Handloading - Am I doing something wrong?

[Chris M]

I took my first 30-06 handloads to the range today. I managed to not blow the gun up!

1st issue: Even after going into the tumbler for a couple hours, 1/2 the brass was much dirtier than I'm used to seeing with factory loads. I was only shooting cheap Remington rounds (150gr & 180gr bullets) prior to handloading. The other 1/2 the brass is already nice and shiny.

2nd issue, I trimmed the cases to 2.484" just as the load manuals stated (both Hornady and Lyman). After firing these cases they have shrunk an average of 0.005" to 2.479". Any idea why they're shrinking? Should I continue to use them? I was expecting the cases to grow after firing...not shrink.

It didn't matter which rounds I used - I shot cases that had been fired, resized, trimmed, etc., and I shot cases that were brand new. I was getting the results from both. And they are the same brand - Winchester.

Here's the components used:
Brass: Winchester 30-06
Primers: Wolf LR & Federal LR "Match"
Powder: H-414 (45.1gr) & Varget (41.0 gr) - both recommended starting charge weights in the Hornady manual
Bullets: Hornady Interlock 150gr SPBT
I seated the bullets to varying depths, starting with the load book recommendations, and moving up and down 0.005" in each direction. For instance, the overall lengths for the 150gr bullets were:

3.220"
3.225"
3.230" (Hornady manual recommended)
3.235"
3.240"

I'm going to be buying an RCBS Precision Mic in order to help me better determine my ideal bullet seating depth.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong.

[FTC]

did you measure them after you chamfered and deburred them?
resize them again and they will probably grow. then measure again

[buffybuster]

The cases shrank because they expanded to fit your chamber. The cases will probably grow back to their original length or slightly longer when you full-length resize them.

Those loads you are using, sound really mild. I've used more H414 and Varget for my .308Win loads.

Regarding your cases, how old is the media? Put a cap full of Nufinish carwax in before you put the brass in. That sometimes re-invigorates the media.

[ejor]

they shrunk becase they expanded to the chamber size when fired, when you resize they will grow , mild loads generally grow slower than hot ones

[Chris M]

Yeah, I realized that after I resized them. They grew to slightly over the trim length.

These were my first handloads, so I wanted to keep them on the low end of the scale. Once I start learing more and gain confidence, I'll start experimenting with different powder charges.

[tamalpias]

well no need for my input anymore since you had your questions answered.

[Nessal]

I found that the most trimming is done on once fired brass. After it is trimmed and shot again, there isn't much trimming that needs to be done when shot again.

[J-cat]

Maximum loads typically stretch the brass about .005" with each firing, so you'll have to trim after about five reloads.

[Chris M]

After cleaning & resizing, I still found about 20% of the cases were short. Most of these were only 0.0015" shorter than the recommended Trim-to length. Several were 0.005", up to 0.007" shorter than the trim-to length. All of these shortened ones were brand new brass (now they're once-fired, obviously).

Sorry for posting all these questions - I just don't know where else to get them answered, and want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

[J-cat]

They'll grow back.

[Chris M]

They'll grow back.

I kinda figured that, but I just wanted to make sure that they were still safe to fire, being shorter than their supposed to be.

I'm probably just way too overly-cautious when it comes to this stuff.

[J-cat]

Bottlenecked cases index off the shoulder, so they are perfectly safe to fire even though they are shorter.