Extensive Case Prep

[J300UM]

Im finally back online, I've been without a pc for a while. Just wanted to thank everyone for the prior advise with my 300rum. The 200gr ABs are awsome! I shot the biggest muley buck of my life this year at 550 yds. He dropped like a rock. That is by far the most accurate load I've had for that rifle. However, I am looking to get better accuracy out of all my guns. My question is concerning case trimming and neck turning. Is there enough gain in accuracy to justify buying the equipment? I've been handloading for 4 years with very basic stuff and I do everything else including sorting my bullets and brass by weight. It's worked ok so far. All of my guns will shoot sub moa consistantly. Was just wondering if it would improve my accuracy. I recently had a guy tell me I would never get accuracy like his (under an inch at 400 yds consistantly) with bullets like the AB. He's kind of a jackass and I would love nothing more then to prove him wrong. Any advise would be very appreciated!

 

[Jerry 919]

Welcome back. I am relatively new to the forum. I have found the little stuff that takes time and is a pain pays off in the long run. Length of case and a nice smooth mouth and clean outside neck does make a difference. Check your primer flash holes and debur them. You want clean consistent ignition. Everyone usually cleans their barrels well and never clean the chamber. Takes about 15 seconds to twirl a .410 shotgun brush. You would be surprised by the amount of crud in there.After I have resized, camphered mouth inside and out I will rub each with 0000 fine steel wool until bright. After all are done blow out with air compressor and start to reload.

If you do the little things you will have a better chance of shutting his mouth. Good luck. Enjoy the process. Spending that much time on casings you will discover bad ones right away. Throw them out.

Jerry
Bend, Oregon

 

[longwinters]

I always trim after shooting the brass several times. Especially with hotter loads the cases do stretch. Generally if I trim once I never have to do it again with that case. The biggest factor in getting good accuracy, according to an article by John Barsness, is to get the bullet coming straight out the case and straight into the lands. I ck with a Sinclair concentricity gauge and it is surprising what you might find. Barsness also says that if a case neck is heavy on one side it probably is heavy all the down the case. So use it for plinking or throw it out.

I might ask, did you ever see this guy shoot better than an inch at 400yds? Is he shooting a regular hunting style rife or a customized benchrest rifle? Quite a few guys claim it . . . but I never saw anyone do it. Seems they always have an excuse come show me time.

Long+

 

[rick smith]

Neck trimming is a necessity. You have to keep the mouth of the case from touching the lands. Neck turning is optional For a factory rifle, accuracy may not change. Won't know for that particular rifle until you try it. It will not hurt accuracy. Consistancy is the name of the game.Rick.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

You can easily prove that guy wrong. With a semi custom rifle and Btips or AB's 1" groups at 400 yards off the bench could be pretty routine...Hell my factory rem 700 7 RM with 140g NBT just gave me a 1.1" group at 400 yards yesterday. The other time I shot the load at 400 it gave me a 2" group. So average of 1.5" at 400 with factory rifle and Remington brass that hasn't been weighed or nothing, good enough for me. Trying to get anything better out of a factory rifle is wasting your time and money. I need to take my own advice!! Its amazing what accurate rifles and accurate loads can do at 300-400-500 yards. They still produce very very good groups. Trimming is a neccesary step and not something you can just overlook. Over time your brass will stretch and eventually become to long. This results in hard chambering and bolt thrust I beleive. Neck turning is beneficial to accuracy minded nuts. I see its benefit with Rem or Win brass, but if you use quality brass like Lapua or Norma, its probly really not necesary. Also, debur the primer pocket for consistent ignition. Its really helped out my factory rifles...I've never weighed my cases though, might explain some flyers, I think I might start.

 

[Desert Fox]

I weigh all my brass and group them according to their weight by no more than a grain. I then trim them to lenght, uniformed the primer pocket, deburr the flash hole and neckturned the neck just enough to remove the high spot.
Yeah, It's a pain in the you know what but why bother reloading if your just gonna shortchange it. Consistency is what reloading is all about. That can only be attained by removing as much variables as you can in your handload. Some might say it's a waste of time. I never look at it that way. I enjoy reloading as much as I enjoy shooting so either way it's a satisfying feelings for me. :grin:

 

[J300UM]

Thanks for the input. Case trimming and neck turning are the only things I haven't done with my brass. I've been fortunate enough that I've never had to reuse any brass yet. Every time my dad goes to cabelas he picks me up a bag or two. I just figured that case trimming wasn't entirely nesesary with new brass but I guess every little bit would help. As for the guy I mentioned, I have seen him shoot those groups before so he's not full of s@#t. He's just full of himself and I would love to deflate his head a little. He shoots a winchester model 70 in a 300 winnie. As far as I can tell, the rifle is factory. Not sure about the bullets, brass,etc.... Like I said before, all the guns I load for shoot sub moa and any other time that would be sufficient. I'm just looking for that extra edge for this particular occasion. Again, thanks for the input!

 

[longwinters]

Try going to 24 Hour Campfire and look under the articles section for accuracy I and accuracy 2 by John Barsness. It was quite eye opening to me. I would copy the articles here, but I don't think it is kosher to do that.

Long