The information below was first set down in June/July, 2007, for beginning reloaders of the KZN Hunting and Conservation Assn, Gauteng branch, following a talk given at one of the branch meetings. It is reproduced here, up-dated and expanded, for others, who may just be starting out on this fascinating hobby.

The best in-depth treatment of reloading I know is The ABCs of Reloading, by Dean A. Grennell. First published in 1974 by Digest Books. Dean was an accomplished handgunner,{footnote} Winner of the Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year award in 1989.{/footnote} gun writer, and photographer. He was also a Sci-Fi addict and writer! He did a very thorough job on the book, and also had an enjoyable style of writing. He wrote the first 5 editions. The 6th edition was edited by one C. Rodney James, and the current 7th, by Bill Chevalier, successive editors of the Handloader’s Digest. Some of the contents appear to have been changed. Not having seen either the 6th or 7th edition, I would say try to get one of the earlier Grennell editions from Amazon. Handloading basics have not changed since 1974, only some gadgets have.

You will all need Somchem’s little book, as you will be working with their powders. This booklet, while giving some technical info, does not go into the reloading process. Neither does it have ballistic tables. So you will need at least one book from one of the American bullet manufacturers. At the meeting I suggested the Speer Reloading Manual. It has a very thorough section on reloading, ballistic tables, plus, of course, lots of loads for American and European powders, which we can’t get here.

The Hornady Handbook also has an excellent section on reloading. I didn’t mention it at the meeting, because for a while it was printed in two volumes and hence pricey.{footnote} Hornady went completely overboard with their ballistic tables, which made up the second volume.{/footnote} I see on the Net that the latest (7th) edition appears to be back to one volume. So if you can find a copy, I can certainly recommend it. The Nosler Reloading Manual has also grown from a modest, but very thorough, book of 300 pages, to a tome as fat as those of Hornady and Speer. Sierra appear to have done likewise. If you are only going to buy one book from a bullet maker, it is probably a question of which one you can find. If you are interested in wildcat cartridges, you will need Parker O. Ackley’s Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders, V I&II. Cartridges of the World by Frank C. Barnes is another ‘must have’. It has descriptions, history and illustrations of all the World’s rifle and pistol cartridges, including obsoletes and wildcats, plus some reloading data for almost every shell listed!

If you use bullets from Hornady, Speer, Nosler, Sierra, Swift, etc, you should have the latest reloading book from the relevant manufacturer. Firstly, there is always some tip or other in one book, which you won’t find in the others. Secondly, not all 180 (or whatever)-grain bullets are created equal: They will vary in length and shape, ogive and bearing surface, and this requires different seating depths and cartridge lengths (length overall, LOA). Seating depth and bearing surface affect the pressure the load develops! And you can get accurate information for a particular bullet only from the maker’s hand book! All of these books have dimensional drawings of each cartridge they list, a very useful feature.

Powders
The Somchem booklet has a table of comparative burning rates of Somchem vs American and European powders. American reloading information could, therefore, be used (WITH CAUTION) as a guideline for calibres for which Somchem has no data. I repeat: WITH CAUTION!

In this context, remember that the ‘burning rate graph’ (reflecting the rate of increase in chamber pressure vs the ‘burden’ – i.e. bullet weight and friction - back pressure) differs markedly between single-base{footnote} The term IMR (Improved Military Rifle) powder is often used to denote single-based powders. This is incorrect. While all IMR powders are indeed single-based, the term is a registered trademark of the Du Pont Corporation (now actually called IMR), and there are many single-based powders out there, made by other manufacturers. {/footnote} and double-base powders! So when ‘crystal-balling’ American loads, use data from a comparable powder, to compare with Somchem powder, which latter may be either single or double based!{footnote} S265, 335, 355, 365 and 385 are single-based (logs). MS200, MP200 (flake) and S121, 221, 321, 341, 361 and 381 (ball) are double-based. {/footnote} And remember that, while all ball powders are double-based (i.e. consist of nitrocellulose and nitro-glycerine – single-based powders are plain nitrocellulose) not all double-base powders are ball powders. Witness the old Hercules (now called Alliant) Reloader series of powders, which are double-based but log-shaped. So when eyeballing American loads with a view to using them as a guide to Somchem powder, be sure to compare apples with apples. Even then, ‘similar’ powders may not react in the same way in ‘similar’ circumstances. The above is for background only! DO NOT TRY INTERPOLATING LOADS UNTIL YOU HAVE CONSIDERABLE EXPERIENCE IN RELOADING!

While our distinction between ball and ‘extruded’ powders is convenient, it is by no means accurate! As I said above: not all  cylindrical, ‘extruded’ powders are single-based powders, besides ball powders are also extruded, albeit without that central hole through the ‘log’. The ‘spaghetti’ are chopped very short during extrusion (the length being about the same as the diameter) and are then passed through a fluid-filled shaper, where they are turned into spheres or ‘balls’. The neutral ‘suspension’ fluid also contains a chemical, which draws moisture from the powder. The ‘balls’ are next passed through several evaporators, which drive off solvents. We are then left with dense spheres of single-base powder, i.e. plain nitrocellulose, which is a light olive colour.

After cleaning (mainly to remove dust) and screening into various sizes, the balls are impregnated with varying amounts of nitro-glycerine (NG), to make them double-based. (The NG content affects the burning rate: the more NG, the faster the burning rate.) Thereafter, the powder is coated with a lacquer, consisting of a binder, powdered graphite and other ‘flame-retardants’, such as antimony compounds, to modify the burning rate. While the powder particles are still plastic, a proportion is passed through a ‘mangle’ to flatten them, to further modify - slow - the burning rate.

Most ball powders, particularly the rifle powders, consist of a mixture of both spheres and flattened particles. The Hercules/Alliant Reloader powders, though double-based, do not have a lacquer coating. However, pure nitrocellulose is a yellow-olive colour (like cordite, which is double based, but has no coating) but all modern powders, single or double-based, including the Reloader series, are grey in colour, which is due to a coating or admixture of graphite and other flame-retardants, which control the burning rate. The lacquer-coating process is a Winchester/Olin development. It is also used in Somchem ball powders.

Somchem Powders
The point was made in the lecture, to reduce a load, when starting on a fresh batch of powder. This is a very good safety procedure! However, while not wanting to put too fine a point on this, I don’t think that it is really necessary today, unless you are stuffing your hulls to the absolute maximum! The speaker said that Somchem powders vary from batch to batch. This was certainly true 10 to 15 years ago, when Somchem couldn’t export and their sporting powder batches were small. That is why they printed a batch number on their labels (see at left) and gave us a fresh data sheet with each can of powder. In fact, when the burning rate was significantly different from the previous batch, they gave that powder a different designation, to prevent some fool from getting into trouble through not reading batch numbers, etc!

Since they have been exporting their powders to the US, they no longer do this. The reason is this: All powders, single or double-based, vary from batch to batch! It is impossible to fully adjust the burning rate during the manufacturing process! Nitrating cellulose (usually short-fibre cotton by-product) is closer to an art than a science! So all large powder manufacturers hold back a portion of each new batch for blending purposes. The burning rate of each new powder batch is tested, and is then adjusted by careful blending with powder from previous batches.

Before Somchem could export their sporting powders, batches were too small to make the retention of part of the batch for future blending economically feasible. Now, however, it is and they no longer print batch numbers on their labels, and their reloading data has not changed in ten years. The current booklet was printed in November, 2004, and is a reprint of the one issued in 2000. I.e. they are blending their powders to keep them consistent. I have used a great number of different Somchem powders, and have found them excellent. Not surprising then, that they are selling well in the US. However, while I have burned a lot of MP200 and MP300, I have used their rifle powders only for testing, as I still have a good stock of both Olin ball and Du Pont IMR powders and am using these up, before I go over to Somchem. I have absolutely no worries about changing to the Somchem rifle powders, eventually! In fact, I have already worked up many rifle loads, using Somchem powders.

In spite of the above, I agree that it is better to err on the side of caution: so reduce the powder charge by at least 5%, when starting on a new batch of powder, or when changing any other component in your load! No need to do that for 20 cases, of course. Just load two or three test rounds and see how you go.

Case Cleaning
There are two reasons for cleaning cases, besides the purely aesthetic: firstly, keeping the outside of the case clean and shiny greatly assits smooth feeding from magazine to chamber. Secondly, keeping the inside clean prevents nitrous powder residues from ‘cementing’ the bullet to the inside of the neck. If you plan to use the cartridges relatively quickly, this latter is not a problem. During the resizing process, most powder residue is wiped off the inside of the neck, and it takes a relatively long time, for the tiny amount of residue left, to cause corrosion. However, once started, it will proceed and can lead to significantly increased friction, and hence pressure, when the bullet is forced out of the case on ignition. If you expect to keep the cartridges for more than, say, a year, clean before reloading.

