New reloader tying to learn. Need a little help here

[Blakeh1]

Hello everybody, I am new or should I say soon to be a new reloader. I have always been interested in it but since building my 6.5g I have gone DEEP down the rabbit hole that is reloading. I have the lee anniversary kit on the way thanks to the videos on Johnny's Reloading bench on youtube, I have already purchased hornady custom dies, powder and some bullets to start. It seems as though there is a wealth of knowledge to be had right here and I am excited to get started. This is were I am a little confused, so far I have put around 150 rounds of hornady sst and eld black ammo thru my faxon 20" barrel and upon measuring the cases it appears that the shoulders are getting set back by my gun after they are fired. I do not have a comparator but using my calipers measuring from the base of my unfired sst to the flare of the neck I am getting 1.386 and on a fired round I am measuring 1.370. I've read that in ar's that it is good to set the shoulder back when full length sizing 3 thousandths but I haven't seen anything about shoulders getting set back after firing. Would this mean that my current bullets could be into the lands and getting pushed back because of that or is this completely normal? Sorry for the lengthy post here but i am a newb when it comes to this stuff, while i have learned ton from here as well as youtube ect I'm still pretty green. I would love to be able to sit down with an experience reloader and pick their brain, i live in the dallas area if anyone is close by and willing to teach me a few things. I run a knife company as a side business and would be willing to do some trading for the knowledge. Thanks for the time and i will be frequenting this sight

[bj139]

A 9mm case makes a free comparator if you pick them up at the range.
Place it over the mouth of your fired Grendel case and measure both.
Resize a bit, measure and repeat until you get .003 setback.
I used a 357 mag case to clear the bullet on an unfired case when measuring those.

It is not accurate enough to measure visually.
Your numbers seem to be opposite since the case from base to shoulder will get longer on firing and shorter on resizing.
The headspace on most bottleneck cases is measured from the middle of the shoulder to the base.
Download the free SAAMI pdf for cartridge and chamber dimensions for more info.

[Blakeh1]

A 9mm case makes a free comparator if you pick them up at the range.
Place it over the mouth of your fired Grendel case and measure.
Resize a bit, measure and repeat until you get .003 setback.
I used a 357 mag case to clear the bullet on an unfired case when measuring those.

It is not accurate enough to measure visually.
Your numbers seem to be opposite since the case from base to shoulder will get longer on firing and shorter on resizing.

i appreciate the info, i have the hornady comparator on order should be here tomorrow but I'm digging around now i might have a spent 9mm in my range bag

[Kswhitetails]

Welcome aboard! And welcome to the recycling business! Without a headspace comparator, I don't know how you could measure things accurately enough to count on a .003 tolerance. I guess the 9mm case would work, (that's funny bj, it never even occurred to me...

I'm still new to reloading, I think I always will be. There are a lot of guys here that have forgotten more than I will ever know, and many are willing to share. You've come to a good fire, sit down and stay a while.

Notes! take notes. Get a composition notebook for every round you reload (read: caliber), and every rifle you reload for. Write every recipe down (I mean every recipe you load yourself, loads from elsewhere need to go outside your book until you make some yourself), and record the results from the shooting - whatever data you can collect. It's worth it in remembering what you're doing next Friday after you've been at work all week and want to pick up where you left off. And next year when you find you're too far off "the line", and need to go back and start over because you were closer then than you are now...don't ask how I know.

Glad to have you, and good luck. I'd say keep doing what you are doing. You will find someone to mentor you, and will learn what you don't know that you don't know, and will look around later embarrassed by what you didn't know, and will get into trouble becuase you think you know, and you don't know. Y'know?

It is worth it. Even the frustrations and the investment. There's no greater joy than going to the range and finding out your work paid off, even if the groups didn't shrink. But when they do - whooo boy, that's some good feelins' right there.

One final point, numbers never lie, but measuring tools can. Get good calipers. It will make your life so much better. (Don't ask me how I know this either...)

KS

[Blakeh1]

Welcome aboard! And welcome to the recycling business! Without a headspace comparator, I don't know how you could measure things accurately enough to count on a .003 tolerance. I guess the 9mm case would work, (that's funny bj, it never even occurred to me...

I'm still new to reloading, I think I always will be. There are a lot of guys here that have forgotten more than I will ever know, and many are willing to share. You've come to a good fire, sit down and stay a while.

Notes! take notes. Get a composition notebook for every round you reload (read: caliber), and every rifle you reload for. Write every recipe down (I mean every recipe you load yourself, loads from elsewhere need to go outside your book until you make some yourself), and record the results from the shooting - whatever data you can collect. It's worth it in remembering what you're doing next Friday after you've been at work all week and want to pick up where you left off. And next year when you find you're too far off "the line", and need to go back and start over because you were closer then than you are now...don't ask how I know.

Glad to have you, and good luck. I'd say keep doing what you are doing. You will find someone to mentor you, and will learn what you don't know that you don't know, and will look around later embarrassed by what you didn't know, and will get into trouble becuase you think you know, and you don't know. Y'know?

It is worth it. Even the frustrations and the investment. There's no greater joy than going to the range and finding out your work paid off, even if the groups didn't shrink. But when they do - whooo boy, that's some good feelins' right there.

One final point, numbers never lie, but measuring tools can. Get good calipers. It will make your life so much better. (Don't ask me how I know this either...)

