Oh boy! More "lightbulb" moments!
I have in the past gone for the "larger is almost always better" theory, and as I said, there are limits to that. I've often told people trying to figure out sizing diameters that the ID of a fired case mouth is as large as you can easily go. I see now that while that's true, I could have been giving the wrong advice, or at least not the whole story with the advice. Lesson learned, fine tune things.
Ian, "steering from the back end". 10-4. Isn't that what minimum run out of the loaded cartridge contributes to? Minimum neck clearance, no run out, no bent, long for the caliber bullets? Good points, we forget the body is just as much in play as the nose.
From post 35- "The alloy was also meant for 2500 fps and not 1800, so the engraving pressure is very high and the base gets flame cut." Fuel for the "Bhn isn't the whole story" saga! Also some very nice pics of the alloy being moved into the grooves, an important issue that doesn't get a lot of attention. Good job!
Post 34 makes me glad my 336SC 35 Rem is pre MG!