Using once fired brass in A.I chamber

[Duffman]

I have some once fired 22-250 brass I'm looking to shoot in my 22-250 Ackley. It chambers in my rifle, but is a little tight. Do I run it as is? Put through my AI die first, or find a regular 22-250 die?

This is my first go round with an Ackley chamber…..at the moment thinking I should've just spun up a 22 creed. I reload because it's often necessary to shoot. This seems like more of a project for someone that enjoys the process

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Brass should be a little tight when being fireformed in an AI chamber. That is why a barrel is set back before rechambering to AI. This keeps the case head firm against the bolt face when fireforming.

 

[MagnumManiac]

It should be tight to chamber even on virgin brass if the chamber headspace is done correctly, it should be -.004" headspace on virgin brass.
It will still fire form being once fired.

Cheers.

 

[59FLH]

As stated above the tightness is the neck shoulder junction has a .004" jam by design.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Load it and shoot it.
I usually go towards the upper charge weight for the parent case for my fire forming loads. But I work up an accurate load just like any other load. Then go have fun with them. Shoot steel, shoot prairie dogs, coyotes, whatever. A good fire forming load can be every bit as accurate as a final load. Just usually quite a bit slower than your AI load will be when you are all finished.

 

[Duffman]

Roger, thanks for the explanations! I'm sure I've read it at some point, but didn't internalize it. I was second guessing my headspace even though I have the proper gauges.

So if my standard once fired brass chambers (even thought tight) it should be safe to run correct?

 

[lancetkenyon]

Roger, thanks for the explanations! I'm sure I've read it at some point, but didn't internalize it. I was second guessing my headspace even though I have the proper gauges.

So if my standard once fired brass chambers (even thought tight) it should be safe to run correct?

Correct. A tight fit is good. For AI chambers, ladies dresses, ladies jeans, lips, etc.

 

[Rflshootr]

Ahhhh never mind. We don't want to hurt anyones wittle feelwings.

 

[Joe Entrekin]

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned so far. Using once fired brass may require a good annealing but you will have to try some test loads to see whether they want to split or not, or just go on and do the annealing step. Going from the standard 22-250 case up to the AI requires quite a bit of case stretch so don't be surprised if you get some splits using once fired brass. What brass are you using?

 

[Alibiiv]

Correct. A tight fit is good. For AI chambers, ladies dresses, ladies jeans, lips, etc.

There is a joke in here on that tight comment, but it probably would get me disbanded if it were to get published!

 

[lancetkenyon]

There is a joke in here on that tight comment, but it probably would get me disbanded if it were to get published!

 

[Seabeeken]

Ive got a half dozen or so AI's and never had a split. You can have head separations if the chambering is done as others have mentioned above. To the OP, I was going to do a 22-250ai but decided on a 22XC and am very satisfied. It is very similar to the 22-250ai but not quite the barrel burner the CM is. JME

 

[Alibiiv]

I have some once fired 22-250 brass I'm looking to shoot in my 22-250 Ackley. It chambers in my rifle, but is a little tight. Do I run it as is? Put through my AI die first, or find a regular 22-250 die?

This is my first go round with an Ackley chamber…..at the moment thinking I should've just spun up a 22 creed. I reload because it's often necessary to shoot. This seems like more of a project for someone that enjoys the process

I have two, .270 Ackley Improved rifles that I reload for, one is my son's and one is mine. Both rifles are exactly the same, Ruger 77s, built by the same gunsmith, using the same reamer. With my son's rifle, the parent cartridge chambers perfectly with the parent cartridge, and with my rifle the bolt will close, but...I have to slightly tap the bolt with my palm to make the bolt close. According to my gun smith the proper way to chamber an Ackley Improved cartridge is to have a "slightly" tight chamber. In my opinion the first step in fire forming is that I want that brass as malleable as possible, thus the first step in the fire forming process is to anneal the brass. If the brass is new brass I still anneal the brass to maintain uniformity. Usually I will use the "cream of wheat" process (COW), unless I have some inexpensive bullets that I picked up just for fire forming. After the COW process I will do load development and then anneal one more time after that. For me it usually takes that second firing to get a perfect match for my chamber. My thoughts are that if your chamber is slightly tight on the parent cartridge, before the fire forming process, your rifle is chambered properly. You do not need a 22-250 die if you already have a 22-250 AI die, FL resize with the 22-250 AI die. And if you acquire some new brass or resized 22-250 brass, again anneal and fire form. If you do a search on the forum, I am certain that you will find a number of threads and...videos on the process. Good luck with your new adventure, once you have mastered this process you will be glad that you went with the Ackley and not the Creed!!

 

[Citified]

I had my 22-250 set back and rechambered to AI. I learned quickly about annealing the cases before fire forming as I lost almost 30% of my initial once fired brass on the first try. Luckily, I was not using my more expensive stuff but older Remington and Winchester brass.
I love my AI and with hammers am getting 4700fps. A real laser.