case length

[watchingtrace]

actually to do it the right way use this http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/pid=32925/Product/Sinclair_Chamber_Length_Gage this will tell you what YOUR chamber in YOUR rifle ACTUALLY is.

stay .005 or more off lands, how far is up to what you feel safe with , you dont wanna hack the crap out of em every time just keep them trimmed off the end of chamber and uniform. neck tension is considered WAY more important by precision shooters. get a good set of redding s type bushing dies with the appropriate bushing ,

 

[watchingtrace]

ps concentrisity IS KING

 

[Chuckdog]

I have a hard time saying that word, spelling it is out of the question?

ps concentrisity IS KING

 

[Chuckdog]

Not to dispute the above statement at all, because in a target rifle concentricity, is king. You can get into case neck turning, annealing your brass, and God knows how many other things, but for me in a hunting rifle round reliability is king. Plus if you plan to shoot them in more than one rifle, keeping them well within spec is a necessity. Get your feet wet, and get comfortable loading before you start worring with chamber length and concentricity gauges and the likes. If you get to thinking that your ammo is holding you back, and you want to get into precision loading then go after the more esoteric stuff. I believe in the K.I.S.S. theory. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

 

[1006]

If the brass is shorter than the max allowable -- after they are sized -- you can load and seat the bullets even if not all of them are exactly the same length. However, they will be more accurate in terms of groups if they are all the same length. You can pick out your shortest case and then decide if you want to match them all to it.

You generally don't need a crimp die for bolt action or single shot rifles when using jacketed bullets in rifles. If you are going to crimp -- you will want all of your brass the same length, or you will have to adjust the crimp die for every length case.

All the previous posts seemed right on to me -- I am just trying to boil it down to the original questions.

 

[watchingtrace]

i guess im part of the do it right the first time . if you learn the precision way you get precision results. im not a neckturning fan, i just match my redding neck bushings to my brass .003-.004 for gas .001-.002 for bolt, whatever gives you repeatable positive results.

 

[Chuckdog]

Not trying to hi-jack but I have a question that might be relevant here.

I plan to start reloading soon for my sons .243 and was looking at a die set with a crimp die in it. Also looked at a crimp die for my .270. I have no experience with one, I necked down 30-06 brass for my .270 so I never had to worryabout trimming. Do the cases have to be the same OAL? I mean do you set the die to a prescribed depth like the seating die or is it set in the general location and crimp whenever the case mouth hits it?

Hey Roy, my best advice for you is to get a manual out and read it thoroughly. Necking from one caliber to another doesn't mean you don't need to worry about trimming. I'm not sure about making .270 brass from 30-06 brass to begin with? There may be some shoulder differences to consider? When you fire and full length size brass the case neck elongates. You will need to get a dial caliper and some form of case trimmer. If you plan to use the ammo in the same rifle each time you can use a neck sizing only die. It doesn't work the brass as much, and will greatly extend your brass life. As for the Lee factory crimp dies, they work quite well even if you brass isn't uniform in length. I believe you may run into the neck actually being a little too short to firmly hold some flat based bullets on 270 made from 30-06 cases. Most folks rarely crimp rifle cartridges unless they're going to be in for rough use, or used in an autoloader. Uniformity is the key to accuracy and reliability, so the more alike each component used is, the better.

 

[Clarke123]

I "KISS" it too, I use my Lee Case Trimmer (in the appropriate caliber) in my electric drill.
If it's too long, it get shortened ... if it's too short, it gets set aside OR tossed!
For example: I was working on some .270 brass, a case came up short ... it was a .308 case!
Got by me in my visual as well as resizing ... !!!!

Also, your loading manual should show you what the OAL loaded length should be for the particualr projectile being loaded; mine does.

Read your loading manual! Mine had the answer to the question about when to use battery lead for casting bullets: NEVER!

 

[Petro_58]

To short? you'd have to do alot of overtrimming to be to short. Case length usually refers to not being longer than a specified length not shorter than. But I guess in certain circumstances it could be to short.

 

[Clarke123]

To short? you'd have to do alot of overtrimming to be to short. Case length usually refers to not being longer than a specified length not shorter than. But I guess in certain circumstances it could be to short.

I understand, but tend to err on the cautious side: life's too short to bother with a case that doesn't meet expectations.