Hornady 6.5 PRC brass length issue... - 07/22/19
I've been loading some Hornady brass in 6.5 PRC. The brass is from the 143 ELD-X and ELD_M factory ammunition. It's been fired twice. I loaded up some 130 Accubonds and 130 Sirocco's a couple of weeks ago, setting the shoulder back by .001. I didn't check the case length before loading them. Saturday at the range I had several rounds that would not load meaning I couldn't close the bolt and several where it was damned hard to close the bolt. The load was 58.5 grains of H1000 and either the CCI-Br. 2 primer or the CCI-200. I got some pretty good groups with the BR-2 at 50.0 and 58.5 grains, but closing the bolt was damned hard. I had some light marks on the case head as well, but primers weren't flat or any other sign of pressure.
I finally gave up and came home. Pulled all the bullets, dumped the powder and checked the case length. Case length was 2.025 and the Hornady website indicates trim length should be 2.015.
My question is would the 0.010 length difference cause a difficult bolt close when the website shows max length as 2.030? I also checked the shoulder length and it was identical to the Hornady factory ammo. Unless I used the wrong headspace gauge when I originally sized the cases I can't figure out the issue.
I went back yesterday and loaded some more. I resized the cases, setting the die to set the shoulder back .001, trimmed them to 2.105 and loaded them up with the 130 AB seated to 2.388 length to the ogive and we shall see what happens. They all chambered with very little difficulty.
I finally gave up and came home. Pulled all the bullets, dumped the powder and checked the case length. Case length was 2.025 and the Hornady website indicates trim length should be 2.015.
My question is would the 0.010 length difference cause a difficult bolt close when the website shows max length as 2.030? I also checked the shoulder length and it was identical to the Hornady factory ammo. Unless I used the wrong headspace gauge when I originally sized the cases I can't figure out the issue.
I went back yesterday and loaded some more. I resized the cases, setting the die to set the shoulder back .001, trimmed them to 2.105 and loaded them up with the 130 AB seated to 2.388 length to the ogive and we shall see what happens. They all chambered with very little difficulty.