TIP 1.
Its a good idea to clean dirty, carbon encrusted case necks before resizing. Carbon is one of the hardest substances known to man and will easily scratch steel.
One thing is for sure, if you scratch the leading edge of your necking die, the mark will stay there forever. This scratch will more than likely mark all your cases.
Clean cases also make resizing, whether full-length or neck-sizing, so much more easier. This is another reason why you should clean cases before any reloading.
Get into the habit of using a case tumbler to clean your cases before resizing – you’ll be glad you did!
TIP 2.
After I fill a 100 or so pistol cases with powder using a powder measure, I then check for double charges. There is a quick and easy way to do this.
If your pistol cases are sitting upright in a bullet tray of some kind, just bring the tray up to the light. You can visually check each case in about one second or two and spot those that appear to have more than the others.
Fortunately, double charges are not a hazard when reloading powerful centerfire cartridges with full loads of slow burning powders. If you accidentally double-charged such a cartridge – it would overflow!
TIP 3.
The bullet seating part of reloading is often taken too lightly. Most assume that as long as the bullet is seated tightly in the case neck everything will be alright.
Seating depth can be very critical because it has a direct influence on accuracy, chamber pressure and velocity. What is the ideal bullet seating depth? Seat the bullet just deep enough so there is about one or two millimetres clearance between rifling and bullet. How does one determine this depth?
Just seat a bullet in an unprimed case, shallow enough so you know it will make contact with the rifling when the round is chambered. Chamber the round, extract it carefully and check for rifling marks. Measure the length of the rifling marks, add 1/16" and turn the bullet seating knob by that amount.
TIP 4.
Do you often wonder why published load data from major bullet manufacturers produces different results in your own gun?
The reason is simple. There are far too many variables which can effect the performance of your reloaded ammunition. Firstly, such data is obtained from sophisticated and up to date equipment under controlled conditions. What hope have you and I got in duplicating such figures?
Two similar guns even of identical make are not the same. There are differences in headspace tolerances, throat length, leade angle, bore diameter, groove diameter, throat erosion and metal fouling.
One of the most common variables is case capacity. Cases from different manufacturers vary considerably in weight and wall thickness.
Thats why it makes sense to use the same case brand when reloading to minimize such variables.
TIP 5.
If you live in a colder climate and reload your hunting ammunition to near maximum pressure and velocity levels, beware! A hunting trip to a much warmer climate could spell disaster.
I once read of a well known hunter who lived in the cold, southern area of Australia and traveled to the much warmer, hotter north to shoot feral donkeys with his .308 Norma Magnum. His reloads were near maximum. One shot and the bolt had to be hammered open with a piece of wood to get the shell out! No more hunting! When he returned to the south, the reloads showed no pressure signs.
As you can see, a change of temperature (around 8 degrees Celsius in this case) spelled disaster. Remember to take this factor into account the next time you reload for a hunting trip into a warmer climate.
