hone sizing die?

[thenotoriousmo]

honestly, i have no desire to start turning necks. from what I've heard about norma, they are above average in the consistency department. so i feel some what confident that when i do have forster hone this die to .362 i should be able to get .002-3 of neck tension across any lot of norma brass if i should have to replace some.

I've split necks on my 308 before moving to a bushing die (i was not annealing them so that probably played a huge part to their short life, but once i moved to a bushing i lost them due to primer pockets instead of split necks) so my only priority is just to make this brass last the 1600ish rounds i am expecting out of the barrel. then start over with new brass with a new barrel.

[JMP]

I agree with you. I have the gold bushings for 338 Lapua, and I know to run a 365 on that Lapua brass, and it lasts a long time. That's why it's really a myth that shooting 338 is expensive. The setup costs are large, but once you have the dies and brass, it isn't bad as there are a lot of good lead jacketed bullets in 338 that do well.

I have a set of Norma brass in 338 Lapua, and I did some checking for you since they are all loaded, and every single one of them is at 365". Norma is excellent brass, one of my favorites. I'd imagine that 338 Norma should have a little better barrel life than 338 Lapua. If that is the case, you should get more than 1,600 rounds. It depends on how you run it though.

I will caution you on one thing. If you use solid bore-riders, they are not full diameter except for the driving band, so if you get a bullet where you aren't seating full diameter, you will need more tension.

[thenotoriousmo]

I've heard everything from 1k to 3k for barrel life, so if i get more then 1600 I'll be happy.

I'm sure it seems weird and completely illogical that i am so set on making these 200 pieces last as replacements are just a few clicks online away. but with such a little amount of brass i only want to track 1 set of info on all of it, be able to throw it all in the tumbler without separating them, anneal them all at the same time, and all that other jazz.

and you are right about it not being that expensive to shoot the 338s. at semi-gouging prices, it's less then 1.50 a round including shipping/hazmat. and that is even with a very conservative case life expectancy of 5. i should start including the barrel life cost in my numbers, but am to lazy to edit my excel sheet from my tablet.

the one time i did use solids i was having such a hard time spotting impacts on the steel and splashes from the miss. maybe if i ever get good at this long range stuff and am ready to step up to the 375 or bigger stuff ill consider them, but for now I'll stick to jacketed bullets.

[JMP]

200 Norma cases should last you 1600 rounds as long as you don't run them too hot where you blast out the primer pockets. I too like the idea of getting new brass with a new barrel.