If you have kept 'uncleaned' reloads for any length of time, it is best to check for signs of corrosion by pulling a bullet or two. If corrosion is present, bullet and inside of neck will show green copper stains. If the corrosion is only slight, start all bullets of that batch outwards with your bullet puller, to break any bond which may have formed, then re-seat them to the correct depth. Use these cartridges quickly, as otherwise the corrosion bonding will recommence. If there is serious corrosion, disassemble all the cartidges, clean the cases and bullets, then inspect the bullets carefully for pitting; i.e. are they safe to re-use? If in doubt, discard both cases and bullets.

There are two ways of cleaning cases: case cleaning liquids and tumblers. Tumblers are wonderful labour saving devices for those who can afford them. I have never owned one and have been relying on liquid case cleaners ever since 1970. I’ve never had a problem with them. The reason is simple: they are formulated NOT to attack brass, being based on one or other organic acid. My last commercial lot was based on hydroxyacetic (glycolic) acid (C₂H₄O₃) but I now use water, to which I add a little dish washing liquid and tartaric acid (C₄H₆O₆).{footnote}Note: NOT cream of tartar - potassium bitartrate (KC₄H₅O₆).{/footnote}

Right: Ingredients for home-made case cleaner - dishwashing liquid and tartaric acid powder.

The dish washer takes off oil and grease, the tartaric removes copper and zinc oxides. Commercial or home-made, these solutions work very well (it is usually sufficient to leave the cases in the liquid for 10 or 15 minutes) as long as the cases are not heavily corroded; i.e. showing dark etchings of finger prints, etc. Persistent corrosion marks can be polished off, using a little Brasso. However, make absolutely sure that you remove all traces of Brasso from the case after polishing: the friction compound in Brasso is ground pumice (volcanic silica). NOT what you want to get into your action or barrel!

We are often warned not to use Brasso or other household cleaners to clean up cartridge cases, as these cleaners contain ammonia (NH₃), which attacks and embrittles brass. This advice is basically correct, but is too sweeping a statement: yes, ammonia will attack brass, guilding metal, etc. But the concentration in household cleaners is only 5-10% by weight and acts very slowly. In addition, the ammonia attacks copper and zinc oxides (your stain) first, before tackling fresh metal. Besides, I do not suggest immersing cartridges in such cleaners, or leaving them in the cleaner. I wrap a small piece of rag around my index finger, dip this lightly in the Brasso and polish off the offending mark. This doesn't take long and as soon as the mark has been removed, I wipe the case clean, rinse it under running water, then drop it into case cleaning liquid. Bore cleaners have a higher concentration of ammonia and should not be used for this purpose.

If you are worried about the effect of ammonia on your cases, use a small piece of fine (# 1200) waterpaper to polish off corrosion marks. Once again, carefully clean off the case afterwards!

As ever, prevention is better than cure. Any cartridges or cases, which I have handled, are wiped off with paper towel, before being returned to their box. I have not had corrosion marks on any of my ammo in a very long time. Cases picked up at the range are a different proposition, however, and usually need a thorough clean-up before they can be used.

Commericial case cleaning liquids, and the dishwasher/tartaric acid soup, only remove gunk plus copper and zinc oxides. So contrary to what was said at the meeting, they do NOT thin your cases, or alter the structure or chemistry of the brass – can you imagine the lawsuits in the US if they did? Tumblers, on the other hand, work by friction and remove some brass during the cleaning process, along with the gunk. However, this is a point of extreme nicety, as the amount removed is not significant and will never lead to a dangerously thin case. Not unless you use carborundum for cleaning media, that is! Cases are thinned, however, by the firing/stretching and resizing cycle!

The advantage of the tumbler over cleaning liquids lies in the fact that cases are dry after cleaning. When using liquid cleaners, the cases have to be washed with water and dried afterwards, and this is a slow process: blow the water from the flash holes, shake out as much water as you can, dry the cases with paper towel as far as possible (you can wrap some paper towel around a dowel and pretty well dry the inside of a straight case, but in a bottle neck this is only partly successful) then stand them upside-down in a loading block and leave them overnight.  NEVER DRY CASES IN AN OVEN! Prolonged or repeated exposure to even medium-high temperatures, as low as 50°C, leads to alteration and weakening of the brass structure, and that can have dire consequences! Which brings us to

Annealing
This is the one area where I differ totally with the suggestions made during the lecture: annealing by holding a case in your hand is asking for trouble! Yes, I know the argument is that when the fingers holding the case by the head feel heat, the case is dropped into water. But the head and rear of the case should not get any heat during annealing! And yes one can get away with this for a while, and yes, I know that the whole case gets hot during firing - but not to the point where the necks glow! Remember that the heat effect is cumulative – any heat getting to the rear of the case during annealing is additional to that generated by firing! Every treatise on annealing, which I have read, agrees on this point: the heat applied to the neck creeps down the case to the head and starts to anneal the brass there. SO IT IS BEST TO STAND THE CASES IN WATER during the annealing process!

I do it like this: I wait for nightfall. Annealing in some sort of half-light I do not find satisfactory – there is too much of a chance of overdoing things. I do 20 rifle cases in a batch. I get a frying pan or similar shallow vessel, and fill it about half way with water, stand my deprimed and cleaned cases in this water, assembling them at the rear of the pan, and check that the water has risen inside each case. Sometimes surface tension prevents the water from getting past the flash hole. I tilt such cases, until the water gets in, then stand them up again. I now top up the water until it reaches about 1” below the shoulders, then check that the water inside each case is at the same level as the water outside and get a few ice cubes handy. I ready my butane torch (do not use a blow torch, it is far too violent for this purpose) and get some matches or a lighter, an electric torch and a screwdriver. Then I switch off the light and wait until my eyes have become used to the darkness.

Next I light the butane torch, move one of the cases to the front of the pan and play the flame (some way in from the tip) over and around the neck of the case. The neck should be glowing a dull cherry red, and the shoulder and very top of the case below the shoulder should just begin to be discoloured. The correct colouration can only be learnt with practise – so use some old cases which you are about to retire, to start with - and don’t overdo the heating bit: it is possible to get the brass too soft, which will cause the shoulders to concertina in the sizing die. A case so deformed is ready for the bin – it cannot be resurrected. As soon as the correct colour has been achieved, I use the screwdriver to tip the case over into the water. This procedure should not take more than a few seconds. If you take longer, the water inside the case will start to boil, i.e. you are getting heat creep (of 100° or more) down towards the head! I repeat the process for all the remaining cases, adding the odd ice cube as I go: the water gets warmed up by the hot cases, as well as by the flame being played over it. If I have another batch of cases, I empty the pan, cool it off under running water and start from scratch.

In my book, the above method is the ONLY SAFE WAY OF ANNEALING CASES!

How often should cases be annealed? As a rule of thumb I would say after every 3rd firing. However, much depends on the consistency of the brass. If you get any appreciable amount of ‘soot’ on the outside of the necks, it is a sign that the necks have hardened too much and are not sealing off the powder gasses immediately on firing. It is then high time to anneal!

Left: Old .270 case at left shows soot on neck and would need annealing. However, it has been fired eight times, full-length sized and trimmed twice and is ready for the bin. On right is .458 case in perfect condition. No need to anneal yet.

There is another point to remember here: while the main cause of brittleness is the flexing during firing and resizing, brass also work-hardens due to strain! When the necks have been sized to accept a bullet, the inside diameter is one or two thou less than the bullet diameter, so that the neck will hold any bullet by friction, even if the bullet has no cannellure and cannot be crimped in. I.e. the neck is stretched when a bullet is seated. The resulting strain work-hardens the brass of the neck over time. This is the main reason why so many old Nitro Express loads split their necks when being fired, though the (very) old mercuric primers (if present – mostly found in the old Eley loads from before WWII) also have something to do with it: over the years, some mercury has evaporated from the fulminate (Hg(ONC)₂) in the primer and amalgamated with the brass, embrittling it. So when you have fired off some ‘old’ ammo, even if it is only three or four years old, anneal before reloading.

