Hornady 338 Lapua comparator

[doctnj]

They sell blanks to be drilled and reamed to size. Wondering if anyone here is a machinist or know one that could handle making a comparotor for some money of course. I have a pile of brass waiting to reload when I realized I dont have this nice, valuble, piece of equipment. Unfortunately the machine shops in my small town wouldnt know a datum line from date line.

HELP

last time i looked I didnt have a drill press up my yazoo

[LongRange]

http://www.giraudtool.com/338comp.htm

[SAGE RAT DELETER]

Forget that datum line stuff...that's just SAAMI talking and only relevant to reamer/die makers...just buy a set of Hornady headspace gages, available many places online...or make one out of a squared piece of 1" alum and drill a 1/2" hole in it....measure the fired case, size it and measure it again...subtract the two and the difference is THE ACTUAL HEADSPACE of that rifle....you can adjust the amount of shoulder set back with Redding Competition shell holders that come in a set also in 0.002" plus increments from 0.002" to 0.010".

[doctnj]

Thanks sage. I have a head space gauge but no bullets as of yet. They are on the way. I found a comparator. For the time being I wanted to measure the fired case and see where its at with the comparator. I dont have a drill press and wouldnt count on a very accurate hole with out one at least in my hands. Im learning every day thanks for the input.

Here is a link to 338 comparator for anyone interested.
http://www.giraudtool.com/338comp.htm

[doctnj]

sorry long range I completely missed your post. that is exactly what I ordered. Looks perfect.

[SAGE RAT DELETER]

Somehow Doctnj I'm getting the impression you're mixing a COMPARATOR and a HEADSPACE GAGE...the comparator is for checking bullet ogives, bullet ogive to base for bullet seating depths and the headspace gage is for checking case shoulder to base lengths....in other words "headspace". Or did I miss something?The Giraud tool is good but expensive and is basically a iteration of the Davidson seating checking tool...also a bit expensive. Get yourself a Sinclair Int catalog and buy BOTH the Hornady Bullet comparator and Headspace gauge tool...roughly 30-40 bucks apiece. BOTH tools come with a set of 5 bushings that will do ALL the measuring you require...I've been using them since they were Stoney tools and making my own since the late 50's...BEFORE I had nothing but a hand drill, hack saw and files.I've used 2 machine nuts glued together as a comparator and pieces of different ID copper pipe cut to size and just squared off with a file as headspace gauges...even a sized brass case with the mouth ID smaller than the bullet and squared off, gently set over the case shoulder or bullet worked...not as convenient as the Hornady but they worked...you're NOT making an hydraulic pump to send men to Mars...getting within 0.001" is plenty good. Sinclair has ALL the goodies!!!! Remember...EVERY shot down the tube changes the throat depth by a tiny amount and the bigger the case, the more powder, the longer burn time, the higher the pressure, the "hotter the powder", the more of a change...it only took ~60-70 rounds to change the seating depth of the Berger 250 Hybrids in my 338 LM from ~3.825" to ~3.840"...0.015" and I used the same bullet for BOTH measurements.I also get the impression you seem to be getting hung up on minutia and trying to cover all the aspects of this game without beginning at the beginning and working up.BEFORE you get into the minutia you need to learn the basics and how to make do with things YOU can make...starting with a basic rifle and learn HOW to make it shoot almost as well as some custom jobby...that is unless you are rich, then just hire someone to teach you.Hey, Hoss...take your time and get off the internet and YOU-Tube...some of the vids I've seen just make me cringe. Most of the really good stuff is found in BOOKS and magazine articles, although you can find WHERE THAT information is found are online.All the information is found ON THE JOURNEY, not at the end...the end is just a nice bragging target or tin pot for your mantle...Luck

[SAGE RAT DELETER]

Help...would someone tell me how to stop this sentence running together krap i keep getting...thanks.

