Spongecop, this is AWESOME !!!

Thank you sir. We need to redo the letters so you can see them better but over all turned out pretty good. Killed a big boar that night too so it was christened right.

Looks an awful lot like my Surron Black Edition.

What’s the word on sizing 7.62x39 bullets for the 300 ham’r? I have used the 123 gold dot sized to .308 and shoots well, but it is a short bullet. Anyone run the .310 123 gr sst? I’ve read the 125 sst is too long with the tip. I’ve scrolled 60 pages and haven’t seen it mentioned. I also have some 123 nosler ballistic tips but they are a boat tail maybe protrude too much in powder space? The 123 interlocks (lead tip) are pretty short and may work. Just curious who else is trying this?

cpt80 and SDTurner are the users you're looking for. They've got several posts in this thread about it.

The 123 ballistic tips are too long and take up too much powder capacity.

As to the 123 gold dots, they are some of the best shooting bullets I have in my hammers of any barrel length ( I have the 8", 11" and 16"). When I first started shooting them, I sized them down to .308 but there was almost no pressure signs with considerable velocity. I then tried them sized to .309 and saw no difference. I then tried shooting them without sizing them and pressure was not noticeably different and velocity was only a few fps higher. Since then, I have shot hundreds of them unsized with no problems and they group superbly in all 3 barrel lengths that I have.

Sorry - I've been away for a short spell. I think you misunderstand me.... no question as to Bill's ability, but rather best use of his time. Bill's got to save his energy for hunting wild pigs and chupacabaras after the sun sets

I was just thinking that he must have quite a few young team members who would be chopping at the bit to spend a few hours at the 100 & 300 yard lines testing out bullet grouping in the Texas sun.

Deer season has been open since the first Sat of Oct. and I hadn't shot a single deer until this morning. Keeping with my normal of when I shoot good bucks (9-10am or the last hour of light in the evening) I shot this guy at 9:45am. It was a somewhat difficult shot, he was walking into the woods at a lasered 187yds and I was shooting directly into the morning sun. Shot him with an experimental Lehigh 120gr EXP, he went less than 10yds before he was down in a perfect location for photos.

Nice deer, congrats Mr Wilson...that's awesome!

nicely done. I'd never have had that patience in my youth.

That reminds me, I still want to pick up one of those light weight carbon stocks.

Nice buck! Some beautiful woods there wherever you are. Great pictures.

I have a real head scratcher for you guys. When I was doing a lot of load development for the then new 300 Ham'r build I ran into something unsuspected. When loading the 150gr Speer btsp with brass on its 4th or 5th firing, the case neck and shoulder would stay in the AR while the rest of the case was extracted. Pic is attached. It never happened with the 130gr HC bullets or the 125gr TNT's. It only happened a couple times but I don't understand why it happened at all. Yesterday it happened in the second AR. Both guns run WC recoil springs and H2 buffers.

All my brass (don't recall if this was unique to Starline or WC brass) is resized setting the shoulders back .002 to .004". The settled load is 25.6 gr of CFE BLK with CCI 41 primers and it is MOA or better. Never had a case neck split and never had case head separation. Primer pockets have always remained tight. The dies are Lee. The problem is unique to the 150gr btsp bullets... or at least so far.

Has anybody else seen this? Any thoughts?

Thanks

It looks like you have some case stretching going on, I'd suspect you may be oversizing the cases so you have excess headspace. Did you set you're sizing die height using a case gage?

Hi Bill,

Yes. I use a Hornady case comparator. Headspace is always set between .002 to .004". So far the problem is unique to the 150gr bullet. My only thought is to see how little headspace can be managed without compromising reliability. What do you think?

I set my sizing die so the headspace is at minimum. Due to the thin case wall and minimal shoulder the 300 HAM'R will easily "crush chamber" if the case is a couple thousands too long.

The only way I can see this being unique to the 150BTSP is if this load is higher pressure than your other loads.

Personally I've not had a case separation, but I since I'm mostly doing load development and loading hunting ammo I primarily shoot new cases.

Thank you for your thoughts Bill. I will proceed with an absolute minimum of shoulder resizing. It's still amazing to me. I've been reloading for over 50 years and have never seen the neck and shoulder stay in the chamber.

@Big Sam, what is your case length? I'm on board with the case stretch.. But more as in the case mouth doesn't have room to temporarily stretch when firing.. Causing the mouth to "fire crimp" around the bullet causing excessive pressure around the shoulder.. and perhaps it's being pulled out before it gets a chance to contract, causing the separation. I'd imagine this would lead to higher pressures/velocities, not necessarily pressure signs on the primer or case head.. If this is how it's been the whole time you worked up to the 25.6gr charge. Just a theory.

Good question. I resize the case while setting the shoulder back .002-,004". Then the case is trimmed to 1.598". This is done after every firing so the amount trimmed is very small. Same process for the 125gr TNT (the bullet I started with) and the 130gr HC. My reloads of the 150gr HC run about 50 fps below the factory WC ammo. The neck & shoulder pulling off has only happened 3 times out of over 500 rounds fired and, even then, only with brass on its 4th or 5 firing. So it's hardly a negative about the cartridge. I'd just switch bullets but my guns love it as much as hog hate it.

In any case I am probably over working the very small shoulder and will minimize shoulder set back in the resizing process. Thank you for your thoughts.

Definitely case stretch. See the shiny line near the shoulder? Per GRT (free QL) BTSP #2022, way over pressure! 23gr gives 60k psi. Don't know your seating depth which will make a difference. Spec 0.5", 0.2" keeps your load OK but this is BT so I don't think you can seat 0.2" - 0.3" may work but near max psi. Push the shoulder back without annealing will make it break there. High pressure traps the neck, high gas yanks the extractor and bingo - separated neck. Shoulder is an automatic stress point. Had trouble loading 110 Hornady half jacket in old brass (30/30)with radial neck cracks. Seated shallow left a neck bulge that cracked almost every time.

Could you elaborate on what GRT is? I also load the Speer #2022 although I'm more into accuracy than speed so I only use 25gr of CFEBLK which is less than the max amount according to Wilson data. Also isn't the normal maximum psi for the Ham'r 65k?

All my brass is from factory loaded ammunition (not sure of the brand) and I've loaded some so many times you can barely read the headstamp and I've had no issues so far. I did however have a similar issue with a 300 Win Mag that had an oversize chamber...full length sizing to allow the bullets to be used in other guns (they wouldn't fit if neck sized) I could only get 3 or 4 reloads before case cracks would appear.

SAAMI max pressure for the 300 HAM'R is 57,500psi, same as the .204 Ruger

GRT https://www.grtools.de/doku.php
free quick load program. Unsupported as the inventor passed. Over pressure BO - too much H110 in pistol. Had to pry the pistol bolt open but nothing but the case hurt.

Thanks for the max pressure info...I must have been thinking of something else like proof loads or something but that does raise another question. The SAAMI number is listed as the maximum "average" pressure. I've always been curious about how much wiggle room there is in that number on the upper side to still stay within the "average".

Since we're on the subject of pressure some manufacturers (Ruger I think is one) build in a safety venting system into their rifles so if you do have an over pressure event the excess pressure goes out the safety port rather than the gun blowing up. Is there anything like that in the WC rifles?

Based on what I've seen from loads I've had pressure tested a good consistent load will have a 1500psi total variation for 10 shots.

Note: Max pressure for 5.56 NATO is 62,500psi