How to Check case volume

[bas402]

Just what the title states, I'm wanting to check case volume on my .338LM and load that in my quickload program. I read a couple different ways to go about it. I have once fired Lapua cases ready to cuse for this process. Do you resize or not? Do you not size and leave the primer in and fill with water to top of case and subtract your empty case wt?
Your help or input would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[5R Milspec]

Re: How to Check case volume

I would use the powder way of doing it.fill a case with the choice of powder to the top of the neck the weigh the powder.but do the a few time to make sure you are getting the same weight each time.this should give you a better idea of how much powder the case holds.

 

[bigwheeler]

Re: How to Check case volume

You are usually given the volume in grains of water. Do it after the case is fired
in your chamber. Weigh an empty case, fill it with water and weight it again. All
powder volumes are compared to water volume. Leave the primer in of coarse
and add a tiny bit of dish soap to the water to get rid of cling or more correctly
it's adding a surfactant.

 

[bas402]

Re: How to Check case volume

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bigwheeler</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You are usually given the volume in grains of water. Do it after the case is fired
in your chamber. Weigh an empty case, fill it with water and weight it again. All
powder volumes are compared to water volume. Leave the primer in of coarse
and add a tiny bit of dish soap to the water to get rid of cling or more correctly
it's adding a surfactant. </div></div>

bigwheeler,
That's just what I did, just wanting to make sure because compared to Q/L of 108gr H20 to my 115gr H20 on 338LM seems like a huge difference.

 

[Clark]

Re: How to Check case volume

The volume of the brass has more meaning after it is fired in the chamber, but weighing the brass before or after firing has the same meaning.

 

[HOGGHEAD]

Re: How to Check case volume

For my precision ammo the first thing I do is weigh all the cases, then I separate them by weight to get like weight cases. Then I do my all my case prep, including trimming and then fireform the brass. I then size the way I want to size for that particular rifle then tumble clean. After that my cases are about as consistent as I can get them. At that point I weigh the case again, fill it full of water then weigh again to see how consistent my volume is.

It is difficult to do this with powder. Powder will fill the case differently under different circumstances. However water is consistent every time. Once you sort for volume you have some real good cases.

I usually start with at least 500 pieces of brass. And usually end up with two to three piles of brass that are usually about 30-60 cases in each pile.

I would have to start with over 1,000 cases if I wanted to shoot as much precision as most of the guys here. However most of my precision ammo is for long distance varmint hunting. So 10-20 shots in one day is alot of shooting.

This is with Winchester brass. When shooitng Lapua brass I find it to be considerably more consistent. However Lapua is not available in alot of the ammunition that I need. I am glad to see they brought out 22-250. I will be buying a couple of hundred of the 22-250 in the near future. Problem is I already sorted and prepared enough Winchester brass for the life of my current 22-250. Tom.