Primers
This reminds me: the speaker was not correct when he said that modern primers contain ground glass! When lead styphnate (C₆H₃N₃O₈Pb) replaced fulminate of mercury as the initiator, ground glass was used as the friction compound. This, and the presence of potassium chlorate (KClO₃), made primers erosive as well as corrosive! These noxious substances were gradually replaced by less harmful ones from the 1930s onwards. Even Kynoch, one of the last companies to do so, began to change over in the mid 1950s, though in 1960 I bought some Kynoch .375 H&H ammunition in Tanganyika, which still sported pot.chlorate primers! Modern primers use barium nitrate (Ba(NO₃)₂) instead of KClO₃, and ground, synthetic antimony tri-sulphide (Sb₂S₃) instead of glass as the friction compound. Synthetic Sb₂S₃ is also used in modern safety matches and causes the reddish-brown colour of match heads. It is also used to colour natural rubber inner tubes red. Ground natural Sb₂S₃ (made from stibnite crystals) is pitch black and is what Arab women have used for centuries for eye shadow: ‘kohl’. {footnote} Neither stibnite nor galena (lead sulphide – PbS) are used much in kohl nowadays, as they are both toxic.{/footnote}

Primers have considerable influence on the way in which a load functions, and there are differences in primers of like designation from different manufacturers. I.e. although two different makers both produce what they call 'magnum' primers, these may differ in flash intensity and duration, causing different powder burning rates, and hence different muzzle velocities, or even a greater or lesser spread in velocities from shot to shot. There is no way of telling which primer will give the best results in any particular load. One has to experiment.

As a general rule, magnum primers have a longer flash duration than standard primers. The latter work best with the faster single base powders and with ball powders. Slow-burning single-base powders usually work best with magnum primers. All the same, if you have a range of primers, both standard and magnum, and from different makers, try all of them before settling on one for a particular load, and settle on the primer, which gives the least spread in muzzle velocities.

Consistency, Barrel Bounce and Accuracy
How much spread is tolerable? In rifle loads, a biggest spread (BS – no, not what you think!) of 20 fps between fastest and slowest is OK. BS up to 40 fps is usable, provided you don’t try shooting springbok in the head at 400m! Anything greater than that is not acceptable. Ideally, the BS should not be more than 1% of the muzzle velocity. You will not find it difficult to keep the BS of your loads below 30 fps, using good components. Do not economise on quality, especially where bullets are concerned! Your ammo is the cheapest, yet most important part of your hunt. If you wound and lose a kudu, you still pay for it! And anyhow, your booze will cost you more than the few cartridges you will fire on a hunting trip. So buy the best bullets you can find!

Why is a small spread in velocities so important? Well, it is due to a factor called ‘barrel bounce’, or 'barrel flip'. This refers to the vibration of the barrel during firing and it is very detrimental to accuracy. As the powder ignites in the cartridge, the barrel starts to vibrate, and the muzzle dances a veritable little jig until some time after the bullet has left. The greater component of this dance is usually vertical, but some sideways movement is also present. This is irregular, and some muzzles will move in something approaching an ellipse, while others might describe a rough ‘figure-eight’!{footnote}There is a graphic illustration of this in Somchem's reloading booklet on p 20. In that particular case, there is more lateral than vertical movement. This usually means a stock/bedding problem.{/footnote}

The pattern and amplitude of this dance depend on the barrel profile and length: a thin, long, whippy sporter barrel will fling itself around more than the shorter bull barrel of a target rifle. This is why free-floating a thin sporter barrel usually leads to loss of accuracy. It is better to have a pressure point, putting a kg or so of upward pressure on the barrel at the fore-end tip. This splits the ‘wave-length’ of the barrel vibration and thereby reduces the amplitude of the muzzle’s up-and-down dance.

And incidentally, heavy target barrels are not only used to keep barrel vibration to a minimum! Any barrel, even a stainless one, will eventually become eroded. This process is accelerated if the barrel is fired hot: burning temperature of the powder gasses in the throat of the barrel exceeds the evaporation temperature of all barrel steels to a greater or lesser extent. The colder the barrel metal, the greater its ability to conduct heat away from the bore. Once the barrel is heating up, however, more and more metal will be evaporated during peak flash temperatures and depart via the spout. Those extra-heavy bench and varmint barrels are being used just as much for heat sinks, as to dampen barrel vibrations! So take your time in target shooting! Firing the barrel hot greatly reduces its life span! There is also a certain amount of erosion of the barrel, particularly in the throat area, caused by friction of the powder grains being blown out of the case, and especially by burnt powder residue, which is a hard, gritty ash.

Besides, as the barrel heats up it expands and presses against the stock. This will shift the point of impact of the bullets upwards. If you have sighted your rifle in this fashion, it will shoot low when cold! And a glass-bedded stock will generally make this problem worse, as the epoxy is hard and unyielding, while wood has a certain amount of 'give'.

After each sighting shot I stand the rifle up vertically, with the bolt drawn back. The barrel then acts like a chimney, loosing heat upwards quicker than it would when left horizontally. Depending on the ambient temperature, I leave the rifle to cool for 15 to 20 minutes between shots. In order not to get bored, I usually take two or three rifles to sight - or check the sighting - firing them in turn.

When the bullet leaves the muzzle, the muzzle is in upward motion, relative to its position at rest. In addition, the rifle starts to recoil as the powder ignites and shoves the bullet down the barrel. This recoil also lifts the muzzle. Obviously, then, the lower the muzzle velocity and the longer the barrel time (the time the bullet takes from cartridge to exit from the barrel) the higher the muzzle will be in relation to line of sight. (It will also be in a different position laterally.) This is why, when you change from a light, high-velocity bullet to a heavier, slower one, the latter will shoot to a higher point of impact than the faster bullet (and probably off to one side as well), and you have to adjust your sights accordingly!

So it pays to be consistent in your reloading, to get as low a spread in muzzle velocities as possible! This will ensure that the muzzle is always in as close as possible to the same position relative to line of sight, when the bullet leaves the muzzle.

Chronographs
Round about here you will realise that a chronograph is an essential piece of reloading equipment! First of all, it takes only a few rounds over a chronograph to establish, whether a load is consistent. It takes a lot more shooting at a target, to prove the same thing. So, when you have developed a consistent load with the help of your chronograph, but run into an accuracy problem, you know that the trouble must lie elsewhere.

Left: Oehler M35P Chronograph, with coathanger stand holding up large roll of impact paper.

Right: Oehler sky screens. Orange tops diffuse light. It is, however, best to set them up in open shade.

There are a number of different makes and models out there. Ask around amongst your friends about this. My own chronograph at present is the Oehler M35P. It  sports two measuring circuits, which have to agree within a few %. If they don't, an error message is displayed. This prevents the counting of erroneous readings, which may be close enough to average, to be accepted otherwise.{footnote}Flies buzzing over the sensors of the instrument and setting them off have cost me a lot of ammo over the years!{/footnote} This is a very good chronograph, which also has a built-in printer. It shows/prints a summary giving highest and lowest velocity, biggest spread, mean and standard deviation (SD, about which more below). I have also used an early model Chrony, and my son currently uses a recent model. The Chrony, too, is a good, reliable instrument.

Standard Deviation
The use of SD in load development became a fashion back when the first electronic calculators providing this function hit the market. It sounded very scientific to people, who didn't understand how it works. Put simply, SD is a measure of the average difference between the MEAN and the values on either side of it. It is, of course, quite meaningless in load development: standard deviation is a tool used to show up 'erratics' in large sample populations. It is used, for instance, in the processing of geochemical sample results in mineral exploration, where  MEAN plus 1 SD is taken to be the general background. Then, mean plus 2 to 3 SDs is mildly anomalous, but anything higher than that attracts attention. To get a statistically valid SD, it is necessary to have at least about 200 samples, 2000 is better, and using this function for five or ten test shots is just a waste of time.

Stock Bedding and Accuracy
The way your metalwork is bedded in the stock is extremely important! Irregularities affect barrel vibrations and a badly inletted action will be 'sprung' (twisted) when the action screws are tightened.

If your shots 'spray', this could be due to loose screws - either stock or scope screws. If your shots climb significantly as the rifle warms up, say 15 or 20 mm or more (a few mm of climb is normal for most stocks), and usually they will climb diagonally to right or left, rather than vertically, you have a high point of wood in your barrel channel. The barrel will throw the bullet away from such a pressure point: if the high point is in the right side of your barrel channel, your shots will climb to the left, and vice versa.{footnote}This applies equally to a firm support under or alongside your fore end tip!{/footnote} Take the ironmongery out of the timber (the correct tools for this are essential) and check: you will find dark, shiny patches, where the wood has been rubbing against the metal.

Above Left: Chapman gun screwdriver set showing two blades.

Above Right: Components of set: Handle, ratchet, extension piece, 12 blades, 2 star drivers and small punch for drifting out pins. This is essential equipment, as ordinary screwdrivers are prone to slip and mar the screws.

