I sectioned 4 different cases with smoked primer pockets to compare.
Left to right with measured water gr capacity of fired cases.
Starline (31.85 gr), Hornady (31.2 gr), 24 Nosler necked down (32.7 gr), Federal (32.4 gr)
Starline & Hornady are a similar design in the bottom and have the least capacity. Nosler & Fed likewise are similar in the bottom with increased capacity.
The Starline is very uniform. The Hornady is the worst with regards to wall thickness uniformity. The Nosler is very uniform & has a clean flash hole. The Federal has a little noticeable wall thickness offset & a gnarly bugger on the inside of the flash hole.
This was my first try at 88's & also shot a few Lever loads. Lever delivers on speed like nothing else, but you give up temp stability. Also Lever doesn't seem to get happy on SD's till you hit about 93%+ case fill & upper end on pressure. At least it doesn't spike near the top like 8208.
I just got 500 new Starline, but since I've already got some fire formed Nosler's
Everything below was shot from necked down 24 Nosler brass with a .223 bolt. All mag fed using Ckye pod & rear squeeze bag.
The extra 1 - 1.5gr in the Nosler allowed me to attempt a H4350 load for the 88's.
26.9 = 2657 with 7.4 SD
27.2 = 2691 with 4.2 SD
27.5 = 2725 with 4.8 SD This was pretty compressed, but I have to stay within (windowed) mag limits of the AR.
27.2 fit comfortably, was best accuracy, & didn't kill the primer pockets. I'll play around with 27.1 - 27.3 + seating depth but this is showing promise. Factory Hornady 88 gives me 2502. Hell yeah I'll take + 190 fps with temp stable powder. Now I need to see how many loads the primer pockets will take?
This is an 18" Gasser with a RL +1" gas system. All were mag fed.
Bottom 3 are the 88 eld H4350 loads.
Sorry for the shitty pics.
Lever loads.
Top left 77 TMK's shot great @ 2868 but SD sucked. Load needs + .5 gr & SD should tighten.
Bottom left 77 RDF's are lasers @2922 G7 .228 again SD should improve with another .2 - .3 gr at around 2950
Bottom right x 2 are 80 eld's that continue to suck.
80.5 Berger's shot well @ 2889. Haven't played with seating depth on these yet.
Top right was first 88 eld load with Lever. Had an oddball flyer that could've been me? This was a low case fill slow load for Lever & SD sucked so I'm leaning towards it being a legit flyer. 2.325 COAL does look like a decent spot for the 88's. They fell apart @ 2.285 coal.
I'm very tempted to order the Craddock signature 22" + 2" Bartlain gain twist.