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[MK75]

Bill Steele,

Thanks again for sharing your experience and wisdom. I am picking up a lot of good information from you. I was planning on "bumping" the shoulders as needed with a Redding Body Die. I just wasn't sure where to fit it in on the list there. I am thinking before I trim it would make the most sense; any ideas?

[MK75]

thomashoward,

You are exactly right sir. But I only want to open up one can of worms at a time.

[Bill Steele]

...I am thinking before I trim it would make the most sense; any ideas?

Yes, you want to trim, chamfer and debur last.

Another thing to investigate is the benefit of reaming case necks versus turning the outside. Reaming has the benfit of cutting down on the "donut" issue raised by turning the neck.

Good luck, have fun, be patient. The last bit is really important when loading for accuracy.

[MK75]

Updated my procedures (everything in CAPS is what changed).
I think I am starting to narrow this down.

[MK75]

I would still like to know the best/most efficient way to remove case lube without tumbling. Any ideas???

[mroels]

I would still like to know the best/most efficient way to remove case lube without tumbling. Any ideas???

Just did case prep on my first 100 cases of .308. Only been doing .223 up to now. These cases were fire formed in my rifle. Used the RCBS mic to check all cases, they were all right at ANSI minimum, so didn't see the need to bump the shoulder. So here was my method (I'll start extra steps once I'm comfy loading .308 and buy nicer brass):

1) deprime
2) tumble with corn media
3) clean primer pocket
4) uniform flash holes
5) brush inside of the neck
6) neck size using Lee collet (ID was .307)
7) trim, debur, chamfer ( in this order)
8) brush inside of the neck


That was all I had time for. But there are some brass shavings inside the case. Since I'd normally have to tumble off lube at this point when FL sizing .223, I'd like to avoid it since no lube was used here. I brushed all the shavings off the inside of the neck and tried to blow the rest out but I'm wondering if it's fine just in the case?

[Bill Steele]

I wipe the lube off my cases with a paper towel, just damp with mineral spirits.

On the brass shavings left in the case, I don't think it will hurt anything other than load consistency. Also, on the .307" neck id, you might experiment with a little more neck tension and see how your gun likes it.

[mroels]

I wipe the lube off my cases with a paper towel, just damp with mineral spirits.

On the brass shavings left in the case, I don't think it will hurt anything other than load consistency. Also, on the .307" neck id, you might experiment with a little more neck tension and see how your gun likes it.

Any concerns with bullet set back using .307 ID? I can't seat the bullet by hand. Shooting bolt action. And if I do have to neck size again will I have to trim chamfer debur again to?

I ended up blowing out the shavings with compressed air through the flash hole. Wanted to prime this morning but realized I don't have a .308 shell holder for my hand priming tool. Ugh now I'm gonna have to buy a ton of stuff I want for a $2 item I need

[Bill Steele]

Any concerns with bullet set back using .307 ID? I can't seat the bullet by hand. Shooting bolt action. And if I do have to neck size again will I have to trim chamfer debur again to?

I ended up blowing out the shavings with compressed air through the flash hole. Wanted to prime this morning but realized I don't have a .308 shell holder for my hand priming tool. Ugh now I'm gonna have to buy a ton of stuff I want for a $2 item I need

I pretty much single load with my bolt gun as the jump my gun prefers (or maybe better said, the lack of jump) makes me load longer than maximum magazine length, hence one at a time. For my hunting loads, I load to maximum length that allows me to do a light crimp in the cannelure with a LFCD. So in both the cases above neck tension is more a load consistency concern versus a bullet movement concern.

Currently I am using .0025" of neck tension, my IMR 4064 and Varget loads seem better with a little tighter hold. I have been trying to get AR-Comp to work better in my gun and am going to try a little more and a little less tension and see if things improve at all. I am also going to try a little more jump and see if things improve. Another thing that seems to interact with neck tension is the brass you are using. My Lapua brass seems harder and has more spring in it, my FGMM brass seems really soft with little spring, so different mandrel diameters are required to get the same neck ID with the collect neck sizer.

I hear you on the "shopping list". I keep a yellow sticky on my bench, it always starts with some $2 item. When I get to 4-5 items, I place the order. If I really need it and Graf and Son's has it, I will usually pop for the extra $5 and get it on the way.