BigNate

This... I genuinely love seeing folks who earn celebrity and wealth and then use them both to make life better for people. He clearly fit that profile. Such a sad situation.

I usually do one - maybe two - UFC PPVs a year. With them going to Paramount+ the $140/year seemed like a deal for the 13 numbered events (plus like 30 other fight night events). I asked google about discounts - and whaddyaknow - 50% off for veterans / military - and it's perpetual... You have to "verify" with some verification service but the most sensitive info that they asked for was my birth date... Name, birthdate, branch of service and month/year of discharge... and 5 seconds later a one-off coupon code... I'll be watching carefully to confirm that they honor the 50% off on succeeding years - but they say so when I bought it - and in the "you are about to pay us" acknowledgement... so... fingers crossed. Figured there were others here who might think $70/year to host PPV parties once a month would be a good deal (if you take the cheaper of the two plans it should be like $45/year).

Looking forward to seeing results! I’m loading up some A-tips for next weekend…

I didn't read the whole (old) thread - but I'll add this... requirements and processes appear to vary by airport and by airline. The first time I flew with a firearm (other than military flights) a couple of years ago, the handgun in the lock box with the magazines unloaded and the cartridges in a zip-lock bag in the lock box was fine... The next time, on a different airline I almost had to chuck my ammo (or donate it to the local LEO) because the airline required that it be in a "factory ammunition box" inside of the locked case. My understanding is that this was an airline specific requirement - not a TSA requirement. The gate agent had apparently been through this before - and the local PD must have seen it happen a bunch of times because after a ton of "this is unofficial - we won't do this again" warnings from the gate agent, she asked me what caliber I was carrying (9mm) then told me to hold on and she went to the PD desk and they produced an empty box for me (sounds like they bring them in and keep a few in their desk for just this situation). So - if you aren't sure what the protocol is - check with your airline in advance. My 2 cents...

I think we're doing the same thing. Yes I anneal every time. I then resize and bump the shoulder using a match resizing die with a bushing that takes the neck ID to only one thousandth smaller than the mandrel (and with no ball on the decpping pin) - so 0.003 smaller than the bullet diameter. I then push the case over the mandrel opening the neck to where it is 0.002 smaller than the bullet diameter. So - I'm just using a bushing die to shrink the neck instead of a standard sizing die - so I suspect that I'm moving the neck material less. EDIT - I don't have a standard sizing die - but I did some digging and Google tells me: "The outer diameter (OD) of a .338 Lapua Magnum case neck after being sized in a standard full-length die without an expander ball is typically between .324 and .326 inches." If that's true - and the neck wall thickness is 0.015 then the ID of the resized case (before the expander mandrel) would be 0.294 - 0.296" - so pushing it over the mandrel is going to open it up by 0.040. I'm thinking that as a general rule moving the brass less is better... so unless I see a reason to change - I'll keep using the bushed die (without any expander ball) to shrink the neck... and the mandrel to final size it...

Very very cool. I said somewhere else (recently) that I'm blown away at how dramatically the game has changed just in the last decade or so. 1MOA at 1000Y with a .22cal projectile would have been considered "almost impossible" just a short time ago.

