Can you live without it?

[Shrinkmd]

I was looking at the Hornady catalog for the OAL length gauge, the bullet comparator gauge, and the headspace gauge. Is it possible/feasible to load for rifle without all this extra hardware? I understand the potential benefits of measuring the exact location of the freebore and the rifling to seat the bullet close, and how 0.001" can make a difference, measuring from the ogive and not the tip of the bullet, and checking the headspace of fired rounds.

But can I live without these tools? I am especially interested in reloading for the Swiss K31, and I've read about how the OAL in the books is often way too long, and how people end up jamming bullets into the rifling. I want to avoid that.

 

[warnerwh]

Of course you can live without them. I've never used an OAL guage but you do need dial calipers with which OAL can be measured. They are a necessity and can be bought for 30 bucks from Harbor Freight.
You can figure out max OAL in your particular rifle yourself. Do a search, it's easy. I only have one high powered rifle in 30-06 which will shoot .75 or under consistently. Best group so far was 5/16" but many under .75". This is out of a Marlin XL7 that cost a whopping 300 dollars new. The only thing I've done is load the cartridge to the book with the cannelure at the case mouth which determined OAL.
I have no idea how much freebore I have presently. The load I use was actually worked up for a Ruger I had that never could shoot 1" groups consistently, more like 1.5". If you want pin point accuracy at long range then every detail can affect your accuracy. I'm not super knowledgeable and the grouping I have is fine with me as I don't care about competition, just good and consistent accuracy. Others will be able to give you more info.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I didn't even know they made all these gauges for loading these rounds. I have been loading 7.5 x 55 Swiss ammo for probably close to 15 years now and I don't have any of these gauges and unless you are planning to shoot competition you probably don't need them either. I primarily load 150 gr. Nosler Spitzer BT, Nosler 155 gr. Custom Competition HPBT, Privi and Hornady 168gr. HPBT and Nosler 180 gr Spitzer BT for these guns. My favorite are the Hornady and Privi bullets as they come closer to matching the weight and shape of the 174gr. bullets used in the GP-11 ammo. If you have a spent round that was fired in your gun this is all you need to determine the O.A.L of any size bullet you intend to shoot in your gun. Just take the empty piece of brass and insert the bullet you are trying to establish an O.A. L. for and insert it into the chamber and close the bolt. This will push the bullet into the lands and back into the brass. Take it out and measure the O.A.L. Do this a couple times to make sure the measurement is consistent and once you are satisfied that you have the correct measurement then subtract .030 from this measurement and you will have the O.A.L. for this cartridge in this gun. As long as you are using a good set of dies and the brass fits properly in your gun (you don't have to force the bolt closed) then a case gauge isn't necessary. After sizing the first time just trim your brass back to 2.180 and you probably won't need to trim them again for the life of the case. Probably more info then you wanted, but hope it helps some.

 

[Oyeboten]

Similarly to the other mentions -

In my own limited experience, in loading for Handguns, if Loading for a specific Arm, it is a good idea to simply test impirically, for the OAL that Arm likes, for any given Bullet kind ( with respect to whatever one thinks the recommendation for that Bullet may be)...and, to strive for uniform Case length, and thus, uniform crimp.

Many people report problems where they thought they had abided the recommended OAL with the Bullet they were using, only to find, once at the Range, that the Pistol did not agree.

 

[JimKirk]

A simple candle is the reloaders best friend.

By smutting the brass, you can find out how to adjust your sizing die so that it fits your chamber just right.

By smutting your bullets, you can find the correct seating depth for them.

I do feel a caliper is needed.

The other stuff is something to entertain yourself with.


Jimmy K

 

[Fatelvis]

To accomplish what the bullet seating guage does, without buying one: Take a sized peice of brass for your rifle, and make a fine slit in the neck of the brass with a Dremel tool, (from the mouth to the shoulder). Seat a bullet (by hand) into the neck, seated out obviously too far. Chamber this mock cartridge, and carefully eject it, and measure it. The slit in the neck will decrease the amount of neck tension, to the point that the bullet will be seated by the rifling.

 

[qajaq59]

Is it possible/feasible to load for rifle without all this extra hardware?

It must be because I've been doing it for a looooong time.

 

[Shrinkmd]

Great replies, thanks.

It sounds like there are plenty of old fashioned ways to do it using the chamber itself as the gauge. The tools look interesting, but I think I will put the $ toward more dies and brass first.

 

[06]

Necessity ==the mother of invention or inovation. K.I.S.S. is a marvelous thought to most anything and works more reliably most of the time unless you are a rocket scientist. LOL, they used to take a .50 cal and shoot it downrange to calibrate their radar. Now they fire million dollar mini missiles and take days to do the same thing. Another one--we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars inventing a pen that would write in zero gravity for the "astronuts" -- Russia gave theirs a pencil. KISS.

 

[rcmodel]

I agree with all the others.

I have reloaded for a lot of very accurate varmint rifles, for about 50 years, and don't own any of those things.

A birthday candle or Magic Marker, your rifle, a dial caliper, and a lick common sense will do all the same things, possibly better.

rc

 

[Afy]

I havent been loading for long... and I dont have any of these things. Just a Caliper. For the Semi Guns I stick with published OAL. For the bolts, I set it to whatever OAL gives me the best accuracy.