Reloading Tips According To Dicehorn #23

[dicehorn 38]

The Comparitor

 

If you reload bullets it is essential that all bullets are seated to the same level from the lands (start of the rifling) There are too ways of doing this - one is measuring the whole of the case plus bullet from the headstamp to the very tip of the bullet , the other is measuring from the headstamp to the ogive - the ogive is the datum point on the bullet's surface where the pointy bit ends and the straight bit starts. In my book the measuring from headstamp to tip is ok and you can get by with this method, but the most accurate way and perhaps the most consistant way is measuring off the ogive. Go to your box of lead tipped bullets and just measure the bullet length - I have known them to have as much as 20 thou differences so... if seating at 10 thou back from the lands you could possibly have a bullet that is being forced in the lands which could become a pressure issue. You are thankfully at less risk using polymer tips but even these can have alarming descrepancies.

 

The only real way to produce consistent bullet lengths is using a comparator to measure from the ogive.

 

It comes into its own when trying to establish how far the bullet comes out of a modified case before touching the lands using the AOL Gauge so that you can work out how far back from the lands you should seat the bullets. Yes I know you can make a cheap job of putting a bullet in a split case closing the bolt and then measuring - problem with that is when withdrawing the case with the bolt how much did it slip in the case - was it perfect, 10 thou or 30?

 

 

 

[GEOFF.223 83]

Dont forget to check oal of magazine capacity as sometimes it can be as much as 70thou of difference from the oal of the chamber.

 

Yes you can manual put ammo in and forget the mag good if your a target shooter not so good when rifle is being used mainly for hunting purposes.

[dicehorn 38]

  On 21/10/2013 at 19:29, GEOFF.223 said:

Dont forget to check oal of magazine capacity as sometimes it can be as much as 70thou of difference from the oal of the chamber.

 

Yes you can manual put ammo in and forget the mag good if your a target shooter not so good when rifle is being used mainly for hunting purposes.

That's true Geoff for those reloaders that only wish to seat their bullets within 40 thou or so of the lands - I am not one of them so this has never been an issue. From memory, some Tikka mags have little room to manoeuvre.