Nosler 223 Brass: Why so short?
- Thread starter brians356
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #22
The Winchester brass I have been using in 223 are from factory ammo. They started out about 1.755" as I recall, and after ten or so loadings they are out to 1.760" or "max case length" but my stock R700 VS chamber is cut .010" longer than that, so I leave them be, as I need all the neck I can get for the small bullets I shoot.
Brian
Brian
BeeTee
Handloader
- Jul 27, 2011
- 400
- 0
Allowing cases to exceed the recommended maximum length is fine if you know what the chamber dimensions are, but only as long as they stay with that rifle.
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- #24
BeeTee":3khn8g05 said:
Of course.
I use Sinclair chamber length gauges, and make a permanent dummy gauge for every rifle I load for. There's no reason to trim back cases, except for batch uniformity, if they are demonstrably well short of jamming the ends.
Brian
RiverRider
Handloader
- Dec 9, 2008
- 1,436
- 71
Brian, I am curious. It sounds to me as though you are seating those 40s pretty darned shallow if .015" to .025" makes that much difference. How much bullet shank are you getting into those case necks?
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- #26
RiverRider":1t4ycjjq said:
Not much. With 40-gr BT the boat tail leaves very little actual engagement. They're barely hanging in there, you'd shake your head to examine one.
But, they shoot fantastic, and I mostly single load them, not out of the magazine, so they don't need to be very robust. While conventional wisdom says "one bullet diameter of engagement" the fact is that with reasonable neck tension, barely engaged is still solid. I can't budge the bullets with my fingers. As long as they group tight, I'm content.
Brian
RiverRider
Handloader
- Dec 9, 2008
- 1,436
- 71
Sounds fine to me...sometimes "conventional wisdom" just isn't all it's cracked up to be. Thanks for the enlightenment.
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- #28
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- #29
RiverRider":2ewkitlg said:
Ok, I have some enlightening figures for you:
Rifle: Rem 700 VS, 223 Rem
Chamber length: 1.780" (i.e. 0.020" longer than SAAMI Max Case Length)
Brass: W.W. factory loaded ammo
Brass length: 1.755"
Bullet: Nosler 40-gr BT
Bullet length: 0.693"
Bullet boattail length: 0.045"
Bullet protrusion from case, touching lands: 0.583"
Bullet engagement, total (0.693 - 0.583): 0.110"
Bullet engagement, less boattail (0.110 - 0.045): 0.065"
So, if I seat the bullets touching the lands, the neck actually grips 0.065" of bearing surface.
Nosler brass length: 1.735", i.e. 0.020" shorter than mine.
So if I started with Nosler brass the actual bearing surface engagement would be 0.045".
Yikes!
Brian
