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I f.l. size and then run a .222 mandrel through them. But im going to start using 221 cause I think with spring back, my neck tension is too light, and it's causing accuracy issues from the feed ramp impacts, moving the bullets around. I don't turn the necks, crimp, or do anything but your standard reloading steps. I deprime, clean, clean primer pockets, anneal, fl size with expander ball removed, then use an expander mandrel, clean, trim, deburr flashhole after 1st firing only, then chamferr amd deburr, then load. I have this checklist that I keep with every batch. Keep all the same headstamp together as well as the same number of firings. All in separate containers. My reloading. im sure needs definite work, but im very particular and ocd about making the brass as perfect as I can get them, and it's the same when I load them too. It takes me forever, but I enjoy the process as much as shooting, so I don't mind at all.

@Reloaderscodex have you chambered a round then pulled it and verified the bullet didn't move once seating in the chamber? I never had luck with my AR10 in a 6.5 Creedmoor keeping the bullet seating depth even when I bumped the neck tension to 4 thousands. I eventually just did a light crimp to keep the bullet from shifting during the chamber cycle.

@aaronbiggi7056 i have, and it didn't seem to change the coal, but I haven't done any extensive test. Just loaded a single round and checked the coal before and afterward. I should probably check with more than one lol

👍 It works really well. It's much easier than guesstimating and using up ammo. Now that I have it zeroed, I'm gunna shoot the tall target test to check that i mounted the scope level. I have a video on it that I did not long ago

Hahaha

I've been using a 10rd duramag. It allows 2.3" coal, and it's worked pretty well for me.

Appreciate that bro. I love being a lefty but it can be a pain in ass sometimes finding good gear in stock. Lol

@@Reloaderscodex tell me about it! we get crucified for it financially too! Extra ££'s for a lefty action or stock just because the engineer has had to push a different button hahaha Keep the great content coming dude!

For real! Glad there's other lefties out there in the great beyond besides just myself Haha. Thank you, and thanks for watching.

Lol pretty sure it's a fluke haha. Don't jinx me

@Reloaderscodex Yeah right. It's about time we see you shoot good 👍. Just be confident in yourself brother 💯.

@MTCKIE68 haha thank you. Appreciate the kind words 🙏

Good looking out

An inch

I didnt even notice that, i plan on trying a full load work up with doing either 2 1/2 or 3 thou neck tension cause I think that the 2 thou might be slightly too light of neck tension for ar15 and it might he effecting my groups and opening them up a bit. I need to do a little more testing to see if my neck tension has been too light. Regardless, I really prefer expander mandrels over expander balls that come in the f.l. sizing dies. Much better consistency.

They are definitely more consistent and can adjust your neck tension compared to standard expander ball.

Unfortunately, I don't have a concentricity gauge to measure runout, but i plan on getting one and doing a video comparing groups with different amounts of runout to see if it actually matters. Cause I've heard both that it matters, and that it doesn't matter when it comes to accuracy at least to a certain degree. Obviously, if the runout is super bad, it'll cause issues, but I'll have to save some money to get a gauge first.

@ I bought the Sinclair years ago when it was on sale. Haven’t used yet cause I am not sure how much it matters for my shooting. I plan to try it out soon though. It happens to be on sale now for BF. Cheap enough to try…

@djryan8944 yeah that's the one I was looking at. I doubt it makes a big difference but I think it'll be a good video.

Never heard of it. Sounds interesting to play around with. You have any experience with it?

@@Reloaderscodex Yes. I have many sizes for different calibers. It’s the best for a perfect fit. Saves on brass life.

What's something like that run for one caliber? I'm not sure whether it'd be more beneficial for my ar15 or for my bolt gun?

Not sure what noe expanders are?

Yeah i usually keep my barrel warm but not hot. A 50 round load work up will take me a long afternoon.

Very appreciated, brother. I love its accuracy, too, but like you said, it's pretty slow. If it was even rocking at like 2650fps, I'd be happy, but it's usually much slower than that.

I am yeah

@Reloaderscodex try a different primer. Those were the worst for me especially with 2520.

@Crnkb8s do you use the reg 400s? Or something other than cci?

@@Reloaderscodex I like the #400 s Johnny did an AR test one time and the #400s did much better

@Crnkb8s i would have got them, but I was worried they would slam fire easier from being a bit softer than the 41s in an AR

Yeah its a FFP scope. Not a fan of SFP

Thank you. I need to think of some other video ideas besides just load development all the time.

