Trailblazer
10-07-2007, 10:29 AM
At the suggestion of the membership I tried to increase the neck tension on my 356 Win loads with the Saeco 352. I ran into a little snag. I was using a RCBS FL die without the expander ball and an M-die to expand and flare the necks. Neck ID was .355". Last week I tried omitting the M-die and flaring the necks by hand with a center punch. Neck ID came out at .353", so a little tighter. I seated the bullets and had very inconsistant neck tension. I could still move some of the bullets by hand after seating them and some were tight.
After puzzling over that, I remembered that the Saeco bullets drop at .3585" to .359" and I am using a .360" die to size and lube. I can feel the gas check pop through the bottom of the neck when I seat bullets. The cases have been fired several times and the necks probably vary in hardness so some have more springback than others and thus have greater neck tension. Doesn't seem to matter. I crimped them in the crimp groove with a Lee FCD.
I was using Varget and decided to try a different can of it. I loaded two batches of three rounds: 42 grains and 43 grains. First shot with 42 grains from a cold dirty barrel landed high and chronoed at 2024 the second and third went 1963 and 1983 and were right next to each other. The first shot was probably wild because of the barrel condition. The 43 grain load again went under 2" at 100 and chronoed 2083, 2082 and 2081 fps. I didn't learn much from this test except that 43 grains works regardless. I am out of time so next week I am going to clean the barrel and load the 43 grain load and sight it in 3" high at 100 and go hunting.
I don't know why this load works. The RCBS-35-200-FN drops at about the same diameter of .3585" to .359" and it wouldn't shoot until I beagled the mold and sized to .360". My other 35 mold is a NEI that drops very close to .360" and shoots very well. This Saeco mold has had the bore riding portion crudely hogged out and casts undersize on the driving bands. And then there is the neck tension problem. I never expected it to shoot well at all and it didn't until I tried Varget. It even works with different seating depths. Doesn't make any sense but it works. Look out Bambi!
After puzzling over that, I remembered that the Saeco bullets drop at .3585" to .359" and I am using a .360" die to size and lube. I can feel the gas check pop through the bottom of the neck when I seat bullets. The cases have been fired several times and the necks probably vary in hardness so some have more springback than others and thus have greater neck tension. Doesn't seem to matter. I crimped them in the crimp groove with a Lee FCD.
I was using Varget and decided to try a different can of it. I loaded two batches of three rounds: 42 grains and 43 grains. First shot with 42 grains from a cold dirty barrel landed high and chronoed at 2024 the second and third went 1963 and 1983 and were right next to each other. The first shot was probably wild because of the barrel condition. The 43 grain load again went under 2" at 100 and chronoed 2083, 2082 and 2081 fps. I didn't learn much from this test except that 43 grains works regardless. I am out of time so next week I am going to clean the barrel and load the 43 grain load and sight it in 3" high at 100 and go hunting.
I don't know why this load works. The RCBS-35-200-FN drops at about the same diameter of .3585" to .359" and it wouldn't shoot until I beagled the mold and sized to .360". My other 35 mold is a NEI that drops very close to .360" and shoots very well. This Saeco mold has had the bore riding portion crudely hogged out and casts undersize on the driving bands. And then there is the neck tension problem. I never expected it to shoot well at all and it didn't until I tried Varget. It even works with different seating depths. Doesn't make any sense but it works. Look out Bambi!