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    Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading
    Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading
    Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading
    Ebook84 pages47 minutes

    Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading

    By Philip Massaro

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    About this ebook

    From Chapter One:
    Hello again folks, Mr. Massaro here, welcoming you to the second reloading ammo blog series. We will get a bit more in depth this time, so grab a comfy chair and let's chat.
    Shoulder bump, eh? Nah, I'm not talking about some hipster dance, I'm talking about how much we move the cartridge shoulder during the resizing process.
    Most folks (myself included) will resize a bottleneck rifle case so that it adheres to the specified SAAMI specifications, but that requires working the brass considerably. As we've all seen, overworking the brass will make it brittle, and cut the life of our brass much shorter than necessary.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGun Digest Books
    Release dateJan 1, 2015
    ISBN9781440244803
    Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading
    Author

    Philip Massaro

    Philip P. Massaro is the seventh editor of the Gun Digest annual, is a regular contributor to Gun Digest the Magazine and Cartridges of the World, and contributes to many different firearms and hunting publications. He has been an avid handloader for three decades, is a land surveyor by trade, a musician by choice, and is happiest in the wildest places on Earth.

    Read more from Philip Massaro

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      Book preview

      Gun Digest Guide to Advanced Reloading - Philip Massaro

      Chapter 1

      Shoulder Bump — How Much Do You Really Need?

      A shell’s shoulders can bear the brunt of the reloading and shooting process. But, through some simple finagling when reloading, some weight can be taken off a shell’s shoulders.

      Hello again folks, Mr. Massaro here, welcoming you to the second reloading ammo blog series. We will get a bit more in depth this time, so grab a comfy chair and let’s chat.

      Shoulder bump, eh? Nah, I’m not talking about some hipster dance, I’m talking about how much we move the cartridge shoulder during the resizing process.

      Most folks (myself included) will resize a bottleneck rifle case so that it adheres to the specified SAAMI specifications, but that requires working the brass considerably. As we’ve all seen, overworking the brass will make it brittle, and cut the life of our brass much shorter than necessary.

      In a lever action, autoloader or pump action rifle, the SAAMI specification is a necessity, but us bolt action nuts (again, I include myself in this group) can get away with a larger dimension, so long as it chambers properly in our rifles. What we’re after here is a smooth chambering case, minimally reduced from the post-firing dimensions.

      The resizing dies are designed to give SAAMI dimensions, but by varying the shellholder, we can adjust, incrementally, exactly how much the shoulder is moved. For example, Redding offers a set of Competition Shellholders that vary by .002, from .010 down to .002 of depth. They come five to a set, and are precisely machined, as are all of the Redding products. You can simply move the cartridge shoulder at .002 increments, until you find the dimension that fits easily into your rifles chamber.

      Now, it may seem silly that a change in dimension of that minute measurement will make a difference, but it does.

      There is an awful lot of stress on the shoulder of a bottleneck cartridge, during both the firing and resizing processes, and that constant working of your brass is what is reducing your case life. Keep that shoulder to a dimension that will move very little, and you’ll also experience increased accuracy, without the difficulty associated with neck sized ammunition.

      Along with their competition dies, Redding Reloading makes a nifty set of competition shellholders. The devices allow shooters to modify how much their shell’s shoulders are being reformed ever so slightly.

      You know, neck sized stuff is great to shoot, but closing the bolt can be a chore, especially when the ammunition is used for hunting. But, if we have minimally resized ammunition, so that the bolt closes easily, it can fill many needs.

      In addition to increased case life, the ammunition produced with the Competition shellholders give the better accuracy I’ve mentioned by giving better cartridge concentricity. You see, the more precisely the bullet is aligned with the bore, the less the bullet has to move to align itself in the throat of the chamber.

      These shellholders are also a fantastic tool for curing the problems associated with mildly excessive headspacing. Once you’ve fire formed the brass to the problem chamber, these little gems will help you do your best to keep them at that dimension, yet feed easy.

      The Redding shellholders have a nice black oxide finish, come in a quality plastic case and are clearly marked with the dimension that they change the specification. Give ‘em a try; you might keep your brass around quite a bit longer.

      Chapter 2

      Rifle Powder and Temperature Sensitivity

      Whether boiling hot or icy cold, temperature has an effect on a cartridge’s pressure. Though, less so today through advances in modern smokeless powder.

      In the early days of the 20th century, when cordite was the propellant du jour, the reputation of cartridges was made and/or broken based on their performance in the heat of the tropics.

      You see, the firearms were regulated and pressure tested in the relatively cool climate of England and Europe, and were then

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