Recent content by MrMagumba

Good to hear you are starting with 30-06 and 308 before starting on the 6.5 jap. The jap chambers can be all over the map and it will be good to have a grasp on case chamber fitment before attempting that jap. My chamber is about .010-.020 oversized and most new 6.5 jap brass is undersized. I...

Yeah I am a little slow to condemn PPU brass all together. I have used it before without problems, but in all my loading I have never seen such dramatic problem between new and once fire brass. Plus the problem persisted from once fired to twice and three times fired. Starline works good so I...

It was the brass! I had a thread going in gunsmithing because I thought I might have a gun problem. But it turned out to be the brass. I had some PPU brass that cycled in my Weatherby Vanguard just fine new, but caused a sticky bolt on retraction after the brass was once fired and resized. Lots...

Thanks for pointing out that trim length. Load manual recommends 2.025, but I see I have more to work with now.

Yes chamber cast is on the short list. The 41.5 gr max sounds good, and I'll take all the measurements I can with the new brass for more clues. I am tentatively scrapping the chamber neck problem. Just so happens a 2018E aluminum arrow has a diameter of .315 - same diameter as min chamber neck...

Thanks for the reply Gary. Yes, I will be backing the bullets off and paying closer attention to the neck as I move forward with the investigation. I followed the rules initially, starting low and working up slowly. Didn't think the picture would change so much just because I continued with...

I know I will probably have to eventually drop $50 on box of factory ammo to prove a point, but the likely outcome is that it will function just fine. This is because the factory ammo is built so far below spec so that it will function in guns with poor chambers, like mine perhaps. Unless I get...

Yuck! Went to the range with H4895 35.0 - 39.5 gr in .5 increments. Average max as best as I could find is about 40 - 41 gr. 1st round not that smooth, 2nd round sticky, 3rd round ok with associated unflattened primer, the rest same sticky bolt retraction. I quit at 38.0 grains. I tried letting...

No just made that one home brew go gauge out of the 30-06 case. The only stuff I have to shoot is the PPU 7-08 brass. I'd like to try something else as soon as I can find something. The brass is about .012-.013 thick on the neck for the PPU's. That is average to below average in my experience so...

Plunk test seems to be ok. I do see that Sierra has quite a bit lower max for Varget. I'm starting to think that my chamber is on the lower side of spec (which is usually a good thing for accuracy) and my loads are ok for new brass, but too hot for fire formed brass. I'm going to try some H4895...

NMexJim, I am using the Hornady headspace/case comparator tool. Interesting point in the video is the caution to not use the tool to compare to SAAMI spec. Even though one of the inserts is .400 like the SAAMI spec, I can understand that this tool is only for relative measurements (comparator...

Thanks for the replies. So it seems that case fitment is not the problem. Just out of curiosity I did the home brew go gauge routine on my 260 and it behaved just like the 7-08. It started chambering at 1.620. So the method is flawed, but is evidence that the chamber is probably fine. So there...

Bummed that my new Weatherby Vanguard is not behaving. The short question is; How much space is needed between the shoulder of the case and the shoulder of the chamber for this hunting gun? I think I have about .007-.010 which should be plenty from what I have read, but maybe I'm wrong. So here...

Water makes sense then. Looking forward to your results.

Are you interested in relative or absolute volume? Dealing with water in my loading area seems kind of messy. I have only tested volume to see which case brands were bigger or smaller for a particular project and not to use as part of a computer program. My method is to seat a spent primer...