The Hornady concentricity gauge is nice and red, like my Hornady case-trimmer.
Apart from that obvious attraction,
1. Is a concentricity gauge for reloads useful?
2. If it is, is the Hornady one a reasonable one to buy?
Any experiences/opinions welcome!
I think perhaps I'll not bother!
Good for you but I'll tell you this it made me wonder (and correct) about my reloading technique and brass quality.
I use the RCBS version and ran a few of my 22BR (neck turned) rounds through it for a "laugh" and got under 1 thou (or +/- less than a division) run out on the ogive.
I then ran some of my 22-250 hunting loads which'll group five shots in under 1/2 MOA and they weren't so good...7 thou run out.
So, investigated a little and the necks are not very concentric (Norman, PPU and Winchester) and it prompted me to turn a few with my existing neck turner.
I've just "blown" these out and will reload for a proper range test to see if it's worth it...
I guess, as Dirty Harry said, "A man has to know his limitations" but I'd also ask what level are you aiming for? Might not be worth it but you might learn something about yourself and the kit you use. I like to think that I can still learn something new every day. Some people like to think they already know everything but that must be a dull life.
Got a mate you could borrow one from?
Take a round to the shop and try it out? Bit cheeky but you never know!
It's that damned accuracy weasel.
It is indeed but I don't like to waste time (49 this year) and so a "duff round" is a wasted round. I use the tool to check that I've stuck to my rules and not become lazy.
You're right (sort of ) on the case POV but it has dawned on my that if you adhere to the "not quite fully resized" school of reloading (Was some US gun writer years ago (1980s maybe) that wrote a good piece that I followed) then you've a case that's quite close to the chamber dimensions and that the neck (once ironed out by it's first firing after neck turning) ought (only "ought" not "will") to be nice and concentric with it provided the manfacturer or rifle maker was doing their job.
Sounds like your V-block is a nicer version (what a "real" engineer would do given the choice) of the RCBS piece of tat I have and quite similar to what a machinist friend of mine did.
I honestly feel I've enough "accuracy" to engage what I need to with but I loathe (I'm a scientist by profession) any deviations from the norm and the odd unexplained random is enough to drive me nuts!
By the sounds of that 22-250 load you are doing nothing wrong in your reloading...
Yes, the old Lyman M-Die trick…I must try it out again.
Oh, I know that but always aspire to better. I always like to come first on the range.
BTW sold my 22BR as I found it "boring" since all I needed to do was prime, drop powder in the (neck turned, primer pocket milled and deburred) cases and pop a bullet on...and it'd shoot a dream no matter what. My mate's very pleased with his new tool...he’s got 500 lovely Lapua cases to play with (I’ve owned two 22BR rigs).
I'm just curious what the 22-250 will do with better case tolerances...just curious, not driven bonkers, you know?
Its great for instilling confidence that your homeloads have been seated concentrically...but as to straightening ammo...I'd have been better spending the money on ...well almost anything else really
I don't think they are intended for correcting eccentric cases, just detecting them. I have the RCBS Case Master use it to detect and cull eccentric cases. In short, with new brass, I measure the brass about 0.010" back from the case mouth after full length resizing, Anything that has more than 0.003" eccentricity gets culls, unless it's for my Enfield No 4 and then I'm less fussy. One thing it revealed is as follows.
I neck resized 100 fired Lapua 7.62x54R cases (I have a Dragunov). Lapua brass is some of the best available. I measured all 100. The neck runout was up to 0.008" in most lot of them. One or two were up 0.012" runout. Alarmed, I full length resized the lot and measured them again. The neck runout dropped to around 0.003" with a handful at 0.005". Many people believe that neck resizing produces "more accurate" brass because it's "fire formed to your chamber" etc. Well, not in this case. Clearly the NR die is defective but without measuring neck runout, I would never have discovered it.
-JMS
I don't think they are intended for correcting eccentric cases, just detecting them. -JMS