Vibratory tumbler with walnut shell medium.
Regardless of the load, eventually you will have to trim cases to maintain the correct overall length. Hotter loads will increase the trimming frequency required. Despite the best of care, brass will not last forever and eventually will have to be replaced. All brass eventually expires and has to be scrapped, but don’t throw it into the trash can. You may be able to sell it as scrap metal and recover some of your costs. If you use a lot of cases for either target shooting or varminting, I would give serious consideration to changing your normal reloading dies for a set of straight line dies, which are readily available for most of the varmint type calibres. This type of die produces better quality ammunition
This cheap Japanese 6x scope sight has seen 30 years of constant use.
than standard dies. The most obvious benefit is that only the neck of the case is worked during the reloading process, increasing case life dramatically. The amount that the brass is worked is minimal. You also can control the size of the neck reduction with different size bushings. Although only one of my varmint rifles has a fitted neck, I normally neck turn all my varmint rifle cases to a common size, not necessarily turning the whole of the case neck but very close thereto. Some will claim that this is a waste of time in factory rifle chambers. I disagree and experiments have shown that there is an accuracy increase in necks so cut. Aside from any other reason, it ensures that the thickness of the neck is a constant value throughout its diameter – thus neck tension is the same. It works well in my 22-250 Rem- ington with groups that average half an inch – very good for a factory rifle. Looking after your brass will save you a considerable amount of money – the time and effort involved are both worthwhile.
Old powder containers should be retained for future use. It is worthwhile remembering that several brands are available in larger containers which will result in consider- able savings. Whilst it may be too much powder for a single shooter, it’s the sort of saving that would be of interest to several reloaders. Just be very careful when downloading from a large to a small container and be sure to adequately re-label any new container. Check around for prices, as they vary considerably. True, hazardous freight charges may increase the price but it still may be a proposition if several reloaders are involved.
The cost of projectiles has risen considerably in recent years, but it still is possible to save by matching actual use to projectile type. It is a waste of resources to use premium bullets on the more common game such as rabbits, goats, foxes and pigs. For varmint type rifles, more than 90 percent of rifles in 22 calibre can be adequately covered by standard soft- or hollow-point bullets. I will plead guilty to using low or very low drag projectiles for longer ranges mainly because a particular rifle is super accurate with them. For the standard bullets, shop around for bulk deals as the savings can be significant.
Some retailers purchase “blemished” projectiles from the manufacturers and sell them at a discount price. The
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