[LongRange]

Somehow Doctnj I'm getting the impression you're mixing a COMPARATOR and a HEADSPACE GAGE...the comparator is for checking bullet ogives, bullet ogive to base for bullet seating depths and the headspace gage is for checking case shoulder to base lengths....in other words "headspace". Or did I miss something?The Giraud tool is good but expensive and is basically a iteration of the Davidson seating checking tool...also a bit expensive. Get yourself a Sinclair Int catalog and buy BOTH the Hornady Bullet comparator and Headspace gauge tool...roughly 30-40 bucks apiece. BOTH tools come with a set of 5 bushings that will do ALL the measuring you require...I've been using them since they were Stoney tools and making my own since the late 50's...BEFORE I had nothing but a hand drill, hack saw and files.I've used 2 machine nuts glued together as a comparator and pieces of different ID copper pipe cut to size and just squared off with a file as headspace gauges...even a sized brass case with the mouth ID smaller than the bullet and squared off, gently set over the case shoulder or bullet worked...not as convenient as the Hornady but they worked...you're NOT making an hydraulic pump to send men to Mars...getting within 0.001" is plenty good. Sinclair has ALL the goodies!!!! Remember...EVERY shot down the tube changes the throat depth by a tiny amount and the bigger the case, the more powder, the longer burn time, the higher the pressure, the "hotter the powder", the more of a change...it only took ~60-70 rounds to change the seating depth of the Berger 250 Hybrids in my 338 LM from ~3.825" to ~3.840"...0.015" and I used the same bullet for BOTH measurements.I also get the impression you seem to be getting hung up on minutia and trying to cover all the aspects of this game without beginning at the beginning and working up.BEFORE you get into the minutia you need to learn the basics and how to make do with things YOU can make...starting with a basic rifle and learn HOW to make it shoot almost as well as some custom jobby...that is unless you are rich, then just hire someone to teach you.Hey, Hoss...take your time and get off the internet and YOU-Tube...some of the vids I've seen just make me cringe. Most of the really good stuff is found in BOOKS and magazine articles, although you can find WHERE THAT information is found are online.All the information is found ON THE JOURNEY, not at the end...the end is just a nice bragging target or tin pot for your mantle...Luck

first of all the "expensive" $30 dollar tool he ordered does both so he saved money...second he is getting solid advise from ppl who know what they are talking about not watching a video on youtube!! and tell me...why start at the beginning and spend thousands of dollars to get to the end?? why not start near the end and come out money ahead? if you lost .015 off your lands in only 60 rounds it was because you had a burr or something else going on in your barrel....i shot 1100 HOT rounds through a factory 300wm barrel getting so hot at times you could not keep your hand on it and only lost .020!!
and you are right he does need to learn but why would he want to learn using a piece of copper pipe as a head space gauge? why not save a TON of money and time and buy the best tools you can to start with? because thats where it ends anyway. and i agree books are a good starting place but the "GOOD STUFF" is found by actually going out and field testing.
and last...if you can make a basic rifle shoot as good as a custom built rifle then i will have to change my signature...and im not talking at 100yds because i can make a crappy rifle shoot small groups at 100yds!!

[SAGE RAT DELETER]

WTF Bro...you got a burr up your backside??? I've been at this game and building Savage and other rifles since the early 60's and shooting long range, benchrest, steel, pistol and most all aspects of this sport. I was just relating how easy it is to get the job done without spending a bunch of money and WHERE to find good tools.No matter HOW a post is presented, WHAT reason you spent the time to inform, OR WHY you take the time to try and help...there is someone *&%(*$@ that will find something wrong in it to scream about. Yo'da'man and I won't add my knowledge and insights to this forum any more...YOU can do that...didn't mean to step on an "experts" toes.Your 1100 rounds and only 0.020" is so much BS I won't even go there because I KNOW BETTER...you may snow the newbies but not me.

[LongRange]

WTF Bro...you got a burr up your backside??? I've been at this game and building Savage and other rifles since the early 60's and shooting long range, benchrest, steel, pistol and most all aspects of this sport. I was just relating how easy it is to get the job done without spending a bunch of money and WHERE to find good tools.No matter HOW a post is presented, WHAT reason you spent the time to inform, OR WHY you take the time to try and help...there is someone *&%(*$@ that will find something wrong in it to scream about. Yo'da'man and I won't add my knowledge and insights to this forum any more...YOU can do that...didn't mean to step on an "experts" toes.Your 1100 rounds and only 0.020" is so much BS I won't even go there because I KNOW BETTER...you may snow the newbies but not me.

no burr in my behind at all just pointing out the facts...and telling a guy "Hey, Hoss...take your time and get off the internet and YOU-Tube" or "you're NOT making an hydraulic pump to send men to Mars" isnt really helpful to his quest for accuracy...

as far as being an expert...i am FAR from that and have NEVER claimed to be one but 99% of what i post i have field tested and know to be fact.
also i agree with you that IF on a tight budget there are several ways to get by but doc is NOT on a set budget and wants the BEST tools he can get...which will save him a LOT of time and money in the end...and NO where was i screaming your wrong...as a matter of fact i think i agreed with some of your post.
and as far as trying to BS or snow anyone...i have no reason to lie or try to impress you or anyone else in the world...i dont just post 1 hole groups and talk about what a great shot i am...ask anyone on this site...i post the the good and the bad.

