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.

I’ll see if I can get it to you if you are still looking…

Thanks much. When I looked at the tips on the 25 I loaded - and compared them to a few bullets out of the box - I’m pretty convinced that the loaded bullets were “more different” than the stuff I hadn’t loaded yet. Guessing that they were hitting the bottom of the stem - but who knows.

I bought the Frankford Arsenal Universal seating set that I've seen lots of positive stuff about relative to VLD bullets in 338 LM stuff... It's still in the box - but will get set up and tried out this weekend. FWIW - the seating stem I used for the first batch is the one that Hornady sells for their 300gr A-Tip match bullets. I guess the Bergers must get fat just a bit later.

Cool stuff... Have you measured case volume?

You made me look up 280 Brit...

If you got it done in one day... you don't have enough guns... 😛

Figured I'd look at what the interwebs define as "ELR" and after that - I'm going to let you argue with google... 😛 It seems that some definitions are based on when the bullet goes trans sonic. I'm going to go shoot my 8.6blk at 200Y and call it ELR... Like I've said elsewhere... right now I'm focused on putting rounds on steel at a mile - which will be far and away the longest shot I've ever connected on (well - other than lobbing strings of .50 BMG at plywood stuff at about that range from an M2 in my youth). I'm not super worried about what I call it... just looking forward to someday hearing the thump of impact on steel at more yards than the last time. If / when I get on steel at a mile, the next distance will become the next challenge. Its pretty amazing how quickly this stuff changes. It's like the hot-rod car hobby. When I was a 16 I remember seeing a magazine article about a street car that ran 11.9s (roots blown 440 mopar of some sort) which the magazine called the "fastest street car in America - and being totally blown away by that time for a street driven car... 15 years later a local buddy had a car that ran 8.61/160 after a 30 mile cruise (first gen camaro with turbos on a BBC)... and that seemed absolutely nuts... Today you have guys running drag-week putting down low 6's @ 220mph (the 2025 winner averaged 6.21 over 5 tracks - and ran a 6.079 @ 236 at one track) driving the same car about 1000 miles in the week while pulling a trailer with tools and supplies. In just the last 30 years the "fastest street car" tag has gone from 12s to 6s... I can't see how - but it could be that 20 years from now we all look back and laugh at thinking that 2000Y was "long range"...

I noticed that as well. They are Berger 300s from Midway - not listed as 2nds. I'll take a few bullets out of the box and take pictures of them before being loaded. The only precision die I could find that was not backordered was a Hornady set. I picked up the seating stem for the 338 300gr ATip bullets which I understood should work for the 300gr Bergers. I found this thread this morning - https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/berger-vld-seating-stems.298097/ I'll pull the stem tonight and look at how the bullet sits in the stem. For these first rounds I'm not super worried about it - as "most" of what I'm worried about with these is MV and pressure testing.

LOL - all my ELR talk is still aspirational... I don't even shoot LR - "yet"... I'm building towards them both...

Well - loaded up 25 rounds for the ladder. I’m a nerd so I started at the recommended starting load and increased by one grain until I got closer to where I think the real work will start. I modeled it in GRT and built out loads that take me through what GRT thinks will produce max pressure loads (about 60,800PSI). Hoping to shoot in the AM. We’ll see if, and if - then what, i need to tear down… These are the Berger 300gr OTM Hybrid bullets, on Retumbo, with 215M primers in Lapua brass. I did nothing to the new brass other than prime them. I loaded to CBTO that should put the bullet 0.020 off the lands. This resulted in a COAL of about 3.8” so they’ll be getting single loaded. Interestingly, the magazine is stamped 3.80 but these are just a touch longer than will load in the magazine… The cartridge with the blue tip in the picture is a factory round that a buddy gave me a while ago when I was looking for a .338 bullet for something I was doing around the 8.6. I’m going to fire it and then thread the case to use with the Hornady OAL length gauge (as opposed to the unfired spec case that I used for the first pass). I didn’t want to sacrifice one of the new Lapua cases - and I’m guessing that for that purpose - it’ll be better than the unfired case. If that’s wrong - let me know. Interestingly - when I look closely at the bullet tips in the picture, they look mangled… I can’t see that much of it on the bullets themselves unless I put on a magnifying lens. I’m not worried about it for load ladder testing - but now I’m reading up on how this gets managed - for future efforts.