New Brass Prep

[JakeSCH]

I am about to prep 100 cases of new hornady brass for my 6.5 PRC and was planning on using the process listed with a goal of half MOA out to 500 yards. So my two main questions are how important is neck turning to achieve that goal and am I missing some crucial or useful steps?

1. Inspect brass (missing flash holes / anything that looks odd)
2. Full length resize
3. Measure and sort all brass (weight, head space, OL)
4. Resize again if needed
5. Trim all brass to a standard length (maybe a couple of short ones could be set aside for my rifle break-in process)
6. Chamfer case neck
7. Deburr case neck
8. Flash hole uniform / deburr
9. Primer pocket uniform

I appreciate the info!
Jake

 

[NBK]

* Neck turning is important regarding accuracy. Stabilizing neck tension has big benefits. Before you make any tooling investment though, shoot your loads to see if you achieve your goal. 1/2" MOA is achievable without a tremendous effort if your rifle is up for the task.

* No basic steps missed

Hopefully you did not pay for the Hornady brass (if you did - no worries, just don't do it again). It is soft and has its own set of issues.

First - is the rifle capable of your goal with premium loads? What is it?

I have found #8 to be a big payoff regarding accuracy. A consistent ignition is where it starts.

Don't worry about "standard" brass length. Find the shortest piece of brass in the lot, square it off with your trimmer and measure it. Now trim the rest of your brass to that length. Having your brass a few thousandth’s shorter than SAMI is fine. It is going to grow the first time you shoot it anyway. A square face and uniform length is more important.

What type of dies are you using?

Don't use a powder measure for your loads. Make sure each load weight is exact. One granule of powder is equivalent to approximately 10 FPS when using slow burning powder. This has a measurable effect at distance.

Powder, primers, bullets and brass play a role as well. Quality components have great value when striving for consistent accuracy.

Tell us about your rifle and your bullet/powder/primer combo. What was your decision to buy Hornady brass?

I never weigh my brass. I did so in the past and found that after competently blueprinting my brass, there was no significant gain in accuracy. The key is to start the project with good brass out of the gate.

 

[Aeon]

Sell the hornady brass and call ff to buy some adg brass. Its lapua quality, im blown away how good it is. Game changer for the saum /prc

 

[JakeSCH]

* Neck turning is important regarding accuracy. Stabilizing neck tension has big benefits. Before you make any tooling investment though, shoot your loads to see if you achieve your goal. 1/2" MOA is achievable without a tremendous effort if your rifle is up for the task.

* No basic steps missed

Hopefully you did not pay for the Hornady brass (if you did - no worries, just don't do it again). It is soft and has its own set of issues.

First - is the rifle capable of your goal with premium loads? What is it?

I have found #8 to be a big payoff regarding accuracy. A consistent ignition is where it starts.

Don't worry about "standard" brass length. Find the shortest piece of brass in the lot, square it off with your trimmer and measure it. Now trim the rest of your brass to that length. Having your brass a few thousandth’s shorter than SAMI is fine. It is going to grow the first time you shoot it anyway. A square face and uniform length is more important.

What type of dies are you using?

Don't use a powder measure for your loads. Make sure each load weight is exact. One granule of powder is equivalent to approximately 10 FPS when using slow burning powder. This has a measurable effect at distance.

Powder, primers, bullets and brass play a role as well. Quality components have great value when striving for consistent accuracy.

Tell us about your rifle and your bullet/powder/primer combo. What was your decision to buy Hornady brass?

I never weigh my brass. I did so in the past and found that after competently blueprinting my brass, there was no significant gain in accuracy. The key is to start the project with good brass out of the gate.

Rifle is Christensen Arms Mesa 6.5 PRC - I think it should be able to get close

I did buy the hornady brass (cabelas because i had a gift card) and ADG / GUNWERKS was sold out at the time. I have read that they did a better job on the 6.5 creed, 6.5 PRC, and 300 PRC brass since they are trying to get the cartridges launched (fingers crossed). I am not opposed to starting fresh with "good" brass if I can't get these to shoot.

Yeah, when i said "standard" length I should have elaborated. My plan was to square and get uniform length.

I plan to trickle the powder by hand to get precise powder loads, beam scale and a jewel scale that measures to .02gr

FED 210M, RL26, and 124g Hammers / 127gr LRX

I bought redding premium dies with the bullet seating micrometer.

 

[TRICER]

Go get some ADG brass from @NBK at Fine Firearms don’t waste your time on the Hornady Brass. Also go with a heavier bullet for the PRC I would use the 137HH. The PRC is built to push heavy for caliber bullets.

 

[JakeSCH]

@NBK I would be happy to return the hornady brass and get some ADG from you...can you get some? I've been on a waitlist on their website for a while.

 

[NBK]

Go get some ADG brass from @NBK at Fine Firearms don’t waste your time on the Hornady Brass. Also go with a heavier bullet for the PRC I would use the 137HH. The PRC is built to push heavy for caliber bullets.

All good stuff @Truduct. He can't push the 137HH. It requires a 1-6.5 barrel. His Christensen is a 1-8. He might get away with the 131HH if he doesn't plan on shooting extreme distance. It should work for his goal of 500 yards. None-the-less, I would definitely go with Hammer regarding monolithic.

 

[NBK]

@NBK I would be happy to return the hornady brass and get some ADG from you...can you get some? I've been on a waitlist on their website for a while.

ADG 6.5 PRC brass is in stock at Fine Firearms. So are the Hammer Bullets. Fine Firearms is the only HH dealer in the U.S..

