oal with bullet ?

[Maddmax]

Rebs, I was just prepping the brass I shot last night and discovered the Amax's I crimped have split case necks now. so dont do it!!! I dont know if it was the crimp or not but they dang sure split the case mouths sooooo that was a bad idea. LOL...I guess I will use one to find the best COL for my rifle and load them to be shot one at a time...

OK I used a shot brass with a pulled Amax 75gr and came up with 2.635 for length.

Check the bottom of the case and primer. Is it belled (it will wobble if stood up). That means too much preasure build up. I've had that happen and my cases also had some hairline cracks. ...back to the drawing board.

 

[Maddmax]

How many of you guys crimp your 223 hand loads for your AR ?

Just enough so the bullet stays put. Do it with a sized empty case. It shouldn't push in easy and you shouldn't get it out by hand. I've checked reloads with a kinetic puller and it always takes two good hit's to get them out.

Did Military 556 ball and that took quite a few hits. BUT,it's also sealed with some black waterproof coating.

 

[arizona98tj]

Gottcha. And thanks. I've never pushed the boundry too hard when reloading and OAL. Seen some nasty things other people have tried though. I do understand how things explode and some of the dynamics. A blast always takes the easiest route when it goes off. So,if the bullet is well enough into the lands before it goes off,it "could" actually act like a squib (being the jump space no longer existed), and being a semi auto would push the bolt back far enough to drag the case out and away from the bullet now seated/jammed in the lands causing the case to become the easiest route and blow the case up causing a catastrophic event in the chamber and bolt assembly all in a split second. In a bolt action,the bolt would be locked and there would be less of a chance of the same kind of event.

Correct me if I am wrong....assuming I understand what you wrote.

1. The bullet is seated/jammed in the lands and you pull the trigger.

2. You are worried that the bolt will be pushed back because the bullet is kind of stuck there like a squib.

Now....if I got the your two points correct...the way you explained it, then how does the bolt unlock? You don't have the bullet going down the barrel yet. So...there is no pressure to escape through the gas tube and back into the receiver. So...the bolt is still cammed into position, locked into the barrel extension, right? How is that going to allow the bolt to be pushed back, extracting the brass, and blowing out the case? The AR-15 is not a blow back design like a Ruger 10/22.

 

[arizona98tj]

So could I do the same thing with the Sport, take a long bullet, i.e. a 75gr Amax, barely seat it in a case and hand load it and then seat the bolt. Ease it forward and use the FA on my rifle. Doing this on a bolt action has allowed me to know the COL and it also works on a Lever gun although the lever action my not always cycle a bullet loaded to that length.

How do you know if the bullet did or did not move a bit when you extracted the brass? Most of the time, when I use the Hornady gauge, the bullet remains slightly "stuck" in the lands. The gauge allows me to lock the everything in position prior to extraction, so it makes no difference if the bullet comes out or not. I remove the bullet, drop it back into the OAL gauge, and measure it.

I've no doubt that folks have been making due for years with various methods....I did at one point....but I think the dates the introduction of the OAL gauge. But the cost of the gauge is a one time expense (and not exactly all that much either)....after that, you merely have to pick up another cartridge adapter if you want to check a rifle shooting a different cartridge. If you reload for multiple cartridges times multiple guns per cartridge, the cost per rifle is less than a cheap box of steel cased ammo. I personally like knowing the method I use leaves little (no?) room for error.

 

[rebs081]

I have found the rounds that I loaded shorter than 2.245 reduces my accuracy. Loading to 2.250 - 2.255 works out the best for accuracy.
I trimmed with the Lee trimmer and found that the length gauge rod will shorten after loading roughly 1000 rounds from wear.

 

[oneyeopn]

How do you know if the bullet did or did not move a bit when you extracted the brass? Most of the time, when I use the Hornady gauge, the bullet remains slightly "stuck" in the lands. The gauge allows me to lock the everything in position prior to extraction, so it makes no difference if the bullet comes out or not. I remove the bullet, drop it back into the OAL gauge, and measure it.

I've no doubt that folks have been making due for years with various methods....I did at one point....but I think the dates the introduction of the OAL gauge. But the cost of the gauge is a one time expense (and not exactly all that much either)....after that, you merely have to pick up another cartridge adapter if you want to check a rifle shooting a different cartridge. If you reload for multiple cartridges times multiple guns per cartridge, the cost per rifle is less than a cheap box of steel cased ammo. I personally like knowing the method I use leaves little (no?) room for error.

I did it twice then I crimped it and did it again. I also allowed for .005 clearance between the bullet and the barrel and did it with another couple of cases. I may not be exactly correct, I am expecting to be .005 short for safety sake. Now I will load some 75gr Amax to this length with a crimp and see how they shoot. My daughter is getting married this weekend in Oklahoma so I wont be able to shoot them until next week but it will be fun trying them out. And Arizona you are exactly correct. A gauge is on my "need" list because I do load for many different rifles. I was just doing with what I had and then pulled it back the .005 because as I understand on this style of rifle they do not like to have the bullet shoved into the barrel.

 

[Maddmax]

Correct me if I am wrong....assuming I understand what you wrote.

1. The bullet is seated/jammed in the lands and you pull the trigger.

2. You are worried that the bolt will be pushed back because the bullet is kind of stuck there like a squib.

Now....if I got the your two points correct...the way you explained it, then how does the bolt unlock? You don't have the bullet going down the barrel yet. So...there is no pressure to escape through the gas tube and back into the receiver. So...the bolt is still cammed into position, locked into the barrel extension, right? How is that going to allow the bolt to be pushed back, extracting the brass, and blowing out the case? The AR-15 is not a blow back design like a Ruger 10/22.

Did you see a way earlier post about the guys AR that exploded and he wanted a new AR from S&W and they said it was ammo related and not the gun. Turned out he just mixed all his ammo together and didn't know what bullet he shot ? Years past (60's) with the first AR's I've seen cam locks sheared off from "explosions" like that and the bolt blown back into the recoil spring and who knows what kept it from going out the stock. Granted the gun was very very hot. They checked the bullet and it didn't come close to the gas port. Rare but S happens.

 

[Maddmax]

How do you know if the bullet did or did not move a bit when you extracted the brass? Most of the time, when I use the Hornady gauge, the bullet remains slightly "stuck" in the lands. The gauge allows me to lock the everything in position prior to extraction, so it makes no difference if the bullet comes out or not. I remove the bullet, drop it back into the OAL gauge, and measure it.

I've no doubt that folks have been making due for years with various methods....I did at one point....but I think the dates the introduction of the OAL gauge. But the cost of the gauge is a one time expense (and not exactly all that much either)....after that, you merely have to pick up another cartridge adapter if you want to check a rifle shooting a different cartridge. If you reload for multiple cartridges times multiple guns per cartridge, the cost per rifle is less than a cheap box of steel cased ammo. I personally like knowing the method I use leaves little (no?) room for error.

Some use a black marker to mark the bullet and that will also show how far the bullet goes into the lands if it doesn't come out with the case.