Hornady OAL Gauge Update, Custom Made Cases for Accuracy! 

glad you pointed that out, have not really thought it out yet but just as easy to follow instructions. I had just watched a similar video by another fella who made sure to mention the placement differences, but he was confused on which blade was traveling and which was stationary, it was comical to me, words actually have meanings

Send me one Sam and I’ll do a review. I have four subscribers.

Pao Her I get my best groups with low ES/SD when bumped .002 back. This isn’t true for everyone, but it works best for me. After a few firings, the bolt will become hard to close if all you do in neck size. You could try bumping at different measurements and see what works best in your rifle.

Stoney Point OAL guage

Boober if you send me a fired case and an unfired case along with the cost of return shipping I’ll make you one.! I’m making 3 sets today for folks who don’t have the tools.

Vaughn Precision thanks that’s awesome!!! I’m away from my house for a few weeks for work👎🏻. I’ll definitely do that when I’m home.

Boober sure thing, shoot me an email at vaughnprecision@gmail.com when your ready and I’ll give you an address to ship it to.

@@vaughnprecision very commendable of you for that offer, but you really should get compensated for your time, you could just do it cheaply if you wanted to help someone more in need, but to do it for free I am sure every tom dick and harry will be expecting it.

@@tomgiorgini9154 I do charge a fee

Steve Slaughter is this a case that you sent me that I drilled and tapped for you.?

@@vaughnprecision Thanks for the quick reply!! No, I used a "L" drill and a 5/16 - 36 tap and the lathe at work. After cleaning up the threads, it is REALLY tight on the Hornady LnL threads. I learned LONG ago to never force fit any threaded gizmos. The "custom" Hornady case that I also bought fits the threads but as you recommended, I would rather use my once-fired brass bumped back 0.002. I might use thread lube and try hand-installing again. If that doesn't work, I can try lightly wire-brushing the threads on the LnL gage. If none of this work, I'm blaming the new tap. Just starting precision loading 6.5 PRC now that I have the rifle broken in with 40 Hornady factory loads.

Steve Slaughter try taking the tap with a little cutting oil and running it back through the case, since the tap has a taper on the front, run the tap in deep. This might be enough to clean up those threads for a better fit. Once your done, I like to spray them out with some cleaner, I use carb clean or brake cleaner. Just want to make sure all the fine shavings aren’t hanging things up.

@@vaughnprecision Will run through again. I only blew them out with shop air, I have lots of Brakleen. Good ideas. Thanks!

Worked like a charm. Thanks for the work. Loaded 20 each using the Gunwerks and Hornady brass to head to the range and chronograph. Now using the gage, can set bullet depth consistent on both brands of brass to figure out my final powder selection and charge load. My problem now is that my large group size has to be blamed on my lack of rifle skill, not the bullet jump! (you took away one of my excuses)

Hello , sometimes a fire formed case will become so large as to not chamber, or chamber very tightly on an individual weapon. This is caused by the pressure exerted all sides of the brass cartridge case. The case will swell until it fits the weapons chamber, thus the term fire forming.. You need to back off your Fl die about 1 turn from bottoming out on the shell holder/plate and loosen the lock ring. Now using the headspace gage slowly your headspace down from the fire formed case about .002 ". This worked for me. Alternately you can decrease the shoulder slightly and then bring that brass case over and place it in your weapons chamber. Close the bolt using very little pressure. If it dose not close with very little effort, bring the case back to your press and decrease the shoulder a little more. Repeat the process until you feel satisfied with your work Now go ahead and tighten the lock ring down on the FL die. Guess what you have a round that it now custom fit to that gun, and only that gun.

