Reloading Equipment

[red]

I inherited reloading equipment from m dad and have been teaching myself reloading through books and the internet. I was just loading .223 Rem. I have been having a hard time with cartridge OAL staying consistent. I just noticed some play in the press I'm using. My question is, when do you know when the press is ready to be replaced?

 

[Eddie Harren]

If you are measuring OAL from the base to the bullet tip, that is where your inconsistancies are coming from. Measure some of your bullets from the base to the tip.

 

[bheadboy]

most c or o presses have some flex in them and the adjustment of the dies takes that into account, the post by DocEd is a good one as the oal should be measured base of case to the ojive of the bullet, there are number of good suppliers of a gage to measure that way, check out the Hornaday web page to oal gages

Bob

 

[highmaster82]

unless you have the shooting skills to shoot .25 groups or less don't worry about it. .
Byron

 

[gambleone]

What kind of press?

 

[fdshuster]

As DocEd said, if you're measuring to the tip of the bullet, they will always vary in length. The important dimension is from the case head to a reference point on the bullets ogive. Unless you're loading to magazine feed, cartridge O.A.L. means nothing.

 

[red]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I did buy a Hornaday Bullet Comparator, and it was sitting in its case. Pulled it out and gauged the rounds I had loaded, and they were all within .003 of each other. I guess it comes from not having enough experience. Thanks again for the help.

 

[artbosco]

I was just loading .223 Rem. I have been having a hard time with cartridge OAL staying consistent. I just noticed some play in the press I'm using. My question is, when do you know when the press is ready to be replaced?

The only time I'd worry about the case base and tip of the bullet measurement would be if I had a magazine that limited it's OAL. Otherwise the first thing it might touch would be the inside of a cartridge case that you transport it in, or the target, whatever that may be. It goes without saying, the bullet's tip never touches anything in the barrel.

I'm more concerned about the Case Base to Ogive measurement being consistent with my intended seating depth and its relationship to the lands.

Jackie Schmidt one of the finest shooters in the NBRSA's Gulf Coast Region, and featured meaning times in this site on various topics, has three RCBS Partner presses that look like they should have died years ago, yet they continue to produce round and after round that Jackie wins with, because he use dies that are internally straight.

Unless the press is structurally bent, which prevents a fairly straight upward movement, the internal straightness of the die is what's really critical and should be the area of most concern.

 

[Larryh128]

One thing that I do on a regular basis that seems to help slightly, along with reducing run out is to seat the bullet about halfway, rotate the case 90 degrees & finish seating the bullet. Tends to square it a little better & make a slightly better round.

 

[BigDMT]

I do the same thing Larryh128. I started doing that when I began wondering if the thread pitch of my press didn't exactly match up with the thread pitch of the seater die, stuff could be slightly out of whack.

I don't worry about doing it for my varmint rifles though. I figure that I already have enough time invested loading over 1000 rounds for spring gopher shooting and if I miss a gopher due to an errant round, it's not the end of the world : )

For anything serious though, I would recommend spinning the round and seating again as well. Of course varmint hunting is pretty serious isn't it?.... : ) LOL!

 

[BigDMT]

P.S. Presses take a long time and tens of thousands of rounds before they go bad. Just make sure you keep shafts, pivot points and other moving parts cleaned and lubricated. That will increase your press life significantly.

 

[tenring]

I have a 50 something year old RCBS Rockchucker. Bought it used long ago, round count unknown. There is a slight amount of wobble in the ram. My newer Partner press has no wobble, buit I cannot tell the difference in finished rounds. Anyone know whether the older press can be reconditioned, or even if it should be? I believe the ram bushings are worn. I do oil the ram shaft and pivots frequently.

 

[fm1947]

highmaster82,

how is he going to learn to shoot 1/4 moa if he doesnt understand reloading first, took a buddy out first time I helped him reload his Rem 22-250 1/4 moa after sight in, IMHO I think your post was a bit arrogant.

 

[BigDMT]

I have a 50 something year old RCBS Rockchucker. Bought it used long ago, round count unknown. There is a slight amount of wobble in the ram. My newer Partner press has no wobble, buit I cannot tell the difference in finished rounds. Anyone know whether the older press can be reconditioned, or even if it should be? I believe the ram bushings are worn. I do oil the ram shaft and pivots frequently.

I don't think the wobble in the ram is a very big deal so long as the stroke distance stays constant the dies will align the case and take care of the rest. To check true consistency of your press and dies, you'd have to full size and measure the shoulders on freshly annealed cases. Could try just full sizing, but brass without a fresh annealing treatment may cause measurements to vary as well due to differences in hardness from piece to piece.

And if accuracy hasn't changed in your ammo, you shouldn't be too concerned with rebuilding your press. Take care.