Wow!! I never thought of using a wad on a tater gun. My grandkids are going to be impressed. Great idea Tim!!.
Wow!! I never thought of using a wad on a tater gun. My grandkids are going to be impressed. Great idea Tim!!.
the thinner brass makes sense.
one of the issues ian and myself had been having was thin brass.
not just in the 0-6 brass but in just about everything, it has been due more to how factory chambers are cut than anything else.
brass is what it is .0010 to .0012 seems to be the sizes we get.
337 is a bit too much to work with when you add up .0011 twice and add in .310 that makes 332...
Exactly. That's why we went with the tight neck, but I don't think we went tight enough.
However, this project is a joint effort between several members here, and I wouldn't want to change anything without the whole group (those of us that are left) approving it. Just something to keep in mind in the future. I'll bring it up again before I do anything.
One thing is for sure though, I plan to create a whole line of XCB cartridges (If this ends up staying as popular as it has been), and whatever the verdict is, I will be incorporating it into the others.
I really thought that .337 would clean up, or at least make it so that very minimal neck turning was required. What I wasn't thinking about was donuts and the taper of the cartridge in the neck. Seems like there is always about .080-.125 on the end of the neck that doesn't quite clean up, and reaming out the donut can only exacerbate this issue.
What I think now is that as long as I am neck turning, it really doesn't matter how much I am taking off, as long as it's right. Guess I hadn't figured it would be necessary to remove as much material to get everything right.
Oh well, theory is close, but reality is perfect.
I've learned a ton from this project!
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
we cut the neck straight too so it's a little bit deceiving.
anyway I need to get some funds ahead and get some lapua 8 mauser brass ordered.
I want to see if it's gonna be easier to work with even though it 'should' come out a click short.
no big deal, I need a pinch/trim die too as I want to run some 130gr home made varmint bullets through this same rifle too, and I need to cut the jackets I have shorter to accomplish that..
so if they are a bit too short for the cast rounds I have a back up use.
anyway the rifle will test my bullet and boolit making skills too.
My Hornady 06 cases are cleaning up just fine at .013. With a .310 bullet it gives me .001 slop, just enough to account for grunge and prevent the neck from being so tight that it has trouble releasing the bullet.
heck, I feel fine about running a .309 bullet with .013 necks, .002 difference between loaded round diameter and chamber aren't gonna make a big difference at all.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
I'll have to give Hornady brass a try.My Hornady 06 cases are cleaning up just fine at .013.
There wont be any grunge if it's a tight fit.With a .310 bullet it gives me .001 slop, just enough to account for grunge and prevent the neck from being so tight that it has trouble releasing the bullet.
Fortunately, that attitude was not allowed in the shop when your rifle was being built. Shame on you! LOL!heck, I feel fine about running a .309 bullet with .013 necks, .002 difference between loaded round diameter and chamber aren't gonna make a big difference at all.
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
Got the rifle today Tim. It looks great. It is also a hell of a beast.
Making cases is interesting. Took a few tries to get headspace length right. Got a case stuck and had to file a bit more off the die bottom to get shoulder back far enough to allow the bolt to close with little effort.
Got the trim length as close as I can, cases are coming out at exactly 57.00 mm.
Got the neck turner set to cut into the shoulder a bit but not too much. Necks are finishing at .0125. With a .310 bullet it gives .001 on either side of loaded round in neck. To me that is just about right.
Bolt closes easily enough on empty, formed cases now.
Now I just need to make another 50 or so to get things started. It isn't difficult, just time consuming. With set up done it will go faster now.
It only took me 3 hours to mount a scope and get dies set up for case forming.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
Stomp it out Brad! Seriously, you gotta try that load that I posted back a couple pages. It will give you a very real sense of confidence in your rifle if you shoot a few itsy bitsy groups just for giggles.
That's strange about the dies and duly noted. I used the headspace gauge to measure the cuts on each one of them and it should have been correct. I wonder if the shellholder had anything to do with it? Were you using a Redding or some other brand?
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
RCBS shell holder. There is just enough variation in them to make the difference. It was a few thou that made the difference. I just don't want the bolt to close as hard as it was.
I just finished 10 cases in just over 30 minutes. I will make more tomorrow. It is the rough cutting to length and trimming that takes the time.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
bet if I sent someone a 30-06 trim die for a Dillon power trimmer it would speed things up even more...
Keeping a sense of humor is important when you realize that none of your gun cases are big enough.
50 more cases are being formed now. My fingers ache.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
I got the 0-6 trim die, I just need to have it cut back.
it will make short work of the trimming process.
I'll send the whole thing along if/when I get the die cut.
I modified my cutting method and it sped things up.
I am happy that I bought the case holder from Sinclair that allows me to use a cordless drill to spin cases for neck turning. Makes that process much faster and pain free.
One thing I did discover- the chamber isn't at all tolerant of any residual neck expansion used to prevent scraping lead during bullet seating. Over expand even a little and my crimp die, used only to remove the flair, and you get a small bulge meaning that round won't chamber.
I plan to get a Redding profile crimp die to prevent that from happening.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
Just go easy with it. You have hard boolits, so use them. You want just enough flare to allow a boolit to be seated without damage. Any more than that is superfluous and unnecessary.
When I expand (using the same tool you are using since I made both) I want the neck to come up no higher than 3/4 of the GC width. That is just about perfect for allowing the crimp die to iron out the flare.
That said, I allow it to scrape a little. There is nothing wrong with making for darn sure that the neck is a tight fit in the chamber especially with necks turned as small as you have turned yours. You're going to need all the help you can get.
This is why you need to fireform your brass. If the shoulder is piloted into the datum line, and your neck is piloted in the chamber neck area via your flare, and the boolit is piloted in the neck and the leadin of your rifling then you are aligned. Let it get janky, and you have nothing better than factory specs.
This is the seating die that I have made to give me perfect alignment. I copied it from Felix's .222 bench set.
It is made from a section of 30 caliber rifle barrel. I reamed it with the XCB and then reamed out the rifling to .0004 over the boolit diameter. It uses the Lee loader method of seating, as the brass comes up from the bottom into a perfect chamber and the boolit is seated from above via a ram that is a very tight slip fit in the bore. This insures that the brass and the boolit are perfectly aligned throughout the seating process.
If a crimp is needed, it will be added later, but if the cartridge was loaded in an XCB chamber, then it will go back into an XCB chamber when it is ready to be fired.
This is as close as we can get to doing the old trick of loading the boolit from the muzzle and the charged cartridge from the breech.
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Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
I like that seating die. Cost? You can PM me the info if you don't want it public.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |