Thread: Getting ES down with 223

Originally Posted by 10-Ring

I have found the biggest influence on ES is the quality of the brass and neck tension consistency. There is annealing and then there is annealing done properly - big difference.

Agreed. When the annealing "fad" appeared I decided unless I could do it consistantly case to case I wouldn't bother. I never had a need to do it due to split necks. Since gone down first the Benchsource path followed by the AM$.
My last build, 308 FTR and my 6.5x47L I get single figure ES and stunning accuracy, especially the 6.5x47.
My 7.5x55 Swiss I get around 30 fps ES but still great accuracy given the type of rifle.

Wide ES doesn't necessarily mean poor accuracy at close ranges. It's more telling at 1000 yds and on.
Conversely I've had loads with single figure ES that I've scrapped as they didn't perform accuracy wise.

I no longer neck turn except for my tight neck 6.5AI. All my recent builds are no neck turn chambers.

I haven't seen much difference in quality between Peterson and Lapua. Both have the 1/2 thou seam in the neck. The same seam I suspect runs the full case length. I used to get anal and turn this out. It doesn't affect my runout which is <1 thou usually. The Peterson 308 brass is currently parked up as it has reduced capacity over the Lapua. I won't bother getting any more Peterson.

Since AMP I have changed my loading technique. I anneal every firing. FLS using a Forster die (absolutely top quality) with expander removed, and the expand using a 21st Century expander. This process has seen my runout and ES drop very favourably. Previously I neck sized using Redding Comp Bushing dies. My runout with these was not consistant/frustrating. The worst creator of runout I found was Redding Body dies. They just don't support the neck when sizing.

Chasing runout I have been down the Redding Comp dies and Wilson inline dies path. Now that I'm Forster FLSing and then expanding I'm finally in control of neck tension and runout.