When your stock was first inletted, the barrel channel would have been perfectly cut, but wood does not have a uniform density, neither is it a 'dead' material. Spots where branches or roots started, or areas which were more heavily loaded due to the weight distribution in the living tree, are denser and closer-grained, than parts which weren't as heavily stressed. Such dense spots will expand for a long time, after their heavy load has been removed.{footnote}In the old days, walnut logs were left in the open for years so that the wood could get rid of internal stresses. The grandfather would fell the tree, cut it into suitable logs, then prop these up on some hardwood ties, to keep them off the ground. The father would check the logs regularly, to see they were still off the ground and not vulnerable to rot, and the son would finally sell them to a stock (or furniture) maker. They were then cut into stock blanks, which were stacked in a warehouse in such a way, that air could circulate freely between them, and left for more years, before being cut into stocks. Today, stock wood is aged in a kiln, to hurry things up, and the results are less than perfect.{/footnote} With one particular stock it took me two years, taking the metal out of the stock every three or four months and working on the high spots, before they stopped expanding!

Above Right: This wood channeling tool is ideal for working on high spots in your barrel channel.

The bedding of the action is just as important as the barrel channel: when you have loosened all the stock screws, check whether the action can be rocked in its bedding. This should not be possible! If it does rock, there are high points in the bedding, resulting in the action being 'sprung', when the two bolts holding it are tightened.

Carefully rasp off any high spots you find with a wood-working tool, then re-oil the stock.

Linseed oil is still the basic ingredient of most, if not all, stock oils. You can use it plain, or use a commercial oil. The latter may contain additional preservatives and/or sealants, and can usually be bought in a range of colours. Do not use any form of mineral oil on your stock wood! It will break down wood fibre and weaken your stock. And do I have to tell you, that you must oil the inside (barrel channel and action bedding) as well as the outside? The oil prevents the wood from picking up atmospheric moisture, swelling up and possibly warping.

Left: Commercial gun stock oil.

And while we are on this subject, how often should a stock be oiled? The old stock makers had a rule about that, starting from new: "Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year forever!"

OK, so we made a bit of a detour. But bad shooting aside, stock problems are still the greatest cause of poor accuracy: if your rifle is not properly bedded, the best and most consistent reloads will not help you much! The metal work is far less likely to be the cause of an accuracy problem. Excess head space is one possible pitfall, and an unevenly cut or damaged muzzle crown is the other.

Other causes of inaccuracy are oil or grease in the barrel and, of course, powder and copper deposits. All increase the friction between bullet and barrel and hence raise the pressure. The barrel must be completely dried before shooting, as must the chamber. Oil or grease in the chamber transfer a lot of extra pressure onto the lockwork! Copper and powder residue not only raise friction, they deform the bullet, so that its ability to fly straight is impaired. Besides, variations in pressure lead to varying muzzle velocities and barrel times, which means changes in the position of the muzzle, when the bullet leaves it.

All this affects small bores especially badly, and varmint rifles need a thorough cleaning after every 10 to 15 shots! Medium calibre and big bore bullets are less sensitive to fouling. Still, start your hunt with a completely clean barrel, fire two or three sighting/fouling shots. Then clean only the worst powder residue out at the end of each day. At the end of the hunt, clean the barrel thoroughly, again.

Safety

Some more points on safety: never have more than one can of powder open on the bench. The same goes for bullets, especially bullets of similar calibre! And do check the diameter of a few bullets from each new box! I once got three boxes of Remington .17 bullets, with a lot of oversize specimens; diameters up to .176” instead of .172”! Four thou oversize is a lot in such a small calibre! And also check the bullet weights, while you are about it.

And then there is the case (no pun intended) of one Russ Phelon, who, when on safari with John Northcote in Uganda in 1967, shot the then No.1 East African roan, measuring 31¾” (still No.2 in my 26th, 2002 edition of Rowland Ward’s Bible.) When hunting in NW Uganda, along the Albert Nile, his .300 Weatherby suddenly went astray. After two bad misses, Russ asked John to shoot a cormorant, sitting on a dead tree, just to see whether the rifle worked for John. The bullet fell into the water halfway to the lucky bird! Pushing some of the bullets into the muzzle they rattled! That factory box of ammo, though marked .300 Weatherby, with .300 Weatherby head stamps on the cases, was loaded with undersize bullets, probably 7mm (.284”) instead of .308”! Fortunately, the rest of his ammo was OK. So it pays to check factory ammo too - and before you take it on the hunt of a lifetime!

For top accuracy, the clearance between bullet and lands should be 1/32nd of an inch (30 thou - 0,8mm) and for safety reasons it must never be less. What the LOA of any specific load should be depends on the leade or freebore of your barrel, and the ogive of the bullet you are using. There are ways to determine this, some simple, some expensive. I won’t go into that here. You will probably find that the correct LOA would be too long for your magazine anyway! So initially, stick to the LOA the bullet manufacturer recommends. It should be safe in any reasonably modern rifle. If you should decide later to use a longer LOA, remember that this increases the internal case volume behind the bullet. This means slightly lower pressure on ignition, and hence a lower muzzle velocity. So if the MV is lowered too much for your liking, you have to experiment with slightly increased powder charrges (no more than 0.1 grain increments) to get back to the velocity you require.

When working up a new load, using reloading tables, always start with the recommended minimum charge! There are several reasons for this: different manufacturers use different case thicknesses, which affects internal volume – the thicker the case wall, the smaller the internal volume; i.e. the same powder weight gives higher pressure in the lower-volume case. Brass alloys also tend to vary between different makes, and even between different batches from the same manufacturer. So, when you have found a case, which both you and your rifle like, go out and buy 100 or so more of the same batch, and store them with your other reloading components. That way you won't have to go through the load developing process again, when you have to retire your first batch of cases and find that the same brand/batch of cases is no longer available. This advice really applies to all reloading components.

Further, different bullet designs have differing bearing surfaces, even in bullets of the same weight. The bullet with the largest bearing surface will cause the highest pressure. Different jacket alloys also have different friction coefficients. In addition, bullets with thin  jackets often cause higher pressures than bullets with thicker jackets, everything else being equal: a thin-walled bullet can become compressed ( it would bulge out if the barrel didn't constrain it) during acceleration, which causes higher friction and hence pressure.

Also, chamber sizes and length of freebore (leade) vary between rifles, sometimes even between rifles of the same make! In addition, bore and groove diameters sometimes are not exactly to ‘spec’. So start low and sneak up to a working load by increasing the powder charge in small stages. In rifle cases, where there is a spread of 5 to 7gns between lowest and highest recommended loads, you can go up by 1gn at a time initially. When you approach 'working' pressure, do not increase the load by more than 0.5gn at a time. (In small pistol cases, such as the 9mm Luger, the difference between minimum and maximum loads may be considerably less than 1gn! So watchit, bub!) And remember that the highest charges (highest velocities) are usually less accurate than a load which is 100 to 150 fps below maximum.

After the first firing, your cases having expanded to the dimensions of your rifle's chamber, their internal volume has increased slightly, and you will need a little more powder, to achieve the same velocity. In a typical hunting calibre (.270, 7x57, .308, 30.06) the amount is around 0.3 to 0.5gns, depending on the calibre and the type of powder used.

The best powder to use is the powder which will most nearly fill the case, while giving the desired velocity. So if a load using S335 leaves empty space, but the same velocity can be obtained using S355, just about filling the space behind the bullet, or S365, but the latter load needs compression, use S355. Avoid compressed loads just as much as loads, which slosh around in the case! Either scenario will produce uneven ignition, and hence a large spread in velocities and poor accuracy.

At the same time, do not go under the recommended minimum loads. Usually, such give poor accuracy, as the powder sloshes around too much in the case, which causes uneven ignition and hence variations in velocity, which produces poor accuracy. When using low loads (half case capacity or less) of very slow burning powders, there is also the possibility of ‘detonation’; all the powder igniting at once, causing extreme pressure and blowing up the rifle. This is a contentious issue, which has never been completely proven. However, I do not intend to be the first to prove it!

And, of course, NEVER HAVE AN OPEN FLAME OR HIGH HEAT SOURCE NEAR POWDER OR PRIMERS, and NEVER DRINK ALCOHOL OR SMOKE DURING RELOADING! One J. Bushnell Smith (one of the early 22/250 experimenters) rode to heaven on a shaft of light, after tossing his cigar butt into ‘an open bucket full of loose primers’!{footnote} Another version of this sad tale makes that a bucket of loose shotgun powder. I think the ‘primer’ version is more likely, since unconfined powder just burns with a big whoosh. No matter, the message is clear, I think! {/footnote} Never remove powder, primers or bullets from their original containers, until you are about to use them!

Pressure
At this point, a word about pressure may be in order. Unfortunately, there still is no affordable gadget available to us reloaders, to take the pressure of a load. There are, however, some tell-tale signs, which give warning of impending trouble. The first thing to note is deformation of the primers. All primers have a rounded edge, or shoulder. When this becomes 'square' during firing, the load is probably just beyond maximum. The hardness of primers varies between different makes and types. Pistol primers tend to be 'softer' than rifle primers, and magum primers are usually harder than 'standard' primers. So this squaring of the primer shoulder does not indicate an exact pressure level. But it does mean high pressure. Best back off a little.