KS

[Popeye212]

Welcome from Tyler
One thing these guys didn't mention is how much money you will save loading your own. Now please remember to qualify this it is not how much money you spend but how many more rounds you get to shoot. Beside the fact they will be more accurate and YOU MADE EM! Priceless.

[Drillboss]

Hello everybody, I am new or should I say soon to be a new reloader. I have always been interested in it but since building my 6.5g I have gone DEEP down the rabbit hole that is reloading. I have the lee anniversary kit on the way thanks to the videos on Johnny's Reloading bench on youtube, I have already purchased hornady custom dies, powder and some bullets to start. It seems as though there is a wealth of knowledge to be had right here and I am excited to get started. This is were I am a little confused, so far I have put around 150 rounds of hornady sst and eld black ammo thru my faxon 20" barrel and upon measuring the cases it appears that the shoulders are getting set back by my gun after they are fired. I do not have a comparator but using my calipers measuring from the base of my unfired sst to the flare of the neck I am getting 1.386 and on a fired round I am measuring 1.370. I've read that in ar's that it is good to set the shoulder back when full length sizing 3 thousandths but I haven't seen anything about shoulders getting set back after firing. Would this mean that my current bullets could be into the lands and getting pushed back because of that or is this completely normal? Sorry for the lengthy post here but i am a newb when it comes to this stuff, while i have learned ton from here as well as youtube ect I'm still pretty green. I would love to be able to sit down with an experience reloader and pick their brain, i live in the dallas area if anyone is close by and willing to teach me a few things. I run a knife company as a side business and would be willing to do some trading for the knowledge. Thanks for the time and i will be frequenting this sight

I'm going to say that it's impossible for your shoulders to be set back by firing a round. If that were the case, the round would not have chambered in the first place. You've got to measure the case at some datum point along the shoulder taper. My experience has been that factory ammo grows a few thousandths upon firing, since the factory ammo is sized a little short on headspace to fit into (almost) any chamber. The Hornady comparator will let you measure a factory round and then compare it to your fired brass.

[Greyling]

Welcome from Tyler
One thing these guys didn't mention is how much money you will save loading your own. Now please remember to qualify this it is not how much money you spend but how many more rounds you get to shoot. Beside the fact they will be more accurate and YOU MADE EM! Priceless.

Tyler, tx? that's where I am.

But as far as reloading goes, you won't save a dime. in fact, you will probably spend more. BUT, you will also shoot a LOT more.

[Klem]

Hi Blake, welcome.

With respect, your measurements do not match where you think they are. 1.37 and 1.386" are both roughly midway along the neck of the case. You can confirm this by looking at the following spec sheet for the calibre;

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011/10/6-5-grendel-is-approved-as-sammi-cartridge-alexander-arms-gives-up-6-5-grendel-trademark/

Brass is to a small extent elastic so it expands to seal in the chamber and then contracts slightly after the pressure drops. This aids extraction. But it never contracts more than it's original dimensions. When you get your comparator kit you will be able to measure properly from the datum line (middle of the shoulder) to the base and if you still have concerns we can sort them out step by step.

What size those SST factory rounds were before firing is less important than what they are after firing. Less important because there's nothing you can do about them except fire them so any measuring is for interest sake only. Once fired however the spent cases reflect the internal shape of your chamber, and this is important. Set your dies to .003 less than the datum line of your spent cases. This is what's called headspace.

[Kswhitetails]

Blake, have you visited Johnny's Reloading Bench on Youtube? If not, go there soon. I'm re-watching his series on the Grendel and am surprised at how much I missed the first time around... (I shouldn't be)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ7ZytKrmCQnRp9LXXxinJQ

Give him a watch. Worth the time.

[Blakeh1]

Blake, have you visited Johnny's Reloading Bench on Youtube? If not, go there soon. I'm re-watching his series on the Grendel and am surprised at how much I missed the first time around... (I shouldn't be)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ7ZytKrmCQnRp9LXXxinJQ

Give him a watch. Worth the time.

Yes I subscribed to his YouTube about 2 months ago and have watched a ton of his stuff including the series with the Lee challenger kit prompting me to order one. Appreciate all the info, and I have no dreams of saving money by reloading (you can check my amazon, brownells, Midwest account to confirm lol) I just like the idea of controlling what I shoot and not being limited to factory ammo, which around me is getting harder to find.

[bj139]

You will find you get reloads which shoot smaller groups than any factory ammo you can buy due to your brass fitting your chamber better.
If you have multiple Grendels keep the brass separate which is fired through each barrel if you want best fit of case to chamber.

[Blakeh1]

[BCHunter]

My only suggestion is get a reloading manual, since you choose hornady and Sierra either one will do. Then read the process of reloading in it, then read it again, and again. Familiarize yourself with the process, then read it again. Go slow to start and double check yourself. As you develope a routine write it down cross check what others do and refine your procedure. You will make mistakes in the beginning missed powder charge, too much lube not enough shoulder bump. Learn from them. And enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole.

[Blakeh1]

My only suggestion is get a reloading manual, since you choose hornady and Sierra either one will do. Then read the process of reloading in it, then read it again, and again. Familiarize yourself with the process, then read it again. Go slow to start and double check yourself. As you develope a routine write it down cross check what others do and refine your procedure. You will make mistakes in the beginning missed powder charge, too much lube not enough shoulder bump. Learn from them. And enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole.

I have the Hornady manual on order and I bought the Grendel reloading books from ar15 as well, any other good ones I should get?