Re: Couple of newbie reloading Qs (trying to avoid rookie mistakes)
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:33 pm
dellet wrote:When the brass sits high in the gauge, it's rarely due to over all length. The free bore section is very long and will accept a very long neck. Without a bullet seated, it will accept a length of almost 1.390, as long as the shoulder is correct.smustian wrote:Good point on checking the length. With a slotted Sheridan gauge you would be able to see the problem immediately and know what needed to be fixed.JTank70 wrote:I am also new to the 300BLK and reloading.
Thanks for asking the questions. I have also learned from the answers given.
I just wanted to drop a note about your brass that will not fit in the Sheridan gauge.
I also recently purchased some processed brass, from a popular supplier as well.
About 80 of my 300 would not go all the way into the Sheridan gauge.
I checked them with my caliper and most were also much longer than the rest.
The good ones were around 1.358 or so and the no fits were 1.367 to 1.372.....
I trimmed them down, re-sized them and then all was good. I had four that just would not go even after re-sizing.
At first I was not impressed because it was supposed to be "ready to load" brass.
But, I got over it and considered it experience for a new reloader.......
After all, I made 50 of my own from .223 brass with a dremel and manual trimer. Re-doing the 80 cases was way easier than that.
Good luck with your new reloading activities.
JT
Most likely the the above problem was corrected by re-sizing and not trimming. As a matter of practice, Size first, then trim since the length changes when sizing.
Yes, That is exactly correct, and I should have been more clear.
The cases being too long did not cause them to not fit, or "bottom out" in the Sheridan. They would get stuck before that could have happened even if they were long enough to do so. I was pointing out that, coincidentally, most of the cases that did not fit in the gauge were also much longer than the ones that happened to fit in the gauge correctly.
Sorry for the confusion.
JT