Reloading: Loading Techniques

Always getting a perfect score or placing the perfect shot is our prime objective. Achieving it is usually a challenge and a successful result is pretty exciting. That’s in stark contrast to many of the processes that get us there. Boring consistency in ammo, stance, aim, trigger pull and external conditions such as weather are the key ingredients. Let’s concentrate on one aspect of that mix, the ammunition.

MORE OF THE SAME

The simplistic overview is that perfection requires every component and every assembly process to be identical, round after round. We’ll look at the components, consumables, tools and methods in turn. The case is the most obvious starting point. Every batch that you load should have the same headstamp and ideally be from the same manufacturer’s batch. Following all the usual inspection procedures we need to further refine the batch quality!

They must have the same history of use, whether once or tenth fired. To establish mean case capacity we can randomly select a number from the batch and fill with distilled water to form a flush neck meniscus. Tipping the water into a scale and dividing by the number of cases will give us the mean volume in cc’s. Many manuals quote a case capacity for their test cartridge, compare it with your results – we’ll deal with the differences later. To ultimately refine the batch we can now de-prime, re-size, clean, trim and de-burr, and then sort according to weight. If they’re all the same size externally then changes in weight must reflect either rim thickness or capacity. If the cases have been through several reloading cycles it may be worth your time and effort to gauge their neck wall thickness.

CANISTER COMPLICATIONS

Primers are a big variable in the construction process. Small Rifle Primers from one maker may have almost as much grunt as Small Rifle Magnums from another. Ergo, we should keep the same make, type and batch number wherever possible. If you do have to change, check the firearm and brass for changes in residues and un-burned powder, and if possible, chrono some test loads. Propellants can vary considerably from one batch to another, especially those that have been produced as canister quality for use by volume ammo makers. Most commercial ammo makers ‘reverse engineer’ the assembly of their products. That is, whenever they start a new canister or drum of propellant they will adjust the weight of the charge until the finished product produces a range of velocity that fits within their specified range for that design.

Rule one should apply to your loading procedures as well, but for different reasons. If you’ve not used a tub of propellant for a year or more, produce a small test batch and compare the chrono results with your last creations. View, but do not sniff, the powder. Any signs of a reddish brown hue may indicate that the material has begun to degrade. If you’re starting a new batch number, follow the factory example and chrono some test rounds. I remember getting significant variations in H4227 performance when Hodgdon changed their factory source.

Controlling variations in the weight of the charge will require care and attention. Just throwing from the measure can be good enough if the weight is large, the powder meters well and you maintain a fairly consistent level in the hopper. For everything else the trick is to throw slightly underweight, say three tenths of a grain and then trickle the final few kernels of powder into the pan on an electronic scale. My cowboy loads are thrown directly into the case because the biggest variable is not the ammo, it’s my action shooting!

BOOLIT WOES

If I’m loading .45 L.C. or .44-40 for a cowboy fun shoot at the club or plinking .38 Spl Wadcutters for Belgium then I’ll use the bullets straight from the box. For almost all other tasks the bullet box gets close scrutiny. Bullets are batched by weight with any runts or fatties identified by weight and calibre, and set aside for test purposes. The weighing process giving you a chance to visually inspect every pill… it may weigh within your limits but have a dented ogive or a flat spot on the bearing surface. Lead bullets may have missing lube, wrinkles or inclusions. Be vigilant, even the best brands sometimes include a rogue.

I know of handloaders who only build one recipe per calibre and elect to leave their dies with the lock rings set in position. I’m not impressed with that idea. Much better to produce a setting dummy of the assembly and re-set the dies for each batch. That way you’ll remember to make dimensional allowance for case growth and trimming, relative bullet seating depth and any lot to lot changes in the bullet design. Always use the correct bullet seating punch as one that is a poor fit on the bullet ogive can allow the bullet to misalign as it is seated and also damage the tip of the bullet.

I take assembly accuracy a stage further in order to improve the axial alignment of the dies with the stroke of the piston. (The sloppy 7⁄8” x 14 TPI thread form results in the lock ring ‘settling’ at a slight angle, pulling the die out of alignment). About 35 years ago I came up with the idea of placing a rubber O-ring under the lock ring in order to let the dies ‘float’ and self-centre. Something that was introduced by Richard Lee with his more elegant solution, an O-ring fitted into an annulus in the locking ring.

CASE CAPACITY ISSUES

High pressure, small capacity, high loading density cartridges are the ones that sometimes require management. If you’re using cases which have a larger capacity than that in the manual then the first thing to check is your firearm. Check the fit of a factory round in the chamber – if it displays excess headspace then you’ve got a serious chamber issue. If chamber size is OK then the cases are safe to load in accordance with the manual. However, cases with a reduced capacity (often of military origin) should be downloaded by the same percentage as the reduction in volume and the resulting assembly tested over a chronograph. (There are more elegant ratios of volume to charge but this is the easiest to remember). The greatest variation in capacity that I’ve encountered was in 9mm, from the largest (Winchester) to the smallest (Hirtenberger) was almost 15%. Doing the maths, a hot load developed for the Win case would have probably blown up the Hirtenberger.