DSL -
Howdy !
As regards lever gun reloading,I can speak from my M336 .35 Rem experience; only:
Some thoughts:
- Your seater stem may not be a good fit w/ the bullet chosen....
Use a Hornady " universal " bullet seater, and even add a micrometer top to it; if desired.
Hornady will custom-make seater stems " to-fit" bullet samples provided. I did this for my .35 Rem bullets, and had Hornady made me seater stems for both Rem 150PSP and Hornady 200gr "Flex Tip".
These ran something like a whopping $7.50 each. Well worth it.
- Watch you case oal.
My factory-fresh .35 Rem brass ( Remingotn brand ) were all a few thou short of the specified case
length of 1.920". This did not become a factor, until I noticed that my .35 Rem brass case' mouths were bottoming-out inside the Hornady' seater die's sleeve. Since case' lengths varied, the resulting bullet seated depths also varied. The sleeve fit to the case became a factor for me, since I was/am shooting .35 Rem un-crimped, in single-shot mode in my M336 XLR. Hornady is machining my sleeve to allow for complete .35 Rem neck length, plus about .002" assurance. They are doing this for free ! Great bunch of guys !
- It's all about the neck:
In a .224" cal wildcat, I've seen bullets arc 20' off the intended flight path to the right, then to have same load become my best accuracy load; after ONLY changing to a .001" tighter NS bushing. No kiddin' !!
My point: Neck " tension " is its own important issue, INDEPENDENT OF CASE CRIMP.
But first......
- You might want to try uniforming your neck wall thickness.
For my .35 Rem, all I did/do is make a simple "skim-trim" ( outside neck turn ) of the cases...... just enough to remove the " orange peel " effect seen on the brass; under magnification.
- I have gone to use of LEE's " COLLE Neck Size Die ", for my lever gun loads.
After I noticed my virgin .35 Rem brass had tighter necks from the factory than they did emerging from the LEE Collet NS Die, I decided to shoot them un-turned ; to see how much difference the tighter neck tension might make ? As it turned out, the tighter the neck tension, the better the rifle grouped.
LEE only recommends you reduce their collet die mandrels .001", and no more.
I first tried a .001" redux, then .002" redux in mandrel OD. With each .001" I sized the necks tighter, groups shrank. There's a limit to this, and mine was reached at the .002" undersize point; when
starting bullet effort became noticeable; and any tighter neck tension would probably lead to damage to the case mouths/necks/shoulders.
- Cartridge OAL & seating depth:
My .35 Rem's loaded w/ 150 PSPs grouped their best when seated well out.
In fact, it was easiest to gorup well with loaded cartridges that we so long, I could barely get the lever
up-into the necessary (safe ) " battery " condition. This affected consistency of firings, as being on the ragged edge would sometimes lead to the hammer falling, and no "BANG ". I don't think anybody would recommend operating a M336 in such a manner, I know I CERTAINLY DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.
So, for the extreme seating depth limit for your loads, it would be the point where the rifle can be safely and consistently operated I.A.W. the owner's manual; and operation un-affected by seating length.
( In my M336 XLR, cases mouths are near the bottom of the 150PSP's cannelure, while factory Rem
.35 Rem 150PSP cartridges show case mouths near the top of the cannelure. )
- CRIMP:
One thing you can do, is: seat bullets w/o using the crimp function of the die.
Then, re-adjust the die after seating all bullets, so the bullet seater is well off the bullets.
A die re-adjust is made then, so that the die ONLY performs crimping as an independent operation.
- Sizing:
You may not even have to FL size. .30-30 loads aren't ( shouldn't be ) high-pressure loads.
If you're not going after dangerous game, and you loads don't make case extraction difficult; you might just be able to get by with a simple neck sizing ( and not complete case FL sizing ).
NS only, works just fine in my M336 .35 Rem, but hey.... that's MY gun.... MY loads.
I myself, BR prep my .35 Rem brass; and the gun responds with better groups.
Even things like primer swaps and seating depth changes of simple thousandths/inch have produced
better groups in my M336. This stuff isn't beneficial just for bolt guns.
Best of luck in your endeavors !
Regards,
357Mag
