Reloading Tips According To Dicehorn #16

[dicehorn 38]

Numbering cases

 

I have had people come to me who have started to reload but for varying reasons have asked me to reload for them. They chuck various fired cases at me loose and in boxes and to the question of how many times have they been fired, I get the 'I think that lot x times and that lot y times - not sure about these or those though' Frankly, I usually ask them to put their hands in their pocket and buy some more new ones - but in reality if they knew precisly it could have saved them 60 to 90 quid.

 

I know a lot of reloaders write the info on the inside/outside of the ammo boxes but that is all well and good until some are taken out and go into the holders they take out to go shooting - do they always go back into that same box, also you look at your ammo box with 22 or so empties and decide to reload them so you have to put additional wording on the box.

 

Why does all this matter? well simply this - are you aware that (generally) POI will alter between say a 2nd fired case and one on its 12th firing (bullet tension issues) see piccy below of my Tac variance between times fired - poor picture (on yellow paper) gave the scope 1/2 MOA right to keep away from bull but you can easily see by firing two shots at each of the three bulls used, if I had mixed the 3 lots up it would have produced a horrible group.

 

 

Also, I anneal and full length after every 5th firing - so I need to know - level playing field! I know when I should start to feel primers seating too loosely or be conscience that I am getting near where I should be looking out for signs of case separation.

 

Therefore my tip is to mark my cases after I have reloaded them with a number using a Sharpie pen that comes off easily with the Brasso wool.

 

[zx10mike 137]

another good tip ,look forward to perhaps a thread on what to check for case head seperation.loose primer pockets and cracks internally are two i'm aware of.

[dicehorn 38]

Hi Mike

 

Case separation signs

 

One of the more common reasons for case separation is caused by high pressure due to shooting at max loads, and if someone does not scrub the inside of the neck to remove burnt powder which causes the reloader to put too much pressure on the case to withdraw the expander ball on the decapping rod. The early signs of case separation is a shiny ring appearing on the case about 6 - 10 mm up from the headstamp.

 

Loose primer pockets

 

Are easy to spot. Whatever hand tool you use you will start to notice that the primers become too easy to seat into the primer pocket - extreme situations arrive when you can tap the bottom of the headstamp and the primer either falls out or moves well above the level of the headstamp - any that do either of these should be pliered and binned.

 

Sometimes in a batch of say 3rd fired cases this can happen that one or two can seat with hardly any pressure needed - these I mark with a Sharpie pen with a LP (loose primer) so that I can check them next time and if much looser I will bin them.

 

This is one reason why I do not use the press attachment (as in RCBS) to seat primers - you loose the feel cranking a bloody great handle about.

 

Internal cracking

 

I must say I have never experienced this so cannot really comment on it - had on rare occasions split necks but that is not the same. Tongue in cheek - could it be caused by not neutralizing the acid when using an ultrasonic cleaner??!