Finally!

[thebrassnuckles]

I finally cleared off my bench and gathered all of my reloading components into one place today. I then, loaded my first 6 450Bushmaster cartridges. (I would have done 10 but it's bedtime)

The bullets are 275gr barnes XPB. starting out with the data Siringo posted in the knowledge base I dropped the charge down to 30gr lil gun and loaded 5 and moved up to 31gr and am gonna load up 5 and so on. Til I reach the best accuracy.

This is my first time loading rifle cartridges so if anyone has any sweet tips they could pass on.... I would be eternally grateful.

Bill.

[Hoot]

Hey Bill. Make sure you save one to pump into a line of milk jugs full of water, to see how it expands. I tried several rigs to retain them and had my best luck sitting them on a length of scrap 2x10 and duct taping them in place. Warning: Seven milk jugs of water are heavy, but you don't realize that until after you get them all taped in place and go to move them.

Hoot

[thebrassnuckles]

Hey Bill. Make sure you save one to pump into a line of milk jugs full of water, to see how it expands. I tried several rigs to retain them and had my best luck sitting them on a length of scrap 2x10 and duct taping them in place. Warning: Seven milk jugs of water are heavy, but you don't realize that until after you get them all taped in place and go to move them.

Hoot

HAHA,

I think I'm gonna figure out what load works the absolute best in my gun, and then, put one through the milk jugs, just incase I bump it up a few FPS. I have a huge pile of magazines I was thinking about soaking and shooting through.

this is to be my pig hunting load. Cant use lead in the "condor basin" here in CA.

I have about 100 of the 240 gr XTP (I think. I got em from the blemished bullet sale) That I think I will use for my HD load.

[Hoot]

...snip...I have about 100 of the 240 gr XTP (I think. I got em from the blemished bullet sale) That I think I will use for my HD load.

They shoot good ahead of 38gr of Lil Gun at 2.06 OAL with a taper crimp.

Hoot

[thebrassnuckles]

...snip...I have about 100 of the 240 gr XTP (I think. I got em from the blemished bullet sale) That I think I will use for my HD load.

They shoot good ahead of 38gr of Lil Gun at 2.06 OAL with a taper crimp.

Hoot

Alriiiight!!!

I'll have to load up some of them before this weekend.

just a quick ?

when switching between load you have to adjust your dies, do you all just do one load til you feel you have enough, then re-set up your dies to the other load or what?

It seems to me that one would achieve best consistency(and thus, better accuracy) by leaving the dies set up for one load and loading up a grip of them. but maybe I'm splitting hairs here as I'll only be running iro sights and possibly in the future a red dot, but i'm ot even sure if i'll put that on there. (for load development I'll be using a scope)

[Hoot]

Alriiiight!!!
I'll have to load up some of them before this weekend.
just a quick ?
when switching between load you have to adjust your dies, do you all just do one load til you feel you have enough, then re-set up your dies to the other load or what?
It seems to me that one would achieve best consistency(and thus, better accuracy) by leaving the dies set up for one load and loading up a grip of them. but maybe I'm splitting hairs here as I'll only be running iro sights and possibly in the future a red dot, but i'm ot even sure if i'll put that on there. (for load development I'll be using a scope)

Do you mean the taper crimp die?

If the bullet has a cannelure, I set my seating depth to bury the cannelure almost all the way into the case mouth so the taper crimp can press the case into the cannelure. IMHO, it gives more retention than the taper crimp applied to a part of the bullet that is just flat, hard and shiny. As for setting the taper crimp amount. I determined through experimentation that a .475 taper crimp catches plenty of chamber lip in my rifle and as such I set my taper crimp to yield .475. Again IMHO, consistent retention is key to consistent results. By consistent, I mean evenly applied all the way around the bullet. The more, the merrier as long as it does not upset the bullets surface too much, especially near the heel. That's why I shy away from a deep side crimp that distorts the flat shiny area of a bullet. I have had lackluster accuracy results with just about every side crimp I have tried to implement. Great retention. Higher velocity. Low SD's. Ho-Hum (3-4 MOA) accuracy.

Hoot

[thebrassnuckles]

I was thinking more about the seat die, but I guess thats the only die that really needs adjusting.. and the taper crimp... well, would you need to adjust the taper crimp die? if its crimpig the bullet its crimping the bullet right?

[Hoot]

I was thinking more about the seat die, but I guess thats the only die that really needs adjusting.. and the taper crimp... well, would you need to adjust the taper crimp die? if its crimpig the bullet its crimping the bullet right?

Okay, my head finally stopped turning 360 degrees and I cleaned up the split peas soup...

You can take 4 cases, matched by length, prepped to the same degree, charged with the precisely same amount of powder, using 4 identical bullets weighed to within the same grain, seat them at 4 different depths, shooting from the same gun, on the same day, at the same target at the same distance and put each of them in one of the four quadrants around the bull. Crimp can have similar effects. Those are only two of the variables in the equation. You can read up on all the variables to a certain degree, like road maps. That'll keep you from getting lost, but the road leads to your final destination of learn by doing.

Hoot

[thebrassnuckles]

I was thinking more about the seat die, but I guess thats the only die that really needs adjusting.. and the taper crimp... well, would you need to adjust the taper crimp die? if its crimpig the bullet its crimping the bullet right?

Okay, my head finally stopped turning 360 degrees and I cleaned up the split peas soup...

You can take 4 cases, matched by length, prepped to the same degree, charged with the precisely same amount of powder, using 4 identical bullets weighed to within the same grain, seat them at 4 different depths, shooting from the same gun, on the same day, at the same target at the same distance and put each of them in one of the four quadrants around the bull. Crimp can have similar effects. Those are only two of the variables in the equation. You can read up on all the variables to a certain degree, like road maps. That'll keep you from getting lost, but the road leads to your final destination of learn by doing.

Hoot

mmm split pea soup..

[Hoot]

This kind of gives you an idea of what I meant by catching the cannelure in the taper crimp.



WRT Seating. Different bullets have their cannelure(s) in different places when they have cannelures, so you would need to measure and set your seating die to get the cannelure in the correct location to catch it in the taper crimp. If a bullet has two cannelures like the 200 FTX and 225 FTX, don't try using the one near the heel. I did and it apeared to distort the heel enough to cause erratic groups compared to the same setup, but using the cannelure nearer to the tip. Keep in mind, all of this is anecdotal to my experience. YMMV

Hoot