I started with new Lapua 308. I have a Rockchucker and a NM Forester die with the neck honed to .336. Fired rounds measure .000 - .001 with an RCBS mic. When resized brass measures anywhere from .000 to -.005. ?????????????????????? I tried everything from 1/4 turn after shellholder contact to minimal contact. I tried Hornady One Shot lube and RCBS goo . Do I need to get it all annealed or is the brass mix inconsistant? The brass also seems to grow when it sits??
Sized brass inconsistencies
- Thread starter RHux
- Start date
What of the actual chamber, and fit of the brass in it?
Do you have a 'national match' chamber?
I don't even know if such a thing exists, but that's the standard Forester claims to have taken the die to(i.e. maximum sizing). The dies seem also to have been designed for Forester presses that do not utilize shellholders. I'm sure Forester has a fix for that.
Do you have a 'national match' chamber?
I don't even know if such a thing exists, but that's the standard Forester claims to have taken the die to(i.e. maximum sizing). The dies seem also to have been designed for Forester presses that do not utilize shellholders. I'm sure Forester has a fix for that.
Keith Glasscock
Gold $$ Contributor
I'd bet that it has more to do with slop in the system. With my Rockchucker, I just gave up and bought Redding competition shellholders. With those and a good, solid overcenter, I see no more than .001" ES in my headspace. Next time you size a case, look for a gap between the shellholder and die. If there is one, that likely is the source of your variation.
I like one-shot, but I recently tried imperial case lube (from Redding) and I'm in love! The only downside to it is that it does tend to melt above ~80 degrees, so it becomes a bit liquidy when its's hot outside. BTW, it comes off easy too - I can clean it off with a rag.
Those RCBS case mics are great, but you do need to clean them frequently. I take a cotton swab to mine because even the slightest amount of dirt (or case cleaning media) will change the reading.
I like one-shot, but I recently tried imperial case lube (from Redding) and I'm in love! The only downside to it is that it does tend to melt above ~80 degrees, so it becomes a bit liquidy when its's hot outside. BTW, it comes off easy too - I can clean it off with a rag.
Those RCBS case mics are great, but you do need to clean them frequently. I take a cotton swab to mine because even the slightest amount of dirt (or case cleaning media) will change the reading.
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
Given all that you have tried, it seems that annealing is where you need to go. A friend has done a good job with one of the Hornady kits, a cordless drill, and a cheap battery powered metronome. Once you know the number of seconds you don't need to use the Tempilaq any more, as long as the flame and its position relative to the necks stays constant. He was fighting the same problem, and annealing fixed it. The metronome was my idea, so that he could keep his eyes on the case, and hear the seconds tick off. He said that it really helped, but that after a couple of hundred cases , he could do it by watching the color come down the cases. He uses a vibratory cleaner to brighten up the cases so that he can see the colors easier.
Boyd, I have used a Craftsman 3.6 V cordless screwdriver to anneal for the past 4 years. Mostly 6 mmBR and 30Br necks. What I have found is that it takes about 6-7 seconds with flame tip about 1 1/2" away, always turning from the same position. However, the time lapse becomes longer as the drill loses power. I no longer use Templiq. Watch the orange flame move from the neck down to the shoulder and you are done.
The OP might consider skim turning his necks.
The OP might consider skim turning his necks.
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
Since Lapua doesn't polish their annealing colors away, you have a pattern to follow. When I helped a friend set up a machine, that uses two torches pointing toward the center of the neck, spaced so that the case doesn't have to rotate, but pauses in the flames for the selected time, we found that if we painted a narrow stripe of 500 degree Tempilaq down body of the case, from the shoulder to the head, and held the inner cone just off of the center of the neck, that when the Tempilaq changed to a point that was a half of an inch down from the shoulder that the time was about right to not over do the necks, and to soften the shoulder enough to allow for uniform bump when FL sizing. By the use of the metronome, and the Tempilaq, as crutches, you will eventually develop an eye, and possibly not need them, but having the timing, and flame position the same for each case, is very important to the uniformity of annealing, which is the advantage of using a machine. My friend did not want to buy a machine, so he created similar uniformity. Personally, I like the idea of having some references to work by. Just as if I were tightening connecting rod bolts in an engine build. I could probably do it by feel, but I would rather know that they were all the same, and what they were supposed to be. For the infrequent annealer, I think that crutches are appropriate.
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