Hello,
This probably overlaps in ELR a bit. I’ll just give as much context as I can. I come to this poor life decision with humility but don’t try to talk me out of the path I’m on, I’m determined to figure this out. Thanks in advance.
Don’t really know what I’m doing but I accidentally entered the twilight zone and got a deal on an old Stiller tac 408 single shot (1.45)build some guy never used. Came with a pile of ammo was hard to pass up. Well now I’m in over my head but I’m going to figure it out somehow.
Haven’t got a chance to do any measurements (rifle is still at the dealer) but the ammo that was included was mixed Thor/Jamison with the thin necks. Some of the rounds were cracked on the neck which I heard wasn’t uncommon. I pulled the bullets off by hand on these and dumped the powder.
Most of the included rounds were Thor/Jamison but there were some reloads with a brief note denoting 120 grains of N560 with 419 solids at 2775 FPS, with a COAL of 4.305. The factory stuff is closer to 4.5. I told someone fairly knowledgeable with 408 about this and he seemed a bit perplexed by the load. The rig came with a Sightron SIII and a cold shot base so I’m not sure what this guy was doing with it but I feel like it was more benchrest stuff. I swapped it out for a Leupold MK5.
I bought some Peterson brass and am thinking about using RL50 to work up a load. Probably will buy the Lehigh 400 gr solids. I have some time to figure it out since I can shoot the ammo I’ve got for awhile before I get my own load figured out. I don’t really trust the Jamison brass long term based in what I’ve seen.
Questions I’ve got...
1. If I go with custom Whidden dies, how do I put three rounds together to send them some fired brass? I have to buy a seater die just for the task?
2. Is it possible I’ll need one of the Peterson brass resizing reamers due to differences between Peterson and Jamison?
3. Are custom dies necessary? If not which are preferred for the Peterson brass?
4. Any other advice for how to proceed with this project? My goals are to work up a load safely, learn to reload the 408, and learn to reach out to 2000-2400 meters. I’m in NorCal and live close to where they do the Clearlake matches but am not prepared for such an endeavor until I figure this thing out.
Once again I have very little business doing this but I’m doing it anyway so any help is appreciated. I’ve been given some good advice already by an industry expert but hard to get one of those on the phone every time I’ve got a question. Thanks.
This probably overlaps in ELR a bit. I’ll just give as much context as I can. I come to this poor life decision with humility but don’t try to talk me out of the path I’m on, I’m determined to figure this out. Thanks in advance.
Don’t really know what I’m doing but I accidentally entered the twilight zone and got a deal on an old Stiller tac 408 single shot (1.45)build some guy never used. Came with a pile of ammo was hard to pass up. Well now I’m in over my head but I’m going to figure it out somehow.
Haven’t got a chance to do any measurements (rifle is still at the dealer) but the ammo that was included was mixed Thor/Jamison with the thin necks. Some of the rounds were cracked on the neck which I heard wasn’t uncommon. I pulled the bullets off by hand on these and dumped the powder.
Most of the included rounds were Thor/Jamison but there were some reloads with a brief note denoting 120 grains of N560 with 419 solids at 2775 FPS, with a COAL of 4.305. The factory stuff is closer to 4.5. I told someone fairly knowledgeable with 408 about this and he seemed a bit perplexed by the load. The rig came with a Sightron SIII and a cold shot base so I’m not sure what this guy was doing with it but I feel like it was more benchrest stuff. I swapped it out for a Leupold MK5.
I bought some Peterson brass and am thinking about using RL50 to work up a load. Probably will buy the Lehigh 400 gr solids. I have some time to figure it out since I can shoot the ammo I’ve got for awhile before I get my own load figured out. I don’t really trust the Jamison brass long term based in what I’ve seen.
Questions I’ve got...
1. If I go with custom Whidden dies, how do I put three rounds together to send them some fired brass? I have to buy a seater die just for the task?
2. Is it possible I’ll need one of the Peterson brass resizing reamers due to differences between Peterson and Jamison?
3. Are custom dies necessary? If not which are preferred for the Peterson brass?
4. Any other advice for how to proceed with this project? My goals are to work up a load safely, learn to reload the 408, and learn to reach out to 2000-2400 meters. I’m in NorCal and live close to where they do the Clearlake matches but am not prepared for such an endeavor until I figure this thing out.
Once again I have very little business doing this but I’m doing it anyway so any help is appreciated. I’ve been given some good advice already by an industry expert but hard to get one of those on the phone every time I’ve got a question. Thanks.
