Re: Soot everywhere
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:02 pm
Finally making some progress :shakeshout:
I got the redding dies (nice
), and resized the necks on the cases I'd preparered before - As they were already primed, I took the pin out of the NK die and backed the sizing ball off a bit - this gave a good neck tension (3.5 thou interference), which I couldn't budge the bullet with my fingers 
. I was obviously not using the Lee collet die properly ( 
), but much prefer the simple consistency of a ball expander...
So, powdered them up as I'd planned to before, and tested them today:
The first load of 36.8 gn of Vhit 150, with a COL of 3.085" (once fired, neck sized) was still sooting down the case, but not as bad. I did the same load with full sized and a COL of 3.050, but they sooted aswel.
The next lot were the same but with 37.1 gn of powder - the full sized sooted; but the some of the once-fired sealed at the shoulder....
So up another 0.3 to 37.4 gn, and this time all the neck-sized sealed at the shoulder, and a few of the full-sized had a bit of sooting down the case.
It seemed, generally, that the once-fired neck-sized were better than the full-sized, even though their bullets were seated deeper - And the last batch (37.4) were very accurate ( sub 4" at 200 yrds). I'm not sure I want to increase the powder much more, as it's an old rifle...so will experement a bit more with seating, and accept that I may get a bit of sooting when shooting new brass...
Thank you all for your help with this sign92 - I'm sure this is a straightforward process for a lot of people, but the 6.5 has been much trickier than the .303...
...I do however have a few more questions (I know...like bloody Columbo :roll: :lol: ) - So far I've been using Winchester brass (not impressed..), and SMKs; but I still have some Lap brass and scenar bullets to try....
...according to the Vhit manual, the difference between the max load for N150 for the different bullets is only 0.8 gn, but the starting load for the Scenars is nearly 3.0 gn less than that of SMKs :? - I understand that the scenars have more bearing surface...but 3.0 gn difference ???
So as I already know that I need more than 1.0 gn over the starter with the SMKs...would it be foolish to start 1/1.5 over the starter when I try the Laps?
Your help is much appreciated :cheers:
I got the redding dies (nice
), and resized the necks on the cases I'd preparered before - As they were already primed, I took the pin out of the NK die and backed the sizing ball off a bit - this gave a good neck tension (3.5 thou interference), which I couldn't budge the bullet with my fingers . I was obviously not using the Lee collet die properly ( ), but much prefer the simple consistency of a ball expander...So, powdered them up as I'd planned to before, and tested them today:
The first load of 36.8 gn of Vhit 150, with a COL of 3.085" (once fired, neck sized) was still sooting down the case, but not as bad. I did the same load with full sized and a COL of 3.050, but they sooted aswel.
The next lot were the same but with 37.1 gn of powder - the full sized sooted; but the some of the once-fired sealed at the shoulder....
So up another 0.3 to 37.4 gn, and this time all the neck-sized sealed at the shoulder, and a few of the full-sized had a bit of sooting down the case.
It seemed, generally, that the once-fired neck-sized were better than the full-sized, even though their bullets were seated deeper - And the last batch (37.4) were very accurate ( sub 4" at 200 yrds). I'm not sure I want to increase the powder much more, as it's an old rifle...so will experement a bit more with seating, and accept that I may get a bit of sooting when shooting new brass...
Thank you all for your help with this sign92 - I'm sure this is a straightforward process for a lot of people, but the 6.5 has been much trickier than the .303...
...I do however have a few more questions (I know...like bloody Columbo :roll: :lol: ) - So far I've been using Winchester brass (not impressed..), and SMKs; but I still have some Lap brass and scenar bullets to try....
...according to the Vhit manual, the difference between the max load for N150 for the different bullets is only 0.8 gn, but the starting load for the Scenars is nearly 3.0 gn less than that of SMKs :? - I understand that the scenars have more bearing surface...but 3.0 gn difference ???
So as I already know that I need more than 1.0 gn over the starter with the SMKs...would it be foolish to start 1/1.5 over the starter when I try the Laps?
Your help is much appreciated :cheers: