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I’m just curious how many of you guys use a gauge versus just setting the headspace buy feel?

Last edited by Aviator; 07/09/20.
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I bump the shoulders and measure with a Hornady gauge.


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I only bump the shoulder of the case chambers with too much force.

It rarely needs it.


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Originally Posted by Aviator
I’m just curious how many of you guys use a gauge versus just setting the headspace buy feel?

Ive done both. Both work just fine. One thing youll find is one person's "feel" may not be quite the same as anothers. If you dont know how, you may need to use a gauge.


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
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Been reloading about 50 years. Don't own a gauge. Always set the die by feel.


I am continually astounded at how quickly people make up their minds on little evidence or none at all.
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Originally Posted by Blacktailer
Been reloading about 50 years. Don't own a gauge. Always set the die by feel.

this.
and where can a guy "buy" a feel? grin


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RCBS case mic for every caliber I load for.


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Originally Posted by Blacktailer
Been reloading about 50 years. Don't own a gauge. Always set the die by feel.


Same here. These days it seem's to me that reloading has become a science. I've gotten pretty worn out with that.

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I handload cartridges using methods/tools from basic to somewhat advanced, all according to what I want to accomplish at the time.

With a bit of experience, or guidance from someone who has been around the bench a few laps, you pick up tricks of the trade. For example, for a wide class of cartridges all you need if you want to measure shoulder bump is an empty piece of 40 S&W brass. Put the 40 case over the mouth of your 308, 30-06 or the like. Measure the whole shebang. Size your case. Measure again the same way. The difference is the bump, no fancy gauge needed.

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Originally Posted by mathman
I handload cartridges using methods/tools from basic to somewhat advanced, all according to what I want to accomplish at the time.

With a bit of experience, or guidance from someone who has been around the bench a few laps, you pick up tricks of the trade. For example, for a wide class of cartridges all you need if you want to measure shoulder bump is an empty piece of 40 S&W brass. Put the 40 case over the mouth of your 308, 30-06 or the like. Measure the whole shebang. Size your case. Measure again the same way. The difference is the bump, no fancy gauge needed.



That or set your die up so it barely bumps the shoulder, try to chamber that casing. If it doesn't chamber it, screw the die in a hair bit more. Once it starts to chamber that partially sized case, the feel will go from a lot of resistance in closing the bolt to closing with just enough resistance that you know you have your die set right. This chidt isn't rocket science and I'm with Don who said he's sick of hearing about how you need all these gadgets for loading the same ammo that guys have been successfully loading for decades upon decades. A guy can get buy with the bare essentials when reloading and do a damn good job at it. There are a lot of newbies around that are led to believe that you can't do it without certain gauges and tools and it ends up costing the new hand loader an exorbitant amount of money, just to get started, because they are led to believe such nonsense.. Guys need to get back to the basics and stop spreading this horse manure... Not directed at you mathman, your 40S&W case trick is a good one.


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
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Originally Posted by bsa1917hunter
Originally Posted by mathman
I handload cartridges using methods/tools from basic to somewhat advanced, all according to what I want to accomplish at the time.

With a bit of experience, or guidance from someone who has been around the bench a few laps, you pick up tricks of the trade. For example, for a wide class of cartridges all you need if you want to measure shoulder bump is an empty piece of 40 S&W brass. Put the 40 case over the mouth of your 308, 30-06 or the like. Measure the whole shebang. Size your case. Measure again the same way. The difference is the bump, no fancy gauge needed.


This chidt isn't rocket science

Yeah but a lot of folks make it out to be.
I think a lot of this stuff comes from the difference between making serviceable ammo and the guys making BR or LR ammo. As Mathman said, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Incorporating some of the precision without knowing the difference can do more harm than good.


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As long as there's nothing bad wrong with your brass, your two die set, and the neck portion of the FL die isn't a lot tighter than it needs to be for the batch of brass involved you can do some pretty fine work with basic equipment.

The italicized part is pretty important. It's what gives expander balls a bad reputation. It would be quite easy for me to demonstrate this to a student at my loading bench. I have at least six FL dies for 308 Winchester and a wide variety of brass of differing thickness.

