Popsbengo

Sailing gear is totally waterproof.  Try Decathlon as their range is good value and good quality.   I've used it in appalling Scottish weather for hours on end and stayed cozy and dry.  Just don't try walking any distance as it's not exactly breathable!

They don't do camo though....

23 minutes ago, Gungrinner said:

www.ballisticservice24.eu has now stopped shipping bullet and brass to the uk.  You can order tools and dies ok. I asked this week and got the bad news.

bugger

1 minute ago, Re-Pete said:

....when buying bullets and cases from www.ballisticservice24.eu.......

 

until 1st November (Boris to be believed) as they don't sell outside of the EU

Here's to remaining 😉😁🇪🇺

indeed, apologies 

24 minutes ago, cheshirelad said:

Available in batches of 100.

Buyer pays P&P.

PM me for costs.

costs posted please, this isn't an auction site

2 hours ago, MarkR said:

I wish to mark my 6.5CM brass cases with different colour Fine Point Sharpie's.  I have seen a pen holder on a USA based site (which looked like it was 3D Printed) that produces coloured rings.  Does anyone know of a UK based supplier/maker of such a device that would hold at least two Sharpie's to speed up the process of marking the brass cases?  Thank you.

I'm sure some American company will sell you an anodised aircraft grade aluminium and titanium doo-hicky for $$$$$$ - it's bound to help accuracy  😁

2 hours ago, meles meles said:

Update:

 

We eventually chose to go down the .338 path, oomans. Your advice on loads (bullet, case, powder) for ranges from 1,000 mards out to 2 miles will be greatly appreciated. Our barrel is a 1 in 9 twist Bartlein, 32 inches long...

1:9 should stabilise big bombs.  I suggest you buy very, very expensive solids and "lend" some to your mates 🤗

Personally I like Lapua 300gn Scenar, Viht N570, 92gn in Lap brass with CCI magnum primates.  Mine's a 32" 1:10 Truflite,  as you know.  Typically 18 mil at 1mile (100yd zero).

I don't bother with 250gn Lap Scenars now.

Initial tests of the 285gn ELD-Ms seem to be groopin' good at 200yd with 93.5gn of N570 and a 10' jump.  Our little Eskdalemuir jaunt should prove interesting - calculations indicate 15.8 mil at 1mile (200yd zero) - darn slippy those red tipped 'Merican beauties.   Time will tell.

Milky Milky

Ah, Pete:  back to the dark-side 😁

51 minutes ago, Catch-22 said:

Walnut shell is better than the corn cob media.

Agree that those sold by most gun shops are waaaay, waaaay overpriced.

I bought 25kg off eBay a few years back for around £15 delivered.

I now ultrasonic clean as the dry tumbling method leaves a fine dust and soot around, evident when handling the cases after tumbling. Your hands and fingers go black with it...that’s all those toxic chemicals and carbon. Horrid. To stop your dies and action from also receiving this film of dust, really you have to wipe your cases down.

Above is all a faff when compared to U/S cleaning, so much simpler, quicker and mess free imho!

That's why I ultrasonic first, keeps the media quite clean for a while.  I like to tumble for the shiny results rather than any technical advantage!  It's a faff but it's my time to waste😁

For health reasons, it's a good idea to ensure tumbling is done where there's some ventilation to take the flying dust away.

10 minutes ago, ds1 said:

A few thoughts and experiences. Most of the time FL sizing older brass will work in a new chamber and if the cases are a “bit” tight a small base die may work. 

However if the chamber was cut with a min spec reamer and the previous barrel had chamber on the larger side then sometimes you can get issues - just been through this with a 338 Lapua barrel. Fired cases through my original AI barrel or my mates AI barrel would not chamber be they unsized or FL resized in my new barrel. Once the cases expand towards the case head they don’t spring back like the necks and shoulders due to being harder and of thicker material.....so you get hard extraction. I modified a die to make a small base die as regular small base dies are not available for 338 lm unless special order from Whidden or CH4d. You can then get the rounds to chamber fine but after firing extraction is still hard ( this is not due to pressure or head space issues). At this point you either polish, re-ream the chamber or buy new brass / ammunition.

Using new ammunition and 5 reloads after on 5 cases there has been no extraction issues at all. Still some merit in new barrel = new brass sometimes.

Out of interest I tried two different Redding body dies for FL resizing but found no difference between them. Neither would close the bolt on a resized case fired from my old barrel in the new barrel. Factory ammunition would close and extract without issue. For me FL sized cases are not the same as new ammunition. Other alternatives such as roll sizing may also exist 

https://www.rollsizer.com/product/electric-drive-brass-rollsizer/

but at that price point it is easier to re-do the chamber or buy new brass.

 

 

Very interesting.  I had the self same issue with once fired .338 brass I purchased. Even after F/L sizing in a Redding S bushing die the cases would not chamber in my custom rifle.  The solution was F/L with a Hornady Comp. die,  the brass then chambered well.  The Redding die then worked for subsequent bump sizing.

31 minutes ago, redding said:

No I did not specify any chamber, its a Lowther Walther barrel and is being made to fit a Tikka T3 in .308.

My thinking was that a FLS case would be the same dimensions as a case from an unfired factory round!

correct

14 minutes ago, Bob57 said:

Don't do any resizing until you get your rifle back, then set up to full length size, knowing that your bolt will close when your die is properly set.

