Pin Gauges

Cool stuff... I bought a 300 Win Mag after I had sold my 7mm mag.... I knew the 300 had a little more case capacity but boy when you see the two side-by-side once converted on the 7mm it's pretty stunning!
 
kraky1":3svf1af6 said:
Cool stuff... I bought a 300 Win Mag after I had sold my 7mm mag.... I knew the 300 had a little more case capacity but boy when you see the two side-by-side once converted on the 7mm it's pretty stunning!

It's a cool round Kraky. I can't say it is a barn burner, but it sorta fits a blueprint that I like. It's alot of rifle in a very portable package with alot of horsepower. Cases are easy to come by and it seems to digest just about any amount of powder you want to throw at it. I used some loads with RL33 in my old rifle and it was good for an easy 3100 with 175's and to be honest, I didn't have much compression either at max charges. Its a good fit between the 7mm Rem Mag and larger STW/RUM and Nosler versions which almost dictate a longer barrel and aren't quite as comfortable to shoot in lighter rifles.
 
Scotty you talked me into the pin gauge set (not that you were trying)! Mine should arrive today; I'm sure I'll learn a bunch this year about resizing!
 
joelkdouglas":vay09hnp said:
Scotty you talked me into the pin gauge set (not that you were trying)! Mine should arrive today; I'm sure I'll learn a bunch this year about resizing!


Well, I am learning a ton myself.
 
I didn't realize how big the pin gauge set would be...

ApWO8Ny.jpg
 
Okay Scotty, I can get a .282 pin in the resized brass neck no problem. I can even get a .283 pin in the neck, but it takes a bit of force to get it back out.

From what I gather / D'Arcy told you it should be tough to get a .281 pin in the neck?

Necks too loose?

I measured the Lee Collet and it's .2815. I assumed (even after annealing each firing) that I would have some bounce back and the neck would be inside diameter .282. Maybe I need a smaller collet.

I also do have the S Type die. I have a bushing, but it's too big since I neck turned. I could also get new bushings.
 
Darcy told me .003 is where we should be with the Mashburn for hunting ammunition.

Before you try other stuff maybe try your loaded rounds and see how they shoot. Maybe load the magazine up and see if you can measure any movement.
 
joelkdouglas":1d2fa9yi said:
I didn't realize how big the pin gauge set would be...

ApWO8Ny.jpg

Yeah, it's a pretty hefty kit. I think mines the same one.
 
SJB358":2r4yk91a said:
Darcy told me .003 is where we should be with the Mashburn for hunting ammunition.

Before you try other stuff maybe try your loaded rounds and see how they shoot. Maybe load the magazine up and see if you can measure any movement.

For sure. And since D'Arcy made the suggestion about the neck tension you can be sure I will give it a try! It's the equivalent of George Marshall making a suggestion to try a new approach.


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joelkdouglas":2g80i5hs said:
SJB358":2g80i5hs said:
Darcy told me .003 is where we should be with the Mashburn for hunting ammunition.

Before you try other stuff maybe try your loaded rounds and see how they shoot. Maybe load the magazine up and see if you can measure any movement.

For sure. And since D'Arcy made the suggestion about the neck tension you can be sure I will give it a try! It's the equivalent of George Marshall making a suggestion to try a new approach.


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That was my thoughts as well. He has built a ton of them and loves the Mashburn, so I figure I should heed his advice.
 
Using the pin gauges I discovered my 30-06 brass has donuts too. It was quite surprising, though I have noticed that virgin brass sometimes shoots better than sized brass, and there's really no reason for that.

I can tell the donut by putting the .309 pin in the neck of the fired brass. I can only get the .309 pin in so far until it hits the donut. In the below picture the .309 pin is sitting on top of the donut.

It is beneficial that I noticed this in my 30-06 brass, because I have a bunch of it, and there's no fire forming required. I'm apt to do experiments with 30-06 brass that I won't do with fire formed 7 Mashburn brass.

For instance, I put a piece of brass in the Lee Collet neck sizing die and resized the neck, attempting to push the donuts to the outside of the neck. I didn't know if I could be able to outside neck turn to remove the donut. I then neck turned the brass. I again sized the brass with the Lee Collet die, just to make sure the inside of the neck was good to go.

Voila, now I can get a .306 pin in the neck, no more donut.

aNnHFKC.jpg
 
That's cool Joel.

I just reamed all of the donuts from my fire formed Nosler cases. I believe I'm ready to start tackling the RWS brass now. I'll probably use the Nosler brass for something other than the 175's that'll be my primary.

The pin gauges allowed me to get a .281" fit so I should be doing well.
 
Today I tested the pin gauges on some virgin Nosler 30-06 brass. I mentioned virgin brass seems to shoot better. The 0.305 pin is tight in the virgin brass, and the 0.306 pin is tight in resized brass. Maybe the rifle prefers a bit more neck tension than I've been getting resizing. Of course a quick bushing change fixes that.


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That's pretty interesting Joel. It's amazing such a simple tool does so much in that regard.
 
That makes me nervous to resize new brass... looks like I need to assume less and measure more...


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mjcmichigan":1qe64scd said:
That makes me nervous to resize new brass... looks like I need to assume less and measure more...


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Yeah and they have sort of talked me out of building or converting a 7mm Rem to one. I like to try to keep things simple and the lengths they are going threw to get brass for a 7MSM isn't simple. Maybe a 7mm Practical would be easier to make brass for and do the same thing. :grin:
 
truck driver":36pm236y said:
mjcmichigan":36pm236y said:
That makes me nervous to resize new brass... looks like I need to assume less and measure more...


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Yeah and they have sort of talked me out of building or converting a 7mm Rem to one. I like to try to keep things simple and the lengths they are going threw to get brass for a 7MSM isn't simple. Maybe a 7mm Practical would be easier to make brass for and do the same thing. :grin:

No flies on any of the big 7s, but if I wanted a big 7 and I didn't want to mess with making brass I would get a 28 Nosler. Even necking down a 300 WM to 7 mm you will have some brass issues, then you have a short neck, etc.

The brass work for me isn't too big an issue. I have learned a ton about reloading with a wildcat, and I thought I knew most everything after loading for a couple 30-06s for 10 years. You certainly don't have to do everything you've read, I keep doing it because I keep learning new stuff through this process.

Again though, I'm not trying to convince you to take the plunge! That 28 Nosler looks really good!


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joelkdouglas":3b87k4ow said:
truck driver":3b87k4ow said:
mjcmichigan":3b87k4ow said:
That makes me nervous to resize new brass... looks like I need to assume less and measure more...


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Yeah and they have sort of talked me out of building or converting a 7mm Rem to one. I like to try to keep things simple and the lengths they are going threw to get brass for a 7MSM isn't simple. Maybe a 7mm Practical would be easier to make brass for and do the same thing. :grin:

No flies on any of the big 7s, but if I wanted a big 7 and I didn't want to mess with making brass I would get a 28 Nosler. Even necking down a 300 WM to 7 mm you will have some brass issues, then you have a short neck, etc.

The brass work for me isn't too big an issue. I have learned a ton about reloading with a wildcat, and I thought I knew most everything after loading for a couple 30-06s for 10 years. You certainly don't have to do everything you've read, I keep doing it because I keep learning new stuff through this process.

Again though, I'm not trying to convince you to take the plunge! That 28 Nosler looks really good!


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Joel I have thought about the 28 Nosler also but seems to be a little over bore for the 7mm. From what I have read about the 7mm Practical there is no short neck problem since the shoulder is 35* and allows the case neck to grow with the new designed reamer the short neck is no problem from what I've read.
 
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