Match Ammo.....

[Rumpy]

I'm interested in hearing how some of you guys prepare your match Ammo, I'm not talking about practice stuff.... I mean ammo preparation for the big matches. Do you have any special secrets or tips that you use??? Anything from projectiles to magazines.... I currently reload, factory crimp and chamber check my match ammo is there anything else I should be doing for ultimate reliability????

[XRe]

Add to that:

- only use new or lightly used brass

- take extra time reloading, just to reduce chances of a mistake

- chrono a random sample of the ammo to insure that nothing strange happened w/ your load

[IronEqualizer]

Even though I chamber check all mine in a guage, an experienced shooter taught me to also load it all up into my mags and work it through the gun. That is the ultimate chamber guage. I just eject them all onto a clean towel or two then wipe them all down before placing back into ammo boxes.

[mlmiller1]

When I case gauge my match ammo, I make a special point of running my finger across the primers, just to be sure I don't have any high ones. Many people make this a habit but just in case you don't, there is an extra idea for you. I also use once fired brass, only. Just in case the rim has a burr or anything, I don't want it at a match. Any rejects for anything get used for practice ammo. Good luck, MLM

[dajarrel]

Other than using a single headstamp for consistancy, I don't do anything extra that I don't do for every round I load. The only reason I use the single headstamp is for consistancy at the chrono.

IMHO, you should load every round as if it is the big match.

Does an occasional mistake get through? I'd be a liar if I said it didn't, but they are few and far between.

FWIW

dj

[Guest]

Frankly, it's been quite a while since I've gone to a big match, but when I was doing the bigger matches I was pretty anal about quality control during reloading, gauging, and only used once fired brass (I figured you had to "train" the cases so they would know what they were suppose to do at a big match!). The last thing I did was to give the finished rounds a light coat of Sailkote McLube. It was probably just between my ears, but it sure seemed like it helped feeding (especially in the early Caspian hi-cap mags) and sped up the slide's cycle time a hair. I'd lightly spray a shop or paper towel with McLube and then roll a handful the freshly minted rounds on the towel then pop them into a plastic ammo box. McLube is used by the sailboat racing crowd to keep the tracks, cleats, foils, and anything else above or below the waterline slick.

[XRe]

Even though I chamber check all mine in a guage, an experienced shooter taught me to also load it all up into my mags and work it through the gun. That is the ultimate chamber guage. I just eject them all onto a clean towel or two then wipe them all down before placing back into ammo boxes.

Why use a gauge? Your chamber is a perfect case gauge. Take the barrel out and drop test them all.

Realize that by cycling a bunch of live rounds through the gun, you're adding an additional amount of liability that you basically don't need - and also, you're possibly (depending on your gun, and loads) causing some slight setback to each round, which could possibly result in higher pressures w/ your match ammo. That can lead to a malfunction during a big match (or worse).

If your gun and mags run (as determined in practice and local matches), and all your match ammo drops in and back out of the chamber through gravity alone, then barring some unfortunate equipment failure during the match or a high primer or something (which you should have also checked for), the ammo is going to feed....

Actually, there's a Practical Shooting Radio podcast (the one that also has Bill Davison from TacPro on it) where Matt and I discussed prepping match ammo at length - probably a good listen for Rumpy

[Rumpy]

Wow, thanks guys

Heaps of info!!!

[Mick]

Ditto on most of what was said but I don't have a bullet feeder on my 1050 just so I can look into every case to make sure there is powder. I hold each 50 round tray up so I an see the primers are under flush and then stripe them after they're chamber gauged.

"IMHO, you should load every round as if it is the big match. "

+1 on this! When you're shooting a $2000+ gun your ammo needs to not damage it and having it run right sure helps mentally.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Does anyone individually weigh their bullets? I have done a sample in the past where I had bullets that were off from the designated weight both high and low. I took a batch and weigh them all and separated them into light, dead on and heavy. We are talking about +/- .5-1.0 grains. Is this being to retentive? As I prepare for some big matches I wasn't sure if I should go to this extreme.

[XRe]

Does anyone individually weigh their bullets?

I weigh a representative sample each time I get a new lot of bullets, just to see where they're at. In practice, when sticking to the same manufacturer and bullet type, I haven't ever seen a huge variance - sometimes a tenth or three off, but not more than that. Also, I measure the diameter and length of the bullets, as well, and compare against the previous batch. Those things are going to be clues that I might need to work up my load more carefully (or possibly temporarily back off my charge, if larger diameter or longer...)

