Thread: Notes for New and Newish Hand Loaders from an Old Fudd

Greetings Again,

Post 2 Case inspection and Sizing.

Cracks, Head Separation and Other Faults.
Now is the time to have a good look at the cases. If your selected cases have only been fired once and in your rifle they should be good to go. Most factory sporting cartridges have brass coloured primers and reloads silver coloured primers so this is a way to tell them apart. Any cases showing corrosion or significant dents should go in the brass recycle bin. For cases fired more than once carefully inspect the necks for cracks. These should show up clearly on the cleaned necks. The cracks can be quite short but bin any cracked cases. Cases also need to be checked for incipient head separation. This sounds a mouthful but it is just a crack or thinning that develops around the inside of the case about 5 mm up from the base. It is caused by repeated full length resizing of cases fired in a maximum sized chamber. This can't always be seen from the outside and I check for it using a metal paper clip. some thin wire will do. Straighten the paper clip out and sharpen one end to a chisel point. Now bend that end about 4 mm from the end with the chisel point is perpendicular to the length of the wire. Now slide the wire into the case from the mouth until it meets the head. Now pull the wire back feeling for a groove with the chisel point. turn the case slightly and try again. The groove mostly only goes part the way round the case. if there is a groove you will feel the wire catch slightly in it. Bin any cases with a groove. This sounds complex but is quick and easy after a little practice. A separated head leaves most of the case in the chamber. A quick second shot is off the menu.

Sizing Options.
There are two basic options for resizing the cases. Neck sizing and full length resizing. Cases that have been fired in a different rifle will almost always need full length resizing. Cases previously fired in the same rifle generally can be neck sized, especially if less than maximum loads are used. Cases from book maximum loads can generally be neck sized two or three times before they become hard to chamber and need full length resizing. Cases from the soft loads I use in my old soldiers can be neck sized indefinitely.
While there are options for the types of full length sizing dies these are mostly specialist dies so we won't discuss them here. Options for neck sizing dies include the Lee Loader dies, The Lee Collet dies, generic calibre specific dies offered by Hornady, cartridge specific dies offered by most die makers and the bushing dies offered by Redding, Hornady and perhaps others. I seem to have some of all of the above but mostly use Lee Loader dies for the old soldiers and cartridge specific neck sizing dies from RCBS, Lyman and CH for the more recent rifles. As most new or newish handloaders will have either a two die set including a full length sizing die or a Lee three die set that also has a collet die we will stick with those for the moment.

Tomorrow we will discuss die adjustment and actually size some cases.
Regards Grandpamac