First batch Questions?

[Glen1978]

Ok guys first I want to give a big THANKS to everyone that has gotten me this far! Here is where Im at. LC LR never fired/primed brass, 4064 powder, 175 gr SMK pull down projectiles. I neck sized them with Forster Ultra dies as I was instructed to do by most on here. I chucked up the the WFT trimmer set to 2.005" and trimmed all my brass, some hit some didnt. I had some variation on my final trim length.....went from 2.002 to 2.005 which I was told not to worry about on here. Not sure why the variation maybe pressure on the case, I dont know. Anyway set up my Forster Ultra micrometer die. Screwed it all the way to bottom out then backed off a turn like the instructions say. I made up some dummy rounds to set it up. Got it set and went to loading. Was gona work up some tests so started out with 41.5 gr, then 41.7 then 42 gr or 4064.....5 of each. I decided since this I was learning reloading and as bad as I hate to say it retraining myself to shoot since its been awhile that I would load all to 2.800 OAL. I was surprised that my OAL's were all over the place. 2.797 to 2.810. Why is this? I went back and adjusted the die on each individual round to get them all to 2.800. Is the variation in OAL due to my trim lengths being different? I might be overthinking this but want to make sure. Dont ask how they shot as I figured out my gun was way outa sight so spent most trying to get it 0'd in. All my primers looked a little cratered but looked just the same as my factory loaded Federal FGGM 168 gr did. I did have one case of the 42.0 gr rounds blow out on the side about half way up for about 1/2". Vertical seperation. All this I forgot about when my 7 y/o put about 5 rounds of .22 in a snuff can size hole at 100 yds. I was IMPRESSED!! Let me know what yall think. Thanks alot!

 

[andydrose72]

The overall length was all over the place because the meplats are not uniform. The lengths were probably pretty cosistant at the ojive, which is what you should be concerned with. So after screwing with them all based on overall length you succeeded in making a bunch of rounds with different jumps to the lands.

 

[Glen1978]

And your totally right and now I feel dumb. Ok how do I make one up to set my proper OAL at 2.800" I dont have any specialty tools to set the ojive or any5hing.

 

[andydrose72]

Just use the overall length if you want make a dummy round that is too long and color the bullet with a marker. Keep trying to chamber it and nudging the bullet down with the die until it chambers and does leave a mark around the bullet. Seat it in another .020 and leave it there during powder charge development. Then at some point go buy some bullet comparators. I use the hornady ones. In the mean time just keep that dummy round incase you die get outta wack.

 

[andydrose72]

Or even simpler is to just set your die so that your first round measures your 2.80 and leave it alone.

 

[Glen1978]

I guess I dont know how to do that. The instructions with the die are made for folks that have obviously messed with this stuff. I bottomed out the die and sleeve, then backed off one turn and set the lockring. Im at the top set of numbers at .095 if I read it right.

 

[andydrose72]

Buy the sounds of it you die body is set right, so leave the lock ring where its at. All the die body is doing at that point is holding the seating stem. At this point if I was you I would just back the seating stem out a ways and seat a bullet and keep working it down till you get to 2.80. Then just leave the die alone until you feel you need to play with bullet jump to tighten up your groups.

 

[Glen1978]

Yeah thats what I did....but the one I make a t 2.800 is fine. Then the next one is way over or under. The way you put it I thought there was some kinda measurement that should add up to make 2.800 on the seater die.

 

[andydrose72]

No sorry, there is no measurement on the seater die. Buy getting the first one to your desired length you have you have gotten as good as you are gonna get without comparators. Just leave the die set as it s and all the bullets will be seated to the same depth regardless of what the oal length appears to be because of the non uniform meplats. The die does not seat the bullets off the tip, it contacts further down the bullet. So even though your oals look screwy, the measurement at the ojive will all be the same. But you will just have to trust that until you get comparators to measure this.

 

[Glen1978]

I will probably pick up some this week while Im at work over at Cabelas or Bass Pro. I just ran a set of 20 and they are all around 2.800 to 2.815 IIRC. Im gona leave them all at 42 gr right now till I get MY form a little better. At the end of the day today it woulda shot a 1.0" group or maybe a hair bigger 5 shot group had I had more made up. Im a little outa of practice.

 

[Glen1978]

Update, gun shot ALOT better once I quit jacking with the micrometer. Shot (4) 5 round groups. Still over 1" at 100 yards. Gona pick up a comparator at Cabelas this week and make up another batch. Im having a ball messing with this stuff. Gona bump up the powder a bit and see what happens. From what Ive read 42.3 to 43 is where I need to be with the 4064 and 175 smks.