Mike a little while ago you were talking about your headspacing guage and headspacing correctly.
After thinking about it a little I decided to look at my encore (6TCU)and found something a little puzzling to me. My first thought was this after firing a full load the brass should strech to fit chamber from action face to the end of the shoulder less a little shrinkage after the actual firing. The fired brass stayed flush with the end of the barrel. This doesn't sound right to me because there should be enough backwards motion to strech the brass all the way back to the action face, right. I did mic the brass just up from the rim and noticed it was streched a little which I would supect after firing it. Could it be there was enough hold by the walls of the chamber to stop the backward motion. Ok I know that might be reaching for answers but just wondering, it wasn't what I exspected to see. What would be your take on this.

Mike's web site has a pretty good article on this under the "experiment every contender owner should do" or something like that. It is possible that the brass to chamber friction could contain the backward thrust. However without going through the procedure Mike outlines, you don't really know what's going on as far as backthrust goes. One of his headspace gauges is in my future, as soon as I get a reloading bench set up. For now it's all factory ammo from CNC.
Helicopter Bill

Kevin,
Look for my >>>>> in your post quoted in part below:

The fired brass stayed flush with the end of the barrel. This doesn't sound right to me because there should be enough backwards motion to strech the brass all the way back to the action face, right.

>>>>>>>> But what is the gap from the end of the barrel to the breech face? If it is next to nothing, like only a thous. or two, without an accurate measurement which the headspace indicator quickly permits, you may not be able to distinguish whether the case head is dead flush with the end of the barrel or sticking out a couple thous. This is one reason you need to know what the barrel to frame gap is.

I did mic the brass just up from the rim and noticed it was streched a little which I would supect after firing it.

>>>>>>>> Stretch is a lengthwise change that you would not measure with a micrometer. You can measure the growth in diameter back near the web, but this does not mean the case has stretched any lengthwise.

Could it be there was enough hold by the walls of the chamber to stop the backward motion.

>>>>>>> This is entirely possible also if the pressure is not enough to either move the case back or stretch the web area back.

>>>>>>>>> Small diameter cases may not flex the Encore frame much, but even the small diameter cases at max pressure will flex Contenders quite a bit.

>>>>>>> Do read "The Experiment......" on www.bellmtcs.com and follow the procedure. You will find it VERY intersting, but being able to take accurate measurements is vital to getting the most information from it. This is where my headspace indicator comes into play. It is the best and easiest way to take these measurements.

Mike