I'm about to load up some ammo for the first time on my own. (I have loaded some match ammo for my BR rifle, but only with an established load and supervised by a friend....1300 miles away)

It's a custom .22-250. Trued Remington action, Lilja 27inch 1in14 barrel.

Bullets: 52gr Sierra MKs, Hornady A-Maxes and Bergers.

Powder: Varget and IMR 4895

Primers: Federal 210 and 210M, CCI 250

Brass: Winchester virgin

Dies: Redding

Press: Forster Co-Ax

Powder Measure: RCBS Uniflow

Scale RCBS 5-0-5

I have some other cool tools too; Wilson Case Trimmer, Sinclair Primer Pocket Uniformer, K&M Primer Seater, NECO "Neck Lube" moly kit, etc.

Of course bullet choice and powder charge are big variables. The one that really has me stumped is how far off the lands do I seat the bullet to start off with?

Thanks, LDO

I normally start at 20 thou back.

Good luck!

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Regards

Richard

When I am ready to seat the bullets I seat one way out and then feed it into the chamber (safety on) and then put it back into the press and bring it up to the die and then screw the seating die down to the bullet that hit the lands.

Then I back off the case and screw the seating punch in one full turn. This is about 1/32" on most dies.

quote:

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Originally posted by LongDistanceOperator:
I'm about to load up some ammo for the first time on my own. (I have loaded some match ammo for my BR rifle, but only with an established load and supervised by a friend....1300 miles away)

It's a custom .22-250. Trued Remington action, Lilja 27inch 1in14 barrel.

Bullets: 52gr Sierra MKs, Hornady A-Maxes and Bergers.

Powder: Varget and IMR 4895

Primers: Federal 210 and 210M, CCI 250

Brass: Winchester virgin

Dies: Redding

Press: Forster Co-Ax

Powder Measure: RCBS Uniflow

Scale RCBS 5-0-5

I have some other cool tools too; Wilson Case Trimmer, Sinclair Primer Pocket Uniformer, K&M Primer Seater, NECO "Neck Lube" moly kit, etc.

Of course bullet choice and powder charge are big variables. The one that really has me stumped is how far off the lands do I seat the bullet to start off with?

Thanks, LDO

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I start at the rifling and work the load up there....then when I get the load I want for velocity ect. I experiment with seating depth..and if you start at touch then you only have one way to go instead of back and then closer.....but many of my 22's like the 10 to 15 off spot...this was not my idea but I believe Sinclair's book suggest this? and another thing this avoids is having to worry about pressure increase as you get closer/touching the lands.....good luck and good shooting!!!

Gentlemen-
Thank you for the advice. I was all set to go. Zeroed out the scale and saw it acting crazy. Ahhh...turn off the air conditioner and ceiling fan. Drat! I should have waited a couple of days for this question! I hadn't done any brass prep. I'm working in batches of 50pcs at a time. I got the necks deburred, but GEE WHIZ, uniforming all these primer pockets is killin' my hands!

Someone, somewhere just HAS to make a uniformer for the Wilson Case Trimmer. I mean gee, it seems like a natural. That beautiful design; just turn around the case holder and switch cutter/handle. And with a power attachment.....oh boy!

Bigdaddytacp-
Are you a USAF vet?

"killing my hands" sounds exactly where l'm at trying to flash hole and primer pocket uniform a couple hundred 222 cases.

Please post if you find something that can make this a speedier and easier thing to do.

LongDistanceOperator :

If you are this new to loading on your own , I recomend you use the published COL from your data books . Finding the distance off the lands isn't rocket science . But a mistake could become quite dangerous . Get with your mentor and under his/her guidence learn the method.

As for wearing out your hand and wrist uniforming primer pockets and flash holes , consider buying an RCBS caseprep center . Five rotating "sockets" that you can screw in your uniformers , deburing ,champhering tools .

muck

I wrapped tape around my tool handles. Not "the solution" but it smoothes out the bumps and makes the tool a bit easier to hold.

Also, I move the tool back and forth between hands, giving each hand two motions instead of just one.

Good music on the sound system helps!

