In my last video, I covered priming and charging cases, see AR-308 – Precision Loading Pt. 3 – Priming and Charging Cases. Now we need to seat bullets, and also check/correct for concentricity of the bullet. If we have a consistent charge, a benchrest primer, consistent case neck thickness, and a properly/optimally seated bullet, we’re going to have some mighty fine results (especially considering the rifle that we’re using).
More details to follow! My next set of posts in this series will cover progressive reloading equipment and the RCBS Bullet Feeder for 30 cal. It’s going to be fun!
In my last post, I walked through the process of using the Redding Case Neck Gage to sort our 7.62×51 (Military 308 Winchester) brass into buckets based on both thickness and uniformity. Below is a picture showing the distribution. The numbers I’m using here (0.016″ +/- .0005″ for example) reference the total variation in thickness, so this is really +/- .00025″ if you want to get literal. Pretty decent! I’ll use the brass with more case neck thickness variation for progressive loading, or possibly even to turn the case necks in the future. For now, we have some great batches of brass to work with.
Now it’s time to prime the cases on the Redding Big Boss II, and then to charge the cases. For these loads, we’ll use a new powder called IMR XBR 8208. I’m excited to see how this powder performs with the LR-308B!
Now that we’ve cleaned, sized, trimmed, and finished the basis brass prep steps, it’s time to sort the brass that we’ve prepped so that we can uses batches of consistent brass for precision loads. We are now at the final stage of brass prep as covered in the brass prep overview post.
For this stage, we’ll use the Redding Case Neck Gage (Redding #26400).
Redding Case Neck Gage - A tool used to profile brass for utmost accuracy - Image Copyright 2011 Ultimate Reloader
Here’s a video showing the process of using the Redding Case Neck Gage to sort some once-fired 7.62×51 brass that I’ll be using for the AR-308 project:
Now that we’ve wrapped up brass prep, it’s time to move on to the next steps in the precision loading process. I do enjoy this kind of loading. With all of the precise tools at hand, some times I feel like I need to put a white lab coat on- kind of fun.
Stay tuned- we’re going to have fun finishing these loads!
-Gavin
It’s time to start loading some precision 308 Winchester ammo for the LR-308 project! Our rifle is all tuned up and tricked out, and now we need some capable ammunition to shoot.
In this video, I’ll walk through the process of validating sizing die setup with the new Redding Instant Indicator, and we’ll see how to size cases. Following that, I’ll show using the Hornady Case Prep Center to trim the brass to length, chamfer the case mouth, and also ream the primer pocket (an important final touch when working with military brass like the 7.62×51 once-fired brass that I’m using for this project).
Next, we’ll use the Redding case neck gage to sort cases by neck thickness and neck uniformity.
Following up on the last post covering the Millett Tactical TRS-1 scope, in this video I’ll cover the mounting procedure for this scope using a pair of Millett tactical scope rings (medium height). I’ll also demonstrate the use of the Wheeler Engineering Firearms Accurizing Torque (FAT) wrench. This is a simple scope mounting procedure where I use a bubble level to ensure that the reticle is level with the picatinny rail.
That takes care of the rifle prep- next will be on to the precision reloading phase!
