highxj

I tend to agree with you. Based on the wear rate/patterns on the carrier, there is very little direct force acting on those bearing surfaces. Seems to me like any differences in bearing surface area between different carriers would be functionally insignificant.

Just got my 3G1 upper today.....and coming from a 14.5" M4 profile barrel this thing feels like it weighs a ton. I'll play with it for a bit and see if I can get acclimated to it. If not, I'll have the barrel turned down a bit under the handguard. Anybody done that by the way?? I've run into a couple stages where I thought something a little heavier than my 14.5" would be beneficial. Last Weld County match we had to shoot some targets on the move (walking) that were a good ways away. The little guy was tough to hold still on that one. Cody 2130, how are you getting along with yours?

I've done my own testing of Varget as well as a host of other extruded powders for weight variation when thrown from powder measures. At the time I was comparing a Redding BR30 against a Harrell measure. Extreme spreads with Varget approached four tenths of a grain, which was just too much for my small-cased application. Benchmark stayed just under two tenths extreme spread. But the other thing is cutting those large granules, I just can't see it working well in a Dillon, and it's a PITA in a drum type measure. These days, I just don't use powders I can't throw directly from the measure. Not saying those AZ shooters didn't make it work, but I stay away from it for any volume loading. Sorry about the thread drift, if anybody has seen AR-Comp I'd like to know how large the granules are compared to other common powders

I'd have to actually *see* some. Don't discount it just because it's extruded. Fine extruded powders like Benchmark, H322, N133 and the like meter just fine in just about any sort of measure. If it's like Varget on the other hand.........forget it!

Appreciate the info Kevin....I think I'll test some of these out as you have and hopefully have good results as well...

Huh, this is timely. I just spent some time enhancing the exact grips with skate tape. The included panels aren't in a very useful place for me, so I added additional strips here and there as well as on the front and rear straps. I never though to try your method as I didn't think it would actually work due to the compound curves........but apparently it does! The skate board deck tape is not Jessup brand....do I need to find this? Dan

160 Billy Bullet, 1.170", WSF powder, Fed small pistol primers, W-W brass, 5" Bar-Sto barrel: 3.0 gr. 127 PF 3.3 gr. 137 PF

Federal sent me a form letter asking me to ship the "ammo" back to them. I told them thanks for the canned reply but I don't believe I can ship hazmat. They don't answer phone calls and email responses take forever...still stuck on this.

Oh, I know it's not a gun or ammo problem....it's just strange that I only did it with one load and not the other. I need to re-train my trigger finger, among many other things. Yeah, the 1.47 was from surrender, all A's and first shot was .87. But let me say there is no way I can do anything consistently yet. Just like when I first started in 1985, I'm shooting WAY over my head. It's always been a problem for me, shooting only as fast as I can see....but that's everybody's problem I suppose!

Had something odd happening to me today. I was running some fast drills today...bill drills, close arrays, like that. Using my STI 9mm, I started out shooting a practice load of a 150 gr. lead at 128pf and things were singing along nicely, pulled off a bill drill in 1.47. I switched to some 124 jacketed loads at 133pf and immediately started having 'bad' trigger freeze issues. Switched back to the slower lead load and the problems disappeared. I'm just getting back into the game after a 20 year layoff so I'm really rusty. Apparently I'm just releasing the trigger barely enough to reset the sear, and the quicker recoil impulse completely screwed me up. I don't know what I'm asking....just making an observation. Thought it was unusual and I can't recall that ever happening in such a dramatic fashion. It appears that with the snappier loads the gun is settling back forward out of recoil about the same time I'm relaxing on the trigger. Or something. I'd love to see a high speed video and watch exactly what's going on..

Warhammer4k yes I'm using the Stoney Point headspace measuring tool. In my experience, with full power loads, the measurement of the fired case will be approximately a thousandth or perhaps .0015" shorter than actual chamber dimension. Generally anyway, and this is with small varmint cases. Repeatedly firing the neck sized case will eventually result in it being 'snug' to chamber. These cases are 'about' .001" to .0015" longer in body length than the once fired case was. As far as the SB sizing die goes, I don't use one and with my current chamber don't seem to need it. My cases are being sized about .0014" ahead of the web and they feed and chamber freely, so I'm not going to unnecessarily work my cases if I don't have to. Anyway....thanks for confirming my sizing procedure on the 5.56 gas gun. I think I'm good to go now

The 9mm Colt AR uses the same safety as the 5.56 models......

Jared, I have a couple of progressives but I'm thinking I'll FL size everything on a single stage then run them through the Dillon. One reason is so I *can* carefully control headspace.

Nope, you don't resize before the GRX, but you still need to afterwards...

Probably a good plan, I'll stick with the Redding +.006" shell holder which moves my shoulder back .004". A few months ago, I sent off a batch of once fired 5.56 brass to a fella in Texas for processing. It came back looking great, but unfortunately he bumped them back a full .010" . I emailed him and told him he may want to consider adjusting his tooling as he was a full .006" shorter than an unfired W-W case and he was basically ruining brass, but he didn't want to hear about it. I am shooting them....but I measure each one afterwards. About one in five stretch, so they get tossed. If you want something done right...........ya' know.

Hey guys, I'm coming from the world of precision bench and varmint rifle handloading and have a question about FL sizing brass for my AR. I generally neck size using custom bushing dies, or FL size when necessary to bump the shoulder back about .0015" on my fired cases for my bolt guns. I understand that the AR platform is a different animal and requires FL sizing with a shoulder bump each time.....my question is, how much is enough to insure reliability over hundreds of rounds between cleanings? I use (and love) Redding Competition shell holders, so I can precisely and easily adjust the shoulder position during sizing. My thought is to bump the shoulder back .002" on a fired case, but I'm wondering if .004" might not be a better idea and may be a little more forgiving when things start to get dirty. Thoughts?

I just checked mine out Steve, and it looks like your new one in all respects. The primer punch is nearly flush like yours to the subplate, no dimple, no big chamfer, and the primer punch assembly looks to be .060"-.070" below flush on the bottom of the subplate using a machinists rule. I did not check the numbers. I got my machine just a couple weeks ago.... Dan

Not really. You may have to drop a different bushing in the drop tube, for example if switching from rifle to pistol. At any rate, you'll still have to adjust the measure height to correct the metering drum rotation since it's adjustment is based on case length. The only way to do a quick adjustment-free swap like you're after is to purchase additional powder dies for each cartridge you're loading, then have extra metering inserts for the powder measure.....

I think the first thing I'd do is make up a dummy round seated to a useable length, and make sure the base of that long bullet doesn't bulge the case too much to affect chambering...

Unfortunately, most factory chambers have unnecessarily long throats and neck lengths. Are you trying to jam into the lands for the sole purpose of fireforming your cases, or hunting for top accuracy? It's not really necessary to jam into the lands while fireforming, in fact with the smaller calibers it doesn't even work anyway. When the firing pin strikes the primer it either drives the bullet farther into the case neck and/or farther into the lands. You shouldn't have enough headspace with factory brass to worry about case stretching, a decent load will form the case perfectly. As far as accuracy, with my small caliber varmint rifles I always begin load development with square land marks on the bullet. I always order my reamers with zero freebore so I can accomplish this as well as chase the lands as the throat wears..I then fine tune bullet seating depth, but the best accuracy isn't *always* found with the bullet into the lands. I realize with the 308 you'd need a certain amount of freebore to accommodate the long bullets.... How is your accuracy?

Just dumped these in my primer tray, only to see all this yellow powder in the primer box. As you can see they are Fed LP, and were purchased within the last couple months. Looks like the priming compound has deteriorated. I'm going to forward these pics to Federal and see what they say. In all my 38 years of reloading I've yet to see this. Anybody seen this before? I'm a bit doubtful about loading them....

Lots of people have that impression, but the +.002 through +.010 Reddings are cut that much deeper, reducing the case insertion into the die by that amount. I wish something similar was made for progressives, but for those we are stuck with the old imprecise "back out the die a little and measure" method.

It's a whole 'nother game Graham, and an interesting one at that. There are so many different facets to the shooting sports, and I've enjoyed many of them. After shooting nothing but handguns for fun and profit for a half dozen years, my interests changed and for the last dozen years I began focusing on and designing small caliber wildcat varmint cartridges. I used every precision loading technique available to squeeze the last bit of accuracy out of my highly tuned bolt rifles. It's all part of the game. True, lots of these techniques are wasted on a factory Rem 700 with it's $12 barrel and generous factory chamber, but I wouldn't exactly call them a waste of time. It's an enjoyable part of the hobby. But minimizing case sizing will enhance accuracy and case life, and there is often much to be gained by finding that perfect bullet seating depth even in a factory barrel. Steve, I'm with you on the arbor press and Wilson dies. I load lots of my stuff on them using custom dies cut with my chambering reamers. But it still amazes me how well a decent AR can shoot with all the slam bang stuff going on, using ammo thrown together on a progressive machine, with hardly any regard to case prep or any other accuracy enhancing loading techniques. They are wonderful machines

I have never gotten my head around the CAM-OVER technique. I don't think it's a thread drift since it's has to do with the OP's question. If you don't mind can you say what exactly this does, why it does it, and why it's gooder? Thanks Well...raise your ram, screw the FL die down onto the shell holder, and size a case. Measure the base to datum line length with the Stony Point/Hornady tool or some other sort of comparator. Now lower the FL die another eighth or quarter turn or so until there is a definite snap when the ram is raised all the way as the linkage cams over. Size the case again and remeasure, and the shoulder will be pushed back farther. There is a surprising amount of 'spring' in the press frame, and 'camming over' eliminates it or rather utilizes it, but generally pushes back the shoulder on your brass more than you want. That's where the Redding shell holders come in. You can use the cam over to make your sizing more consistent while using shell holders to adjust your headspace. It really works, they are slick. Just backing out your die to adjust shoulder position works generally, but it's not real consistent. Slight differences in brass hardness and amount of sizing lube can and will cause a variation in measurement. Using a hard cam-over and eliminating the frame spring from the equation and using the Redding shell holders just results in more consistent sizing.

Yep, many of the BR guys are FL sizing now....but with dies that are cut very close to their chambers for minimal sizing. For my varmint bolt guns, I still like to neck size until the cases start getting a tad snug to chamber, then I bump the shoulders back .001" to .002" in a FL die. One thing I highly recommend for accurate, consistent FL sizing are the Redding competition shell holders. They come in a set of 5, cut to increasing depths in increments of .002" over the standard .125". This lets you adjust your FL die for a firm cam-over on the shell holder while bumping the shoulder the desired amount. It's *much* more consistent than simply backing out the FL die and absolutely repeatable. Another tip for getting your baseline measurement on a fired case..no need to de-prime it, simply re-seat the fired primer with your hand priming tool, or whatever method you use for priming..it's quicker and accomplishes the same thing, which is making sure no protrusion on/of the primer screws up your measurement.