I recently had a couple misfires in cold weather while hunting. I got a "click" but nothing more. The primers were not contacted at all and I assume it was because the rifle was not fully in battery when the trigger was pulled. The issue is likely due simply to cold weather and moisture and an operator who wasn't as diligent as he should've been when loading in those conditions. But I wanted to rule out the possibility that my reloads contributed to the problem, so here we go.
I checked the cartridges in my LE Wilson case gauge and everything appears fine there. But then I started measuring with the calipers and found the body diameter is out of spec on almost all my cases. If I'm not mistaken, they should be at .441 or under. I measured some factory loads just to confirm. The Hornady cartridges I have on hand measure .438 on average. Federals measure at .4395. Next I measured spent cases coming from the gun. Same Hornady loads once fired measure anywhere from .4430 to .4465. I'm not sure if that's normal or if my chamber is overly loose. Anyway, after I size them with a Hornady Custom Grade full length die, they all still come out over spec. There is some variation, but they range from about .4415 to .444 with the average around .443.
I'm still pretty new to this reloading stuff, but is this normal? Shouldn't the body be sized to spec coming out of a full length die? Again, they pass the case gauge just fine, so I'm confident the headspace is okay, but the case gauge specifically states that it doesn't measure body diameter. Is this a problem? Or am I obsessing over nothing?
All of the loads in my hunting batch seem to chamber just fine save for one. That round measured .4445, the largest diameter in the batch. This is what got me going in this direction. That cartridge appears to pass the case gauge fine too, and overall length doesn't appear to be the issue, so I don't think it's in the lands either (I've been down that road with 129 interlocks but these 123 SST are much more forgiving on overall length).
Any and all wisdom appreciated. I'm curious to know what other's spent cases are measuring and what they measure after resizing. Thanks.
I checked the cartridges in my LE Wilson case gauge and everything appears fine there. But then I started measuring with the calipers and found the body diameter is out of spec on almost all my cases. If I'm not mistaken, they should be at .441 or under. I measured some factory loads just to confirm. The Hornady cartridges I have on hand measure .438 on average. Federals measure at .4395. Next I measured spent cases coming from the gun. Same Hornady loads once fired measure anywhere from .4430 to .4465. I'm not sure if that's normal or if my chamber is overly loose. Anyway, after I size them with a Hornady Custom Grade full length die, they all still come out over spec. There is some variation, but they range from about .4415 to .444 with the average around .443.
I'm still pretty new to this reloading stuff, but is this normal? Shouldn't the body be sized to spec coming out of a full length die? Again, they pass the case gauge just fine, so I'm confident the headspace is okay, but the case gauge specifically states that it doesn't measure body diameter. Is this a problem? Or am I obsessing over nothing?
All of the loads in my hunting batch seem to chamber just fine save for one. That round measured .4445, the largest diameter in the batch. This is what got me going in this direction. That cartridge appears to pass the case gauge fine too, and overall length doesn't appear to be the issue, so I don't think it's in the lands either (I've been down that road with 129 interlocks but these 123 SST are much more forgiving on overall length).
Any and all wisdom appreciated. I'm curious to know what other's spent cases are measuring and what they measure after resizing. Thanks.
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