Moving from straight wall to bottleneck reloading

[revo]

I've been loading for the 41 Mag, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, and 480 Ruger here for a year now. Thinking to advance to rifle carts now. Questions:

- How much more difficult is it to load for bottleneck rifle cartridges if I'm used to straight wall revolver cartridges?

- Do I need a case trimmer now?

- Any other helpful hints?

Thinking to start loading for the 30-06. Still a beginner though. Is it not too bad of a switch?

[knight0334]

Its about the same. You will still need a trimmer, brass stretches in bottlenecks too.

Headspace is determined by the shoulder, unlike straight wall cartridges which use the rim or case mouth(rimless) for headspacing.

You'll have your choice between neck sizing and full-length sizing. You can resize only the neck of empties that have been fired in a certain rifle - so long as you only use those reloads for that rifle. With virgin brass or any load that may go in multiple rifles, always full length size the case.

Case lube = get some, you WILL need it. Do not apply too heavily. What I do is take a paper towel and moisten a spot about 1"-2" square. As it get ready to place a casing in the depriming/sizing die, I roll it over the moisten area of the paper towel. It really doesn't take much lube, too much will cause dents in the casing.

[toadyoforangeville]

dont lube the shoulder and dont forgrt to lube the mouth istarted with 223 easy to load seat as long as mag allows light bullets seat deeper only a little other than that its about the same

[bloomautomatic]

I used to reload a LOT of straight wall pistol. Carbide dies and no lube spoiled me when I went to rifle re-loading. "you mean i gotta put lube on this, then wipe it off? that sucks!"

vince

[JLBIII]

Tumble brass to get it clean.

Get the Dillon case lube in a pump spray bottle. Take about 100 clean cases and put them in a large plastic bag. Pump spray about 4 times into bag, twist seal bag and shake. Wait about 30 seconds and open. Try one case in your resizing die to see if you may need more or less lube. Don't force it. Watch for case lube build up that may cause dents in the shoulder area of your cases.

Get either Stoney Point tools or RCBS Precision mic to measure headspace and set resizing die.

Hornady makes a nice set of dies with a floating "collar" in the bullet seater die.

Resize brass .002" under your chamber head space.

Remove lube.

Figure out COL using instructions with tools. Make dummy cartridge with type of bullet you're using. Be carefull bullet seater die does not contact shoulder of case and crush it. Check to make sure bolt closes easy on dummy cartridge.

Prime resized case. Add correct amount of powder you're using. Seat bullet.

Go to range and have fun.

[G21.45]

Take a look at this:

X Die

The biggest change you're going to have to get used to is case body and neck lubrication. You'll need a pad, a decent lube, and a case neck brush. You're, also, going to have to pay more attention to case mouth chamfering. So, you'll need that tool, too.

Clean primer pockets are more important in rifle rounds. You, probably, aren't checking carefully for problems like case head separation, or splits right now. You're going to have to watch things like this more carefully. I made my own 4" long pick with a 45 degree sharpened right-angle head to use as an inside case scraper.

Don't know what press you're loading on; but, I prefer a single stage for rifle rounds. The best sizing lube is, 'Imperial Sizing Die Wax'. Here's a page of useful stuff you should know about.

Huntington

It isn't absolutely necessary for you to make up, 'witness cartridges'. What you will need and have to refer to frequently is a decent (stainless) dial caliper. You can, 'smoke' or, 'crayon' the first bullet you load in order to determine at what length it barely touches the lands. Write down that length and check what you build against it.

Caliper

In '06 most of the bullets you use will be in the 150 to 170 grain range. I have always enjoyed building rifle cartridges. None of the rush and volume, lots of time to be careful and perfect your technique.





Oh, yeah, if you do neck size you should not only be firing those cases in the same rifle; but, that rifle should also be a bolt action. If you use a semiautomatic like a Garand there are other considerations involved in smooth feeding. You may, or may not, need narrow based dies. Unlike carbide pistol dies, be sure to set up the sizer die to actually impinge the shell holder. Good luck to you!