[benny hill]

The barrel is a bad case gauge unless you drop the ammo in twice while turning it 180 degrees. The case can have a tiny bludge & it will go in if it is on the ramp side & not on the hood side, learned this from 25 yrs of loading ammo. Use a case gauge.

[GTOSHootr]

The barrel is a bad case gauge unless you drop the ammo in twice while turning it 180 degrees. The case can have a tiny bludge & it will go in if it is on the ramp side & not on the hood side, learned this from 25 yrs of loading ammo. Use a case gauge.

I found that out the hard way.

[boo radley]

The only thing I do, is tumble ammo for major matches. It helps get the OneShot® off the cases, and any primers that are really loose in the pockets will back out.

Then I examine the cases just to make sure none are split. The Lee FCD seems to obviate the need to case-guage, but it will happily resize a split case, too....Have had zero problems with my Glock 35, and I'm pleased that this Caylor STI build seems to eat every profile at any OAL, so far.

[JFD]

I don't do anything different to "match" ammo. I load to the same quality level for everything.

Now if I tried a different bullet that wasn't as accurate as what I normally use, then that would be considered "practice" ammo.

[bruce282]

Make sure there's not a lot of dust on the boxes when I get them from Wal-Mart.

Production shooter here.

Bruce

[Jaxshooter]

+1 on once fired matching headstamp brass.

[Crusher]

Same headstamp once fired, pull handle and crank visually inspect, case gage and box em. That's it, 1050's are a thing of beauty.

[XRe]

The barrel is a bad case gauge unless you drop the ammo in twice while turning it 180 degrees.

You only have to go 90 degrees or so... I drop, twist, drop out. Easy as pie. And... I don't have to worry about a case gauge being different than my chamber... Only my chamber is my chamber...

[joseywales]

The barrel is a bad case gauge unless you drop the ammo in twice while turning it 180 degrees.

You only have to go 90 degrees or so... I drop, twist, drop out. Easy as pie. And... I don't have to worry about a case gauge being different than my chamber... Only my chamber is my chamber...

I thought that the case gauges (Dillon brand) were tighter than barrel chambers (at least, for the Glock stuff I shoot).

If so, wouldn't that be the preferred method to 'cull out' any suspect ammo?

[XRe]

The answer is... it depends And on various factors... but if you search on the forum, you'll find several accounts of ammo properly dropping into case gauges (Dillon included) and failing to chamber in the barrel - the root cause being that the case gauge is cut bigger than the chamber....

[ipscbob]

Take out the guesswork concerning machining tolerances and just use the barrel to case gauge and as benny said, just turn the case in between dropping twice.

[Mick]

I've never had a round that fit a Dillon gauge NOT go into an SV chamber and both are tight. The SVs tend to loosen after 20,000 rounds but the Dillon gauge doesn't (of course it's not being fired either). Stuff that drops into and out of the Dillon on it's own weight usually rattles around in a used chamber.

Most of the brass that is fired in those nice chambers tend to stay nice for the next reload unless you step on them.

[bgary]

My normal process for *all* ammo is

-- tumble the brass

-- sort it by headstamp (usually can go through 3-4k per evening, on long winter evenings in front of the TV). While I'm sorting it, I toss any case that either has a "smeared" headstamp or any kind of burr around the case-mouth, into the "practice bucket"

So.... when I'm done, I have a bucket of cleaned, inspected, same-headstamp brass ready to load.

Load like normal (I check powder weight and OAL every time I put in a tube of primers)

Chamber check. Like most others, I use the chamber of my gun's barrel as the gauge. They should drop into the chamber with a "plonk" sound. Any rounds that don't drop all the way in, don't "sound right", or don't drop back *out*, they don't go into the match ammo bin.

When done, I take all the rounds that gauged OK, and put them in those plastic boxes that hold 100. Inspect primers on every one (visually, then running fingers across to see if any high-primers are there. Then mark the case-heads with my wide black sharpie, and they're ready to go.

B

[HoMiE]

The only thing I do, is tumble ammo for major matches. It helps get the OneShot® off the cases, and any primers that are really loose in the pockets will back out.

Tumbling live rounds? You are braver than me my friend.

Match ammo, practice ammo, it's all the same to me. It all starts with sound reloading practices. Don't change stuff at the last minute or reload the night before with brass you picked up from last months match or add a .2 grains just to make sure you make major.