May I ask why only use the brass once? Do I need to size the brass every time with a 308 die? I just used my neck sizer die to knock out the primer. Thanks for your input.
I'll explain the brass, but sizing it is a total waste of time. Total waste of time. I use a hand tool to de-prime cases.
The cases do just one thing, that's hold the primer and seal the ignition. Neither OA length or diameter have anything to do with it. Well short of it being able to align to the nipple.
The brass interior flash hole seats to the nipple and when the bolt closes, it seals the brass to the nipple.
The head spacing is directly related to the OA length of the breech plug. If its too short, then gas will certainly leak. If its too long, then you can't close the bolt. So a properly head spaced breech plug is a must.
Now I'll throw a wrench into the entire works................
No matter how well head spaced the BP is, if the case head thickness varies, well then there's an issue. AND THEY DO!! I've found them vary as much as .005" in thickness. The next thing that the brass does, is it forms a memory. When you close the bolt and press the case against the nipple the memory starts forming. This is why when using the recommended propellant, there's an unknown number of times each brass can be re-primed.
So each time you re-prime and close the bolt on a piece of brass, you're contributing to the memory. Once it gets where it isn't a tight seal, well gas starts to escape you you'll gas cut the nipple, requiring replacement.
ALAS............ There is a way around the brass head thickness issue, thus closing up the seal. Myself, I'll never re-prime over twice though.
Because the brass case head thickness varies, I looked through 1,000 pieces and found the thinnest that I could find. That piece was used to set my head space, which also made any thicker pieces of brass to not allow me to close the bolt. To fix that, I have a reamer that is adjustable for depth and can ream the flash hole. However..... case length then comes into play. So I trim all my cases to the exact length. This allows my adjustable reamer the ability to do all my cases identical. I set the depth using my pilot case, also trimmed to length to match all the other. Then after setting the reamer, I ream all the other cases. Each one is exactly identical to any other when I'm finished.
Yes, there's work to it but, I shoot A LOT of rounds, so to keep my breech plug in working order, I accept the work. What else is there to do in the winter, other than watching re-runs on TV?
Get it set right, and there's no other .50cal manufactured rifle that will shoot more accurately and at long range.
BTW I do plan on sitting on a beanfield at dusk to stretch out my shot to see how I can do.
