Roy Hunter bullets/ testing

Don’t have enough freebore, just keep shooting until you do

 

Think you should check your reamer and/or your math, because something isn't adding up right.

 

My .104 reamer, bullet "A" at touch.




Tom

 

I have 6BRA reamers from .090 to .180, not to mention the zeros. From .090 to .180 you just dont see much difference in loads or pressure. A small amount of freebore just isn't worth much.

 

Only 3 shots but my smallest 3 shot group so far at 1K. It was the Lowest powder charge tested I wish I would have seen a 10th lower as well.

 

D2DC2423-80DE-4C77-89D6-426DF061E30B by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr

This was my BRA "touch" seating depth with a .104 reamer. I thought that was not enough. Always brought up with the idea that you need close to a bore diameter of neck contact to be reasonable.

Tested in a Dasher today but things went badly. Stolle action will not cock reliably. Thought I had the trigger properly cleaned and set after a mess at the last Florida shoot with it. Thought wrong. May need both new trigger and Stolle cocking piece for the bolt. Any kind of jam pressure against the bolt and it will not cock.

Then using Reloader 15, I found extremely high velocity into the 3,100 fps range with just 33.4 grs. Highest I ever saw in testing. If I can find more Reloader 15 to buy my take is just under 30.0 gr will be something in the 3030 fps range for my Dasher. Gonna be a while now because of the failure of the trigger or action. No shoots going on anyway and I have a couple different BRA's I can use.

Appreciate the opinions on reamer and neck contact.

 

Larry, you can have very little bullet in the neck. It wont hurt accuracy and because the pressure ring expands the neck as the bullet is seated, more bullet in the neck doesnt even increase bullet grip. If your having issues with a Bix not firing or hanging up, send it out, I'll fix it.

 

Larry how many thousands of firings are on that brass

 

Ammo loaded into and/or feed from magazines, clips, tubes, strippers, etc., many basic reloading concepts are warranted. Would have figured your expansion to single feed precision demanded ammo for target competition, would have also expanded your reloading practices more.

 

You figured wrong. I thought of it a few times but still cling to feelings more than maybe fact. Since I never have ever shot a teeny group, even in practice, I figured that a .015" or so neck contact is fine if it is over a long depth.

See, just proved it. I am stupid.

Now on to the other answers.

 

I have two reamers from and both are marked .115 FB. and one is .012 longer than the other. Both are from the same company, Your only guessing with what is written on them. Better get them on a comparator and see...... jim

 

The reamer that was shorter doesn't shoot as good as the longer fb. one, but if you use it and run a throater in and make it the same Free bore it shoots really good. ....jim

 

First to Alex - it is the original Stolle Panda action I got from Bob Davidson at least 10 years ago. He used it a lot in short range BR. Originally PPC, Eric opened it up for a 308 head. Now on its' second stock and a true heavy rifle at 20#'s, it sports maybe a 4th barrel from me that is 30" no taper. Trigger is the original Jewel Bob had on it decades ago. All I ever did was remove, soak , blow dry and replace a few times. 2nd target on the last day of heavy gun in February it started this. Got permission and set the weight up before last relay. No good.

Steve Hoskins was next to me the last two targets. I did not use sighter plate as it would not cock. Was going to drop out but kept on as Steve watched me sometimes maybe 20 tries to get it to cock. Somehow I got it to do 5 shots on each target in each 10 minute period. Horrible targets but good enough to take 2nd overall. Thought I had it fixed. Guessing something is worn out.

Thanks for the offer Alex. Eric has the mess right now. If he can't fix I told him to get new bolt cocking piece from Kelblys and another trigger. No super hurry. Next time I shoot will be with Doug Bell as he uses the new rest he gets from you. We been talking all day.

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Roy - that case is one of my tools on the bench. There is no primer pocket in it as I use it and others for seating depth checks. Outside is a mess and not something I use for shooting.

 

Larry,

Don't worry about grip length if that's were you're at in the photo. I'm actually going to try a longer freebore reamer yet at some point. Although this BRA 7 reamer of mine has done the three barrels in this post, and all of them are killer.

Tom

 

And don't worry about Ole Roy and his clean brass! Dirty ass brass, and ugly guns is where it's at! Lol

Tom

 

Yeah but Roy carries this dirty old rag. He wipes and wipes before and after shooting. That is the secret. I almost took a picture of it once but did not want to reveal the secret.

Everyone knows that. Just never saw him lick his fingers.

 

When you guys show where the bullet is in the case neck with a bullet outside the case, be aware I had bullets from a custom bullet maker vary over .060 in OAL length. Needless to say that is a lot in how you show where the it is in the neck.... jim

 

When you use neck tension like Tom does, you can see the pressure ring in the neck, lol

 

So is the conclusion to make from this is the depth of seating is not an issue for stability, repeatability or concentricity of release. This applies to single-shot target usage and accuracy rather than hunting applications. It would also mean that the pressure to hold a jam into the lands would not be dependent on the length of neck contact.

Would this be correct?

 

.001 neck tension will hold a bullet into the lands .010 with no trouble.... there is more than one way to skin a cat.... jim