dillon case gauge

[gau17]

I just got a dillion case gauge and started to measure some of the cases i had already sized. they seem to be just over the maximum. My question is how much is too much? I think i might have sized them just a hair too much. Do I use the gauge religiously meaning. toss it if its no go?

edit: sorry this is for 223. for my AR15.

 

[Larry Burchfield]

Re: dillon case gauge

Are you talking to long or what?

 

[shoepop]

Re: dillon case gauge

Is it chambered 223 or 5.56? "just over maximum", maximum what?

 

[gau17]

Re: dillon case gauge

it's very slightly sized too much - chambered in 5.56

 

[Larry Burchfield]

Re: dillon case gauge

I don't think that it will hurt it to size down to that. That guage is to mostly tell you if is sized enough. Meaning if it won't go in that guage it won't chamber in your rifle.
larryj

 

[gau17]

Re: dillon case gauge

i'm concerned about having a case that is sized too much. I had a case separate during my last outage. I heard this is cause by oversizing the brass. the only way i knew the something was wrong was my rounds were not going in. I used the chamber brush becuase i thought it was dirty. when i pull the brush out the other half of the shell was around the brush.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: dillon case gauge

If the case is too long or protrudes from the case guage (top or bottom) it either needs to be bumped back at the shoulder, trimmed to length or both. If it the case head drops below flush with the lower step in the bottom of the guage, then you have your sizing die set too low and need to back it (the die) out a turn and work it back down in increments until it is sizing your cases correctly.

Insufficiant head space is a cause for case seperation. It is also unlikely, and possibly dangerous, to assume such short cases will safely lengthen (fire form to the correct chamber size) when fired and then be reusable to the same extent that normally sized and reloaded cases might.