New to reloading with ?'s

[utbrowningman]

Just picked up a Lee Anniversary reloader. Bought the Lee book, too which I am still reading. Now I have several questions. I will be reloading for my Savage AC114 in .30-06 and later on for my Colt Officers Model .38 and Marlin Model 1893 .30-30.


Dies:
I've read where the collet die was not recommended for hunting rounds. This is the primary use of my .30-06. It seems then that the Lee Pacesetter die set is he way to go. Agreed? If I am using just for hunting, will I ever need a collet die?

Crimping:
Since I will be loading hunting rounds in a bolt action, no crimp is needed? What if I have bullets with cannelures? Does it need to be crimped regardless? Whereas bullets without cannelures need not be crimped? What do Barnes TSK bullets need?

Sizing:
I have a large amount of brass I shot in a different rifle. So these cases need to be full length sized and then only neck sized after fire forming? Then full length size after 5 or so loadings?

Those are questions from a new member and a beginning reloader. Thanks for your help. I'm sure I'll have more.

 

[rfwobbly]

Welcome to THR and Reloading !

Not loading that much rifle, I'll leave the details for others. Just to say, when in doubt you can always FL resize. Anything with a tubular magazine, ala the Marlin, is going to require a crimp just to keep the rounds from loosing length. Presence of a cannelure does not force you to crimp, it simply allows you to crimp if you wish. Don't forget the "trimming" operation.

 

[SmokeySam81]

I reload on a budget, so I don't have anything fancy, but I have found some things that work for me.

Crimping: I don't, not in anything that I shoot and have never had a bullet move. If I were going to I would not do the roll crimp, just the four petal lee stuff. I have had too many raised shoulder problems and crushed cases. so I stopped, there are probably ways to fix this but they didn't seem worth it.

Sizing: I ALWAYS size the neck, which is why I get away with not crimping. I rarely size the whole thing, but sometimes I will if it is a multi-gun load.

Cannelure: Doesn't need to have a crimp. my loads tend to have the cannelure 1/8" from the neck, just figure out what is working with your gun. I have never used the tsx though, and can't advise there.

I load for: bolt action: .223 rem, .270 win, .30-06, .300 WSM, 7.62x54r; semi auto: .40 S&W, 7.62x39, .30-06, and will soon start loading the .380.

I have been loading for about 10 years, but i don't have fancy equipment, and don't do it every day.

 

[Minnesota Wild]

I've loaded some 30-30 for my Marlin lever action.

I don't use Lee dies, I use RCBS, so I can't answer that question.

I would highly recommend crimping your rounds as I have had even crimped bullets get pushed back in the case from loading the gun several times as you do in hunting (or at least I do as I'm not a very good hunter and rarely shoot) in the pressurized magazine of a lever action.

As for full length sizing, fire forming is a process usually used by bench rest shooters to get that extra .1" of precission. I only neck size my .308s, but both those are bolt actions. They still feed harder than FL sized rounds. I have never tried neck sizing 30-30, but I can't imagine that there is any real value to doing so. The gun isn't accurate enough to justify it, and the difficulty in feeding would make it much less useful in a lever gun, especially as a hunting round.

 

[dc.fireman]

ut -

The general rule of thumb I've learned from my THR mentors, is:

1. Magazine fed, and lever guns ammunition, should be full length (FL) resized, each and every time, for reliability. It doesn't mean that you have to do it, but expect the reliability gremlin to show up if you don't. Some rifles will feed them just fine, others won't. I don't own any single shot bolt action rifles, so I FL resize them every time.

2. Crimping - for nearly anything you reload, should be just enough to remove any belling of the case mouth, put ther when you expanded it with the expander die. The selected bullet should have some type of crimping groove, a.k.a. the cannelure.

3. Expanding, done with a separate die process, is used to eliminate 'shaving' of the bullet during the seating process - it then requires another step - the crimp - to remove the expansion.

4. I've successfully eliminated the expanding die process, in favor of using a case mouth chamfer tool, after my FL resizing, and trimming and primer pocket uniforming stages. I haven't noticed any accuracy, feeding, or bullet setback problems, yet - YMMV.

5. Bullets without a crimping groove can be lightly crimped - the key word being lightly, whether or not it will affect your accuracy, will depend on your guns. One way to check it, is to load two rounds in your magazine, fire one, then eject the second without firing it. Measure the cartridge overall length - did it change? if so, you may need to crimp, if not, add three rounds, and repeat the process.

6. When you're first starting out, it helps to only load about 10 rounds of any given cartridge - if somethings not quite right, it's a whole lot easier to pull down 10, than 100. Ask me how I know that...

Good Luck, and welcome to The High Road. There are some very knowledgeable folks here, all to eager to assist us new guys in what has become for me, a truly enjoyable hobby.

-tc

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I love the Lee dies for pistol stuff and am about to try them with bottleneck cartridges as well. I've heard nothing but good things about them. You are correct on the crimping not being needed for a bolt action. It will be needed for the tubular magazines though. Also if you are going to reload only for one bolt action rifle, you can neck size only. I've never tried it b/c my father, brother and myself all shoot .30-06 so we always full length size, so one of us can just go in the shop and raid the ammo supply without any guess work as to which rifle it's for.
Sounds like you're on the right track.
Welcome aboard, to reloading and THR.

 

[cfullgraf]

Yes, you will need to full length size your brass the first time. After that, if it is shot in the same bolt rifle you can neck size. You may need to full length resize again after a number of sizings. Semi-auto, lever, and slide action guns need to to be full length sized each time for reliable operation.

You do not need to crimp 30-06. If your cartridge overall length is different from the cannalure, if the bullet has one, don't worry about. I reload and shoot 30-06 in several Garands and do nit crimp. Ditto for my AR loads, no crimp.

Generally, rifle case mouths are expanded as the case is retracted from the die. That does not mean you can't do a separate mouth expanding step, but most generally don't. So, rifle case mouths are not belled like handgun cases.

If you don't have a trimmer, you need one for bottle neck rifle cases. They won't expand much neck sizing, but will on full length sizing.

Enjoy.