Ok, started with new cases that were formed, FL sized and trimmed, then shot some loads with increasing powder charges. With lighter charges the cases shortened as some of y'all mentioned. As the grains increased the case size stayed same as trim length. The heavier charges the case length grew. So case shortened at first, then stabilized, then grew with increased charges. Is this to be expected?
Wildcat ?s
- Thread starter deadduck357
- Start date
That depends. Is the body stretching because of short headspace? Are you using a stepped neck or jamming the bullets? Matt
Reamer mfr designed the neck to have a .005 difference from mouth to shoulder. Is that considered a stepped neck?
We are starting with considerably lighter bullets to get a baseline for load development, so they are far from being jammed.
I'm not sure about the headspace.
Any suggestions as to why the cases shorten then lengthen with increasing powder charges?
Case lengths were identical before firing, same bullets.
The brass expands to the outside (toward the chamber walls) until fully fireformed. Then depending on case design and pressures it is subjected to may grow in length. Sharp shoulders retard this growth.
That's what I suspected but was unsure. Much thanks.
Anticipation
deadduck357, I expect most reloaders to go into tacky talk or I do not expect them to understand and I understand how easy it is to confuse them. When I started forming and firing cases I noticed not all cases formed donuts, again I fire cases that will never form a donut. And then there are those cases that I can count on; they form donuts. And then there are donuts I have to remove before I continue; all without firing the case.
I find it most difficult to understand how a forum can talk bout a problem like donuts for years without knowing what causes them. I must be the only reloaders with donut making dies and chambers that create donuts when fired. And when removing donuts they seem so helpless..
F. Guffey
Being a novice reloaded I haven't experienced donuts but have read about them here.
So far my wildcat's cases aren't showing signs of them, but will keep an eye on that.
It is not unusual for a case to be annealed as many as 6 times in the manufacturing process. Again, I purchased what looked to me like magnificent cases at a salvage yard. I prepped 80 cases , loaded and then took them to the range. After that I loaded them again and then went back to the range. It was about that time I was informed the cases had a recall, seems the manufacturer decided to do a budget job on the cases to save time and money. The reduced the number of times they annealed the cases. I did not believe all of the cases were suspect but they had no way of sorting cases by lot numbers. It meant nothing to be because I collect cases, I moved the fired and unfired cases to the collectable drawer and never missed them.
Since then I have found additional cases; an old friend asked me to clean out his shop. he had 100+ cases that he had loaded and fired. He did not have a load called 'reduced', if his ammo did not perform on the max side it did not get shot. Again, I thought the cases were magnificent cases so I added the cases to the collectable drawer.
F. Guffey
Another long winded post where it didn't answer the OP's question.
Annealing, if done correctly, will never hurt your case or accuracy. Matt
I think you you should avoid reloading activities in the future----much safer. Sane reloaders do not go to scrap yards for brass of unknown origin and attempt to reload and fire them again. Cartridge collecting is a much better fit for you.
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Do you really believe Fguffeys stories. Junk yard brass. Guffey show us some of your targets. I don't care how many gauges you have that no-one else understands.
Junk yard brass. Guffey show us some of your targets. I don't care how many gauges you have that no-one else understands.
Ok guy's, another question. Working up in powders, primers are not showing much signs of flattening (if any) but does have cratering. What's causing this?
The bolt might need bushed. It is clearance between going pin and hole. Matt
Assuming you ment 'firing' pin. What do you mean by "bushed"?
Or would a stronger/thicker primer help this?
They cut away bolt face and install a cup that is silver soldered in. Then they drill a new hole for firing pin that is tighter. GRETAN specializes in it with fast turnaround. Matt
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