That's good to know lol

Thanks I'll do that

Yeah, that's one of my biggest problems is that cheek rest is non-existent, and I have to hold my head up, so it's hard to really get relaxed and set. I need to make a cheek rest for it until I can afford to get a different stock. But I just put all my money into a custom bolt gun build and reloading components for that, so I'll shift to that for a bit while I save my pennies. But I need to really pay better attention to where I hold my head. As far as my parallax setting, it's spot on at the 100-yard point, so I know that's not it it's honestly just me not knowing what the heck im doing, lol. But im learning and having fun.

Not yet I ran out of 8208 so im either going to do it with my 6.5cm or find some 8208 somewhere

@ good luck finding 8208! I haven’t seen that in quite some time. I’m not sure they are even making it anymore

Yeah i have enough for maybe 15 rounds but I can't really get a good comparative test with that so im probably just gunna remake it with my bolt gun instead

Mine are pretty crooked. I ended up getting a k&M and while it's slightly slower I like it much better.

Yeah, i think I'm gunna play around with the 221 mandrel or a 2215 instead of a 222. I dont have a 223 mandrel, unfortunately

What are you using for your neck tension?

What are you currently using to size your brass and set your neck tension? Are you making sure the inside of your necks are free of lubrication before seating your bullets? Give me a bit of your process and how you load your ammo.

@Reloaderscodex I'm currently using Redding S dies with a bushing to give me about .006 neck tension on annealed Nosler brass. I've even used the lightest spring in my buffer tube with an adjustable gas block to slow the BCG down. Thinking about heavier weights in the buffer.

@mmorgan227 I've never used an s die. How do you get to the neck tension you want?

Have you tried a light crimp

Thanks for watching! I'm going to do this again but with my bolt gun in 6.5cm. See if I can get a bit cleaner results. You'll have to let me know how your testing goes and the results you get.

Because i didn't have a bolt gun at the time

Yeah, I've since stopped putting it in my videos.

I have checked overall length of all the bullets I've used and they aren't jamming so that's good but I've since started only bumping the shoulder 3 thou and I haven't had any more problems as I was in this video. I think I was bumping the shoulder to much a little over 5 thou.

Good to know. So, for the l.e.wilson seating dies, do they not make a big difference between just a standard seating die?

@@Reloaderscodex Correct. It's just a personal preference thing at this point. For reference, World champion 1,000 yrd F-class shooter Eric Cortina, loads all of his stuff on a Dillon Progressive press. I don't remember the dies he uses, but they're not a bougie as the LE wilson. Dies can make a difference in other areas, such as how much are you sizing the body of the case or ease of adjustment, but any commercially sold die produces good enough concentricity to where it makes no difference on target. You are gonna wanna check the seating stem on the bullets though. A standard seating stem doesn't always fit a standard bullet, even if the company says it should. I have 165gr hornady SST 30 cal bullets, and a standard hornady 30 cal seating stem doesn't fit it(tip bottoms out), despite hornady swearing up one side and down the other that it should fit fine, and even sending me a 2nd stem with the same issue. If it scuffs the ogive, that's not a big deal, but try to find the best fitting ones you can, especially if you're running compressed loads.

@joearledge cool good to know thanks for the info!

Is it because when the bullet goes through the rifling it will straighten itself out?

@@Reloaderscodex That's the basic principle, behind the leading hypotheses for why it doesn't matter. I haven't seen definitive proof as to WHY it doesn't matter though. It would be cool to know for sure, but I don't know if anyone is going to bother with the research on that.

I was actually thinking that it might be the feed ramp causing it. I'll have to try those tests and see. A few times, I have chambered a round, then extracted it and measured coal, and it stayed the same, but the bullets do get pretty tore up from the feed ramp.

@Reloaderscodex yeah, the love bites from the ramp are just part of the AR life.

So you think i should start trying out the 221 or 2215 mandrels, instead of the 222? The more I think about it, the more im thinking the split 2 grouping groups really got bad around the time I started using mandrels. And im wondering if depending on which side of the feed ramp the bullets load into the chamber determines where the bullets are gunna land bc of the lack of proper neck tension casing the bullets to be manipulated in some way. If you watch a couple of different groups, the way they split into the small groups is always depending the order of which shot is fired in the 5 round group. They always always split in the sake order of shots fired. Kinda weird. Idk im just thinking outside the box cause I'm tired of my groups sucking balls. Lol. But im probably so off base lol

What do you mean by web measurements?

