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Posted: 5/25/2010 11:52:20 AM EDT
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I just bought a DPMS AP4 .308 and plan to start loadng for it The only bottle neck cartridge I have loaded are .223. What are the pros and cons of neck sizing vs. full length sizing when loading the .308? Also, I have never had to trim a .223; I guess they just don't stretch much. Can anyone who loads .308 tell me if they had to trim cases? Thanks Vic |
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Quoted:
I just bought a DPMS AP4 .308 and plan to start loadng for it The only bottle neck cartridge I have loaded are .223. What are the pros and cons of neck sizing vs. full length sizing when loading the .308? Also, I have never had to trim a .223; I guess they just don't stretch much. Can anyone who loads .308 tell me if they had to trim cases? Thanks Vic You should full length size for a semi auto. For a bolt you can neck size it will make the brass last longer and give better accuracy. ETA: Iv always had to trim my 223 and 308 cases |
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I would recommend full length sizing when feeding a semi auto. Always.
As far as trimming, I don't usually have to trim very often either. I think that for some their tolerances are less than what I use for blasting ammo (still under recommended length but not necessarily all the exact same). Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted:
I just bought a DPMS AP4 .308 and plan to start loadng for it The only bottle neck cartridge I have loaded are .223. What are the pros and cons of neck sizing vs. full length sizing when loading the .308? Also, I have never had to trim a .223; I guess they just don't stretch much. Can anyone who loads .308 tell me if they had to trim cases? Thanks Vic Have you measured a .223 Rem case? Trimming is not over rated, it's a safety issue. As for neck sizing cases for auto loaders, it's a bad practice that will catch up with you after a couple of reloads. |
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Quoted:
I just bought a DPMS AP4 .308 and plan to start loadng for it The only bottle neck cartridge I have loaded are .223. What are the pros and cons of neck sizing vs. full length sizing when loading the .308? Also, I have never had to trim a .223; I guess they just don't stretch much. Can anyone who loads .308 tell me if they had to trim cases? Thanks Vic Is your gun chambered commercial .308 or military 6.62x51mm? The .308 chamber is tighter in some DPMS's. My commercial .308 chambered DPMS has problems chambering and cycling things like Wolf ammo, and even Federal new commercial ammo. As for reloads, full length sizing with my regular RCBS sizer also gave me problems (rounds are tight the last 1/2" in.) Problem was cured with small-base RCBS die set. (Winchester and Remington commercial ammo work fine, btw) The point of telling you this is to suggest you load only a few, and test 'em in your chamber, then check at the range, for cycling problems, before you load a bunch of it. Your gun may or may not need a small base sizer. Yes, usually you need to trim the brass, unless you use X dies. |
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Semi autos must be full length resized to shorter than your rifle's headspace.
The only safe and quick way to do this is by using a gage. I suggest Hornady's Lock-N-Load beacause it can be used on just about any caliber. Simple drop in gages are better than nothing, RCBS and Mo DeFina make micrometer gages that are caliber specific. They cost more but are great tools. I don't know how you got away with not trimming .223, unless of course you only reloaded the case once or twice. Almost always, my cases will require trimming after two firings. I trim everytime I resize now to avoid the hassle of measuring. Giraud makes that possible. You will have to trim, .223 and .308 and it may be on the first firing. It all depends on how loose the chamber was that fired the round to begin with. Make sure you measure after resizing the case, any measurement taken before then is irrelevant. |
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