ihmsa forums

when sizing for your t/c barrel how do you set your headspace-as far as i know they headspace on the rim,i have seen mentioned using case mouth to set headspace

I re-size just enough of the neck to hold the bullet. I do this on my T/C's and my M.O.A.'s.

I have two Hornet Contenders. My experience has been that I have never been able to headspace my brass the way I would like on either of my guns. I prefer to headspace on the shoulder for all my bottleneck cases, even the ones with a rim like the 30 Herrett or 7X30 Waters. Early on when I started with the Herrett everything I could read informed that best accuracy was achieved by using this method. The action should have to be closed with a snug snap on a properly headspaced case. Because of a couple of factors, I've never been able to do that with the Hornet. All the factory brass I've purchased had shoulders set back a little short for my chambers. Couple that with thin, soft brass and a slight, sloping shoulder, and the brass never headspaced the way I'd like it. What I do now is to neck size only enough to hold the bullet. I keep all my brass segregated into lots. Each case in a particular lot has been loaded exactly the same number of times as every other case in that lot and all lots were started as virgin brass from the same factory lot. I have some of my Hornet brass that has been fired nearly 20 times without loosing a case to failure. It is important to note that I use very light loads, only about 1800 fps with 55 grain bullets. Accuracy with the load I use is near MOA at 100 yards, plenty good enough for Field Pistol.

all right guys thanks for the replys,this is going to be my first load for my 10" hornet -once fired case(all i have) neck sized .230 down from case mouth,trimmed to 1.393 slight crush fit-cci 400-10.8 gr lil gun-40 gr nosler@ 1.725 oal-any thoughts ideas comments-my intention is to work up a fp load that requires no sight adj. without target damage

Personally, I lean towards heavier bullets than 40 gr. I have never used any bullet below 52 gr for Field Pistol. 40 gr bullets could work but velocities will have to be higher to assure performance on rams. That's the reason I use 55 gr bullets. I get reliablilty on rams without needing the extra velocity. Some people claim a Hornet twist is not suitable for 55 gr bullets but as I mentioned I get near MOA accuracy at 100 yards with a load that produces only 1800 fps. As far as running the course without sight adjustments, and I am assuming you are talking about iron sights, I shoot the first three distances with one common setting and then add a couple of clicks for rams.

I use 52 gr. CPT 55 gr. Rams. No problem as long as I can hit them