benchrest Central?

Vectorstar
I seriously doubt your a tenth into the lands.
I don't remember if your shooting a factory rifle or a custom but the lands on my rifles have a 3 degree included angle or 1.5 degrees per side. That is a very tiny angle that allows the bullet to engrave itself without a lot of effort.
If you used a Sharpie a tenth in wouldn't measure a tenth on the ink smear it would be closer to an eighth of an inch because of the angle of the lands.
I just made a video showing you how I do it on my 338 Lapua Ackley Improved heavygun.
It is so easy I can do it. The video quality is bad because I fell on my phone. This will get you the length to the lands not the full jam length like the video says.
 
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Vectorstar:

You are not a tenth into the lands. You would not be able to close the bolt if you tried.

Just make a slit case and find the lands that way and your life will be easier.
 
Higher than yours will ever be.
I'd wager money you have never shot sanctioned groups as small as I have. Using a table saw to slit case necks speaks volumes on how your gun shoots. Minute of redwood tree. Is this the tablesaw blade you use on your brass? Lolroflmao
 

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Nope on the "G" and benchrest Central. Listen, Milo is working directly with the OP, which is gracious. At this point most conjecture and entertainment is just for the sake of others. :) I'm sure they will post a solution at some point. Out.
 
I'd wager money you have never shot sanctioned groups as small as I have. Using a table saw to slit case necks speaks volumes on how your gun shoots. Minute of redwood tree. Is this the tablesaw blade you use on your brass? Lolroflmao

Your laughing because I cut a slit in a case neck using a table saw? You and your sheltered life. Was reading Huckleberry Finn the extent of your childhood exploration?
 
Your laughing because I cut a slit in a case neck using a table saw? You and your sheltered life. Was reading Huckleberry Finn the extent of your childhood exploration?

I'm laughing because everyone reading this knows it never happened and your just posting it did.
Everyone here knows how wide the kerf is on a blade and that your story is just that a story.
But for the kind of accuracy you get tablesaw are to be expected.