Thread: Headspace gauge/ case head separation

I have had some issues with my 223 case head separation. I split one in half yesterday with the case stuck in the chamber on my first shot on a mob of goats. Luckily the case fell out of the chamber easy enough.
After reading why it's happening (thanks to a previous thread and real knowledgeable fellas on here) I am over working the brass. I have decided I need a headspace comparator gauge so I can accurately bump the shoulder back.
Has anyone used this before from TradeMe?
https://www.trademe.co.nz/4923839449
Are headspace gauges much the muchness? I'm not looking for extreme precision.
Can I bump the shoulder back the 2-4thou with a Lee full length sizing die or do you need a bushings die?

Is this a new problem for the rifle you are using? Are you using new brass with your re-loads or how many cycles have they done? There are a number of reasons why this may happen.Take your time and think through any differences that you may have made.

Yes that will work fine and yes you can set up your lee to bump 2-3 thou back.

Are you running hot loads?

Another way to gauge head space https://www.amazon.com/Lyman-7832323.../dp/B001RI7A66
Gun works have them, Steel ones 75 bucks

It's a new howa rifle. The brass has 3-4 firings on it and is at book max with 26grn of 2206h for my 223 with a 55grn pill.

Not sure but I have come across hand loaded loaded rounds for howa, that had to have the shoulder bumped to fit a Savage chamber so presume Howa's headspace might be slightly longer. What brass are you using?

Mostly federal and ADI

I would not buy a headspace comparing device if only loading for one rifle - once you find where the measurement is for setting up the die to resize the cases just enough to fit your rifle's chamber you don't need to adjust it.

If you have a couple of cases that are fired out of this rifle, set the die up long in the press and mark the neck and shoulder of one of the cases with permanent marker. Run the case through, and see how far down the neck the die runs. Wind it down until the witness marks are just close to the neck and try the case in the rifle - if it fits lock everything up and reload the cases as per and if they get stiff to chamber wind the die down 1/6 of a turn and try them. There's a picture around here that someone posted which tells you roughly how many thou of an inch down each fraction of a turn on the standard die thread gives you...

A headspace gauge and a case comparator gauge are different things. I don’t mean to point out the obvious if you know this, but just checking.
The headspace gauge will check safe headspace in your rifle, which most people don’t bother with in a new rifle as it should not be out of spec. But by all means check it if you feel like it.

A case comparator gauge measures cases to compare the difference between fires/unfired, sized/unsized etc, so you can size your cases appropriately. Case comparators are strictly only for comparing one case to another, not for comparing chamber headspace to SAAMI specs.

You can reduce the amount your are sizing your cases without the need for comparators anyway. Simply wind your dies out and make a minimal sizing pass, and try the brass in the chamber. Repeat until the case will chamber, and you can feel the slightest amount of resistance on the bolt handle where the case shoulder is meeting the chamber shoulder (or whatever datum
Point the case is meeting on). Once your dies are adjusted thus, size the rest of your cases and periodically check the occasional piece in the chamber.

As an aside, I never use the terminology ‘bumping shoulders forward’ because you can’t move case shoulders forward with dies. Shoulders might move forward upon firing and May move back when sized. I describe the process as above; ‘reducing the amount of full length sizing’ as this is less confusing to beginners. But hey that’s just me.

I'll have a search to see if I can find the diagram on how many thou each fraction of a turn does.

Golly folks make life hard for themselves. Look up partial length resizing. Basically when setting up your full length resizing die,instead of screwing it in the extra turn to ensure its hard down on case holder,you back it off half a turn.resize case,try for easy chambering in rifle.if it fits easily ,load up a few and make sure they going to work for you.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Golly folks make life hard for themselves. Look up partial length resizing. Basically when setting up your full length resizing die,instead of screwing it in the extra turn to ensure its hard down on case holder,you back it off half a turn.resize case,try for easy chambering in rifle.if it fits easily ,load up a few and make sure they going to work for you.

Hahahah, your right on that one mate.
I'll stop thinking into it so much and start with that one.

A standard die is threaded 7/8 - 14". One turn of the die moves it by 1/14" I.e. 71/1000" To move it by 2/1000" (which is what all of the internet sources advocate) you would have to turn it by 2 x 1/71 of a turn. That is impossible to set and more impossible with the slop in the die and press. So, you need a set of shims to go between the die and the shell holder to set the case to fit the chamber in your rifle, so that the case will fit in the way that -BW- has described. The easiest shims are cut from beer can which is 0.004" thick. Cut as many as you need to set the resizing of the case to fit the chamber of your rifle. You may need to reduce the number of shims as the cases work harden and develop more spring back.

Originally Posted by -BW-

A headspace gauge and a case comparator gauge are different things. I don’t mean to point out the obvious if you know this, but just checking.
The headspace gauge will check safe headspace in your rifle, which most people don’t bother with in a new rifle as it should not be out of spec. But by all means check it if you feel like it.

A case comparator gauge measures cases to compare the difference between fires/unfired, sized/unsized etc, so you can size your cases appropriately. Case comparators are strictly only for comparing one case to another, not for comparing chamber headspace to SAAMI specs.

You can reduce the amount your are sizing your cases without the need for comparators anyway. Simply wind your dies out and make a minimal sizing pass, and try the brass in the chamber. Repeat until the case will chamber, and you can feel the slightest amount of resistance on the bolt handle where the case shoulder is meeting the chamber shoulder (or whatever datum
Point the case is meeting on). Once your dies are adjusted thus, size the rest of your cases and periodically check the occasional piece in the chamber.

As an aside, I never use the terminology ‘bumping shoulders forward’ because you can’t move case shoulders forward with dies. Shoulders might move forward upon firing and May move back when sized. I describe the process as above; ‘reducing the amount of full length sizing’ as this is less confusing to beginners. But hey that’s just me.

Ha - I have found one case where the resizing die did move the case's shoulder forwards, but I would say it was not right or normal. We came to the conclusion that the chamber for some random reason was too wide at the shoulder, which meant the case was basically being fire formed to some un-named feral kitten case. The fatter shoulder going through the die body contacted the die wall prior to the right part of the die, and it rolled the shoulder forwards and kind of weirded out the cases' shoulder - neck area. Rather than a nice angled taper on a normal case, it looked like it had been molested by a Weatherby magnum and the injuries hadn't yet healed. Without the die hard down and the press rammed up into it like it stole it the cases were troublesome on chambering to say the least...

Factory ammo fixed the problem. Well, lazy fixed it. I put this forward purely as a point of 'never say never' as there will sooner or later be a situation that pops up that doesn't obey the rules...