Orienting Case in Chamber and Die

[jds holler]

Just wondering what y'all might think about taking the time to keep your cases positioned the same direction when firing them and reloading them. Such as keeping the head-stamps the same direction when shooting and loading, in order to maintain more consistency from shot to shot.

Sounds kind of anal, but no more than a lot that we do to perfect our hand-loads.

I apologize in advance if this thread triggers any useless worries for you OCD types. jd

 

[pirate ammo]

pointy end goes in first.

 

[Immike]

Just wondering what y'all might think about taking the time to keep your cases positioned the same direction when firing them and reloading them. Such as keeping the head-stamps the same direction when shooting and loading, in order to maintain more consistency from shot to shot.

Sounds kind of anal, but no more than a lot that we do to perfect our hand-loads.

I apologize in advance if this thread triggers any useless worries for you OCD types. jd

I’ve heard of this tried before and it didn’t seem to accomplish anything. One option is to turn the cases backwards in a Wilson case trimmer and true the heads. Need to remove the primer first...

 

[Straightshooter1]

Just wondering what y'all might think about taking the time to keep your cases positioned the same direction when firing them and reloading them. Such as keeping the head-stamps the same direction when shooting and loading, in order to maintain more consistency from shot to shot.

Sounds kind of anal, but no more than a lot that we do to perfect our hand-loads.

I apologize in advance if this thread triggers any useless worries for you OCD types. jd

I saw something along this line someplace (like a YouTube video) where someone would, on measuring the runout for each cartridge, use a Sharpie to put a little mark on the neck to indicate the high side. Then hand load the cartridge with the mark in the same position in the chamber each time.

 

[jr600yd]

Yup, it’s anal

 

[Bill K]

I bolt or semi-auto's it would be really hard to do, as even if you place the round in with a mark a certain place, the closing of the bolt into final lock up would cause the round to turn some and would be hard to be sure it is the same each time.
It can be done on single shots i.e. TC type actions and some do it. Does it really matter, who knows. Guess it is all in the beholder.

 

[jds holler]

I've got to have a theory about everything, and I guess after thinking about this a bit, --I think it wouldn't make a bit of difference on a rifle with a good, concentric chamber. In a rifle with concentricity issues, it might.

Of course when you get one of those rifles that just won't shoot well, you may as well try ANYTHING. -- including ancient Druid incantations. At least case orientation would be fairly easy to test. jd

 

[Immike]

I think closing the bolt kills it amongst other things. A concentric die is a better project.

 

[pirate ammo]

quit smoking that stuff JD

 

[jds holler]

I think closing the bolt kills it amongst other things. A concentric die is a better project.

I'm thinking that even with the possible bolt turn on closing, the case could still be oriented +/- 20 degrees or so. That's pretty good compared to 180.

If I were to carry out this craziness, I'd simply take a batch of my standard loads which I have proven the accuracy of, and shoot them from an oriented position in my rifle. Then reload and shoot the same cases from the same oriented position, and compare those groups to the first ones.

I'm thinkin that a couple of ten shot groups might tell the tale. jd

 

[Liven The Dream]

I saw something along this line someplace (like a YouTube video) where someone would, on measuring the runout for each cartridge, use a Sharpie to put a little mark on the neck to indicate the high side. Then hand load the cartridge with the mark in the same position in the chamber each time.

Yes saw this at the Range ! The Guy Posts here time to time .

 

[Pwc]

You have got to be kidding!

 

[biggun2869]

've tried it and couldn't tell any difference. Got the idea out of the instructions for a NECO coincentricy guage. A buddy and I spent a lot of time on it one winter. We used a small 3cornered file to mark them which is what NECO suggested
Gary

 

[Dgd6mm]

I’ve heard of this tried before and it didn’t seem to accomplish anything. One option is to turn the cases backwards in a Wilson case trimmer and true the heads. Need to remove the primer first...

I not only heard of this, I seen it and shot against this fellow that was doing it.

 

[Shooter13]

I think if you are already shooting THAT good where your groups are zeros and you are looking for that little extra ............ I can't see it helping a bit.

 

[Texas10]

I'm going to break with the crowd here and tell you the most important thing I learned in years of competition is that anything you do that helps raise your confidence levels will always add to your standing on game day. Not to mention the psychological impact on your fellow competitors when noticing your procedures.

And if they see what you're doing and say "pfffft, that does nothing", you know they tried it too and will now start thinking that they did it wrong, especially if your scores are better.

Shooting is definitely a head game, like many sports.

That being said, yea, I tried it too and it didn't help me either. But then I can't shoot well enough to reveal any advantages in doing so.