The next stage has the primer 'flowing' into the bevelled edge of the primer pocket, i.e. when the spent primer is popped out of the case, it will have a distinct rim, where the shoulder was initially. In fact, it will look like a miniature conductor's hat. BACK OFF! The load is 5 to 10% too high!

So here’s what I do:

Preliminaries:
First, I never mix up cases between different boxes, and I do not reload any cases before I have fired off all 20 rounds from a box. This ensures that all cases have been fired the same number of times and have similar internal volumes. If the volumes vary, pressure and MV will vary and accuracy goes out the window! The exception is experimental stuff, for which I keep old cases, remnants of batches from which most cases have been discarded. Naturally, these are kept in special containers.

Secondly, like all reloaders, I cannot resist the temptation to pick up empty cases at the shooting range. Such come in handy when working up new loads.{footnote} When you are sneaking up on a new load, each successive cartridge, having a slightly higher charge than the previous one, will be subjected to higher pressure and hence stretch, and thin out more than the previous one. So in the end you have a bunch of cases, which all have different internal volumes! Moral: don’t ruin new cases with load development! {/footnote} If you do the same, make sure that these are boxer primed, i.e. have one central flash hole. Usually, when you see empties strewn around in profusion on a range, they hail from military surplus ammo (most common are 9x19 and 5,56 NATO) and have offset twin flash holes (Berdan primers). Running one such case into your resizing die will bend or break the decapping pin and possibly bend the shaft, which holds the pin!

Berdan primers in most military surplus ammo are still pot.chlorate primers, i.e. they are corrosive. The residue of potassium chloride (KCl, much the same as table salt, NaCl) left after firing does not dissolve in cleaning oils! It has to be washed out with boiling water! If you don’t do this, the KCl will attract moisture from the air and form hydrochloric acid (HCl) in your barrel – not what you want! Military surplus stuff, particularly 9x19, still sometimes turns up in gun shops at attractive prices, and one is tempted to buy it for plinking. However, besides the pot.chlorate primers, there is another pitfall: stuff hailing from WWII or just after may be loaded for sub-machine gun use. Some, not all, of this was loaded to higher pressure than pistol ammo and is a definite no-no for use in your handgun!

Reloading

So now let us get down to the actual reloading:

Step 1: First I check for defects, such as split necks and stretch grooves. The first indication of the latter is a bright ring around the case, just ahead of the web. (Stretch grooves on the Martini cases at right are much further forward, due to the relatively thick walls of turned cases.) If this is present, check inside the case with a bent-over, pointed wire. From about .25 cal upwards, it is possible to see these grooves by pointing the neck at the sun and taking a sideways squint down the case. The deeper the groove, the greater the chance of a head separation. If the groove is deep, discard the case. If there is a dark, sooty line (crack) in that bright ring, partway around the case, you have an incipient head separation on your hands! Bin the case! And I mean ‘bin’. When you have collected 50kg or so of brass, you can usually find a scrap metal merchant, who will take it off your hands for a few Rand.

Above Right: Three split necks, one incipient and one actual head separation.

These cases are some drastic examples of what to look for. Their state is not due to overcharging or other bad reloading practices, but rather the result of problems attending the reloading of old balck powder calibres. Firstly, all but one of these are turned cases,{footnote}The one on the left is a commercial case, with a cylindrical powder space, i.e. very thick case walls below the neck. The next one is an original Kynoch (drawn) case from the 1950s, the other three are 'home-made' - turned from free-cutting brass bar stock to .577 Snider dimensions, then swaged down in stages to the Martiny cofiguration. Internal case volume is similar to that of the Kynoch case.{/footnote} and turned cases do not have the elasticity of drawn cases. Secondly, black powder chambers were all much larger than cartridge dimensions, to allow for the build-up of powder residue and still allow extraction of the empties. This means that cartridge necks expand hugely on firing and have to be resized drastically to hold another bullet. This embrittles the brass, and in spite of annealing after each firing, this type of case usually lasts for only two or three raloads. However, the same can happen to modern calibres, if cases are not annealed regularly, or if they are overloaded.

This may be a good point to answer the question: “How many reloads will a case stand?” The answer is an unequivocal: “Well, it depends!” If you are using a rimless calibre and start by fireforming, full-length size as little as possible, trim cases to a standard length before each reload, and use a load, which is 100 to 150 fps below possible max (and this is where I usually get my best accuracy) you can get six to ten reloads out of a hunting calibre. If you start without fireforming, either because it is too much of a schlepp, or because your empties hail from factory loads, you can expect four to six reloads. In fact, in either situation you might be able to reload more often than I have stated, but the internal stretch grooves, and the thinning of the brass as it flows towards the neck during resizing, change the internal case volumes. As this is never the same for any two cases, even carefully loaded rounds will give too much of a spread in velocities, after a while!

Step 2a: After the first firing, only neck sizing will be needed. Adjust the die so that about 90% of the neck is swaged down, leaving an unsized belt, just ahead of the shoulder. Lube the neck area, inside and out, and size/deprime. When lubricating, it is important to do this lightly: if too much lube is applied, it may get trapped between case and die, and be forced into the case, causing a dimple! This dimple  can only  be removed by firing, and even then it will leave a mark on the case.

Right: Lube pad, .458 case, deburring and primer pocket cleaning tools and loading block.

If full-length sizing is needed, adjust the die with great care. Make sure the die will not set the shoulder back, as this creates extra headspace and hence case stretch. Wipe down the outside of the cases, lightly lubricate both the outside of the case and the inside of the neck. To avoid moist lube getting into the case, I use powdered graphite on the inside, instead of lube, and tap it out after sizing. Size and deprime in the full-length die.

Neck or full-length sizing, primers are removed during that operation, and the up-stroke of the lever pulls the case down over the expander ball, expanding the necks to the correct inside diameter (ID). Clean off lube after sizing, then stand the cases upside down in a reloading block. Check: have all cases been sized and are all primer pockets empty?

Step 2b: You can get gauges to check case length, which have steps for all the popular calibres. However, I have never bothered with them: you need callipers anyway, so buy the best set you can find, and buy a mike which has an Imperial, as well as a metric scale! All American loading books (and they are the ones of most use to us here) use the old Imperial weights and measures! Early Somchem data used both Imperial and metric but it is now back to Imperial (except for some metric units used in the technical section). There are some books in German, which use metric. But since we use a lot of American bullets, we have to use their loading books and measures. Besides, I have yet to see a standard, balance-type of reloading scale marked in grams. Most electronic scales can, of course, be switched between Imperial and metric.

Check case length after sizing, as the cases lengthen during that operation. Deprime in the neck or full-length die (as needed), then check the length. If necessary, you can trim them on a little hand lathe, like the Forster{footnote}This useful tool also comes with the gear necessary to turn down case necks to uniform thickness.{/footnote}, which was shown during the lecture. Deburr the necks after trimming, and stand cases upright in the loading block. Check: have all cases been trimmed and deburred?

Right: Forster case trimmer, holding a .220 Swift cartridge, with .223 pilot in cutter at right.

Alternatively, you can trim them in a file-trim die. A trim die is a full-length sizing die without the depriming pin and expander plug. It is made of an extremely hard steel (usually tungsten carbide) and specially heat-treated. Again, clean the outside of the case, use some lube, then run the case into the die and trim off the brass sticking out of the top with a file. Deburr the neck, then  lubricate the inside of the neck and deprime the case in the neck-sizing die. Clean off lube. Stand cases upright in the block until you have trimmed and deburred all the cases, then check that they have indeed all been done.

I like a trim die, as it keeps the case cool during trimming. I have found that on the little lathe the case necks tend to warm up due to friction and expand during the cutting process. As this is never the same for any two cases, I end up with slightly different case lengths! This is especially noticeable in small calibres and when a lot of brass has to come off. If you trim your cases before each reload, as the benchrest artists do, only a little bit of brass has to be shaved off, and the case does not heat up significantly. So no problem! But I trim the cases of hunting loads only when they are approaching maximum case length, and then I trim them back enough, so that I can reload them another two or three times, before they have to be trimmed again. So I take off a fair bit of brass, hence the heating-up problem. In reality, though, by the time that a second trimming is necessary, the internal case volumes usually vary more than is good for accuracy, and I bin the cases anyway.

Reminder: After sizing/depriming/trimming, stand the cases upside-down in a loading block and check: all primer pockets empty?

