If you are reloading for speed then a corny is a must. If you are reloading for hunting then you want the bullet to go where you aim and expand.
Shooting targets will tell you if the bullets are going where you want them to go and the ones that give the best groups are the ones you want to test for expansion.
I do expansion test with old phone books (granger catalogs are thick and work well too.) or stacked wet newspapers in a wooden box I built to hold them.
Buy a kit you can afford, most I believe come with a manual. If not buy your self a manual as many as you can afford even.
I like my #45 Lyman Manual best but it is so old it doesn't have some of the newer stuff like 300 Win Mag, 260, and 7MM08 I load for.

:D Al

I like my Lyman #48 the best. I bought #48 in 05, but the copyright is 02.

Here's their newest edition.

Lyman Reloading Handbook: 49th Edition Reloading Manual

Not to hijack this thread, but you've got me puzzled here.

First, I successfully reloaded .30-06, .308 Win, .30 Gibbs, .257 Ackley Improved, .22-250, and a few others for about 20 years before I bought my first chronograph. Now I'm also reloading .375 RUM, .300 Weatherby, and 7mm Rem mag, and I've also upgraded my Chrony which I do use for all load development.

For at least 30 years, I've also "partial" resized all of my reloaded rifle cases by placing a 0.030" washer under my FL sizer die. This included all of the ammo that I took and used on a half dozen international hunts. Many bench rest competition shooters only neck size their cases. Either of these procedures insure that the resizing does not set the shoulder back, and that the cartridge will perfectly headspace on the shoulder of the case, which enhances accuracy and minimizes stretch of the body of the cases..

My next reloading purchase will be for Collet Neck Sizer dies for the cartridges that I shoot the most, including my .300 Weatherby.

Ok, so my questions are, how does partial resizing develop a pressure issue?, and how would that pressure issue be detected with a chronograph?

As to the first part of your question. I can fire new, and once fired cases. By the second firing the case has stretched far enough to start to push the shoulder into the chamber to far. I can fire twice fired cases, but can also detect the pressure issue developing. After the second firing all bets are off, and the shoulder has to be reset.

I have the full resize, as well as the neck resizer. I monitor the cases with the RCBS precision mic. The mic really reveals the progression of the case stretch.

The only theory I've come up with for the dramatic case stretch in the 7mm rum is because of the smaller case mouth on the 7mm vs. your .375

Now to the second part of your question... We were shooting at my friends home. He was loading three cases per load. We had a load that showed some promise, but he wanted to shoot a few more loads just to check. On the second firing of the same load we started to detect a spike in the fps, and the accuracy began to deteriorate. By the third firing of the same load the fps spike was so dramatic that my friend quit immediately. He knew that something was wrong, but didn't know what.

I finally talked to my gunsmith about what was going on, and of course he immediately told me what he thought was going on. Which was the case stretch/headspace issue.

I started with the Hornady Head and Shoulder comparator which revealed his theory to be true. I then bought the precision mic which I like much better.

As I monitor the case stretch with the mic, there is a direct correlation between it, and an increased fps on the chrony using the same loads. That fps increase comes right back down after I reset the shoulder.

I hope this explains your question about detecting the pressure spike with the chrony, and goes further to explain the potential trouble we could have ran into had we not been using the chrony, and my friend hadn't known that something was going wrong.

I did some digging... I forgot that the comparator was called the "Head and Shoulder" when it was being sold by Stoney Point... Hornady must have bought Stoney point, because I have both of these comparators, but I bought them as Stoney Point products.

The upside of the comparators is that they can be used on multiple cartridges vs. the precision mic which is cartridge specific.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSe...ry=Comparators

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSe...Precision+mic+

Measuring the case length identifies this problem. Trimming the neck is the solution. The shoulder does not need to be pushed back.

This is a problem that should have never been if proper measuring had been done. The fact that it was spotted by a chronograph was a happy and lucky event. Experienced loaders always measure and trim as required, and would almost certainly have spotted the normal pressure signs without using a chronograph.

The thing that I take from this is to make sure that when you ask someone to help you learn to reload that they actually know something about it.

I have been using chronographs for many years. They are a valuable tool for measuring velocity and SD, but they are absolutely not necessary for a beginner that is trying to put together a reasonable kit for $250.

I understand that the same thing can happen as you said, with the cases being too long, but that wasn't the issue in my case. I can trim the cases to the proper length, but if the shoulder is to far forward the pressure issue persists. I didn't mention it before, because it wasn't what the problem was, but my friend did check the case length. He was thinking exactly what your saying.

A good reloader may have spotted the issue in time, but the chrony revealed it very quickly.


The issue was explained to me by a very good gunsmith. And his explanation was easily proven to be true by measuring the headspace with either the headspace comparator or the precision mic. Both tools take a measurement from the head to a datum point on the shoulder, not the case mouth.

Considering that tools such as the precision mic, and the headspace comparator were developed makes it obvious to me that I'm not the first to have such an issue. And using these tools, not my trimmer, has resolved the issue years ago.

Umm... Ya might want to think about it before you make such a comment... I had an issue that you've obviously never dealt with, or maybe never figured out... My gunsmith immediately figured out the issue. And what he thought it was, was immediately proven with the tools I've mentioned. As I said above, the issue was also resolved as a result.

Never said that... Just stated that I'll always us one, and why.

How did the round chamber with the shoulder too far forward?

We are messing up this guy's thread. Perhaps this should be discussed in a separate one.

I personally would rather see a person buy a kit and a good manual to start reloading. Leave the friends and family out of it and follow the step by step instructions in the reloading manual.
For over 40 years I have been reloading and when I am doing it nobody is with me because I do not need the distractions and many reloaders I feel have a very bad habit of filling a block with cases then filling the cases with powder then placing bullets to be seated.

Reloading is a relaxing hobby for me and I just plain do not want distractions while doing so.

I need to get a picture of my case size gauge. Have never seen another like it and t is great.

similar to mine.




:D Al