I just got a hold of a 7mm mag Tikka M695. I want to start working up loads for. I have been hearing some scary stories about loading belted mags. What dies do you guys recommend? Neck sizing? FL Sizing? This is the only 7MM I own, so the reloads will only be fired in the one rifle. Any suggestions?

Thanx,
Mark

Well I don't really care for neck sizing only on my hunting rifle. Hate to run into a tight case at the wrong time. I've loaded plenty of belted magnums with a FL sizer. After the first firing treat it like a non belted case. Set the die to just touch the shoulder. From then on the brass headspaces on the shoulder and you don't have the overworking issue. If the case should get a little tight just lower the die enough to bump the shoulder back.

Try just "bumping" the shoulder back enough so that the brass will chamber freely. That is no resistance to bolt closure.
HotCore calls this partial full length resizing.
The idea is to gain about two thousands inch of space. Provided you keep your chamber clean, brass too, the loads will chamber easily. And you will work the brass very little. Leading to longer brass life.
It also helps brass life if you don't load "hot".

muck

LIke said above....nothing special except to watch just ahead of the belt for cracks. I would start watching close after about 4 reloads. Otherwise I agree that I don't like bolt tension on closing so that takes neck sizing out for me. I would strongly recomend a good FL die and set it so you only bump the shoulder about .002" on resizing. If you start with virgin brass it will probably take 2 reloadings for the brass to get to your full chamber length. For the $$$ I really like hornady dies...love their eliptical expander and have gotten really low runnout with these dies for the price.

RamRod340 is right Tight cartridges in Hunting situations ISN'T AN OPTION !. I speak from EXPERIENCE !!.

Did a STUPID thing one time grabbed the WRONG AMMO * Same caliber different chambered guns !!!.

When hunting NO NO NO . Check this site and it will explain what others are telling you .

It's a NICE DIE to have for belted magnums .

http://www.larrywillis.com/

One suggestion that I would make when loading for belted magnums is to set your dies to headspace on the shoulder if possible. I get much better accuracy and brass life that way.

Your specific choice of sizing method, even including neck sizing is entirely your own choice.

The people who yammer endless about a tight cartridge in a hunting situation and disparaging neck sizing for that reason alone have failed to think things through and thus are displaying their lack of forethought.

It is my position that carrying ammunition into the field that has NOT been cycled through the action of your hunting arm is an act of stupidity.

Don't practice a reloading proceedure that results in your THINKING that your rounds will chamber when you can easily work with a proceedure that allows you to KNOW that they will chamber.
It is easy enough to verify that all rounds WILL chamber by the simple expedient of doing so as a last step before packing them into your ammo boxes.

And if you go that extra step you have made their arguement utterly irrelevant.

that being said use ANY method you like.

I carry neck sized ammo into the field all the time.

I KNOW it will chamber in the rifle it is sized/loaded for.

that all being said... IGNORE the belt.

Size so as to headspace on the shoulder

somewhere on my loading bench is a smal base sizer originally made for sizing 7mmRem Mag brass for a Browning BAR auto-shucker.

It serves nicely as a body sizer for the area just ahead of the belt on ALL belted magnum cartridges that I load for... because I cut the die off just below the shulder...

IF you happen to have more than one rifle in a particular cartridge it is easy to segregate the ammunition.

I happen to have three 30-06 rifles.

The ammo from two of them will not chamber in each other, and neigher of those will chamber at ALL in the third.

How do I keep them seperated? it's so simple...

ammo for my Remington auto loades is loaded in GREEN MTM cases, the ammo for my Rem700 is in RED boxes, and the ammo for the rifle I endearingly call POS (a Very crudely sporterized Mauser that I gave to a cousin)
is in BLUE MTM boxes.

AD

quote:

Originally posted by muck:
Try just "bumping" the shoulder back enough so that the brass will chamber freely. That is no resistance to bolt closure.
HotCore calls this partial full length resizing.
..

Hey Muck, Actually, if there is no resistance to the Bolt Closing, I call that Full Length Resizing. I recommend this if a person Hunts in Dangerous Game country. Helps prevent a Cartridge getting Jammed or stuck due to a small piece of trash getting in the chamber.

For me the longest Case Life and most Accuracy comes from P-FLRing(Partial-Full Length Resizing) which means with a bit of resistance as the Bolt Closes on the Cartridge. It is the most accurate Method for me because of the CenterLines becoming parallel. No other Method creates as straight an alignment between the Cartridge and Chamber.

That said, there are a lot of fine groups shot by folks who Neck Size. Always makes me wonder how good their groups could be if P-FLRed.

Best of luck to you.

There is no special trick to reloading belted cases. They're loaded just like any other case.

We tend to forget what the belt is for. It's for headspace and has a similar function to the rim on a rimmed case. On a lot of belted cartridges, the belt is just there for looks and marketing. On straight walled cases like the 458 Lott it's entirely responsible for headspace. In long tapered cases like the 300 & 375 H&H Magnums there isn't enough shoulder to headspace on so the belt is responsible for headspace there as well.

I have trouble comprehending what all the angst is about in reloading for cartridges to be used for hunting. If you set up your dies properly, ALL of your cartridges will feed properly. I don't chamber all of my cartridges and I'm never going to. I've loaded the gamut from bolt actions to semiautos to break actions and know whereof I speak.

I can't see what the advantage of partial full length sizing has over neck sizing. You can neck size so the shoulder isn't set back at all. That technique should maximize case life and you aren't resizing the case body at all.

It is possible to set a full length die up to give just the slightest resistance to closing the bolt. I have done this for many years on my practice and hunting ammo, and one could say that all my hunting is done in dangerous game areas. I've never had a cartridge refuse to chamber. However, I do as Allen suggests - I cycle each cartridge through the rifle before packing the ammo into boxes. And I keep my rifles and ammo clean.