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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I don't know what empty brass Magtech sells. All my CBC brass is recovered from factory ammo. In my case, the ammo was Magtech 158gr LRN. All I'm saying is that the brass from the LRN box looks different from the brass in the Magtech DEWC pic. My CBC brass has no cannelure ring low on the case...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    Interesting. That sounds pretty conclusive that they are oversize. I mean that's a pretty important caveat to have to resize factory bullets. It sounds like the bullets without the plating are just right, and plating pushes them to top end of spec or beyond. So, combine a bullet that's very...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I think the answer is in that picture, it's different brass with a cannelure ring halfway down the case. I'm keeping my CBC brass, just using it with other bullets.
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I'm wet tumbling with stainless steel pin media. It does and outstanding job of cleaning brass, including primer pockets. When it's done, I rinse, shake, then spread on a cookie sheet in convection oven at 180' for 15 min.
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I agree with this. the Lee flare is just a simple end flare. It's very hard to set the DEWC in the press reasonably vertical. They tend to be canted with no mechanical help to seat them straight.
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    Interesting note. On my last batch I had many 'stuffed ugly' rounds that would fit in the cylinder, but just barely. So, I resized the entire loaded round and they dropped right in. However, the resized loaded DEWC shot about 100fps slower than the ugly fat ones. Go figure.
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I was following Ranier instructions which call specific for a roll crimp. That said, the case lengths in that lot varied enough so some got more of a crimp than others. I realized I could 'feel' the crimp at the end of the stroke on the press so for a taper crimp I just stopped a hair short...
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    Chronograph - worth the cost?

    This is true, but it I did it anyway :) I have some .223 loads for my AR that I'll be testing this weekend and I have 20 of each, 10 for chrono and 10 for 100yd accuracy test. Unfortunately our range slopes down so I can't chrono at the 100 yd distance. Also, unless you have the range to...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    Yeah, that's the plan. I'm only out 17 cases and some grief from my wife ("What the hell was all that banging!" yeah that would be the bullet puller). Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to look at the headstamps as the crumpled cases were piling up. I only lost those cases though. The bullets...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    That's a solution I can live with. I picked up a few boxes of primed 38 cases from Midway. They have R - P headstamp. Hopefully they hold up. So far so good.
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    Found Powder!

    Answer: 6x 3gn throws before it overflows (hey, I was curious). Also, despite what Hogdon says, powder position with Titegroup in a 38 makes a big difference ~20% depending on whether powder is towards the front or the back of the case. I'm using a single stage press and was nervous about a...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    All of the deformed cases have a CBC headstamp. The other cases are Federal, and had no issues. That said, I've reloaded just about every other .357 bullet in I have in those CBC cases (Lead, Hornady, Ranier 125gn HP, etc) and had no problems.
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    Chronograph - worth the cost?

    Orrrrrrr, if you're a geek who thinks technology and physics make a great excuse to go shooting.
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    Chronograph - worth the cost?

    I was working up some 38 Special loads comparing accuracy and velocity when I started getting strange (large) differences in speed. After some more testing I isolated the difference to powder position. Powder toward the front of the case resulted in 100-150fps slower than powder at the back of...
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    Problems reloading Ranier 148gn DEWC in 38 Special

    I picked of a few boxes of Ranier plated 125gn HP and 148gn DEWC. The HP bullets load fine, but the 148gn DEWC is driving me nuts. About 20% of the cases are deforming. I'm using a Lee die set. Am I doing something wrong or are these bullets just oversize?
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    Model 10 - strange chrono results, first round always slow?

    Here's a pic of one of the groups with some showing signs of high pressure. Specifically the one at 10 O'clock
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    Model 10 - strange chrono results, first round always slow?

    I made it to the range today and fired 86 rounds in 18 strings according to a plan. The details are too much to try to squeeze into this post so here's a link to a PDF of the results: Results The bottom line is that powder position is critical. Despite a small handful of outliers, every time I...
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    Model 10 - strange chrono results, first round always slow?

    Ok, I picked up some IMR SR-4756 which required roughly twice the powder weight as Titegroup. This was also the only 38 Special compatible powder they had in stock. I also picked up some Hornady 125gn and 158gn JHP. I'll make these up tonight and should be able to shoot them tomorrow if the...
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    Model 10 - strange chrono results, first round always slow?

    Jmmitc06 that's a lot to chew on. I appreciate the analysis. I agree, i need more data, variable control and secondary validation. I loaded up another batch and tomorrow I'll see if I can find some alternate powder locally. This time I checked the charges thrown by the auto-charge on a...
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    Model 10 - strange chrono results, first round always slow?

    Thanks for the replies. The Hornady auto-charge (the robo trickler on a scale as opposed to a volume thrower) weighs each charge so the powder weight should be correct. As for the chrono, it's a ProChrono Digital. The conditions were ideal (not a single missed bullet). I have data from the...
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