something like this
Thinking of reloading,
- Thread starter Tikkat1x
- Start date
Isn't Brasso an absolute No No, because it contains Ammonia which leaches Zinc from the Brass and causes deterioration of the case?
That's my understanding
Bavarianbrit
Well-Known Member
You did not write the primer used on the target, go to the back of the class
Bavarianbrit
Well-Known Member
I have just had a therapeutic two days of lubing and sizing up once fired .225 Win (otherwise known as unicorn tears or rocking horse droppings) cases after pin cleaning to the 6.5 JDJ calibre size, the next step will be fireforming them with old reclaimed primers and free powder given to me by the local bomb disposal team 
to correctly fit in the Contenders chamber, it went surprisingly smoothly as it is twenty years ago now that I last did this operation, only one case showed a little buckling but that should iron out with fireform. Not decided yet if to anneal before or after the fireforming.
to correctly fit in the Contenders chamber, it went surprisingly smoothly as it is twenty years ago now that I last did this operation, only one case showed a little buckling but that should iron out with fireform. Not decided yet if to anneal before or after the fireforming.
Tell my 25-year old RWS 22 Hornet brass!
I’m sure it’s not recommended but if you do use it make sure the tumbler is left outdoors and ditto when decanting the contents.
K
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
In agreement. Tools are a capital cost. If you buy good 2nd hand your widow can probably sell them for what you paid. And you don’t need a lot.Is the handloaded ammo cheaper? I don't really know in spite of loading my own from 1978 on. What I value is if I have the makings I have ammo. There is a certain satisfaction when you get to hunt with a single shot rifle and bring home a deer killed with a handload. I am also a high volume varminter and if limited to factory offerings I could not afford to do so. Tools are expensive but with decent care last forever. I am open to pm on what you need to buy. Good luck.
.223 - for me cost of components for fmj range ammo vs cheap range type ammo. Not a lot in it. Depends on what bullet and primer.
But anything else, especially when you start using premium bullets, in particular non toxic, reloaded ammo is substantially cheaper in terms of component cost. As for your time. Is it down time / hobby, or is preventing you from working. Flip side - it doesn’t take long to run a load of empties through the resizing die, put them in the dishwasher and then trim and deburr. And then can easily load up 50 cases in about an hour.
Even though @Edinburgh Rifles is only a few miles away, it can easily take an hour and a half to get there and back, and £100 doesn’t get a lot of ammo these days. Whereas £100 still gets you a good number of bullets and powder.
Actually its now more like £200 given all the inflation.
Biggest cost to reloading though is the thinking that your ammo is cheaper. You end up shooting a lot more.
I have found that keeping a batch together, with a little 'record card' is quite helpful.so, today was the day, and once again the mother of all F&^% ups, got my gear together, went to the farm, got all set up only to find the ammo case i got with the reloading kit i bought had rather a tall lid on it so when i opened the box they were all over the place, no idea what weights were where, so it was a none starter, thought id chamber a few make sure they went in my mag ok and check for bolt stiffness, only to find not one or the 40 id made up had primers in them FFS
I keep the 50 or 100 cases together in a ziploc bag to start, with a laminated card (see below) that I can tick off as I go along. It is sequential, so I can track the progress as I go.
I use the following steps, which work for me, but could be amended as required (eg. Lubed then de-primed and F/L sized).
amendedYou did not write the primer used on the target, go to the back of the class
Bavarianbrit
Well-Known Member
Just to add to this. I measured the thickness of some new .225 Win cases wall with my ball micrometer (I know) they were at 0.0165" so quite thick as my .270 cases are usually 0.013" after the necks were opened out from 0.226 (once fired cases ) to 6.5mm the wall thickness was reduced to 0.0135" by the sideward stretching out.I have just had a therapeutic two days of lubing and sizing up once fired .225 Win (otherwise known as unicorn tears or rocking horse droppings) cases after pin cleaning to the 6.5 JDJ calibre size, the next step will be fireforming them with old reclaimed primers and free powder given to me by the local bomb disposal team
Before will give the best possible results for fire form. One of the most attractive Ruger No 1's saw in photo was a .225 win with a full octagon barrel, wish it was mine but not possible.I have just had a therapeutic two days of lubing and sizing up once fired .225 Win (otherwise known as unicorn tears or rocking horse droppings) cases after pin cleaning to the 6.5 JDJ calibre size, the next step will be fireforming them with old reclaimed primers and free powder given to me by the local bomb disposal team
This^^^^
Always anneal before fireforming; especially if it's a radical change. Otherwise you risk splitting necks and shoulders in the fireforming process. Especially if the parent case brass has been once fired.
so just checking out some load data for the N-133 and its all conflicting again, even to the point of danger, iv changed my max preasure on GRT back to 55,000 psi rather than 62.000 psi to stay on the sage side for now.
so with the N-133 using Hornady 55g V-max GRT has 18.5gr 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr max.
Hornady manual says, 19.8gr 20.8gr 21.8gr 22.7gr,
Viht says 21.5gr - 25.0gr, but at 25.0gr GRT has that at 111% do not use.
sierra 55g SPT, sierra site has it at 21.4gr 22.1gr 22.8gr 23.5gr 24.2gr 24.9gr, GRT has the last 2 as over pressure with the 24.9gr being 64.464 psi.
