Does this look right?

[waco]

I have yet to buy a Lee collet neck size die for my 300blk.
I adjusted my Hornady FL size due to just size the neck for my Ruger American Ranch.
Man that has a big chamber!
Does this seem normal to you guys?
The brass chambers back in the gun just fine.

 

[waco]

 

[yodogsandman]

Seems OK. Looks like you're only sizing 2/3 of the neck. If it fits in the chamber, will help to center the brass.

 

[Ian]

Dies probably sizing the neck WAY too far down (typical for FL dies) and not the chamber being big. Measure the case body just behind the shoulder, chamber should be .363", fired brass should be about .361" there. Fired necks should be about .329" with a tight chamber neck and about .332" with a large chamber neck, I've seen them all around that area. The sizing die is probably knocking the neck back to about .315-318" OD, which is a lot more than necessary.

 

[waco]

Measure the case body just behind the shoulder, chamber should be .363"

This looks about right after sizing.

Fired necks should be about .329" with a tight chamber neck and about .332" with a large chamber neck, I've seen them all around that area.

These measure .335"

 

[Brad]

Looks like what I would expect. Sizers way over size. Now you know why we get neck splits.

 

[waco]

So I'm looking to try some of my NOE 312290 bullets in the 300
Checked and lubed they are 225gr.
Super hard for me to find any kind of cast load data.
In MY rifle, with this bullet, COL at the lands is 2.40"
Does 10gr of IMR4198 sound out of line?

 

[fiver]

Hornady was having some dimensional issues with their sizing dies.
it happened to be right when I had ordered a set of them, so I picked up a set of rcbs dies and swapped in the ball expander out of my x39 die set for doing cast loads.
I still use my 30 carbine flair for the case mouth.

if I was just gonna neck size I would look at using my 30 carbine steel die and let the slight taper work for me.
I NS my 358 win cases using a 38 special steel die, and the case mouth flair from the pistol set.

I have used that much 4227 for a subsonic load in an AR with 200gr bullets before and it worked well.

 

[Ian]

Yup, the IMR stuff will go subsonic with a 230 at about 10-10.5 grains from a 16" AR. You might have to drop it down to 9.5 or so for your bolt gun. It will be dirty, though, and more loud than other subsonic, bolt rifle powder options.

 

[waco]

Ian. What would be other good powder choices in your opinion?
Mind you I don't need to cycle an AR
I have a bolt gun.

 

[fiver]

try 9.5grs of aa#9
it's not sub sonic [bout 1500 fps] but it's one of my favorites.
if you want slow.
4grs of a fast pistol powder should get you out there.

 

[Ian]

Titegroup is fantastic for 230-grain loads in my .308, but it has a lot of case volume to cushion the pop. You could slow it down a bit in the smaller case and still have good ignition, maybe try Unique.

 

[fiver]

I think you'd need more than 4 grs of unique.
red-dot and 700-x type speeds is what I use , mainly with the LEE 240gr mold.
cheap, cheap and good.

 

[Brad]

QL shows that load of 10 gr 4198 as developing only 10.5 K PSI. Not a clean burn at all. Velocity of 974 fps.
Max is 18 gr for 1655 fps.

4 gr of Red Dot shows 20 K PSI and 877 fps. Very low muzzle pressure too so it ought to be pretty quiet.

5 gr Unique is 19 K PSI and 969 fps.

 

[waco]

Thank you Brad.
Well. Maybe I'll bypass the 4198. 18gr huh? I wouldn't think you could cram a 225gr bullet onto that much powder.
I'm looking for a quiet light load. I think I'll try the Red Dot and maybe the Unique loads.

 

[Brad]

The red dot looks intriguing. Not needing to cycle an action makes it easier.

 

[waco]

The red dot looks intriguing. Not needing to cycle an action makes it easier.

Yep. I'm dumping the 4198 as we speak and grabbing a jug of RD

 

[JWFilips]

Some interesting pressures & numbers here...Good Stuff.
waco: my shooting buddy Ed doesn't have one neck size die...but partially resized the neck as in your photo Says it aligns the case better.
However he has honed out his FL dies "necks" for use with cast bullet sizes ( & I have too) But I do own custom Neck Size die for cast bullets Not really sure which is better!
Actually none of my FL dies can be used for resizing for Jacketed bullets ( & That is OK with me)

 

[waco]

Just so you know. That's what 18gr of IMR4198 looks like. That might be a chore seating a 225gr bullet into that.

 

[Brad]

Come one waco, your good enough to do it! Gonna be tough closing the bolt......