@Reloaderscodex this is a good way to measure pressure signs on all brass. 1: take your upper off and remove the BCG and charging handle. 2: drop a dummy round or brass into the chamber. 3: the unsupported part of the brass, between the extractor groove and the chamber is the web When a round goes off, this section of the case expands in diameter. Technically the web is the part that you're flash hole is drilled through. That change in diameter correlates to pressure. Virgin or sized brass should measure 0.373"-ish at this section. In my experience, at roughly 0.376" at this point(after firing) is when you start blowing primers, or at least blowing out the pocket even if you don't lose the primer. This rule of thumb has been very very consistent for me with multiple brands of brass in multiple guns with multiple weight projectiles. Depending on how much brass life you want to give up VS how hot you want your loads dictates where you draw the line. I'll usually run close to max so my measurements are about 0.375 to 0.3755, for my max usable charge. Obviously if you want to be conservative, closer to 0.373" is better.

Good to know thanks!

I'll have to try using the 2215 or 221 expander mandrel have have 2.5 to 3 thou neck tension and see if that helps my group splitting.

@Reloaderscodex if you decide you want other sizes, call 21st century. They don't list all of their sizes online.

Yeah fairly new. About 7 months. Im all for ppl telling what I'm doing wrong. I usually use hodgdon website as my reference. What's a good place to start if they're low?

@joearledge1 what's a good place to get 5.56 load data cause everywhere I go it's always. 223.

Pull a 5.56mm round and measure powder; adjust your ladder test down with the info and use that lower charge weight as the starting point.

Im not sure im following...Pull which 5.56 round? I def need to go up in powder and get into 5.56 velocity/pressure.

@@gc5Hayward that's not how reloading works.... all powders and their charge weights are different, so you can't just pull one, weigh the powder, drop a few grains and work up. Stuff like that is how you have accidental rapid disassembly of your gun and you.

From all my coal measurements they are all past 2.3" which is what my mag will allow

@Reloaderscodex sounds good, what method are you using to measure the COAL/CBTO? What mag brand is letting you get 2.300" COAL?

@joearledge1 the hornady lock n load oal guage. I use their modified case right now but im going to send in both my 6.5cm and 5.56 fired brass to get more accurate numbers. But I also take into account the brass headspace on the hornady modified case compared to my fired brass headspace and off set the difference to get a better and more realistic number for my chamber if that makes sense

@@Reloaderscodex yeah, it does. If you're getting custom ones, you'll want to fully prep the brass you're sending in, so that it's ready for primer, powder, and bullet. Why? Because you care about the COAL /CBTO from the loading bench to the chamber. After the hammer falls, when the brass expands, you don't care anymore because the round is down range. I don't know how they hold the brass to make the custom cases at hornady, but the way I hold them when I make them, the shoulder gets bumped longer by about 0.001" to 0.002". So I give my brass a little extra bump if I'm making a custom case with it.

So if I've been meausing the difference from the modified case to what I normal have my shoulder bump at when round if fully prepped is correct? Basically I think of it as If the modified cases shoulder is 1.452" and it says a 77gr smk is hitting the lands at 2.328" and n y shoulder is usually set at 1.456" i the bullet will hit the lands in my brass .004" shorter since my brass is .004" longer. Correct? And I always said I'd never use math after college. ...probably why I'm terrible at it.

That's some pretty fast numbers for sure

@Reloaderscodex yeah, confused me at first when factory ammo out of the same box was 50 fps faster in my 18" than in my 20"

Lol yeah that was be a head scratcher for a quick second

Yeah not completely cold but I keep the barrel warm but not hot or cold

That's a good shooter right there. My custom 6.5 I just finished building with the 2nd random load i reloaded with hornady 140gr eld match and h4350 with only 25 shots through my barrel was measuring at .481" with a 5 shot group and im not the best shooter. Im pretty stoked to do some load development with it. It's the first time shooting both 6.5 cm and a bolt gun, so it'll take some getting used to. I def have high hopes she'll be a shooter if I can learn to do my part, which is def the weakest link of the combo.