Are .243’s always stretchy?

[Acm]

I’m in the fortunate position at the moment to be getting through a fair bit of ammo on live quarry, I’m really enjoying it and it’s made me a lot better shot. However it has meant I’ve had to double down on reloading efforts and due to being a bit tight/ prioritising other things and having been given 300 once fired hornady cases, I decided to run them in my .243 atleast for a bit, but godamn they are stretchy!
I uniformed them all with a full length sizing die, trimmed them all back to the book trim length, tumbled them shiny, chamfered and deburred them and cleaned the primer pockets out.
I split them into 3 batches of 100 and the first batch has now been used 3 times by me so 4 times fired in total. They already need trimming back and tbh I’m of a mind to throw them and start again as they are obviously losing a fair bit of wall thickness stretching that much.
I know hornady has a bad name for brass, and push comes to shove I’ll put my hand in my pocket and buy some lapua or sako, but will they be any better or is .243 just a stretchy case?
Perhaps the rifle has alot of throat erosion of somthing?

 

[HandB]

All my centrefire rifles in .308, 7x57 and .243 need case trimming due to stretch each time I reload. The only one that doesn't is my .222. I think it is a good sign as it indicates the cartridge is being properly utilised with decently beefy loads.

 

[Acm]

Really? These are growing by other 10 thou per firing, neither my swede or 06 do that.

 

[Klenchblaize]

If this is really a concern, you could try true neck sizing only but first see how your fired cases cycle. To do this meaningfully - prior to purchasing an expensive bushing die - you'll need to find a way to grip a bullet without altering other case measurements.

You may get lucky.

K

 

[deeangeo]

I'm thinking you're full length resizing to SAAMI dimensions & your die is set per manufacturers instructions - Not wrong but by far not the best way to set your die.
You should set your F/L die to your 'Fired case Headspace Dimension' Set up your die this way & you'll see much less stretch in your brass - which means much longer case life!
Once your die is set, just bump the case shoulder back each time by .001" to Max .003" et voila!

 

[scotch_egg]

Yes, the .243 is a stretchy cartridge. PO Ackkey created the improved line of cartridges not only for improved performance but also to prevent the growth of the case. The angle of a standard .243 shoulder is the issue. I wouldn’t worry too much about it and continue as you are. Keep an eye on neck wall thickness and necks for splits unless you are annealing. It might be worth accepting less cycles and swap them out before you see a loss of accuracy though.

 

[Heym SR20]

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