Run new cases through the neck-sizing die (very often the necks are dented) and check them for length, etc. Usually, it is not necessary to prepare new cases in any other way, except, perhaps, to trim them to a uniform length.{footnote} If you want to sort cases into batches of like internal volume, start with about 100 cases, fireform them, then cut all primer pockets to the same depth, drill all flash holes to the same size, remove all burrs around the flash holes inside and out, trim all cases to the same length, deburr, mike outside neck diameters and turn necks to uniform thickness (I have measured as much as three or four thou of difference in neck thickness between thickest and thinnest side of brand new cases!) Finally, weigh the cases and sort them into compatible batches. {/footnote} Stand them upside-down in your reloading block. And, incidentally, it is best to stick with one make of cases: brass thickness and consistency varies between different makes, which affects your loading density: i.e. a thicker (lower internal volume) case needs less powder!

Step 2c: Mike outside diameter of the necks, as well as neck thickness: uneven neck thickness plays havoc with accuracy! If necessary, turn off excess brass on the little hand lathe. Stand cases upright in the loading block. Check: all necks turned?

Step 3: Clean out crud from primer pockets with a primer-pocket cleaning tool. This is necessary, since the crud may prevent the new primers from being seated properly! Stand cases upside down in loading block. Check: all pockets clean?

Step 4a: If necessary, I clean cases with case-cleaning liquid, wash them, dry them off as far as possible and leave them upside down in a loading block, at least overnight. (See above.) Check: are all cases thoroughly dry, inside and out? If annealing is needed, omit the drying process here.

Step 4b: If necessary, I anneal cases at this point. (See above.) Dry cases after annealing.

Left, L to R: Federal # 210 LR Bench Rest, CCI BR-2 LR Bench Rest, Winchester 120 LR, Vihtavuori # 68 LR Mag. Note anvil bases protruding from primer cups!

Step 5: Prime cases. Consistency is very important here: take a look at a fresh primer, and you will see that the foot of the little anvil protrudes slightly from the primer cup. When the primer is seated in the primer pocket of the case, the anvil is pressed into the primer, until its foot is flush with the edge of the cup. This causes the point of the anvil to be pressed ever so slightly into the primer compound, pre-stressing and sensitising it. If the primer pockets are not clean, or if excessive force is used in the seating process, the anvils will be pressed home unevenly, degree of pre-stressing the primer compound will be uneven, and ignition/burning rates of the primers will vary! This, in turn, causes uneven powder burning rates, which kills consistency, and hence accuracy. This is why a hand-priming tool is better than the priming arrangement in the reloading press: in the hand tool one can feel the anvil being seated. The reloading press has too much power for this purpose. Stand cases upside down in reloading block. Check: have all cases been primed and are all primers seated properly?

Step 6a: Weigh charges using the CORRECT powder. I set my powder measure to throw just less than the required charge into the pan of my scale, put the pan onto the scale and use a powder trickler to bring the weight up to spec. It is OK to throw pistol charges with the measure only. Throw about 20 charges, returning them to the powder hopper as you go, then weigh the next five or ten charges until the measure settles down. After this, still weigh every 10th charge. Powder doesn’t always flow evenly: flake and log powders are particularly prone to ‘bridging’ above the measuring cylinder. For rifle loads, weighing each charge is essential!

Top Left: Scale normally weighs from zero to 500gn. When little brass counterweight (on left of scale) is hung on front of beam, range becomes 500 to 1000gn. Powder trickler on right.

Top Right: Ohaus Powder Measure mounted on Press. Most powder measures come with 7/8x14 threads for this purpose, which saves some space. However, mounting the measure on a separate stand saves some fiddling.

Step 6b: Using a powder funnel (preferably metal, to avoid static, which causes powder grains to stick to the funnel)  drop the powder into the case. A drop tube (copper pipe, at least 3’ – 1m – long) is useful for getting a large charge packed down as tight as possible (needed for .458 Win Mag, when loading steel jacketed solids – forget monolithics in the .458, they don’t leave enough powder space) without having to compress the charge. I avoid compressed charges. Stand cases right-way up (obviously) in loading block. Check: shine torch down all the little chimneys to see that all cases have powder and that the levels look the same. It is amazing what small differences the eye can pick up! In the smaller calibres, I can spot differences of as little as .1 or .2 grains weight!

Step 7: Check that your bullets are correct for the load, and mike and weigh a few, just to be safe. Seat bullets. Die setting and LOA varies for bullets of like weight but different shape! Stand rounds up in block. Check: do all cases contain bullets and are they all seated to the correct depth.

Left: RCBS Primer flipper, automatic primer feeding tube, a metal and a plastic powder funnel and some primers.

Step 8: Cycle all reloads through the action before taking to the field! If the bolt should be difficult to close, don’t force it! The cause could be one of three problems: either the case needed full-length resizing, which wasn’t done, or the case may be too long and is being crimped into the bullet,{footnote} Of course, if the bullet has a cannellure the neck must be crimped in! This is not dangerous, as the neck can fold open into the chamber during firing. If the neck is crimped into the bullet because the case is too long, then it has nowhere to go during firing and the bullet has to strip some brass off the neck. This causes a lot of extra resistance to the bullet getting started and sends the pressure through the roof!{/footnote} or the LOA is too great and the bullet is being forced into the lands – the latter two are very dangerous conditions: they would send pressures sky-high! In the last case, the bullet may be pulled from the case as you open the bolt. Point the muzzle skywards and withdraw the bolt slowly, keeping a finger against the case to prevent ejection. If it still holds a bullet, well and good. If not, remove it gently with your fingers – you don’t want to spill powder inside the action and magazine, or all over the carpet! Check why the case wouldn’t chamber. It is easy to see, when the neck has been crimped into the bullet. If the bullet was forced into the lands, the lands will leave marks on it. A case of slightly oversize body dimensions is not dangerous to fire, provided the case length and LOA are OK.

Factory fodder, too, should be cycled through the rifle in which it will be used! Wipe off all cartridges with paper towel and store in ammo box. I use plastic ammo boxes for handgun ammo, but prefer cardboard boxes for rifle cartridges: they are kinder to lead points.

Step 9: Record date and load data on label stuck to the inner box, holding the cartridges. Here I also record the number of neck and full-length sizing, turning, annealing and case trimming operations, performed on the cases. Check: all relevant info recorded?

Right: Ammo box with all reloading data. Cases have been fired and reloaded once, neck-sized once, annealed once and trimmed once.

Step 10: Go hunting!

Fireforming
To get maximum accuracy and maximum case life out of rimless cases, you have to fireform them with a special fireforming load, before you load them for hunting. The reason is this: the rimless case was first designed for military use, and the prime concern was reliability, i.e. slick feeding and extraction. Reloadability and case life were of no concern: the military don’t reload, bending down to pick up your empties being inadvisable during a firefight! Case dimensions have, therefore, been held to a minimum, in relation to chamber size. The result is that fired military cases have stretch grooves ahead of the case web of 7 to 10 thou of an inch, if not more. This is 0,18 to 0,25mm - however, you may as well get used to working with the old Imperial measures, as all the good - read American - reloading books use them: powder and bullet weight and dimensions, LOA of your cartridges, etc, etc, everything is in inches, grains, cup, psi. And it is as well to stick with one set of measures, in order to avoid confusion and – possibly fatal – errors. That is why the air transport industry also still uses Imperial measures: it was considered potentially too dangerous to switch over to the metric system!

Now this business of case stretch is not confined to military ammunition. There are millions of converted ‘military sporters’ out there, with wildly varying chamber sizes. So ex-military calibres such as the 7x57, 30/06, 8x57, whether factory loads or empty cases, are held to the minimum permissible dimensions by the ammunition makers. Even rimless calibres which never saw military service, are not exempt from this problem: chamber sizes do vary to a degree, and loaded ammo and empty cases always come in, or close to, minimum dimensions.

What amount of head stretch you will get depends on the EFFECTIVE headspace in your chamber/ammo combination. Let us assume that  you are using a rimless cartridge, that the built-in headspace of your action is 3 thou, and that your chamber was cut with a brand-new reamer, i.e. that it has the maximum permissible size, and that the ammo you are about to fire has minimum permissible dimensions. When the firing pin hits the primer, it will drive the case forward until the shoulder firmly contacts the chamber wall, when the pin dents the primer and sets off the charge. At this point the brass in the neck and shoulder area expands first (being the thinnest part of the case) and gets a friction grip, supported by 54.000 cup,{footnote} This is the old copper crusher method, read in ‘copper units of pressure’ (cup), often reported, wrongly, as psi. Tests with modern transducers, using piezoelectric methods, give the same load 60.000 psi, or more. As an example, the 7,62x51 (NATO) produces 52.000 cup, but 62.000 psi by transducer! I.e. the transducer results can be 20% higher than the cup numbers. But not to worry! The pressure has not gone up, it’s the test method, and the reporting unit, which make the difference! {/footnote} on the chamber wall. The case head, being unsupported, is driven back against the bolt face, and the case is stretched, resulting in an internal groove, just ahead of the web. The least case stretch you can expect under these circumstances is about 5 or 6 thou! Head separations tend to occur from about 15 thou, though this will vary with case thickness and consistency of the brass.

