I am new into collecting Handi's. I have quite a few already, but have only blasted factory .223s so far.
However, I have been shooting Thompson Center Contenders in competition for over 20 years so I do have more than my share of experience reloading for break open actions. Lots of my contenders are accurate with neck size only for 3-4 or even 5 loadings before I have to bump the shoulder back.
My methods may be archaic, but they work:
I load my ammo in boxes of 100. Because I have two or three boxes of each load, I never load less than the full box, and never mix brass from different boxes, so my box of brass all have the same number of firings.
When I have a box of empties to reload, they get put into the tumbler and tumbled. Even if they are still pretty, I let the corn cob do it's duty.
On the first setting of the die, be it a neck sizer or FL sizer, I smoke the neck and shoulder of my first piece of brass with a birthday cake candle, or on straight wall cases, about the depth of my seated bullet. I then set my die to so it cleans off the smoke just enough to hold a bullet in place. With a full length sizer die, this may be only half the neck, and not even into the shoulder.
I have my gun there with me (but NO loaded ammo). I open and close the action a few times. I am FEELING the action close and the way it locks up. I am also HEARING the action close and the way it locks up. Now I take that first piece of brass, wipe off the excess smoke, and try it in my action. What does the action FEEL like and SOUND like? Do I have to force it to close or does it feel a little tighter? If so, I may have to size a little more of the neck, or even TOUCH the shoulder. I am setting my die 1/16th or 1/8th or 1/4 of a turn at a time so I get to the point where my action just just just reaches that sweet point where it closes the way it did without the brass.
Now, I have reached a starting point. I am sizing my brass to fit my action. On some calibers, 22 hornet for instance, I may adjust my die down another 1/16 of a turn so I am bumping that little taper just a little. I don't know why, but they are more accurate. On other calibers, my 7x30 waters for example, I adjust my die up 1/16th to 1/8th of a turn. I want to just feel that piece of brass and know it is in the chamber. This one is now headspacing on the the shoulder and I don't have to worry about a variance in rim thickness like you do on a full length sized rimmed case.
If the first case I try doesn't do the trick, I may have to start the process over. I just keep the first few brass in the front of my box and know they may be just a little different.
If I am not sizing the full length of the neck, sometimes I will seat a bullet in the empty, unprimed, brass and test it for fit. This is a good time to adjust bullet depth and to also ensure that seating a bullet in a partially sized neck does not keep the case from seating all the way. Hate to have a minute false shoulder on the brass keep it from seating when a bullet causes it to swell out .006" or so.
Once I have my brass sized, I now try it with a primer. I seat a primer with my Handy Dandy Lee Primer tool and try the brass again. I don't want to have high primers keeping my action from closing. I want to make sure my primers are seating all the way.
So, I have set my dies so my action just closes on the sized brass. I confirmed bullet seating depth and that the case with seated bullet will chamber. I have also confirmed seated primers are at proper depth.
I pull that bullet with my collet puller, crank out the 100 primers in about 10 minutes, and then load up my ammo. Oh, forgot, the gun was put back in the safe before the bullet was pulled.
Ammo is more accurate and I rarely have problems with a reload fitting my chamber. Brass and bullets are not perfect so once in a very great while you will have one of those max tolerance rounds that may not chamber. If I am hunting, I check each round before it goes into my ammo carrier. With a single shot, I don't want to find the dud when I am trying to get off a needed second shot.
Another little secret for straight wall cases. I full length size them ONCE. The day I bring them home new. From then on they are gun specific and only sized to the depth of the seated bullet. If you get one of the longer cases, 357 max, 30 carbine, even 357, you can see what I have called the Coke Bottle Effect. The brass is narrower in the middle. Don't know why, but it happens. You can imagine how fast I can load 357s if using fine flake ball powder and partial sizing. 400-500 per hour is the norm on my Dillon 550 if I have the primers already seated.
Try the smoke trick when setting your dies. Size the brass so it fits YOUR gun. You may not use it in someone else's because it may not fit. You will have better accuracy and performance in your gun!!
Good luck and straight shooting.
Steve
