Tag Archives: reloading

New Hand Loads and Winchester Garand Range Report

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With 3 weeks until the National Matches, perhaps imprudently, I’ve decided that I’m not going to use HXP for the Camp Perry again this year. I was able to find enough CCI BR2 primers despite the lingering bottleneck from “the great panic of 2013.”

Before you read on you have to agree to work up your loads properly and not just create the load.

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After trying several loads I had very good results with Hornady 168 grain BTHPs over 46 grains of IMR 4895 and a CCI BR2 primer in a 77 HXP case. I also used a Hornady OAL gauge to stretch the COAL out a bit which may not have had much effect but it made me feel better.

I was very happy with the performance of the new Winchester Garand I’ve made several posts about recently. I will take it to a local match this weekend to work it out a bit but I didn’t have any functional issues and it performed very well. Assuming this continues I think I’ll take it to Perry for the JCG match.

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Worlds Finest Trimmer Review

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I have been using a RCBS trimpro for some time with decent results however I was looking for something faster and perhaps more accurate. I’ve been looking at The “worlds finest trimmer” (WFT) from little crow gunworks since Creedmoor started selling them. I like that it indexes on the shoulder this seems to make more sense.

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I really like the idea of this trimmer. It’s design is very clever. It’s basically a drill bit with an assembly around it that holds a ball bearing that holds the shoulders of the case.

I’ve had some mixed results with it. On the plus side it is very fast and once it is set it keeps the brass within .01.

However it is not fun to set. I had a lot of trouble using the recommended method of inserting a case that is the proper size and adjusting the bit to touch the case mouth. In this case the trimmer seems to take around .03 more from the case. Some trial and error I was able to get it where I wanted it and I sure wont be changing it anytime soon .

Overall I would recommend this trimmer for at least casual or bulk reviewers. I am going to keep it to use for larger batches of reloads for the Garand however I’ve since picked up a Wilson trimmer which I prefer to this one.

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Model 1917 Extraction Problems

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In my last post I mentioned problems with extraction of reloads. I am happy to report I found the issue and it was not trimming.

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Yep that’s a gap between the resizing die and the shell holder at full extension. At some point I must have set this incorrectly and was setting the shoulders of the case too high. I’ve properly cranked it down so the shell holder makes contact with the die and problem solved.

Now I have so many rounds to pull 🙁

UPDATE: I don’t think this was the only problem