I have been reloading for a heavy barreled Savage Axis II in .223. Before starting I acquired a good array of gauges and tools to try and produce safe and accurate ammo. I used 50 pieces of new Lapua brass and reloaded with Benchmark and 53gr SMK's, shot them through the Axis, FL sized making sure that the shoulder was bumped .002" on each. I have done this a total of 3- times. I have read many posts on THR, which say that it can take up to 3- reloads of new brass before the brass will conform to the actual size of the chamber. I was meticulous with making sure that all 150- loads were as close to each other in charge weight and dimensions, as my equipment and gauges would allow. I used a Hornady comparator to measure the length (headspace) of each piece of brass and also the ogive to base of each completed cartridge. The good news for me is that all 50 of these were grouping (5-shots) at an average of .730" at 100 yds. with my all stock rifle.
I'm hoping someone can explain why there is up to a .006" variance in the headspace measurement of the 3-time fired pieces of brass (50 total), which were fired from the same chamber with
(as close as possible) same loads? The ambient temperature only varied by 6-degrees over the 3-days that I shot these. Is the .006" difference a problem or am I concerned about the wrong issue with making accurate reloads? Thanks for taking the time to read this post.
I'm hoping someone can explain why there is up to a .006" variance in the headspace measurement of the 3-time fired pieces of brass (50 total), which were fired from the same chamber with
(as close as possible) same loads? The ambient temperature only varied by 6-degrees over the 3-days that I shot these. Is the .006" difference a problem or am I concerned about the wrong issue with making accurate reloads? Thanks for taking the time to read this post.