Thanks @Magwa Congrats on being off-line! I was in the woods this weekend too (up on the rim - cabin time) - but unfortunately they've put in a new cell tower so I'm no longer totally detached when there. I think we're saying the same thing - other than that I'm resizing the neck from the outside down to 0.365 (based on wall thickness this gives me an ID of 0.335) which then gets opened up to 0.336 by the mandrel... If I shrink the OD to 0.338 it would take the the ID down to 0.308 which would then get opened back up to 0.336 by the mandrel. My thought is that I want to minimize the amount of movement of the material to reduce the amount that it work-hardens during the sizing process. I do feel minimal resistance when I push the neck over the mandrel - so I believe that it is opening up the neck very slightly - and there is enough neck tension on the seated bullets that I'm not worried about them moving prior to being chambered - and given that I'm single feeding these I'm not worried about them getting jostled around in the magazine etc. The variables are as follows: Case Neck Material Thickness - 0.015 (measured at the reloading supply shop on new brass - I wamt to get a vernier ball micrometer so I can do it myself as the brass thins). Case Neck OD of once fired brass ~0.369" (I'm guessing at this - but I can drop a bullet into the neck of a fired case and it will slide into the case - so I'm guessing the ID is 0.339ish - plus the 0.030 of the two neck walls) Case Neck OD after resizing with the bushing die - 0.365 Case Neck ID after resizing with the bushing die - 0.335 (0.365 - 2X0.015) Case Neck ID after resizing with the mandrel - 0.336 - giving 0.002 neck tension on a 0.338 bullet So - the idea is that I'm only shrinking the neck by 0.004" and then expanding it by 0.001" to get it to where I want it to be for the 0.002" neck tension... If I resized down to 0.338 OD - I'd be shrinking it by 0.061" with the resizing die, then opening it back up by 0.028" with the mandrel - moving the material a ton more, increasing work hardening, and reducing brass life (or at least that's what I "THINK" would be happening). I'm trying to move the material as little as possible - to get as much life out of the brass as possible. Does that make sense?

Regarding: 2) Lubed case with my standard case lube, bumped shoulder [and used a bushing that would resize the neck to give about 0.003" neck tension}<<< cut this part out Not sure which part you are suggesting be cut out. I'm bumping the shoulder just 0.002" - I've never seen anything that says I shouldn't do this (there has to be a bit of head space - right?). If you are referring to the resizing the neck down - I need to do that because once fired the neck is open to the point that it won't grasp the bullet with enough force to keep it from falling into the case. I chose to use the match die with a bushing that would minimally reduce the neck size so as to work the brass the minimal amount. If I were to use a standard sizing die it would shrink the neck a bunch more than I'm shrinking it with that bushing. Want to be sure that I understand where I'm going wrong... Regarding: 4) Lubed inside case neck with graphite Yes!!!!! very little is required a dusting inside case mouth... I'm using this stuff - seems to work nicely and based on the rate of consumption I'll probably need to buy another tub of the lube somewhere around 2040... https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012768197?srsltid=AfmBOopSw9KLGOBhlknk6-RjP0coEwVRpNbcoLDsN3xh1dWVvv2_H0Ll&pid=614125 Regarding: Yes numbers will drop and rise a small bit due to first firing brass and case stretch and as you reach copper equilibrium you will see your numbers start to settle that is why I hardly ever clean my gun only when accuracy starts to fade... That's the plan here as well. Regarding: ...also what seating die are you using are you getting consistant size? measured from the ogive NOT overall length... I'm using the Frankford Arsenal Universal seating die. I did the first batch with the Hornady Match die but wasn't happy with the stem (either the standard or the one that they recommend for the 300gr A-Tips). I'm measuring CBTO and it was 2.950. I think I had one that was more than 1/2 thousandths off (the first one - where I slightly over-adjusted). Other than that one - they were all either 2.9500 or 2.9505 (although measuring with a $40 caliper set - I'm skeptical that it's actually, truly, accurate to a 1/2 thousandth - but who knows). Regarding: the biggest thing that helped my SD was being meticulas on weighing my powder charges no throwing from scale I weigh each one with a digital scale after getting charge from powder measure and i trickle up to weight, and stap as soon as my digital scale shows my weight... Right now I only have cheap scales. I have a Frankford that is good to 0.1 gr, and for this last batch I bought one (well - 2 - but that's a different story) of these: amazon.com/dp/B0D469P8SC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title ... They claim to be good to 0.02 gr. I found that they would drift fairly quickly (like every 3-4 charges) and I'd have to recalibrate. It was a serious pain. On the other hand, based on what I saw in strings 5-7 I suspect that it was pretty consistent as long as I recalibrated every time it needed it. I have a cheap powder dropper so I'd drop a charge into the pan, weigh the charge, trickle to weight. I'm finding that Retumbo seems to weigh between 0.04 and 0.06 gr per pellet... I gave up on getting to 88.10 gr every time because that would have meant splitting pellets or multiple passes at every charge - and I wasn't going there. So I would accept either 88.10 or 88.12. I built out a simple screen (cardboard) between the AC register and the scale - which I suspect also helped. Some day I'll feel rich enough to get an FX120 and an auto-trickler... some day... Thanks again for all the feedback...

