Reply With Quote26 grains of unique covered with cream of wheat and sealed with crisco works great.
I have Unique, Bluedot and Universal clays.
I never use the universal clays powder and would like to use that to fire form.
Thinking of using cream of wheat, tissue paper on top of the powder and a tissue paper plug.
Thanks
26 grains of unique covered with cream of wheat and sealed with crisco works great.
I use loads that I will be sighting in with and practicing.
I am going to do some of that too, but thought I would try the other method.
Never have tried it.
I am going to do some of that too, but thought I would try the other method.
Never have tried it.
I'm not an expert on barrels but not sure what the effect would be of blasting wax & wheat down the bore. I have found that there is not a lot of difference in elevation between the virgin brass and fire formed brass.
This is a magnum contour Shaw hunting barrel so not worried about its life span.
Once I get it dialed in I am going to try it out at long distance like 600-1000 at the range and If I can get on target and actually shoot a decent group I will buy a 2nd target barrel.
Have read other places on the web of people fire forming with COW with no ill affects to the barrel.
Are you using Ackley loads in Virgin brass ?? or reduced loads ??
I have found you lose approximately 10% in velocity when fire forming, so I just compensate with a stouter load, but most of all I find the brass comes out nicer and more uniform, than with they other method.
Tanks Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
I was running the "regular" load when I took it to the range. 140gr Nosler BTHP with virgin Nosler brass and 42gr of H4350. Now I have Nosler .260AI brass.
It would shoot tight groups at 600y if I held over a bit. I had to keep it in the top of the 10 ring. Of course I could not do a simple little thing like that.
Last edited by JCalhoun; 03-06-2013 at 10:45 PM.
You had to hold over due to that 10% loss in velocity, the reason for the drop in velocity, is due to they energy that would usually go to propelling the bullet forward, some of they energy is lost in the fire forming of the brass, that's why you can run a hotter load and see no signs of pressure, since it is dissipated in the forming of the brass.
Tanks Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
Using the cream of wheat method will result in 95% formed cases and will result in better sighting in and accuracy loads without having to waste costly components to form the cases in the first place. Just the way i do it.
Scope eye,
I agree with your statement. The consistent hold over was the point I was trying to show. That accuracy will be good just a bit slower.
I have used the COW method on my 6mm Ackley and my 22-250 Ackley. I can just shoot my standard brass in my 22-250 (gunsmith chambered it perfect). However on my 6mm Rem AI, the gunsmith ran the reamer just a little too depth and it doesn't crush fit with standard ammo. This is on a M700, I can't just screw the barrel down tighter. I had to form a false should to get the brass to set tight against the bolt and the primer to 100% fire.
I use unique and cap off with COW. I start with 10% of the full case weight of the powder and then work up if necessary to get sharp shoulder. I can do this at home. I think it freaks the neighbors out.
Luck, Tim
"without having to waste costly components to form the cases in the first place"
But that's exactly what you are doing, you are wasting, primers, powder, brass life, and barrel life, and to top it off you don't even get a fully formed case, and if you really look at it it's almost a chore, at least if you top it off with a bullet, even the cheapest plinking ones, or what a great time to use up those half boxes that you know you will never use, hey at least your out there shooting, just an observation.
Tanks Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
I use a standard load and jam the bullet, helps keep the firing pin from driving the case forward and getting a short reform.
Are you guys using the COW method getting uniform headspace (base to datum length) in your fireforms?
Yes, but he top edge of the shoulder may not be 100% sharp, but the "Head Clearance" of formed bass is perfect.Originally Posted by bsekf
BTW, if you need to use a bullet jam your brass is too short, case head to the neck-shoulder junction. You should have at least a .004" crush the same as if your forming using a false shoulder. In fact, if you using brass of a larger caliber for the 260, 7-08 for instance, you should partially resize the neck to form a false shoulder. The larger diameter neck protrudes farther into the shoulder shortening the casehead to junction length.
It why improved gauges are a unique length and not interchangeable within the same cartridge family. Their length is based on the casehead to shoulder junction, not on the shoulder.
Bill
Tammons I had one of those Shaw barrels 26" V and it shot real good, I sold it to a friend because I had too many to work with and he has shot it out to 600 yds. He says when it is broke in it will is going to be a shooter.
Actually after I thought about it some more, I decided to drop the whole 260 ackley thing
and shoot F/TR for a while. Just sold the barrel. I just dont have a lot of time to fire form etc. and my trips to a 600yd or 1000 yard range will be on trips to the farm in Ga and when I am up there I am usually chasing Hogs around too.
For now I am switching to the 308, 2 rifles, one sporter to hunt with and one long heavy barrel for target.
208 amax same load for both, target 178 amax out to 600 yards and 208 amax out to 1000.
I hunted with the 208 amax a couple of years ago and its a good bullet for the size game where I hunt.
I will eventually go back to 6.5mm for target one day, but think I will go to 6.5x55 swede.
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