The only way around this is to forgo factory ammo and start with new empty cases and a special fireforming load. This is a reduced load in which the bullet has been seated out far enough to firmly contact the lands when the cartridge is chambered, thus preventing the firing pin from driving the case forward. When the charge fires, the case balloons out to fill the chamber, and the new case dimensions conform to your chamber dimensions, leaving practically no headspace. I say ‘practically’ because the brass shrinks back ever so slightly after firing, and there will always be just a little effective headspace due to this and to the fact that even the most rigid Mauser action (and there is no more solid action on earth! Forget recessed bolt faces and multiple – interrupted-thread – locking lugs) has a tiny amount of ‘spring’ during firing, so that even in fireformed cases you will pick up a small amount of stretch, each time the cartridge is fired.

The best bullet for fireforming is the longest gas-checked cast bullet you can find, loaded the wrong way round, so that the gas check contacts the lands, with the case mouth solidly crimped into the bullet. A pistol powder such as MP200 is best for this type of work. As only a small amount of powder is needed, it has to be held against the primer with a firm wad, preferably of cardboard or cork. DO NOT USE FILLERS like mealie meal or fine plastic beads when fireforming bottleneck cases! They are a great aid in fireforming ‘straight’ cases, but they produce far too much pressure in bottlenecks!

There is another problem specific to rimless cases: when the cartridge is chambered, it lies on the bottom of the chamber. This means that the long axis of the bullet lies slightly below the axis of the bore, so that the bullet enters the bore slightly off-centre! Even if you use fireformed cases this can still be a problem: since the case lies on the bottom of the chamber when first fired, it expands into the space above it, and while the outside of the case now conforms to your chamber dimensions, the axis of the neck is ever so slightly off-centre! To align the bullet axis with the bore axis, the case must always be aligned the same way when being chambered - by using a prominent mark on the head stamp - an old benchrester’s trick. Sure, fireforming cases with the bullet contacting the lands should take care of the front end of the case, but the rear may still be lying on the bottom of the chamber! Besides, the way you resize the neck can force it slightly off-centre.

OK, some of this is approaching benchrest techniques and is not really necessary for hunting loads. But it will give you an idea of how many variables there are in reloading, especially of rimless cases!

None of the above headspace problems apply to rimmed or belted cases! Such cases headspace on the rim or belt, and headspace can be held to very close tolerances indeed! This not only makes special fireforming loads redundant, it also presents the bullet to the bore with the axes lined up as close as ‘dammit’! This is because the close tolerances of the rim or belt dimensions vs the corresponding chamber dimensions prevent the case from tipping and lying on the bottom of the chamber. In fact, H&H designed their .375 with that belt in order to overcome the headspace problems of rimless cases!

Much has been written on the relative strength of rimless and belted case heads, but such was really futile argument: yes, the belted head is stronger than a rimless one. But so what? The rimless head is strong enough. The difference lies in those headspace problems. So if I have a choice between two calibres with similar ballistics, one rimless, the other belted, I will always chose the belted case! Now I am not saying that rimless cases are useless! I have owned and used several rimless calibres with great satisfaction, and I still have one – well, one and a half, really. And, in spite of the difficulty of getting extreme accuracy out of rimless cases, the majority of hunting calibres are rimless, due to the ease with which they can be made to feed, and also because they are cheaper to manufacture than belted cases. All I am saying is that it takes a lot more PT to get top accuracy and case life out of rimless cases, than it does with rimmed or belted ones.

Ballistic Tables
These are useful for comparison, both between calibres and different loads/bullet weights in the same calibre. They are not accurate, however, when it comes to mid-range trajectory (MRT) or retained velocity and drop figures at the longer ranges. Most of the ballistic tables in the reloading books are calculated, using a derivation of an artillery formula. Yes, there was some actual firing, but 90+% of the numbers are calculated, and they are - well, let us say optimistic. Let me give you an example:

I own a .220 Swift, with which I have shot a lot of foxes in Australia. This was done mostly at night with a spotlight - legal, because the fox is an imported pest, doing millions of A$ worth of damage to the wool industry every year. When shooting at night, the target is usually very small. A fox is not a large target to start with, but with the spotlights available at the time (this was between 1975 and 1982) only the reflection of the fox’s eyes showed up in the spotlight at the longer distances. A flat trajectory was, therefore, extremely important.

After trying all manner of bullets, I eventually settled on two: a 50-grain Nosler and a 52-grain Sierra, both hollow points. The  load using the 50gn bullet used .5gn more IMR 4064 powder than the one with the 52gn pill, and both loads gave (and still give) a chronographed  MV of 3900 fps, and shot (shoot) to the same point of impact.

I sighted them in at a measured 200 yards and went off for a long weekend of night shooting with two friends. Well, I missed about half a dozen foxes with these loads the first night, and was I mystified! Not to mention…Er… upset! Next morning we checked the zero at a paced-off 200 yards, and although I was shooting off the top of a fence post, both loads were still ‘on’ and stayed inside 2”! Now what? To cut a long story short, it eventually dawned on me that I was missing the medium distance shots, while I was clobbering them on the long shots. Ah! MRT?

Anyway, when I got home I sat down and checked MRT (Incidentally, highest point of the bullet path for a sighting at 200 is not at 100, but at 110 to 115!) Well bingo! Highest point for these loads was supposed to be .8”; real elevation over line of sight was nearly 1.5”! Now when you have only the fox’s eyes to shoot at, .7” higher may part his hair, but will not get you his pelt.

So, when you have sighted in at whatever distance, using the ballistic charts as a guide, check your MRT! It’s not terribly important with kudu medicine, sighted in for Bushveld distances, but if you are shooting jackal at night it is!

Anyhow, I see that I am well on the way to writing a reloading manual! So although there is more to all this than I have mentioned so far, I will desist. Some thoughts about gear, though:

Gear

When starting out to buy gear, get the best you can afford! There is a lot of good gear out there, and people argue about which makes are best. I won’t go into that. It is mostly a matter of personal preference. One thing that I am adamant about, though, is the type of  Press! There is only one choice: an O-frame press. A C-frame press has too much flex, and a turret press is worst of all! I started my reloading life with a Lyman ‘Spar-T’, a turret press taking six dies. This press was beautifully made – top quality. But to be able to turn the turret to get the next die into place, you have to have some play in the turret assembly, and this means flex during resizing and bullet seating. I screwed that turret down as tight as I could and still turn the turret, but there was still far too much flex in the system.{footnote} There are modern turret presses, which are designed in reverse, so-to-speak. These have a huge cylindrical stop block above the turret, preventing the turret from flexing/tilting. Such are fine presses, but, alas, horrendously expensive!{/footnote} And there is no advantage in having multiple dies mounted in a turret press: once you have your dies adjusted to the correct setting and have their lock nuts screwed down, you are set. Changing dies takes only a few seconds. So go for an O-frame press. It does not allow any flex at all!

Above Left: Simplex Master press with trim die. Note round lock-ring. Not recommended. Green press on right is RCBS cast bullet 'lubrisizer'.

Above Right: RCBS Big Max. It delivers about three times the leverage of the Master press.

And while on the subject of presses: the standard size press takes 7/8-inch (OD) dies with 14 threads to the inch (7/8x14). This will handle  rifle calibres up to .45 or so, depending on the width of the case body. If you want to reload for a .577/.450 Martini-Henry or for the bigger Nitro Express calibres, you need a larger press, taking 1-inch dies (1x14 - there is also a 1½x12 size, for owners of ack-ack guns!) I use an RCBS ‘Big Max’ for this. This came with threaded inserts and adapters, so that it can also be used with 7/8-inch dies. However, I use my Simplex ‘Master’ press for 7/8-inch dies. The power of the ‘Big Max’ is just too much for the smaller calibres.

And, obviously, you need a set of Dies for each calibre you want to reload. Try to get dies with hexagonal lock nuts. The round ones are soon marred by having to be set in, and unscrewed from, the press using a vice grip. If you cannot get hex nuts with your dies, buy them loose from another maker. Don’t buy ordinary hex nuts: each nut needs to have a lock screw and a lead ball under the screw, so that the threads of the die are not damaged!

Right: .375 H&H die set. L to R full length sizing die, neck sizing die, neck expander die, bullet seating die.

Then, you also need Shell Holders. Since most medium calibre rimless rifle cases have the same head dimensions (being based on the 7x57) and the same applies to almost all belted cases (based on the .375 H&H), you will not need too many of those.    

You also need a Lube Pad and some lube, and as I said above, it is better to use a dry lubricating agent such as powdered graphite for the inside of the necks. Whether lube or graphite, the best way to apply it to the inside of the neck is with one of those cotton-bud ear-cleaning sticks.