GRT has the sierra at 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr 23.5gr, max,
whats a man to do, im thinking of going with GRT on this one??
iv 40 cases ready, for powder and bullets
so with the N-133 using Hornady 55g V-max GRT has 18.5gr 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr max.
Hornady manual says, 19.8gr 20.8gr 21.8gr 22.7gr,
Viht says 21.5gr - 25.0gr, but at 25.0gr GRT has that at 111% do not use.
sierra 55g SPT, sierra site has it at 21.4gr 22.1gr 22.8gr 23.5gr 24.2gr 24.9gr, GRT has the last 2 as over pressure with the 24.9gr being 64.464 psi.
GRT has the sierra at 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr 23.5gr, max,
whats a man to do, im thinking of going with GRT on this one??
iv 40 cases ready, for powder and bullets
Consider that Sierra has pressure tested there data, I trust that way more than a program. Data conflicts exist, barrel dimensions vary and some are conservative max loads. I look at all I can before choosing my start and end point. Chronographs will tell you if you are in the ball park, when the load is close too or at pressure published data its time to stop adding powder, should you be at max charge and not see the result listed by the book stop adding powder. You may not ever get the shown results.so just checking out some load data for the N-133 and its all conflicting again, even to the point of danger, iv changed my max preasure on GRT back to 55,000 psi rather than 62.000 psi to stay on the sage side for now.
so with the N-133 using Hornady 55g V-max GRT has 18.5gr 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr max.
Hornady manual says, 19.8gr 20.8gr 21.8gr 22.7gr,
Viht says 21.5gr - 25.0gr, but at 25.0gr GRT has that at 111% do not use.
sierra 55g SPT, sierra site has it at 21.4gr 22.1gr 22.8gr 23.5gr 24.2gr 24.9gr, GRT has the last 2 as over pressure with the 24.9gr being 64.464 psi.
GRT has the sierra at 19.5gr 20.5gr 21.5gr 22.5gr 23.5gr, max,
whats a man to do, im thinking of going with GRT on this one??
iv 40 cases ready, for powder and bullets
You're over thinking it.
Pick a mid point on the powder and bullet manufacturers load data, add it together and divide by two, and work up from there in 0.3gn increments.
Although I now use QL, I suspect most people, myself included, have worked up an awful lot of accurate/precise handloads without using online resources or using computer simulations, just using one reloading handbook/manual, getting it close, then fine tuning charge and seating depth.
If you have a piece of ground that allows you to shoot to at least 200yds you can save a fair bit of powder and bullets by using a ladder test to find OCW and work it from there.
Pick a mid point on the powder and bullet manufacturers load data, add it together and divide by two, and work up from there in 0.3gn increments.
Although I now use QL, I suspect most people, myself included, have worked up an awful lot of accurate/precise handloads without using online resources or using computer simulations, just using one reloading handbook/manual, getting it close, then fine tuning charge and seating depth.
If you have a piece of ground that allows you to shoot to at least 200yds you can save a fair bit of powder and bullets by using a ladder test to find OCW and work it from there.
sounds like a plan, and i only went with the GRT figures as they seemed a happy medium without going to far to start with, more homework, finding out what a ladder test is, and what OCW means
and i thought seating depth was determined by the COAL,
i did take a picture of mine verses the factory loads, only mine is using s spitzer and the factory load is a gameking, factory load is on the right, hornady factory load is on the left
.
and i thought seating depth was determined by the COAL,
i did take a picture of mine verses the factory loads, only mine is using s spitzer and the factory load is a gameking, factory load is on the right, hornady factory load is on the left
.
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If you have a decent run of land to test loads on OCW is easy.sounds like a plan, and i only went with the GRT figures as they seemed a happy medium without going to far to start with, more homework, finding out what a ladder test is, and what OCW means
and i thought seating depth was determined by the COAL,
i did take a picture of mine verses the factory loads, only mine is using s spitzer and the factory load is a gameking, factory load is on the right,
hornady factory load is on the left, View attachment 348541View attachment 348542
You simply have a good setup on bags and a stable rest, and be able to shoot straight....
You load up cartridges incrementally with a 0.2gn increase and fire them off and mark each impact on the target one by one.
At one or two points you will see that the impacts come together around a certain powder charge, that is a node that coincides with your barrel oscillation, ie the amount of whip or vibration, a bit like ringing a tuning fork, and the bullet is leaving the muzzle at the point of least movement.
You can then pick a load on and either side of the middle of the nodes and fire a group of five to see which is most precise, ie hits the same point every time.
If you want to get more anal about it you can then do another ladder test using the same charge moving the bullet in and out from the initial COAL in 5-10thou increments to fine tune it, again looking for the sweet spot when the bullets with 5-10thou difference in seating depth produces the tightest group.
It's a mighty deep rabbit hole, are you sure you want to go down it
its getting deeper by the day
i have a perfectly flat field to shoot on thats a good 200-250 yard,that some sheep have just come off so its like a bowling green, albeit a wet one, and some larger, up to 950 yards but that would be shooting slightly up or down hill, i think im up for the OCW test, but i will leave the ladder test for now, get a few loads under my belt first, thanks.
i have a perfectly flat field to shoot on thats a good 200-250 yard,that some sheep have just come off so its like a bowling green, albeit a wet one, and some larger, up to 950 yards but that would be shooting slightly up or down hill, i think im up for the OCW test, but i will leave the ladder test for now, get a few loads under my belt first, thanks.
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