Only if you are going to progressively bump back from the existing fire formed size to get a fit.  A F/L sized case to SAAMI spec will fit unless a specifically tight chamber was requested  - in which case I'd have expected the poster to have sent a dummy round to the gunsmith as a gauge.

4 minutes ago, gazzarM1 said:

Primarily yes but I own a number of black rifles and experienced primary extraction issues in both a FAL straight pull and its AR 223 brother .I was advised to use the small base body die and never had an issue since ...the FAL superseded by an AR 10 but the lack of issues continues...if all my 308 rounds are to be interchangeable  between rifles then so must the process for uniformity.

👍

1 minute ago, sandtrap said:

I work in the offshore drilling industry and we used walnut shells in different grades as LCM ( loss control material) it basically plugs up tiny cracks in the formation while we’re drilling .. 

but im at home on extra leave at the moment or I’d get some from work for nowt !  

can't hurt to try it out - freebee is cheap indeed 😁

10 minutes ago, gazzarM1 said:

Use a body die.... I use 308 in 4 different rifles and use a small base body die and on occasion a body die  on brass properly trimmed as needed ...no problems but all Lapua brass ..'

Intrigued by the use of a small body die.  I thought they were for improved extraction in semi/full auto rifles ?

One on Top of Two - yes I still neck size only for .308.  I've experimented with the "bump back for accuracy" F/L argument and I find no benefit and the down side of working the brass more.  I use an improved Lee collet and find I get excellent concentricity and performance.

I do bump back .338 in a bushing die - for now

Just now, redding said:

Ok thanks, theres a guy on Youtube called "the real gunsmith" that said you cant do it because every chamber is different and the brass has a memory, it just didnt make sense to me because if I full length size back to SAAMI its surely the same dimensions as new brass.

Bunk, too many "Merican bull-shippers on the Youtube

I use crushed walnut shell in my Lyman vibration tumbler that was bought from an industrial blast cleaning supplies company in Middlewich Cheshire..  A 25Kg sack cost me £13.  It's a life time's supply.  Industrial cleaning cabinets typically use walnut shell for production part cleaning.  It comes in different grades but I'd just tell the supplier what you're doing an go with their recommendation.  I've no idea what mine is now - it's been too long.

I mix a tiny amount of jeweller's rouge (eBay) and the brass comes out loverly and shiny.  The media I use lasts for 100's of cases before I discard it (I do ultrasonic clean first).

Gunshop supplies are a massive rip-off.  The packaging probably cost more than the media!

12 minutes ago, redding said:

Thanks for the replies

I wanted to get the correct headspacing

So I return the brass to SAAMI spec and adjust the die for correct headspace after its been fireformed in the new chamber yes?

 

yes, just as if you've bought new brass

40 minutes ago, redding said:

Collecting my re-barreled .308 tomorrow and have a question about brass.

I have a quantity of once fired Hornady brass, do I full length size it now in readiness or wait until I get the rifle back here?

 

 

What will you benefit from waiting?  It's probably a good idea to return to CIP/SAAMI spec.  to avoid unforeseen issues with possibly oversized cases.

Absolutely no need to discard the brass but if you want to I'll take it off your hands 😁

The new fees for clubs, Section 5 and Museums come into force on 1st October.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0062019-firearms-fees-regulations-2019

Bit of a bummer.

44 minutes ago, BlueBoy69 said:

No problem 'One on top of two'.

It's a common misconception that detonation and deflagration are one and the same. Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons is always making the same mistake. I did email a few times when I worked for Jane's, but he didn't bother to reply.

Deflagration is 'simply' burning, so a thermal conductively-driven process.

Detonation is a shockwave (shock pressure) driven event. The initial shock, from a detonator for instance, causes the decomposition of the explosive material. The decomposition components react together, releasing energy. This energy reinforces the shockwave which continues to propagate through the material until all of it is consumed.

You do have the process called 'deflagration to detonation transition', DDT for short. This is where the burning process progresses so rapidly that the pressure level reached is high enough so that it can transition to a shock pressure-driven event, aka detonation. Many detonators and other similar devices work in this way.

For note, nitrocellulose-based and many other similar smokeless propellants are in reality denatured high explosives.

👍  Nice to know we have some expert resource on this forum!

bump

Price drop to £10 p&p included (UK mainland)

BlueBoy, I'm not sure what you're telling us.  I was referring to flash-over burning - sudden rapid deflagration but not detonation as powder isn't a high explosive..  Ubique referred to detonation.   Please clarify which or both are wrong or mistaken.

Cheers

50 minutes ago, Orka Akinse said:

Perhaps they don't, why not ask them?  

why not?  No point in poking the bear with a stick,  better coming from the NRA - it's what we pay them for.

15 minutes ago, SMLE said:

The directive was clear. No CALIBRE greater than 7.62/.308

My Lee Enfields are all less than that, being .303 CALIBRE 

No where have I seen any reference to diameter.

Whats tricky about that?

Agreed.  In fact the directive wording is only "7.62" they don't mention .308 - possibly because they don't actually recognise / understand the similarities or indeed understand much other than military issue ammo. 

It needs an NRA clarification as I believe it would be fruitless asking Swynnerton  (or more likely frustration at a hard-line position) for advice.