I only use the body die if I want to make a specific bump to the shoulder. That’s the only reason. Most the time I don’t do this, I just use a fire formed case that’s been drilled and tapped. Hope this helps

@@vaughnprecision Thank you for being kind enough to answer. I recently found out someone I know is a machinist by trade and also has his own metal lathe and mill. I asked if he would make me some modified cases explaining the process, and he said no problem, for you I’ll do it free. The question he asked was about chucking up the brass without a wobble. I don’t think he is super knowledgeable about ammo cartridges. However it did bring an interesting question to this wet- behind ears-getting-ready-to-reload-1st time newbie. I wondered if my cartridges that I will be loading for are straight walled bottle-necks? Turns out the .243 Win, .270 Win, 7.62x39 are not. All of these cartridges show some minimal amount of body taper, with the 7.62 being the greatest of my cartridges. Question, will chucking up a .243 or .270 in a common 3 jaw lathe chuck be wobble free enough to drill & tap, because the taper change is minimal enough over the case body length? Also the other question was: after I fire-form my brass, do I want to full length size my brass with only a .002 shoulder bump, and trim to SAAMI max length before drilling and taping this modified case for the Hornady Max Length Gauge? From what I understand on bolt guns such as the ones I’m most interested in reloading for, one should resize with a .002 shoulder bump with a FL sizing die, for this seems to be suggested norm, and with a .004 bump for auto-loaders. What I’ve heard that throws me off is that even a shoulder bump is still a full length resize of the full body as well, but the difference is that the shoulder bump is made with just ever so less of a full length die max depth setting, or with the die only maybe approx 1 turn less further in than the conventional FL resize die set-up procedure. This setup being where you raise the ram, and dial the FL size die down till it hits the shell-holder, and then just a hair more for cam over feel. This is what I have read is the full length resize setting for my Redding T7 Turret press, and a should bump setting being just slightly less on the die screw-in amount to allow the particular rifle’s bolt to JUST close without tightness. So if I got my info correct, after firing my stock ammo cartridge once, I then want to shoulder bump it .002 with my Redding FL die from my Redding deluxe 3 die set, trim case to SAAMI max length and then have the case modified for the Hornady Max length gauge tool correct? After I then measure case length to shoulder with a bump gauge tool, then bump each case back the same amount of .002, trim to max sammi length, then seat all of my particular bullets the same distance from the lands using case head to bullet ogive measuring tool “keeping in mind the Hornady Overall max length when touching lands measured previously? I watched your video and you explanation of how a person might not be able to get to the lands, nor it be desirable for accuracy depending on bullet length used, and chamber size. Even heard of some saying even a 1/4” jump can be accurate in some rifles. Also heard that powder charges should be reduced if you load very close to the lands because pressure increase significantly! So if consistency of measurement is held with all this kept in mind, am I understanding the process clearly? I still have plenty of time to study more before attempting my 1st reload for my .243 Win, because primers are still unavailable. I just want to make sure I understand things perfectly clear before I reload, so things are safe and accurate. Thank you sir for your gracious help my friend ✌️😎👍

Richard Harvey I sometimes just bump the shoulder, but I stopped doing that for the most part. Now I just drill, tap and use without anything else done to the cases

@@vaughnprecision many thanks, I am looking at just neck sizing but thought it's better to use the firm formed case as it comes out of the gun, not sizing it first.👍

more crimp, or neck tension, you are to far in the lands, also but that needs to be determined thru testing. basically if your Bullett is stuck in the barrel you are to far in the lands a lot of factors here

Get the Redding body die and screw it down in to the press a small amount at a time until you can measure a difference at the shoulder

@@vaughnprecision Thank you...

Vaughnprecision.com

raider6511 send me 2 cases, one fired and one not. That way I have something to compare them to. Send me 5-10 bucks and I’ll make one and mail it back.

@@vaughnprecision where do I send one to I have a 6.5 creedmoor I'd love to get more out of I have the hornady modified case already but I'd like to get an even more accurate measurement off my lands

brambo4791 go to my website and email me from there, I’ll email back all the info you’ll need

Marek Kondraciuk it’s best to yes, you’ll get better results

I don't think you need to if all you're doing is shooting new brass but if you plan on reloading them once fired you should use a once fired case that's drilled and tapped.

Usually I've found the cheap ones to be within about .001 to .002 when compared to an expensive pair.