Reloading: Advanced techniques for better accuracy

[LDBennett]

Advanced reloading techniques

1) There are many advance reloading techniques but the one that is most often used is the one that makes ammo that only fits a specific gun but made so tightly to that guns chamber that accuracy is enhanced. The concept is to take fired cartridge cases from the gun and to only resize them to the point that the shoulder of the cases are pushed back a few thousandths of an inch, not to the industry standard amount that assure the cartridges will fit any gun of the same caliber. This technique is better than neck sizing only as it ever so slightly sizes the case to assure that they will always fit the gun, unlike the build up of tolerances that can make neck sized only cases eventually no longer fit the gun’s chamber.

A RCBS case gage is used to measure the fired cases length from the reference point on the shoulder to the base of the case. The sizing die is backed off the shell holder. The case is sequentially sized shorter and shorter until it is about 0.002 inches shorter than the case gage measurement for the fired case. The sizing die is then locked down and the batch of cases processed.

2) Moving the bullet out to just short of touching the rifling in the bore of the barrel of a rifle assures the bullet gets started as straight and as close to the bore’s centerline as possible. The best accuracy is often achieved with this method of bullet seating.

But there are pitfalls with this method. The bullet should NOT touch the rifling or it will stall too long initially in the powder burn allowing the pressures to build up beyond safe limits. The Starting loads should be used and the load is worked up, not to exceed the maximum listed in the manuals or at signs of excessive pressure, whichever occurs first. It should be noted that best accuracy rarely occurs at or close to maximum loads. The longer than standard cartridge may not fit into the gun magazine so keep that in mind if magazine operation is required.