Apollo wrote:marksman wrote:the way I set up the collet dies is to only tighten the die down enough so that you cant pull the bullet when seated with your fingers
so start with a case being sized with the collet skirt only just touching the shell holder and adjust the die in till it grips the bullet and you cant move it with your fingers, I believe this is light neck tension, works for me
So, what are you using these rounds for, target shooting.. ??
What happens when you push the loaded round against something like your reloading table, can you push the bullet into the case by hand..??
The reason I ask is that I have a target rifle (6.5x47 Lapua) which is very accurate but it's also a very tight neck chamber, .286 compared to say a "No Turn" neck of .294/5 so with 0.010" neck walls it has very little grip on the bullet. So much so that if rounds are loaded long the simple task of closing the bolt pushes the bullet back into the case so the bullet cannot be jammed into the bore. That's where it's most accurate rather than any jump to the lands. The problem I found is that in transport, rounds sitting up in cartridge boxes they can vibrate enough to cause the bullets to be shorter than ideal. Solution I used was to seat everything long and final seating before a competition shoot.
I would never load rounds for hunting/varminting like this as in my view they will change over time being transported so you will end up with rounds where the bullet seating varies. Now, using bushing dies I can increase the neck tension quite a bit but I loose accuracy. It's still not a lot of tension given the neck walls are so thin.
I will answer you talking about my 22-250 that is used by my young daughter and is only loaded using lee collet dies setup as I have stated Apollo
"So, what are you using these rounds for, target shooting.. ??"
no these rounds are not used for target shooting, I dont shoot comp, but l did shoot this rifle one day sighting in at ssaa little river next to the benchrest crew who watched my target then wanted to have a conversation about who chambered my rifle and what barrel l used, the conversation was cut short when l told them it was a factory $1000 ruger vt that l had tweaked and worked up loads for, apart from one of these guys who is still a great friend to me today the others just disappeared because l think there is no comparison for them between a ruger vs a custom action
"What happens when you push the loaded round against something like your reloading table, can you push the bullet into the case by hand..?? "
l really dont know, l would not push the loaded round against something like your reloading table and my kids are taught to look after their gear
and no as I wrote to Stix earlier you size till you cant push or pull the bullet in or out
"The reason I ask is that I have a target rifle (6.5x47 Lapua) which is very accurate but it's also a very tight neck chamber, .286 compared to say a "No Turn" neck of .294/5 so with 0.010" neck walls it has very little grip on the bullet. So much so that if rounds are loaded long the simple task of closing the bolt pushes the bullet back into the case so the bullet cannot be jammed into the bore. That's where it's most accurate rather than any jump to the lands. The problem I found is that in transport, rounds sitting up in cartridge boxes they can vibrate enough to cause the bullets to be shorter than ideal. Solution I used was to seat everything long and final seating before a competition shoot. "
I think you have answered that question yourself, you need to be having a good look at why when you close the bolt the bullet pushes back into the case ?
IMHO if you bullet is hitting on something that pushes it back into the case it can also make the round crooked especially with 10 thou neck wall thickness that l believe would be thoroughly annealed
l'm sure you already know about this but usually benchrest shooters size long so they can resize to the oal they want is because of bullet weld another alternative is to fix the reason your bullets are being pushed back when closing the bolt and load them long so that when you close the bolt it seats your projectile into the case and into the lands
l have only found a problem with rounds not holding there original oal (and that is with a tight neck at 0.010" neck wall) when l have used less than 1 thou neck tension with bushing dies
the 22-250 l am talking about shoots 50gr nosler shots @ 3800fps, 1 hole at 200, it has a 4mm jump to the lands and a very light crimp
my 22 dasher is a fitted neck @ .242" so my necks are turned to 0.010", it's a varmint rifle and loaded with bushing dies to the same neck tension
so that l cant push or pull the bullet with my fingers, same same
l do not believe in the opinion some have that it is just a hunting rig not a comp gun so it does not need the micro,
it's up to you
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