A Primer Pocket Cleaner is another essential. I prefer the steel-dowel type: a steel dowel, which has been turned down to a short pin at either end, one for small, the other for large primer pockets. The pins have checkered faces. I do not like the brush type of primer pocket cleaner, as the steel wires soon curl up and it becomes difficult and eventually impossible to get the brush into the primer pockets!

Left: Top - Deburring tool, suitable for calibres from .17 to .458. Left end for inside, right end for outside of case. Bottom - Primer pocket cleaning tool. Left pin for large, right pin for small primer pockets.

Even if you get Trim Dies for shortening your cases, you will eventually need one of those little Hand Lathes for turning down necks, which have become too thick. Since this thickening is never uniform around the neck, it plays havoc with accuracy! And with this lathe you need a Pilot for each calibre you want to work with. A good quality Micrometer for measuring case length and thickness, bullet diameter, etc is essential. And it has to be marked in inches, down to thousandths. Most micrometers will also be marked in mm, but you will hardly ever use that: all reloading info that we use here is based on Imperial measures and weights. You also need a chamfering or Deburring Tool.




All presses come with a Priming arrangement. However, it is better to use a separate Hand Primer, for better feel and more consistent seating. The leverage of a Simplex ‘Master’ or RCBS ‘Rockchucker’ (not to mention the ‘Big Max’) is a bit on the heavy side for the delicate art of primer seating. And you also need a Primer Flipper. This is simply a plastic tray with concentric riffles and a lid. You drop your primers on this gadget and shake it, and after a few tries, all primers will lie with their open sides up. You put on the lid and turn the works over, and you can then pick them up with your Primer-Feeding Tube. This is a gadget, which fits your press or hand-priming tool and allows you to feed your priming ram with primers automatically.

Above Left: Lee hand priming tool, complete with two flipper trays, one for large, the other for small primers. The trays fit directly onto the tool and feed primers into it. At bottom left is the small-primer punch fitting the tray on the right. Bottom right is Lee shell holder for .375 H&H, or any other belted case with those head dimension, such as .300 H&H, 7mm Rem Mg, .458 Win Mg, etc.

Further, you need a couple of  Loading Blocks to stand your cases up in. You need two, because it is best to take a case from one block, perform the relevant reloading step, then put the case in the other block – just another of the little tricks to keep track of what you are doing and to keep things safe. You could make blocks by drilling pockets into a couple of heavy planks. However, these are impossible to keep clean. Plastic blocks are better and don’t cost all that much.

For photos of items not shown separately here, see reloading section above.

Another essential, albeit not often-used, item is a Bullet Puller.  You may have some trial loads, which proved unsatisfactory, and you want to recover the components. No use blasting the rounds off uselessly into the backstop!

You could clamp the case(s) into a vice and twist the bullet(s) out with a pair of pliers. Needless to say, this mars both case and bullet, and often renders them unusable. There is only one sensible answer to this problem: a bullet puller.

There are two types: the simple ‘kinetic’ one, or a collet-type puller.

The Kinetic Puller looks like a hammer, with a plastic head. This head is actually a tube of high-impact plastic, accepting a segmented, spring-loaded holding collar, which expands to hold all sizes of cartridge (usually up to about .375/.458 head size) and a screw cap to lock things in. You push the cartridge through the holding collar, insert it bullet-down into the tube and screw on the cap.  You then tap the ‘hammer’ on a piece of wood, just like driving in a nail, and the momentum induced in the bullet starts to pull it out of the case, as the hammer hits, and is stopped by, the wood. Eventually the bullet comes out of the case, bullet and powder fall into the bottom of the tube, and can then be recovered.

Above Right: Head and handle, holding collar with .44 Mg cartridge and screw cap.

Cartridges can be inserted and removed through the hole in the screw cap. Note the opening in the side of the head. This is to allow one to tip out powder and bullet, without having to unscrew the cap. The genius who designed this gadget, obviously never used it with pistol or short rifle cartridges! When the bullet passes that hole on its way to the bottom of the tube, a fair amount of the powder following it bounces off the bullet base and sprays out of that hole. Not great, when you want to recover the expensive stuff!

I usually have that hole covered by a small disc of thin cardboard, held in place by a piece of duct tape. I removed that Heath Robinson arrangement for the purpose of taking the photo. Of course, having the hole covered means that the cap has to be fully unscrewed  every time a bullet has been pulled. And the holding collar has the disconcerting habit of disassembling itself into its component parts, after which one needs a third hand and prehensile tail to reassemble the cursed thing! Needless to say I rarely use this triumph of modern design.

The main advantage of this type of puller is it’s relatively low cost. It is also best for pulling lead bullets and jacketed pistol bullets with a very short ogive, as a collet puller has difficulty in grasping these. It is OK for most pistol and the smaller rifle calibres. As the calibre increases, however, so the bearing surface and friction between bullet and case neck increase, and there comes a point where the kinetic puller no longer does the trick. Likewise, it tends to be impotent in the face of crimped-in bullets. At this point, you have to invest in a collet-type puller.

The Collet-Type Puller consists of a die with a smooth, tapered interior, a locknut and a separate short length of threaded bar stock (screw) with a handle. In addition, you have to buy a separate collet for each calibre you want to work with. A basic set-up for one or two calibres will set you back about the same as a set of reloading dies.

Right: Bullet puller die, handle and .375 cal. collet, plus .375 shell holder.

Operation is as follows: you screw the ‘die’ into your press and lock it in place. You then drop the screw part of the handle into the die. Then you insert the collet, tapered part upwards, into the die and pick it up with the screw thread. Tighten until you can feel the collet contacting the die. Place your cartridge into the shell holder in your press and bring it up until the case mouth contacts the shoulder of the collet, then tighten the collet by turning the handle, until the bullet is firmly locked in. Tightening the collet lifts it up into the body of the die, so you have to keep a gentle upward pressure on the cartridge, to keep the case mouth in contact with the collet shoulder. The object is, of course, to make the collet grip the bullet at the widest possible diameter.

Once the bullet is firmly locked in, pull the case down, off the bullet. Remove case from press and tip powder into a suitable container. Then unscrew the collet and catch the bullet in your hand, as it drops out. The whole procedure takes much less time than it does to read this description!

Pulled bullets will show a few faint marks, if any, most of those being inflicted by scraping against the inside of the case neck. Recovered bullets won’t win any more benchrest competitions, but are certainly reusable for hunting or experimental loads.

Finally, you need a Powder Scale, Funnel and Powder Trickler. You could get by without a Powder Measure, but it is a great convenience. When selecting a scale, you have the choice between an 'old-fashioned' mechanical (beam) scale, and the 'modern' electronic instrument. Now all scales are affected by draughts, but the electronic scales I have checked to date were all paranoid about this: I literally had to hold my breath, while adding the last few powder granules to 'top up' a load. I.e., I found using those elctronic scales much slower than using my 'old' beam scale.

While it is probably true that the electronic scale is potentially more accurate than a mechanical one, the difference is not significant. A good beam scale will be accurate to 0.02 grains, or so, which is more than adequate. What is more important than absolute accuracy is consistency! Consistency is what gives repeatable accuracy. It matters not one Iota whether your 50 grain load is actually 49.9 or 50.1 grains, as long as your scale delivers exactly the same weight, each and every time! All good mechanical scales will do this.

Ergonomics

To start with, do not permanently mount your press and powder measure on your bench: you may want to add a little hand lathe and a lubrisizer for cast bullets later, and possibly a shot shell reloader – whatever. Mount the press and powder measure on a short piece of heavy hardwood plank, and clamp this plank to your bench with three C-clamps. This way you can move them around into the most convenient position, without having to drill your bench like a Swiss cheese! The bench must be rigid - no flexing. If the planks of your bench top are less than about 4cm thick, I suggest that you bolt a fair-sized piece of 10mm mild steel plate to the underside of your bench, under your press!

If I thought about all this some more, I could probably add another page or two to this screed. However, I think the above covers the basics, and will help you to avoid some of the mistakes I made, when starting out, without any help, in 1970.

Right: Ponsness/Warren shotshell reloader. The Somchem tin actually holds #7 shot. Bench-top planks are over 4cm thick.

ABF:

To get top rate accuracy, it is often not so much precisely how you carry out your reloading steps, but how consistent you are! Anyhow, if you have found something of interest in the above, my effort will have been worthwhile.

CAVEAT:

Reloading procedures described in this article have been used by the author for 40 years and have proved safe at all times. However, since neither Game & Gun nor the author have any control over how readers might apply this information, final responsibility for the results obtained by use of this information must rest with the user. A little common sense will keep you safe, but still follow the old adage: "When in doubt - don't!"

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