Louisiana Reloader
Well-Known Member
I totally agree with everyone's comments about these loads being over safe pressure. PLEASE stop now before you get seriously injured or damage your equipment. Thanks.
Ejector marks
- Thread starter dustbag
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ridgeline300
Well-Known Member
What is meant by no where near pressured out on test?? My dasher with alpha brass is 31.4 varget with 105's at 2850 in a 26". I would consider 32.0 my ultimate max. 31.8 showed some heavier bolt lift on warm days. No way in hell I would push it over 33 grains and 3,000 FPS. That is 6 creed velocity.
Rockbottom
Active Member
I think you need to get your pressure measuring equipment calibrated.
Remnut3477
Member
Ok guys, stopped by my gunsmith tonight. Showed him the 50 brass and he looked the rifle over. He measured the firing pin protrusion, it should be around .055" plus or minus a couple. Mine was .059", so he stoned it shorter and made sure it was nice and round, not sharp or to flat either. He checked the firing pin fitment to the bolt face, he said it was very good. He was fairly certain that the firing pin being to long was the primer issue. Now, the pressure. He thought the ejector mark was faint also, and he thinks it is coming from the .269 neck. My loaded rounds are measuring .267-.268, way to tight. I cannot slip a bullet back inside a fired case. He is going to open the neck up to .272 so I won't have to turn necks. He said he knows PRS and High Power shooters run there Dashers around that 2950ish with a 105gr bullet, but brass life can suffer.
Thanks for all the input. As stated above he talked to a smith and they think they have a handle on it. FWIW My 6 dasher has a 28" barrel and using alpha brass 105 vld was running 32.7 grains varget till barrel sped up now running 32.4 grains at 2960. No issues.
Remnut3477
Member
Yes absolutely, thanks guys for the input and the concerns. I will try and report back when I get it back from the smith and see if it fixes the issues.
ridgeline300
Well-Known Member
Just because I'm interested. Why are you guys pushing the dashers so hard? I shoot at quite a few matches a year and no one i know runs anywhere near 2900. Almost everyone is 2825-2875.
Remnut3477
Member
Hey ridgeline, dustbag and myself just started down the Dasher road in the last few months. After search the internet for popular components and load info for a place to start, this seems to be the the concensus we found. Gavin from Ultimate Reloader has a nice writeup and video on his Dasher build, and Precision Rifle Blog has a very informative article about the Dasher and the loads the PRS competitors are using. Everyone seems to be in that 32.3-32.6gr Varget charge with 105gr projectiles. Rest assured that we started our load development at a lower charge and worked up, but or findings seemed to confirm the information we had read. I shot the best 5 shot group of my life (.127) with dustbags rifle and this powder charge. My rifle had 3 good speed nodes, one just over 2900, one at 2950 and another closer to 3000. Ultimately we are just trying to see what the cartridge and and our equipment is capable of.
I'm not opposed to slowing them down. Just found a good node in the range of the PRS blog. If I drop down to around 31 grains would put me in your range. I will give that a try. Thanks for the info.
ridgeline300
Well-Known Member
I had forgotten about the prs blog and Gavin's articles. But you are most definitely right, lot of guys running in the 32.5 area. Of course all barrels and components can vary, but it seems like everyone i run in to these days has opted to run the lower nodes with dasher. This is talking from a PRS standpoint where the barrels are pushed pretty hard. Most everyone runs the lower nodes for consistency reasons. For example, i haven't touched my dasher load in the last 1,000 rounds and i have never had to adjust my Velocity in my kestrel more than 10 FPS or so. I'd be interested if they did another pole on the prs blog if guys are still running the same or have changed at all since 2019.
What IS typical neck wall thickness of new Peterson brass?
What is done when the firing pin hole is bushed, and what does it correct? ("Bushed" is a new term to me.)
As well as ensuring you never hit pressure in adverse conditions such as rain. There were a lot of folks with pressure issues in that NRL Yeti match in March two years ago.
Also, I'd not base anything on those articles. If you talk to the folks who are winning, the vast majority are in the lower node. 100 fps doesn't buy you much in the way of wind budget.
Derfman
Member
While doing load development for a new custom .338 Lapua, I started low and experienced high pressure signs. I Reduced the load to the point that Vo was 2250 with Berger 300 gr. elite hunters. I still had the flattest primers I had ever seen. I knew there was something else wrong. The issue was caused by excessive headspace….. .027". The ejector had been removed, or, I'm guessing, there would have been a pretty good imprint.
