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Posted: 1/17/2013 9:30:15 PM EDT
Pretty happy with the setup! just a low charge of 223gr h50bmg behind pulled 690gr fmj that were resized before seating. Used imperial sizing wax, had to cycle the handle twice then put more lube on, then cycled 2-3 times. Maybe I'm over doing it, just was afraid i would get my first case stuck in the die or break the handle! I think I might have seated the primer too deep. Should the primer be flush with the bottom of the case? or seated a little deeper? It passes the nogo gage, haven't tried putting it in the chamber yet. Will be doing that sunday. It will be fed into AR50 |
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Over the winter I loaded 20 rounds, now its warm went out to the range 30 miles away, only could close the bolt on 5 rounds, the rest, the bolt would not close, only moved down about 20%.
I came home, checked the nogo gage, most of them failed..  I do not understand, it all passed over the winter. well I only checked nogo after sizing and cleaning each case. I am not sure if it was from something down the road between seating primers/bullet, or climate change? Its only sticking out of the gage between .001"-.004" most of them are around .001" or less.
I did not try to force the bolt down with too much force with my palm pushing down. Kinda nervous to push it any more, even though i still had enough strength to do that but did not. I prefer a cartridge this big to fit in nice and close the bolt nicely instead of having to force it. Rifle is a AR50. sized 20 cases in the last couple days, they are well around .002" under the top of the nogo gage now. some are down to .004" I'm curious if some cases go down below the lowest notch on nogo gage, is it still safe to use or no good? (couple cases are like .002" under. I am using pulled mil bullets that I have resized. |
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almost all 50 shooters use a mallet to open ore close a bolt on bolt guns ..auto i have know idea.. resize 2 to 3 times on my lee 50 press with top brass once firred.. works for me I never use mallet to close a bolt on both of my 50 cals, about 100-200 rounds fired on SA ammo, I don't see anyone doing that, maybe a little bang with the palm. If a mallet is needed to close the bolt, i would assume something is wrong. I would understand needing mallet to open the bolt, I've had to do that a few times. I was told that a stuck bolt needing a mallet to open usually means hot load. |
| Most of my reloads the bolt can be closed easily. Now and then I might need to give it a slight slap. Same with opening, now and then a good slap of the bolt handle. Only one did I have to use a wooden dowel rod to assist. And that was clearly a hot round. Seems that some brass just does not like to be resized without spring back. Annealing might help the shoulder to minimize the spring back. |
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Did you trim the brass? See if you can chamber a resized case by itself. I have never needed a mallet to open or close a bolt (well,sometimes on the Mosins it would help). yes trimmed yes tested it in rifle before loading it. I loaded some new rounds already to take it to the range tomorrow. I am confident this load will work, I just went through all 20 rounds in the nogo gage after seating bullets. all are good except one seems to have some how expanded so now its little under .001" above the nogo gage. I wish I could just load couple and walk outside and try it out, that would save me time. but nope, 60 miles round trip to test loads. |
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Did you trim the brass? See if you can chamber a resized case by itself. I have never needed a mallet to open or close a bolt (well,sometimes on the Mosins it would help). yes trimmed yes tested it in rifle before loading it. I loaded some new rounds already to take it to the range tomorrow. I am confident this load will work, I just went through all 20 rounds in the nogo gage after seating bullets. all are good except one seems to have some how expanded so now its little under .001" above the nogo gage. I wish I could just load couple and walk outside and try it out, that would save me time. but nope, 60 miles round trip to test loads. check all 50 bmg in a lyman headspace gauge and still get a sticky bolt it is white it is |
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Did you trim the brass? See if you can chamber a resized case by itself. I have never needed a mallet to open or close a bolt (well,sometimes on the Mosins it would help). yes trimmed yes tested it in rifle before loading it. I loaded some new rounds already to take it to the range tomorrow. I am confident this load will work, I just went through all 20 rounds in the nogo gage after seating bullets. all are good except one seems to have some how expanded so now its little under .001" above the nogo gage. I wish I could just load couple and walk outside and try it out, that would save me time. but nope, 60 miles round trip to test loads. check all 50 bmg in a lyman headspace gauge and still get a sticky bolt it is white it is I just realized that I made mistake with the terms, I'm not using nogo gage, I'm using lyman headspace gage sorry about the confusion! 
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When you full-length sized the brass, did you adjust your die so it would just contact the shellholder - plus a quarter turn to compensate for springback?
Typically, machine gun fired brass will be a little fat down near the casehead than brass from a bolt gun. If you don't get that last little bit when initially sizing, the finished round will be more difficult to chamber. |
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When you full-length sized the brass, did you adjust your die so it would just contact the shellholder - plus a quarter turn to compensate for springback? Typically, machine gun fired brass will be a little fat down near the casehead than brass from a bolt gun. If you don't get that last little bit when initially sizing, the finished round will be more difficult to chamber. Based in what I've read, it's best to do .50 bmg rounds in stages because the last little bit of the stroke has the most torque. Basically, you won't have the die contact the shellholder until the very last stage. |
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I would follow Mr Ben's advice, doing it like that I've always resized brass in one stroke. You need to bump the shoulders back just a bit and squeeze the base enough to get it back into shape.
If you have to beat a round in with a mallet, you have problems and need to stop. The mallet was always there for hot loads, it helped guys to lift the handle and not beat a round in. Be careful as that's a grenade sitting inches from your face and will put a nice X mark on your health records. |
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went out and shot total of 20 rounds, all went smoothly! Those rounds I just gave the die a little squeek in turn down. So now all cases are a tad under the top of headspace gage.
The bolt closed smoothly, some had some pressure to close it, 3 needed a single slap with the palm of hand and it closed fine. 6 215gr of H50BMG shot very nice, I also loaded 5 220gr, 5 225gr, 2 230gr, 2 235gr. It seemed to like the 235 also. I do not have a monopod, i only put my left hand under the grip to give it a little more rear stablity. This is at 100yds. I am sure I could do much better with a monopod. with 215gr 
220gr center, 225 gr lower right, 230gr upper right, 235gr upper left. 
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| Two shots do not mean carp. Though looks interesting. I hope that it is not fact that it likes the 235 grain load. First it is hard on your body to include your retina. And it is also harder on your gun / barrel. Glad to hear that your reloads are seating better in your rifle. |
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The hot loaded rounds always left me waiting for reality to set back in after I fired them.
Usually took a few seconds after the round left the chamber for that to happen. 
OP, your rounds look very nice! 
Have a friend who uses WC860 pulldown powder to launch 650 gr. pulled LC projos and the groups have been good at 100 yards. That powder is much cheaper and seems to work well for my friend in his AR50. Nice rifle choice too BTW. Those projectiles sure don`t make clean wadcutter holes in paper, do they??
They just seem to gouge their way through! LOL! |
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