 

[JakeSCH]

ADG 6.5 PRC brass is in stock at Fine Firearms. So are the Hammer Bullets. Fine Firearms is the only HH dealer in the U.S..

Looks like I will need to set up an appointment then.

 

[punkur67]

Just picked up ADG brass for my 300wm and 308 from Fine Firearms and the brass looks great.

I have a bunch of Hornady 308 brass that I run through my AR-10 and it sucks. Primer pockets are all out of shape or blown out and the brass is very soft.

 

[longbowhunter2]

has any one call Hornady support about this issue or is that a lost cause.

 

[Aeon]

Fine Firearms is such a good resource for reloading. Stuff that no one can find is often in stock.

 

[punkur67]

Fine Firearms is such a good resource for reloading. Stuff that no one can find is often in stock.

My go to for reloading components. Also a great source for information

 

[Aeon]

side note... expecting your rifle to shoot 1/2MOA at 500 yards is not reasonable for a 6.5lb gun. a shot yes but a group at that range will be very challenging. Just for comparison a 500 yard F-class target the x is 2.5" ( 1/2 moa ) the 10 ring is 5' ( 1 moa ) Much harder than it looks.

Make your goal to shoot 1/2 Moa at 100 yards and you will have got everything you can out of your rifle

 

[JakeSCH]

side note... expecting your rifle to shoot 1/2MOA at 500 yards is not reasonable for a 6.5lb gun. a shot yes but a group at that range will be very challenging. Just for comparison a 500 yard F-class target the x is 2.5" ( 1/2 moa ) the 10 ring is 5' ( 1 moa ) Much harder than it looks.

Make your goal to shoot 1/2 Moa at 100 yards and you will have got everything you can out of your rifle

When you talk about the weights of your rifle you don’t include scope, bipod, etc? I expect my rifle to be about 8.5 lbs all in. Is the issue gun related or shooter related?

I never said I expected it but it is a goal that I will try to aim for (pun intended). I would still be happy for MOA at that distance. I am a hunter who wants to considerable improve my skills and increase my selection of tools.

 

[JakeSCH]

side note... expecting your rifle to shoot 1/2MOA at 500 yards is not reasonable for a 6.5lb gun. a shot yes but a group at that range will be very challenging. Just for comparison a 500 yard F-class target the x is 2.5" ( 1/2 moa ) the 10 ring is 5' ( 1 moa ) Much harder than it looks.

Make your goal to shoot 1/2 Moa at 100 yards and you will have got everything you can out of your rifle

What should be the expectation out of a 7 lb hunting rifle at 500 yards?

 

[TRICER]

I expect 500 yards to be a chip shot for my hunting rigs. If you can get 1/2moa at 100 you will be lights out at 500 as long as you do your part. My guess is that rifle will be more of a 3/4 MOA gun though which is still really accurate. Work on finding the right bullet for your rig try different powders and bullets until you find the combo your rifle loves. Sounds like you are going the lead free route so you will be a little limited. The Hammer bullets shoot great and are easy to develop. Yet to hear a complaint about them.

My 8lb 260 hunting rig built by FFA put 3 124HH into a grapefruit size circle at 1,000 yards and I only took 3 shots the 4th shot missed because I pulled. I will never be able to replicate that again but I have witnessed and pictures it was very impressive. I can put my 11yo behind that gun and he can hammer the gong at 500 all day long.

Reloading is fun waste money on bullets, powders, primers, and brass. It’s all part of the fun.

 

[Aeon]

light guns are very hard to shoot very accurately. recoil management, barrel whip, and any inputs you put into the gun are magnified by light weight. On a light gun a 3lb hunting trigger will cost you accuracy. you would be amazed at how a bad trigger pull or even a sloppy grip can make changes happen.

its always a compromise when building a hunting gun. How much can you lug up a mountain ( this is why i road hunt ) its also why hunting guns can not keep up with a target only gun.

There is a guy on the forum that is building a crazy light gun. i am very excited to see what she can do.

so going up to the shoots in taft where the targets start at 550yards. @TaftHunter The good shooters score almost 100% of the time on the 2moa target. They still miss but not that often. The 1moa gong at that range makes people look silly all the time. So in real world conditions inside 2moa at 500 is ok. Now if you can get that down to 1moa most or even half the time at 500 that's very good! With wind and all the things that go with shooting outside. If shooting 1moa was easy at 500 the guys shooting dedicated target rigs with state of the art everything would shoot clean scores every time. They do not and its ok its supposed to be hard

Get her shooting sub moa at 100 and you did your part in finding the ammo the gun likes. keep her on a pie plate at 500 and you are at the door of accuracy. getting smaller takes good reloading but mostly it takes lots of trigger time with great form and experience

 

[TRICER]

I guess I should clarify when I say lights out at 500 I mean ringing an 8” gong. Lights out in a hunting rig means dead deer in my book. Aeon’s pie plate is my goal and all I care about hitting and like he said earlier that pie plate gets easier to hit when you start out with a tight group at 100.

Also I like my hunting rifles all in weight to be right around 8lbs. They still have enough weight to stabilize on a pack and they are not unbearable to carry.

One more thing now that we are on a mountain rifle kick which is my favorite topic. I see no need for a scope to have more magnification than 18 on a hunting rig and I also don’t like anything higher than 4.5 on the low end.

 

[JakeSCH]

I guess I should clarify when I say lights out at 500 I mean ringing an 8” gong. Lights out in a hunting rig means dead deer in my book. Aeon’s pie plate is my goal and all I care about hitting.

Understood. Ultimately dead animals is why I shoot, but reloading seems like a fun obsession