quote:

Originally posted by vzerone:
I'd go little larger then .358 to say .375.

Why? After running a .358 expander ball into a .338 case just try reinserting it in the chamber. Ain't gonna go no matter how hard you mash on the bolt. Expanding the neck further than necessary to create an adequate "false shoulder" just work-hardens it and puts it closer to splitting.

quote:

Originally posted by ANTELOPEDUNDEE:
Seat the bullets a smidgen long with just enough neck tension so that the bullets seat deeper when you chamber the round is the way to do it. When starting with new brass this gets you the most bang for the buck because it doesn't require to do anything to or with the brass other than to load and shoot. If you trim or deburr flash holes then you'd do that first.

I wouldn't trust a bullet with such light neck tension to hold the case fully rearward against the bolt face against the forward blow of the firing pin. If the case slips forward then you'll end up with the same thinned place where the case stretches and all will be for naught. IF you should use the bullet-jamming approach (which costs you powder, primer, and bullet, along with extra wear on the bore) then make sure there is adequate neck tension -- even crimping the bullet in might not be a bad idea. And be sure to back off several grains from a full load in that the jammed bullet will raise pressures some amount.

But frankly, making the false shoulder with an oversized expander allows you to create a full-power, accurate using load on the first firing of the brass. Why waste a shot just making the brass fit the chamber?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

Originally posted by vzerone:
I'd go little larger then .358 to say .375.

Why? After running a .358 expander ball into a .338 case just try reinserting it in the chamber. Ain't gonna go no matter how hard you mash on the bolt. Expanding the neck further than necessary to create an adequate "false shoulder" just work-hardens it and puts it closer to splitting.

Takes more then that to work harden a case to splitting and besides that's what annealing is for.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

Originally posted by ANTELOPEDUNDEE:
Seat the bullets a smidgen long with just enough neck tension so that the bullets seat deeper when you chamber the round is the way to do it. When starting with new brass this gets you the most bang for the buck because it doesn't require to do anything to or with the brass other than to load and shoot. If you trim or deburr flash holes then you'd do that first.

I wouldn't trust a bullet with such light neck tension to hold the case fully rearward against the bolt face against the forward blow of the firing pin. If the case slips forward then you'll end up with the same thinned place where the case stretches and all will be for naught. IF you should use the bullet-jamming approach (which costs you powder, primer, and bullet, along with extra wear on the bore) then make sure there is adequate neck tension -- even crimping the bullet in might not be a bad idea. And be sure to back off several grains from a full load in that the jammed bullet will raise pressures some amount.

But frankly, making the false shoulder with an oversized expander allows you to create a full-power, accurate using load on the first firing of the brass. Why waste a shot just making the brass fit the chamber?

Practically speaking how is what you propose any different than what I did since neither guarantees that the load produced will be accurate. IIRC when I did it many eons ago the load wasn't that bad, good enough for hunting purposes. If you're doing an established load then maybe. In your case it allows for a change in seating depth. Not sure how you'd crimp a bullet if there was no cannelure at the depth you were seating to. With the false shoulder thing once you expand up from .338 to .375 then you need to size the neck down until the bolt just closes [with a little effort] on the EMPTY case. Also make sure that it closes on a loaded round or preferably a dummy round.

Yeah, well we've established that once he gets good filled out cases that he needs to resize them properly so this doesn't happen again. Too bad then made belts on many cartridges that DID NOT need a belt. A damn sales gimmick on those that this old boy never fell for. Don't see any new belted cartridges today do we?

quote:

Originally posted by vzerone:
Yeah, well we've established that once he gets good filled out cases that he needs to resize them properly so this doesn't happen again. Too bad then made belts on many cartridges that DID NOT need a belt. A damn sales gimmick on those that this old boy never fell for. Don't see any new belted cartridges today do we?

+1

Surely with all these posts, you have solved a non existent problem, all one needs to do is fire form the case with a near max load. Ive done exactly that for years, don't recall one case head separation unless I went to far on finding a max load and used too much powder, only on occasions btw! If you run into trouble with this method point the gun UP..

That's the only way it works if the gun has headspace, which hasn't been mentioned to my knowledge..A lot of old Mauser calibers had the head space problem since birth because some old Eurpean gunsmith just cut a chamber and called it good enough for guvment work, and allowed the shooter could fireform cases..Ive never seen the use for a false shoulder, but have read this all my life..Have no idea how Ive got along with it so many years..

Another option and perhaps the best solution is jerk the barrel off cut off a couple of threads and rechamber, might have to tweek the inletting.

CASE HEAD SEPARATIONS

There is only ONE way to get a case head separation, and that is to push the shoulder back too far. This causes the case to stretch too far when it is fired. Doing this repeatedly is a guaranteed case head separation.

Belted cases commonly have this symptom because factory loads (or virgin cases) have excessive shoulder clearance and the repetitive reloading causes cumulative case stretching.

If you really want a permanent solution, have your barrel set back a bit.

I learnt a trick from a gentleman on AR, and we have been cambering all our belted magnums this way, and had no problems with any factory ammo, and our reloads last a long time.

I have a brand new belted magnum case, chosen for having the smallest measurement we could find for headspace.

I use that case as my headspace gage in chambering rifles.

The bolt will just close on this, but will not close on a GO gage.