There is nothing new under the sun, well let’s see about that. If you have never intentionally used a die made and labeled for a different cartridge and think it’s wrong in principle, always touch the shell holder to the die for all uses no matter what, and never go by feel, the rest of this will seem imprudent.
One of the worst feelings we can have as hand loaders is hard compression of a bullet into the case neck. The bullet can’t fall through the neck, and we need to be able to extract a loaded round and confidently handle ammo by picking it up out of the box by the bullet.
But we certainly know that jackets are fragile, need to remain uniform, and nothing is gained by vice grip-like neck tension. The brass was too small and will next expand further as a result, thus being overworked. Further, tension like that completely dictates how the bullet gets aligned in the throat.
For me, I have hated the fact that necks compete with the application of HBN coating. In basic terms, the neck scrapes it all off when the bullet is seated, or at least a lot of it.
I have tried something new in what I consider to be the most accurate caliber at 600, the 6mm. I use coatings in .243’s because I’m certain now that what was considered a barrel burner, is not with HBN. But how to keep the neck from scraping it all off.
The bullets, all of the ones in shoot, will hold just about their own weight up, and only that, in a fired case, if not fall right through. On the other hand, I can take that fired case and rechamber it. The expanded neck is no impediment at all to the bolt closing. The only issue is that it won’t secure the bullet, and they can fall straight through. But if it does secure it through either neck or full length sizing, then now it scrapes off HBN.
Donuts. Competes with what the neck is trying to do, right? Endemic to choices you made that created brass flow, and not being diligent about how uniformly your dies, chambers and brass all perfectly line up. Maybe you don’t even have custom dies. If you seat down into them, then you probably didn’t have a long match throat separately cut in the chamber. Guys think of donuts in similar terms of the consequences of neglecting to floss their teeth. Their fault, nothing good results.
No one has ever questioned the axiom that is presupposed, that these hurt accuracy. I don’t think they do, being there, touching the bullet, or securing it.
I’ll go a step further and say that a boat tail bullet that budged open the donut and is held in place basically only there, low on the body, seats smoother than I have ever felt, is allowed to pivot and self-align far better than in a firmly grip neck allows, and most importantly, shoots really well. Never worse, sometimes better.
But, you can’t get these at will, at least I can’t. Not in .243 Lapua brass I have not trimmed or thinned anywhere, which I don’t do. As I mentioned, bullets can fall straight through.
There is a way, and I’m not sure exactly why it works, to make a slight donut. I have a die set for the .243 WSSM. Going just by feel, the FL die can be tweaked until it will run down the neck not touching the body, because it is much fatter, and bump a donut that perfectly holds a bullet, as the ram stops at full extension. I suppose a .243 die cannot do this because the shell holder will hit the die before any pressure is exerted there. Then I run that brass through a Redding body die. Did the WSSM size the neck so that bullets do not fall though? No, for some reason the necks remained loose enough that they don’t grip the bullet tightly and do not remove HBN. Maybe it’s just my die, or maybe WSSM necks are specified as thicker.
Anyhow, I’m wondering what the original stigma to seating into donuts was. And I’m also wondering what other tricks or secrets guys have and may be sitting in about using dies in covert and unintended ways.
One of the worst feelings we can have as hand loaders is hard compression of a bullet into the case neck. The bullet can’t fall through the neck, and we need to be able to extract a loaded round and confidently handle ammo by picking it up out of the box by the bullet.
But we certainly know that jackets are fragile, need to remain uniform, and nothing is gained by vice grip-like neck tension. The brass was too small and will next expand further as a result, thus being overworked. Further, tension like that completely dictates how the bullet gets aligned in the throat.
For me, I have hated the fact that necks compete with the application of HBN coating. In basic terms, the neck scrapes it all off when the bullet is seated, or at least a lot of it.
I have tried something new in what I consider to be the most accurate caliber at 600, the 6mm. I use coatings in .243’s because I’m certain now that what was considered a barrel burner, is not with HBN. But how to keep the neck from scraping it all off.
The bullets, all of the ones in shoot, will hold just about their own weight up, and only that, in a fired case, if not fall right through. On the other hand, I can take that fired case and rechamber it. The expanded neck is no impediment at all to the bolt closing. The only issue is that it won’t secure the bullet, and they can fall straight through. But if it does secure it through either neck or full length sizing, then now it scrapes off HBN.
Donuts. Competes with what the neck is trying to do, right? Endemic to choices you made that created brass flow, and not being diligent about how uniformly your dies, chambers and brass all perfectly line up. Maybe you don’t even have custom dies. If you seat down into them, then you probably didn’t have a long match throat separately cut in the chamber. Guys think of donuts in similar terms of the consequences of neglecting to floss their teeth. Their fault, nothing good results.
No one has ever questioned the axiom that is presupposed, that these hurt accuracy. I don’t think they do, being there, touching the bullet, or securing it.
I’ll go a step further and say that a boat tail bullet that budged open the donut and is held in place basically only there, low on the body, seats smoother than I have ever felt, is allowed to pivot and self-align far better than in a firmly grip neck allows, and most importantly, shoots really well. Never worse, sometimes better.
But, you can’t get these at will, at least I can’t. Not in .243 Lapua brass I have not trimmed or thinned anywhere, which I don’t do. As I mentioned, bullets can fall straight through.
There is a way, and I’m not sure exactly why it works, to make a slight donut. I have a die set for the .243 WSSM. Going just by feel, the FL die can be tweaked until it will run down the neck not touching the body, because it is much fatter, and bump a donut that perfectly holds a bullet, as the ram stops at full extension. I suppose a .243 die cannot do this because the shell holder will hit the die before any pressure is exerted there. Then I run that brass through a Redding body die. Did the WSSM size the neck so that bullets do not fall though? No, for some reason the necks remained loose enough that they don’t grip the bullet tightly and do not remove HBN. Maybe it’s just my die, or maybe WSSM necks are specified as thicker.
Anyhow, I’m wondering what the original stigma to seating into donuts was. And I’m also wondering what other tricks or secrets guys have and may be sitting in about using dies in covert and unintended ways.
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