Mixed Cases-- Reloading.

1007 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by nf1e, May 14, 2016

art luppino

Discussion Starter · May 14, 2016

I saw a Post about this today, but now can't locate it, wanted to add a few comments regarding my experience of re-loading mixed cases.

When re-sizing mixed cases it was necessary to make adjustments to the die for different case brands to get the desired case head-space consistent, which I like to do..

The Commercial cases required less die depth than the Military cases.

My M1A has a chamber head space of 1.626". The rifle preforms best when the cases are full length re-sized to 1.620" max.. My M40A1, which is the more accurate of the two rifles, likes the cases to be short of chamber head space only .003".

Testing the Mixes cases in the M1A was disappointing when compared to cases of the same brand.. Fed. .308 Win. cases out preform all the others consistently. With the Fed. cases it is a good idea to toss them after three firings. I have run them farther only to experience case separation at the case head to often to continue past three uses..

The M40A1, testing mixed cases, preformed somewhat better than the M1A, but unacceptable groups sizes none the less..

At the risk of being stoned, my load is: 168 SMK, CCI #4 primers, 39.5 IMR 3031. COAL of .085".

Recently purchased a new expensive case trimmer, I discovered that by reversing the cases it is possible to crank the handle and true- up the base nicely, the M1A likes to pull the rim out of alignment during extraction, this extra labor has benefits if you are group greedy like me.. Art L.

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nf1e

· #3 · May 14, 2016

Hi Art,
That thread was mine.
An experiment I won't be trying again. Total frustration.
Been working on that darn 10 dot thing you started.
Practicing this morning with the targets that were downloadable on the new contest. I can shoot 15 out of the twenty on the page but darned if I can get more than 9 in a row. I know it isn't the load or the rifle. I have been able to call every one that was out of the circle. The heart beat is killing me.
I am using a different load this year as Berger stopped making the 135s.
Now using a Berger 150 flat base in an MKE Turkish brass over 45 gr of 4064 with a 210M primer. I am getting better results with this brass than anything else I have tried to date.
The equipment it doing it's job, now I have to.

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nf1e

· #5 · May 14, 2016

Thanks Art,
As always , you are an inspiration. You got me by 12 years. In people years that ain't much, but in shooter's years , that is a lifetime.
I forgot to mention, the 150 Bergers are traveling at 2750 at 12' which seems to be just about right.
Boy, wouldn't that be nice. A pacemaker we could manually adjust for shooting.
You may have a very good invention there.
I think I need a manual starter rope on mine, while you are inventing.

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