Leadspitter wrote:G dsy guys ,
I am going to give this reloading caper a go.
I am going to buy the gear soon.
Is there a special tool to measure the overall length , from the base of the cartridge , to the datum on the projectile.
The datum on the projectile being bore diamatre i guess
I just want to know what to ask for when i go to buy the gear.
i owned a extremely accurate krico 22 hornet that i used to reload for , i'll pass on what advice i can recall. hornady make a very good overall length gauge which uses a dummy case that screws onto the gauge , the projectile fitted in the case and expanded in the chamber , locked in position, withdrawn and the absolute overall length is measured. unfortunately , hornady don't make a dummy case for the hornet . you can mail a case to them and they'll drill and tap it for you , or find a local fitter/turner who can do it for you. i use this gauge for my other calibers and it's a very handy tool . the best powder i used was lil' gun , which produced one hole accuracy at 100 yards . don't get too hung up on getting the projectiles seated close to the lands some of my best loads were seated short . the hornet can suffer inaccuracy from bullet jump and one way fight this is to make sure there is enough grip on the projectile by the thin hornet case by seating the projectile on the short side , paying attention to not compressing the powder which could result in preasure spikes . the other thing that helps is using small pistol primers with less risk of the primer popping the projectile onto the lands before the powder fully ignites .
for projectiles the sierra 40 gn hollow points give amazing accuracy , as well as the 40 gn hornady vmax . the vmax is a long projectile, and may well need to be seated a bit short just to fit in a magazine .35 gn vmax is also good , and sierra make hornet specific soft points with thin copper jackets to ensure proper expansion at hornet velocity . don't take my word to be gospel, be cautious in reloading , and check everything twice
hope some of this helps , hornet can be fussy , but can also be silly accurate when you get it right