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I've tried to get fancy with measuring equipment, but have found that the reloading process outlined by bsa1917hunter works well for me. I do measure the chamber length and base my initial bullet seating depth on this number but, I still use the ease of chambering method as the main guide in the reloading process. Nothing is more frustrating than having a reload that is hard to chamber in the field. This may not work as well for reloading for benchrest competition but it has worked for me for developing hunting loads.

Last edited by Biggs300; 07/10/20.

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Originally Posted by deerstalker
Originally Posted by Blacktailer
Been reloading about 50 years. Don't own a gauge. Always set the die by feel.

this.
and where can a guy "buy" a feel? grin


Legally? At the bunny ranch.

Lots of the fancy tools are just a means to monetize, and provide access to the tricks and tools of the guys who have been reloading for 50 years have figured out.
Think six-sigma and manufacturing....
Can you build auto parts without it? Certainly.
can you make flat shooting loads near the edge? Absolutely.
Are you more likely to catch a problem if you are measuring 16 different things?
Only if you are paying attention.

Last edited by OldmanoftheSea; 07/11/20.

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amen to all the above,,,,,,,,,,

loaded for 30 plus years, and I do have "too many " thingys,,,,,,,,,,,,measuring devices that measure to the split hairs,,,,,,,,,,,,
at the end of the day,, chamber the dang thing an feel it,,,,,,,,,,,,, yes, I use the compairtor for a base line,,,, but its gotta chamber right,,,

not hard,,,

Good shooting ya,ll


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Originally Posted by deerstalker
Originally Posted by Blacktailer
Been reloading about 50 years. Don't own a gauge. Always set the die by feel.

this.
and where can a guy "buy" a feel? grin

Indeed, and nobody needs to buy it since we were all born with it.
In response to the OP question, here's what I do. When I start out with some new brass in a rifle for which I have not ALREADY optimized my FL sizer, I set the die a bit off the shellholder, "sharpie" the neck/shoulder of a case, and make sure that I am just sizing the neck a few thou short of the shoulder. I find it typically takes two firings with the brass sized like this until I start to get noticeable "crush fit" resistance to closing the bolt (sorry but this technique is bolt-centric). Then, I begin to advance the die into the press about a sixteenth of a turn at a time (or less), resizing the same case and chambering it. The chambering force should feel about the same with each advance until you get "there." "There" is a noticeable reduction in chambering force, but still just a hint of resistance at the end of the stroke - smile and lock down the ring on that die. If the sixteenth turn results in going from stiff resistance to no resistance, back it off a 32nd (i.e. a hair) and get another of your hard chambering cases, and size it. You should be "there" now, and can set the lock ring. As long as I am shooting the same rifle, I lust leave it right there for the future. I take a sharpie and put the point of it right on the juncture of the lock ring and the die body and give it a push to put a dot that lies half on each. That way if I need to reset the die for another rifle, it's easy to put it back right for the first. And I can use a different color sharpie to put a mark for the other rifle.

Now I might not be right in doing it this way, as I read a lot of references to "bumping back" the shoulder to around .002 SHORT of a perfect fit. But I prefer to set my dies like the above for the long term, let the brass form to fully fill the chamber for a firing or so, then have every subsequent pass through the die keep it right there.

Any thoughts from the sages?

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I happily and unapologetically use one of these. I like to know if I am bumping .001, .002, .003 or whatever. I may do it for reasons beyond copping a feel.... Meaning, I may do it even if not "tight" in the chamber such as making a cartridge that'll work in multiple rifles, eg, not seeking a crush fit. I also prefer 8" caliper because of the added length of these gizmos as well as the ones that sit on the olgive. I like them so much in fact I find it unnecessary to own a 40. Nor do I think it is rocket surgeryish, just a simple tool of the trade.

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When I hear people talk about case gauges or headspace gauges I assume they're talking about these https://www.brownells.com/reloading...e-length-headspace-gauges-prod55081.aspx

in which case I haven't used them before although I have a couple sets that were given to me many years ago for the common pistol rounds I don't recall ever having used them laugh

The Hornady tool referenced above, pistol case trick, stubs, etc are just comparators for taking measurents. A very different tool than a case gauge, not sure why the two get conflated in these kinds of discussions. Personally I find comparators very useful and use them in conjunction with feel, don't know where there notion comes from that it has to be all one or the other.

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After posting I remembered Alex Wheeler had posted a video on the procedure of using different methods in conjunction with each other.

https://youtu.be/WfWS7R1CdZI

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