Thanks @Magwa Ironically - Wilson was going to take too long and my local reloader supply shop had one (I think Sinclair - looks pretty much like that) so I picked one up. So - did the following: 1) Cleaned cases, deprimed, cleaned inside of neck with a nylon brush 2) Lubed case with my standard case lube, bumped shoulder and used a bushing that would resize the neck to give about 0.003" neck tension 3) Cleaned cases to remove case lube 4) Lubed inside case neck with graphite 5) Resized the neck with an expander mandrel give 0.002" neck tension 6) Relube the neck and seat bullets to 0.020 from the lands (didn't have time to do the seating depth ladder - so I crossed my fingers and went with 0.020) I got 63 of them through the gun before I ran out of time. These were rounds 51 through 114 through the gun. I was shooting strings of about 10 shots at about 60-90 second splits before letting the barrel cool off for a bit. Early in the day it was cold out and it warmed up substantially later in the day - this accounts for the change in velocity after string 1. What surprised me was the narrowing of the SD and ES. The change from string 1 and 2 to 3 and 4 was not anything I can tie to any change in what I was doing. The change from string 4 to 5 and beyond is at least in part a function of me changing my practice in that I had been inconsistent in when I chambered the round - sometimes chambering the round immediately then getting on target and settling in. This resulted in some situations in which the round spent more time sucking heat out of the chamber and heating up the powder. This changed to "lay the round on top of the magazine, settle in behind the gun, get on target, send the bolt home, and begin trigger pressure. I'm guessing that this accounted for the significant improvement in SD and ES seen at string 5 and later. I'm grasping at straws for what caused the improvement between string 2 and 3-4. One of the other shooters suggested that this could simply be a function of the barrel coming into its own and getting properly fouled - but? Thoughts? Regardless - if I'm able to consistently produce single digit SDs, particularly if I'm able to keep those numbers down around 5fps, I'm pretty happy.

I'm running a 12" Faxon 1:3 twist suppressed. (Faxon Duty Series 12" Big Gunner, 8.6 Blackout, Pistol Length) It's worked well for me - for this purpose.

This guy - right? https://lewilson.com/wilson-expanding-mandrel-die?srsltid=AfmBOoqt6NdvYY1S0dw5XyO4T_v4gMitjrqlVFp-k2RqnfS1jjJTMm2Q

@Magwa Do you mind telling me which die and mandrel you use? I've found Wilson, Short Action Customs, K&M Precision, Cortina, RCBS, and others - and it looks like the systems are proprietary and once I pick one, I'm going to be buying from them for a while. I hadn't worried about this part to this point because I've been loading new brass - but the day is coming soon... so I need to get something bought.

Welcome!

Brandon Herrera's Meme Review focused on it this week... One of the best meme based suggestions was to put the president of Sig in a locked room... cut a hole in the ceiling, and start dropping loaded P320's through the hole until he cops to the issue.

This is a moral issue. I can't imagine that folks at Sig thought that there was ZERO issue with the gun. There is / was too much "smoke" for there to be no fire. This is the failing that aligns with the current mindset of western business leadership - wherein the only thing that matters is the dollars. They probably did statistical modeling that showed them that the risk-cost to the company of continuing to deny that there was a problem and pay settlements when something happened, were less than the assumed costs of making an admission, which would likely have included impact to their military contracts. Honor is dead in most publicly held western companies. Their fear of the Wall Street analysts and shareholders is greater than their desire to do the right thing.