Hornady Concentricity Gauge.

[baldie]

I bought one of these fella,s the other day. They are in very short supply, this side of the pond for some reason.

Anyway, its the hornady concentricity gauge. Nothing new there you might think, as forster and sinclair have been making them for years. This one is different. To me, knowing a bullet is running out, is about as much use as tits on a fish....unless you can do something about it. This device has a screw that acts upon the bullet, to correct runout. Truly excellent it is too, and dead easy to use.

The cartridge is held beween to centres, and revolved by hand against the dial indicator. I,m used to using these things every day, so just read it. If you aren,t , then set the dial to zero, at the bullets lowest point of travel, then push the screw against it, to "bend " it out a bit. You soon pick up the knack.

Hornady reckon that factory ammo can run out up to 15 thou...which is a hell of a lot, and this fella would make factory ammo a whole lot better.

All my cartridges i load for, and loaded on redding comp dies, showed at the very most, 2 thou runout, with most being around 1 thou. Its a simple task to make them perfectly true with this tool.

Havent tried any shots yet, i will tomorrow, but i have a very strong suspicion this could stop the odd flyer, we get from time to time.

Very well made, and i think, good value, at around £100.

 

 

[Elwood]

I like the fact that the bullet is held in place ( I presume that is what it is doing?)

 

I have the Sinclair concentricity gauge which is great except you have to the hold the case down on the ball bearings and turn it. Everytime I get a big variation in the dial I'm never sure if it was me lifting my finger up or it was run out, so I start again.

[baldie]

It is held at both ends Ian. The cartridge base sits in a cone shaped hole, so it automatically centres any, and up to .50 cal cases, and the bullet is held in one of 3 different shafts, that you select to best suit the bullet nose. The case then rotates against two fixed points [which it must to get an accurate reading ]

Just for interest, when i go into the loft later, i,m going to load a few cases up with a selection of old lee dies, and the 22-250 ackley lee dies i bought as a put me on, until i made up the custom ones.

It will be very interesting indeed to see just how bad, or how good lee dies really are ?

[MJR]

Looks like the same frame as their case length trimmer. Does the centre that the bullet seats in revolve as you turn the case? If not does it score the bullet tip? Be interesting to see how accurate the lee dies are.

[Andrew]

It is held at both ends Ian. The cartridge base sits in a cone shaped hole, so it automatically centres any, and up to .50 cal cases, and the bullet is held in one of 3 different shafts, that you select to best suit the bullet nose. The case then rotates against two fixed points [which it must to get an accurate reading ]

Just for interest, when i go into the loft later, i,m going to load a few cases up with a selection of old lee dies, and the 22-250 ackley lee dies i bought as a put me on, until i made up the custom ones.

It will be very interesting indeed to see just how bad, or how good lee dies really are ?

 

Will you also be testing RCBS, etal, to see how they fare? I'd love to see how Hornady dies fall in the mix. These are the worst designed and executed dies I have ever owned. I have three sets and they make Lee look like works of art. Will you be FL resizing the cases? I'm not sure if a neck-sized case would be a valid test if one end is supported by the rim. ~Andrew

[sauer]

forgive the stupid question guys but i gotta ask......

 

 

when your talking bout "bullet run out" are you in talking bout the bullet placement within the brass? & its position relative to the side of the brass in "trueness"?

 

 

if that makes any sense

 

 

 

 

sauer /paul

[baldie]

Hi guys.

Tested some rounds i loaded and reset last night in the 6.5 x 47. A crap day for shooting as it was very windy. However, i am convinced the gauge has helped. I shot a couple of 5 round groups with ammo that was unchecked, and they were distinctly average for this rifle...around half inch. And ever so slightly vertically strung. The groups i then shot [ 4 x 5 rounds ] lost the vertical stringing, and also tightened down to 1/4 " with one slightly smaller, and no flyers evident in any of them. The groups moved with the wind slightly, but didn,t open.

 

MJR. The cartridge rotates AGAINST both ends...it has to, otherwise you would get a reading from the gauge housing/sleeve junction. If you select the correct tip, it doesn,t mark the bullet, as the sprung pressure on the ball end is weak.

 

Andrew.

