.308 Winchester More brass testing

[swampratt]

You need to look at lot numbers for the powder and the bullets.
Different lot numbers on powder will make for different accuracy a lot of times.
If you can't get the groups you had with IMR4064 it could be because the 4064 had a major change about 2012.. at least i know my 2009 and 2012 powders look nothing like each other.

i do have some old stock 2009 stuff as i went and got all i could get my hands on.
Varget has lost my accuracy with certain loads from lot to lot.. I have some lots that are different and shoot the same and other lots again that do not.

yes it sucks

 

[DFX]

When I sold my Dillon's in '95 I had K's and K's of ammo in storage. Enough to last until recently.
I started buying reloading supplies again in '13. I just this year used the last of the ammo I loaded pre '95.
I started over with single 1#'s of all the powders I would use for the calibers I reload as my data was outdated.
I have since bought powders in larger jugs except WW Autocomp, Varget and HS-6.
Wish I could find an 8lb of Varget.

 

[swampratt]

I shot the brass 17 times now I retired the Winchester case after 14 times due to a case head crack line.

I shot at 180 yards today and it was windy enough to blow my bullets almost off the paper target.

Again this is a load of varget that is not weighed. only volume measured.
I found the Tipped 168 Match Kings held a tighter group than the 165 Game King HP .388 BC VS .535 BC.

The circled holes are the 168TMK lower hole is federal case.. Then middle hole was Remington case and upper hole was the Lapua case. 180 yards 1.190" center to center for the 3 shots.

 

[swampratt]

I shot these 20 times total a couple months ago and now have shot them 26 times.

Of course the winchester is out of the race.
Federal and Remington and Lapua cases are all hanging in there.

The Lapua shows less case growth.
Still measuring powder in the field in a 454casull case.

I shot at 200 yards today and was rewarded with a couple 1.7" groups and a 3/4" group.
CCI 200 primer Varget powder about 42gr and 165Game king Hollow point.

Cases are being Full length sized.

Again a brain fart...I get there today and my Lee turret press does not have the primer seater in it!!!!

That would be 77 miles away at the house in my other press.

I did find a new wooden round pencil (new un-sharpened) and my hatchet and a solid oak board I had in the back of my vehicle.

I seated the primers Lee Wack-a-Mole style.
Worked perfectly fine.

26 rounds now..No annealing ,,so far so good.

 

[swampratt]

36 times fired and still going.

This is the group i got at the 34th time fired at 106 Yards.
No trimming since shot #26

 

[Tcox]

This is pretty intriguing

 

[swampratt]

Federal- Light Case head crack at 40 Times fired. Shot 42 times and held together (retired).

Lapua - Light Case Head crack at 42 Times fired. Shot 44 times and held together (retired).

R-P (Rugged - Persevering) Maybe Remington Peters. You decide as I have Full length resized and shot that sucker 50 times now.

50 Times fired..I need to trim the case again as it is at 2.030" Or I would have stayed at the Lexington range a little longer. Accuracy got wacky with the case so long.. getting into the chamber too far.
When will it fail?

 

[Larry Morgan]

Another note is when I set the die in the 4 hole turret press I set it to touch the shell holder and turned it until all slack was removed from the aluminum turret.
Then I gave it another 1/4 turn.. When I checked how much I was setting the shoulder back on the Lapua case I found i was actually pulling it forward .003".

If I turned it in less than 1/4 more I set the shoulder back .003" Then split that to 1/8 less the FC brass shoulder was set back .003"
I think I need to do this with a stouter press as that aluminum insert has a bit too much give or something.

It does still turn out decent ammo. But for ultimate brass fail test i think all shoulders should be set back 0000 to .001".

BUT the last 5 shots with pulling the Lapua shoulder forward .003" resulted in only .001" case growth.. yes they were stiff to close the bolt on.

Like I need another test. Pull shoulder forward .003" for less case growth and longer case life.. who wants to test that.

I have nearly the same press, except it's the older 3 hole style. When I FL size, I can usually hold the bump amount to +/-.001". I always make it bottom out on the shell holder though. Otherwise there are way too many variables. I tried sizing them without it touching... ONCE. Nearly drove myself crazy. But with the shellholder touching, the only thing that can theoretically cause it to change are actually compressing the shellholder and die (HARD HARD) and brass properties (Likely).

 

[swampratt]

Larry Morgan What I found out with some testing was that the die when warm from the sun was what was making me unable to set shoulders back no matter where I set it.

It was setting all shoulders the same though on different head stamp cases.
I was going to do some more reloading on that R-P case today but I got to the range and completely forgot to trim that case..OH well I did some ladder testing on my .243 and sighted in my scope for the .308.

 

[swampratt]

R-P case went 52 times and seen a case head crack starting.
I shot it 2 more times for.

54 total times and retired it.

It held together and those last 4 shots made a .802" group at 106 yards.

What I did notice from this test was that my 210M federal primers do not group as tight as my CCI 200 primers in this load and in my .243 load. at least with these lots of powder I am using.

160+ bullets later.

THE END