Have brass, powder, bullets, primers. Now what's this OAL?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

silverlance

Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
2,142
Location
In my Foxhole
this is my first time reloading, so bear with me.

  • I have sucessfully decapped 50 pieces of JMS 7.62x54R brass.
  • I have a jug of Winchester 748 ball powder. Recommended standard load per Lee instructions is 2.5cc 38.1 grains.
  • I have 100 .308 180 grain soft point Remington Core-Lockt bullets.
  • I am going to buy some large rifle primers tomorrow (I think that would be the right one).

All reloading is to be done with a nylon hammer and the Lee Classic neck-sizing only handloading kit.

Okay, now here are my questions.

1. The Lee load for standard 7.62x54R (ive heard that their standard loads are weak, but remember this is my first time) calls for 150 grain jacketed. I'm going to be using 180 grain soft point. Will that cause a problem? My powder measure, by the way, is a little plastic 2.5cc scoop.

2. The same Lee load lists Min OAL as 2.757. My die is adjustable, but it isn't length marked and I don't have a caliper. Do I need to worry about this? Is there an easy way to set my die's OAL to 2.757 or whatever it is? And, if I must buy a caliper, where can I get one cheaply?

3. What does it mean to chamfer? is that when you scrape the inside of the neck to make it bigger?

help!

kev
 
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=604242

$10 calipers, hard to beat. I bought some at Harbor Freight for $16 on sale because the digital ones are easy for old eyes to read. Calipers are indispensable. Buy some.

Chamfer: You use a tool to cut just a bit of brass off the inside and outside edge of the brass at an angle to get rid of sharp edges from trimming and help the bullet load smoothly and crimps work better.

Neck "reaming" would make the inside of the neck bigger, but you don't need to worry about that at all. It's not necessary here. Rarely is. Don't worry about it.
 
just to let you know you also have the wrong bullets. the 7.62x54R uses .303 bullets that are in fact .311" dia. so the ones you have would be to small in dia. also never use a heavier bullet with lighter bullet load data. you can use lighter bullets with heavier bullet data but not the other way around or your gun will go kaboom in your hand. please buy a book called "the abc's of reloading" before you make any amunition as i do not want to read about how you killed yourself (and others around you) at the range shooting hand loads. also the stickies at the top of the page in this forum would be a good idea to read as well.

please do not take my comments as an insult, i am just concerned by the lack of info you seem to have on hand, and it is very late here so i could not think of a less mean way to type my thoughts.

jason
 
Silverlance...It is obvious that you need to purchase a couple of loading manuals. Might I suggest Lyman 48th Edition and Sierra 5th Edition Second printing...Your questions indicate, to me anyway, that you don't have a reloading manual. You need to get one or two and do some evening reading infront of the fireplace after dinner...:D :banghead: :) There. I feel better...
 
were those cases fired in YOUR rifle.?
If not you may or nay not get them to chamber using a neck-sizing die.They are only to be used on cases that have been fired in your rifle and fit YOUR rifles chamber.they all vary some.
Substituting bullets with that much grain weight variance is a bad idea.STick with the proven recipes.Always.
 
A simply answer to your OAL question is if you set up dies
with an already loaded commerial or military round. Test your first
loads to make sure it fuctions through your magazine. Once fired
cases should not need triming.
 
okay, you guys got me.

I did buy a reloading book, but it was one of those little ones with pretty mucn onthing but load recipies in it. the truth is I am a klutz and you guys are right - ignorance has probably killed more people than all of human conflict.

besides, I spilled 70 of my 100 large rifle primers into my car's hand brake slot today :( I didn't kow that the little packages would just fall out of the paper sleeve like that.

---

The cases were fired from the same gun I intend to fire the reloaded rounds in (1943 Sako Mosin Nagant). The cases are brass and otherwise new.

I'm going to go buy those books and see if I can learn a thing or two. The Lee Classic kit has a little booklet and everyone has always said that it is so easy... I just figured that I didn't really need to read a big old book to handload just one round or two.

Guess I was wrong.

I think I saw a thread about it being on sale at wal mart. I'll go look there.

Kev

ps: here's what I have now

  • 100 decapped towel cleaned once fired cases (reloads will be fired in same gun)
  • 30 (lost 70 of them...) Winchester LR primers
  • a jug of Winchester 748 rifle powder
  • 100 150 grain remington corelockts (I guess I'll have to shelve these until I find an appropriate powder)

unfortunately I do not have an experienced buddy.

a further question - these dies can be moved up and down to determine bullet seating depth. but there's no markings on it. how do you decide how to set the bullet seating depth?