[doctnj]

Yes sage you were right. I was calling it the wrong thing but wanting exactly what I ordered. Here it is. First off, I do make a bit of cash but I am as LR said trying to learn the right way from the start. I have reloaded before. This is not my first rodeo but the first one I cared to put the saddle on straight. I understand how to read a micrometer. Excuse me for being excited about this stuff. I have a pile of shot 338 LM brass. I have used an ovall length gauge in the chamber and have taken the measurements in my chamber. Now I want to accurately see where my stuff has expanded to after shooting it. Recording length of new unfired rounds, fired rounds, and previously reloaded rounds and COMPARE them. I want to know what is going to come out of my rifle before I ever put a bullet in brass. If I just wanted to make a plain little bullet that made holes in paper. I would not have purchased a press!

So pardon me if I mixed my words and am not up to your standards in your world. And yes a lot of you tube videos make me cringe too. You want to know why? Because people like Long Range have taken some time to answer some of my questions with out rhetoric. Oh and the four Loading manuals I have read. (the loading techniques, not the stats). I take the information where I can get it. Sorry for pitching a fit but I get tired of the boys club mentality.

rant over

[doctnj]

http://rs1075.pbsrc.com/albums/w435/doctnj/Mobile%20Uploads/20151110_204322.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip

And Sage sir, if you look at that pucture. The small item on the left is a Bullet Comprator. The item in the middle is a head space Comparator! The item on the right is the head space gauge you speak of. The only item here that will allow me to check the difference between new, once fired, and previously reloaded Brass would be?..........
Yes sir the man up in back said it, the Comparator. That's what I ordered. One for the lapua magnum. Previously stated. Oh I got this out of books and articles. And help fro. Good people at this forum. I don't have to fabricate them, they actually sell them.

Ok now it's really over

[doctnj]

Sorry Sage. Your comments hit me at the end of a tough day. I could have said what I said much differently. anyhow.

The 338 comparator is still on the way but I also picked up an RCBS mic. I had ordered it just before finding out there was a comparator available but never the less I still wanted to see how it workded and what it had tell me. Ive been shooting the 338 LM for quite some time but all of the ammo was either reloads from HSM or Dallas Custom Reloads. I have shot up everything exect from the latter. I had not been extremely happy with the LM's accuracy. After measuring the head space and free bore in my rifle and pre and post fired ammo from Dallas it all started to make sense.

Fired brass measured only .001 larger than ANSI minimum so its an extremely tight action. Then I measured reloads from dallas. He bumped the shoulder back .007 from fired size.

Now with this disclaimer; my review of the rcbs mic. nice and compact and inclusive. However from end scale to end scale not so accurate. There seems to be some slop in the measurements to a degree. The threads and the marks have a bit of looseness to them. You can set it and then pull the two end appart and change the reading nearly .005 just by pulling the nut and body apart. So that being said, The aforementioned measurements may be off one direction or the other but they are not doubt .007 adjustment made to the reloaded cartridge. Its no wonder I never got any repeatable accuracy with that amount of play.

The comparison of rcbs and hornady overall length gauges measuring device fared much better. They were with in .0005, roughly, of each other so I feel pretty confident about my overall length measurements. They were both confirmed on the hornady calipers with ogive comparator. Then measuring the reloaded rounds from dallas again and comparing to this number the bullets were on average .010 off the lands. Not a deal breaker but just finding out where I have come from. As soon as my large shell holder from forster gets here I can start fabricating what I hope will be a much more accurate round.

I think the rcbs mic is going to be going back or kept merely to ease my obsession to hoard tools useful or not.

Lastly this is not a dallas custom reload bash. Chad had no idea of the actual measurements of my rifle.