what are your tricks for getting proper headspacing for belted rounds like the 375 h&h?

thanks

In the headspace game the belt is SUPOSED to be the headspace and in most situations this works ok BUT-- if you have a little lose head space in the gun or a batch of brass that is not quite right you can have the cartridge case separate just past the belt in only a couple of fireings. My personal method with ANY BOTTLENECK case is to take a fired case from YOUR gun, roll it on the lube pad then sprinkle a bit of graphite on the neck and shoulder area. Now screw your size die down to touch the shell holder with the ram up then screw it back OUT 1 turn. Run the case into the die and then inspect the graphite smear. Depending on what I have in mind for the load --I don't even touch the shoulder for target and play shooters. If it is for a hunt load I might very lightly touch the shoulder to make sure it will chamber easy if I need to cycle the gun quickly.If you follow this method that cartridge is custom headspaced for the gun it was fired in. I use the LEE collet dies and never touch the shoulder and have had very good sucess with that method also. I had case heads separate in 4 firings before I had an old fart educate me on the how and why. I currently have brass for my 35 Rem lever gun that has gone 20+ cycles with collet dies and no problem yet and 338 brass in the 10 cycle relm. (I anneal necks!)

Roll down a few clicks and look under the heading "New to loading belted magnums". Lots of wisdom and experiance there!!

wasillia, thanks for the good information.

I detest belted cases. There is new and fine Remington and Winchester magnums without atavistic relic belted case.

quote:

what are your tricks for getting proper headspacing for belted rounds like the 375 h&h

I don't think of it as a trick but I simply use the rifle's chamber as a gage, no matter the cartridge.

I screw the FL die down until it touches the shell holder and back it out a quarter turn. Size a case and try to chamber it; usually won't go. Turn the sizer down another 1/16 th of a turn (about .0045") and try again. Keep it up until it chambers properly and lock the die ring there.

This makes sure my cases of any type are sized sufficently without excessive sizing which creates, in effect, excess head space and case stretching. A belt or rim, or lack of them, nor SAAMI specs themselves mean nothing to me; if it fits, it's right!

Sometimes a conventional sizer for belted cases won't size ahead of the belt sufficently to allow chambering. If so, toss the cases or get the expensive collet magnum sizer die.