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.223 Ackley Improved Wildcat Forum:
http://www.hotboards.com/plus/plus.mirage?who=223ackleyimproved

I do the exact opposite than most people. But all I have is factory guns and barrels. I start seating really deep first then move up from there until I see the result I want. I usually stop when the rounds get too long to load into my magizine or feed well. Most of my rifles are remingtons so the throats are a little deeper than I would like. On some, its impossible to hit the lands without the bullet falling out and I am not talking about weatherby rounds either. I used to load right up to the lands or 3/1000 back, but the bullets was fragile since the bullets was just hanging in the brass. If I had a BR gun or decent barrel where, I could hit the lands reliably and still have room to feed well, I would start as most here do about 2/1000" back.

I posted the question about using a Wilson case trimmer on a BR board. The response told me something that had slipped right by me. While uniforming the primer pocket, it's necessary to stop a few times and dump out the brass shavings. Using the Wilson case trimmer would make this a tremendous pain in the neck.

Sinclair and K&M both offer uniformers that can be used with an electric screwdriver. Gonna have to get one of those FOR SURE.

What primer pocket uniformer do you have? I have the Whitetail which appears to be made from carbide and just uniforms the depth.

It's true that due to the form of the tool that you must dump the chips if they are substantial.

I put my uniformer in a lathe collet and hold the case by hand. But I have been doing stuff like that with deburring tools etc. on lathes for a long time. Be carefull if you try something like that.

But I don't see why you could not chuck the tool in a secured drill and feed it in by hand. I have looked at the primer pocket walls and I don't see any metal removed there even though I can tell that the tool is not aligned perfectly each time.

I got a batch of WW .300 H&H brass where the primers would not seat flush at all. I really needed the tool for those. Most of the time it just cleans up the surface.

DonMartin-
I'm using the Sinclair hand held uniformer right now. I'm going to go with power, using a cordless screwdriver. The idea for using the Wilson case trimmer occurred to me...well....just because it's such a wonderful, precision instrument. The theory seems sound at first, but in practice, unclamping the case holder and dumping brass chips several times per case would be a real pain. I'm going to order the power attachment today and pick up a cordless screwdriver for it. Sinclair also make a bracket to hold the cordless screwdriver on the bench.

OK. Part II

I'm loading up the Bergers first. The flat base has me somewhat concerned. If it had a boattail, that could rest inside the neck. These just kinda sit on top of the neck. When I run the case into the seater die, can I just move it rrrrrreal slow and let the die straighten the bullet? I'm stumped.

LDO get one of Lyman's "M" dies, greatest way to seat flat based bullets is to bump the case mouth with the first step on the die, end of trouble.

LDO, When I seat flat base bullets I (veeeerry slightly) over chamfer the inside of the case mouth being careful not to create a knife edge. The bullets seem to start into the case without hanging up. After the bullet is seated to the desired depth I then lift the press handle enough so I can rotate the case 180� and depress the handle again. This will center the bullet in the neck.
As for seating depth, each of my guns are different. One likes the bullets .002 off lands, the others like .005 - .010.
Good luck and good shooting, *Nut*

Hey LDO Just thought I would weigh in here a little, and hopefully help you my friend.

If you really get into reloading lots and lots of rounds, do like Muck says and get an RCBS Trim Mate. It will run around $80 on sale, not cheap but less expensive than carpal tunnel surgery. For about $40 more you can get a large and small primer pocket uniformer, plus large and small primer crimp remover for military brass, that all fit on the rotary, elctric powered Trim Mate. I load somewhere in the range of 8000 or more rounds per year, and the Trim Mate is a God send. Welcome to reloading where no one ever saved a dime, but you do get to pull the trigger lots more. --------Chainsaw

Chainsaw-
Thanks, but I think it will take me 10 years to go through 8,000 rounds. I'm way to anal to be able to load that many. When I loaded these development rounds, I used tweezers to add and subtract individual kernels of powder to get the desired weight.

I have a VibraShine electric powder trickler. I used it one time. It spits out powder too fast for me. I'm getting the battery-powered blue one from Midway. I like it a lot better. It has a threaded tube that rotates and carries powder along the threads. Drops out the powder nice and slow.