How to use Hornady LNL case gauge?

[armyguy209]

I am just starting out reloading, rifle only at this time. I have all the necessary equipment. I made a bunch of loads and took them to the range. Some would fire but about half or more would not. I think the powder might have got wet from the casing some how, which I know I dried but maybe they were still wet. When I pulled the bullets, the powder came out in clumps. The firing pin struck the primer but no boom.

Anyways, some of them did not want to eject. I measured everything precisely including OAL, case length, and powder charge. I then put each completed bullet into a JP Wylde case gauge. The fit how they were supposed to.

I wanted to be more precise. I ended up buying the Hornady LnL headspace kit. This is the only thing I am not understanding how to use. I found this video on youtube but I still don't understand it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-UrMTyJ1_E

Can someone please break this down to me elementary style? I don't understand exactly how to measure to make sure the headspace is right. I am using the Hornady kit with some digital calipers. This is for .223 cases. I also can't find exactly what the correct headspace should be. I have 3 different manuals.

[BLR81]

On calibers where the furthest most insertion of the cartridge is stopped by the shoulder touching the chamber, the distance from that portion of the chamber to the face of the bolt is called headspace. If the cartridge is resized where the distance from the shoulder to the base is longer than that measurement, the bolt may not be able to close completely and if it does close the pressure may get excessively high. If the distance is too short the primer can get blown out of the case, allowing gases back into the receiver.

When you fire any cartridge, the brass case expands to touch the wall of the barrel chamber. The Headspace tool allows you to put the fired case in the tool and measure the distance from the center of the shoulder of the case to it's base. Since the shoulder touched the inside of the chamber when the shot was fired, that distance is a good starting place to measure the headspace.

Measure the fired case with the tool and set your resizing die to push the shoulder of your resized cases so that they are .002-005" shorter than the measurement of the fired case. Now you know that your not resizing the cases too long or too short.

You might want to reread your loading manual. I find the Lee and Lyman to be very educational.

[Bill Steele]

On calibers where the furthest most insertion of the cartridge is stopped by the shoulder touching the chamber, the distance from that portion of the chamber to the face of the bolt is called headspace. If the cartridge is resized where the distance from the shoulder to the base is longer than that measurement, the bolt may not be able to close completely and if it does close the pressure may get excessively high. If the distance is too short the primer can get blown out of the case, allowing gases back into the receiver.

When you fire any cartridge, the brass case expands to touch the wall of the barrel chamber. The Headspace tool allows you to put the fired case in the tool and measure the distance from the center of the shoulder of the case to it's base. Since the shoulder touched the inside of the chamber when the shot was fired, that distance is a good starting place to measure the headspace.

Measure the fired case with the tool and set your resizing die to push the shoulder of your resized cases so that they are .002-005" shorter than the measurement of the fired case. Now you know that your not resizing the cases too long or too short.

You might want to reread your loading manual. I find the Lee and Lyman to be very educational.

Pretty much covers the topic, well explained.

I use the headspace gauge to tell me when it is time to F/L size my brass, when it is smaller than my "no-go" number I neck size, when it gets to my "no-go" dimension, then I know it is time to use the F/L sizing die to bump the shoulder back a few mil. I check my fired brass with my headspace gauge after cleaning and decap but before other prep.

You can also use the headspace setup, with the Hornaday Bullet Comparator insert for the calibers you are loading. It will give you very reliable bullet seating information, much better than measuring the OAL of the finished rounds to determine how you are doing seating depth consistency wise.

Good luck, have fun.

[klewan]

OP, only Modern Reloading, second edition, by Richard Lee has the info you need. Use the .330" insert, and the dimension you want on the caliper is 1.467". Hopefully with those numbers and the instructions, you can figure it out. The Lee manual is by far better than most of the others on the market. Has the headspace info, useful case capacity in CCs, speeds and pressure, buy that one to use with your gauge.

[3lsmc7]

I learned it from this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llvsEsaK8-M

The only thing I found was if I was going for certain jump settings (I think like 0.010" from the lands) the rounds were to long for magazine feeding.

[armyguy209]

Thanks for the help guys. I am really a hands on learner. I have the Hornady, Lyman, and Lee reloading manuals. I have read and understand them except for this part. I don't want to make one individual round for each rifle. I want to make rounds that will fit universally in all of my .223 rifles. I am just confused on this part. I couldn't figure out why my rounds were getting stuck in the chamber. Someone said that it could be the neck of the brass, so now I am just trying to figure that part out.

[Bill Steele]

Thanks for the help guys. I am really a hands on learner. I have the Hornady, Lyman, and Lee reloading manuals. I have read and understand them except for this part. I don't want to make one individual round for each rifle. I want to make rounds that will fit universally in all of my .223 rifles. I am just confused on this part. I couldn't figure out why my rounds were getting stuck in the chamber. Someone said that it could be the neck of the brass, so now I am just trying to figure that part out.

As far as the FTF, your conclusion of water sounds right. Did you decap the cases before wet cleaning? I have found primers still in the case causes drying times to go way up. One of the reasons I have resisted wet SS cleaning is the trouble I had with wet cases after I ultrasonic cleaned. Too many glitches.

What sizing die are you using and how did you set it up on your press?

There are a few things than can cause the unfired round to get stuck in the chamber and be hard to extract. One as you suspect is headspace issues. The other is a tight chamber, a small base sizing die might help with your guns that have a tight chamber.

On the headspace, what you want to measure is the distance between the case head (the part that sits against the bolt breech face when chambered) and a datum line on the angled portion of the case (the shoulder). The datum line is located at .330" diameter on the shoulder. The Hornaday barrel with the .330" hole with allow you to measure the distance between the case head and this .330" spot along the shoulder. The guy in the video showed you how to setup the gauge in your calipers. After you put the gauge together on the caliper, you zero it. When you put the case in the gauge, with the shoulder resting on the 330" hole and the fixed end of the caliper against the head of the case, you rotate the case some to get any slop out as you close down for the measurement. The dimension you get on your caliper is 2" longer than the actual headspace you are reading as the gauge head and barrel combination is 2" long, so subtract the 2" and that is the actual headspace for that case.

If you want a case that will chamber in all SAAMI spec chambers, you wil need to make sure the headspace is at or below the minimum headspace spec for SAAMI 223 chamber.

The minimum SAAMI spec for chamber headspace for 223 (I believe) is 1.463", so if your cases all measure 1.463" or shorter, then you are guaranteed to fit headspace wise. Likely something closer to 1.466" will work fine in all you guns.

Does that make sense?