The only other dies i possess are RCBS, and i KNOW these are junk. I sold the last set of Hornady i had, with a gun.

I will only be testing what i have personally, so not really a thorough test, apart from to satisfy my own mind really.

I take your point about full length resizing. These rounds i,ve fired today were full length body sized and bumped, purely by coincidence though, as i had had just done all 300 i own, prior to getting the gauge.

 

Paul.

Runout is whether the bullet has been placed in the case "square" .

 

Not a realy scientific test guy,s , as i dont have access to a pile of cartridges/ dies....just my own personal ones.

 

However, the difference i have seen today, in just two batches of ammo....especially in the wind, has convinced me personally, that i will never fire another round in competition, that hasn,t been through this device.

[Streeker59]

I've had a Bersin gauge for some time now and i was horrified at how far out my homeloads could be until i moved to Forster dies.

I stopped using the Bersin because i felt that in moving the bullet in the case to improve it's concentricity, one was also loosening the bullet and therefore effecting ES.. As i dont have a chrony, i couldn't prove my theory but vertical stringing did improve when i stopped using the tool.

 

http://www.gunslot.com/pictures/bersin-amm...curate-shooting

[londonhunter]

I've had a Bersin gauge for some time now and i was horrified at how far out my homeloads could be until i moved to Forster dies.

I stopped using the Bersin because i felt that in moving the bullet in the case to improve it's concentricity, one was also loosening the bullet and therefore effecting ES.. As i dont have a chrony, i couldn't prove my theory but vertical stringing did improve when i stopped using the tool.

 

http://www.gunslot.com/pictures/bersin-amm...curate-shooting

 

 

IT will be interesting to compared cartridges loaded with Wilson dies

[jack]

It would be interesting to know how far out the bullets are after they have been in your pocket for an evening, IE when out hunting.

[varmartin]

It would be interesting to know how far out the bullets are after they have been in your pocket for an evening, IE when out hunting.

 

 

Thats what 20 round boxes are for .!

[snap_shot]

looks the business that dave and not bad money at 100 squid....

 

Snap.

[sauer]

Baldie

 

how did the Lee dies come out in your "experiment" ? were they mile off of the true compared to others??

 

 

really keen to know how leee dies held up

 

 

paul / sauer

[snap_shot]

sauer,

 

 

i tried the concentricity on too lots of brass from the same batch on a set of lee and redding dies...

 

the lees dies neck sizing, i measured the cases before hand had 2 thou of a runout on them... this opened out to between 7 and 9 thou after neck sizing.....!!!!!!! i sold them on to a fella new to reloading as they would get him started..

 

 

the redding seating die, maybe moved some 1 thou at most on bad cases.... that was it.....

 

i was shocked at the lee dies, As some long term reloaders say theres nowt wrong with them....

 

 

the forester dies are excellent too....

 

 

Snap.

[dwight]

Were can I get one?

[Streeker59]

http://www.midwayuk.com/apps/eproductpage....leItemID=220200

 

But they are out of stock... Oh there's a suprise.....

 

This is where i bought my Bersin tool that does the same job but with a little less flair... These guys are trade only so send them an order with a letterhead of your own making, job done...

 

http://www.vjcsupplies.co.uk/ammo.html

[dwight]

http://www.midwayuk.com/apps/eproductpage....leItemID=220200

 

But they are out of stock... Oh there's a suprise.....

 

This is where i bought my Bersin tool that does the same job but with a little less flair... These guys are trade only so send them an order with a letterhead of your own making, job done...

 

http://www.vjcsupplies.co.uk/ammo.html

Thanks

[dwight]

I dug this up on youtube

It looks to easy...Even I could do that

Gotta have one..

[MJR]

Baldie,

are you still using this? What kind of esults are you getting and do you find that truing the rounds leads to differing neck tension.

 

Thanks.

[baldie]

The tool has definatly improved my loaded rounds.However, i only use redding competition dies, and its unusual to have runout past 0.003" and 0.002" is more the average, so the rounds were very concentric to start with. I would agree however, that moving the bullet ever so slightly must have an effect on neck tension slightly....but it doesn't seem to affect the groups.

Its also like a lot of what we handloaders do....it gives you more mental confidence in the ammo, and that is only a good thing for your group sizes.