Kev
 
you need to get those primers out. same time like what everyone else said you need to do some serious reading
 
that bad? aw, crap.

why, will it start a fire without being struck? it's going to be a hell of a time getting the plastic cover off. I might be able to do it... I'll try unscrewing it this weekend and see.


I just bought the abcs of reloading. hopefully that will teach me a thing or two.
 
hey man glad to see you bought that book:) other than load data (sounds like you have that covered with the "one of those little ones") and the right bullets your all set for "starting" loads. good luck and be safe. if you have any ?'s after you read the book i am sure some one can answer them with out jumping on you like we did :uhoh:

btw:
those primers in your car could explode if say, your car gets left in the sun, or you hit a nasty bump. there is actualy a story in the book you just bought about a guy who was carrying a metal bucket full of primers and "bounced" it as he walked. i think it said the largest part of him they found was a finger. so never underestimate the explosive device that is known as a primer;)

jason
 
Well I did a recount.

I have 33 missing primers. Sigh* Okay, tomorrow I will have to get my screwdriver out and remove the center console. Hopefully the primers will all be lying there ready for me to remove.

What's the best way for removing them?
 
Also, dispose of those primers properly. Most people recommend soaking them in spent motor-oil for a few days, though some have said they've tested some and they still go boom. Avoid putting them in a confined metal space (coffee can, tin can). Think of them as little packs of nitroglycerine and treat them as such. There have been too many accidents due to simple disregard for primer safety.

And definitely get "The ABC's of Reloading". The Lee book has basics (eventually), but you need the simple explaination of things that are in ABC's.
 
OAL

To answer your question OAL stands for over all length. You need to pay attention to OAL, which differs from bullet style and weight , especially when using max or near max loads as a shoter than minumum OAL can greatly increase pressures. Alonger than max oal can keep the cartridge from chambering fully. Also some cases headspace on the case mouth so Oal of the empty case is also important. Read a lot and try to find someone with some reloading experience to guide you, after all it will be your face that will be lying behind the bolt when you fire the gun. Care must always be taken when reloading!
 
OAL - OK, let me try to help. First, there are two lengths you need to know about, Case Length and Cartridge Over-All Length. They mean just what they say and each has a significance but, within limits, they aren't critical.

The case cannot be so long that the mouth reaches the end of the chamber. Exceeding that length will pinch the bullet in place and pressures will sky rocket. You need either a case length gage - a rare tool these days - or, better a dial caliper of some sort to check the lengths. If the cases get too long they must be trimmed back to a safe length. For this a "case length trimmer' is best but, in my younger days and even poored than now, I just used a hand held file to shorten my cases. Cutting mouths square is good but not expecially critical really, the case mouth becomes one with the chamber during firing anyway.

The over-all cartridge length, OAL, must be short enough to work through common magazines. That figure is what most sources call "maximum" length. You can load single shots longer. Longer won't hurt anything UNLESS your bullet is so far out it jams into the beginnings of the rifling, again causing pressure to increase a bit. If your loads are somewhat LESS than MAX OAL there is no problem unless you have a very small case (handgun usually) or the bullet actually falls into the case!

Bullet shapes are different so some types must be set deeper than others to avoid contacting the rifling. That means YOU must check each new bullet, even of the same weight, for a lack of firm contact before loading and shooting them. Seating depth may also have a significant impact on the accuracy of some rifles so you need a way to set your seating die repeatable, a good length gage.

A decent machinist's type 6 inch caliper can check both lengths to an accuracy of .001". Usable (Chinese made) 6" stainless steel dial calipers are available for under $20 today, and no reloader needs a professional grade caliper costing well over a hundred bucks! Do a web search for "Harbor Frieght Tools" for their calipers and watch for their frequent sales to get the price right.

Electronic/digital calipers might seem better but they depend on batteries and batteries can't be depended on, get the conventional dial calipers and they will always be ready to use.
 
Wow, what a well thought out post.

I bought a Lyman Dial caliper for 20. I think I've got it now. The nice part about what I'm doing is that I will only be firing in an M39 bolt gun, so I don't have to worry as much about magazines. But you are absolutely right, I think a caliper is really necessary for this line of work. One of the first things I will be measuring for instance is the actually diameter of some of these bullets.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
My very first reloaded round: 7.62x54R =)
Replies
1
Views
351
Jimbo1
J
S
  • Locked
7.62x54R reloading questions
Replies
9
Views
1K
silverlance
S
K
  • Locked
.223 remington OAL bullet seating question
2
Replies
28
Views
23K
helotaxi
H
R
  • Locked
38 Special OAL Issues
Replies
10
Views
2K
steveno
S
R
  • Locked
What am I doing wrong now? OAL question.
Replies
7
Views
600
ocabj
O
Back
Top