Rookie reloader...

[ar15dave]

Well i havea couple of spare sheels not touched yet. I will set the die and try again with those and see if it works. The bullets are .224 55GR FMJ. Should be fine for this.

I have taken the primer punch pin out of the die. Will set it according to directions and try again. Will let you know what I get.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[DarrellA]

The other issue (besides not resizing the case necks), is you're not "bumping" the shoulder back. I recommend picking up the Stoney Point headspace gauge (they were bought out by Hornady). It's an aluminum cylinder that clamps on your calipers so you can measure the headspace of your sized cartridges...that way, instead of "a quarter turn back" or "a half turn more" you can actually measure how far back you're setting the shoulder. First measure a fired case from your gun, then set the die to push the shoulder back between 2 and 5 thousandths...or you can set it all the way back to SAAMI spec, but that usually work-hardens the brass and causes premature failure. If you size the neck but don't push the shoulder back, you will get failures (in battery) in semi-auto rifles, or a hard-to-close bolt in a bolt gun.

Total newbie here, so bear with me if this is a stupid question. So, what I'm doing with the headspace guage is measuirng, with a fired cartridge, the headspace for MY rifle. Decreasing this by 2 - 5 thousandths when sizing puts the cartridge back to the proper size to allow for the expansion and subsequent partial contraction during the combustion process. Am I understanding this properly?

 

[Pinecone]

Basically yes.

There are two ways to measure. You can actually measure the chamber. But most people measure a fired case and then adjust the sizing die from that. These cases will have been fired in the same gun with will be used in and have expanded and spring back some.

For a bolt action rifle, you bump the shoulder back 1 - 2 thousandths. For a semi auto, you bump it back around 5 thousandths.

I use a case gauge and rounds for my semi autos get sized back to fit in the case gauge. This way I know they will work in any firearm for that caliber.

 

[DarrellA]

Thanks, Pinecone. Slowly but surely, the pieces are starting to fall into place, the fog is clearing, etc.

Within the next week or so I hope to be trying out my first handloads.