I have known many experienced reloaders that don't use chronographs to come up with loads for rifles and pistol.

I just bought a used Caldwell Deluxe and plan to use it at KH. I'm told to use the left side tables where it's flatter, place it ten feet out, and use the LED attachments to cut down on errors. At this time, I'm not interested in prone but might. I haven't tried prone since the late 80s. Any advice?

So along the same lines as the finding of this thread. Has anyone had success "fire forming" cases that have excessive headspace? I have quite a bit of cases that are over full length sized. I've tried without success to blow the shoulder forward but without stretching the body.

There are ways to do it, but I won't detail here, as it can go in a bad way in a hurry if not done properly, also, you'd need things like expander mandrel and bushing neck dies, corn meal, and other stuff...

One could do research on fireformimg wildcat cases to get an idea. 
Do at your own risk and peril.  Not worth the trouble on redily available brass, IMHO.

I just bought a used Caldwell Deluxe and plan to use it at KH. I'm told to use the left side tables where it's flatter, place it ten feet out, and use the LED attachments to cut down on errors. At this time, I'm not interested in prone but might. I haven't tried prone since the late 80s. Any advice?

I've used chronograph on the left side from the table and on the ground.  You need to get to the range early, before hot time, so you can take time to line everything up right. That may take a while to get it perfect so you don't inadvertently ventilate the electronic parts.. and even then, since you cannot handle weapons, you are just eyeballing it. There have been times I had to wait till the next cease fire to make appropriate adjustments. 


 For the table, you'd need to mount it on a tripod to get it up high enough to get a line of sight to the target.  You'll need to bring something to tie to the tripod to weigh it down so the wind dont blow it over. Problem with optical chronograph are that different lighting conditions can give erroneous results.  I.e. you could get different readings from morning to afternoon or sun vs clouds etc..  muzzle blast from neighbors or even your own rifles can also cause problems.

I got tired of messing with the tripod too much and started going prone instead, but that also poses issues such as grass being too high, still needing to weigh down with sandbags or something. 

That's when I gave up on all that hassle and got a magneto speed.  Everything can be done from the firing point and no need to worry about wind, lighting, neighbors muzzle blast, etc.


Labradar....  ooooooh even better.  Maybe one day, if there is ever 1000 yards to shoot at...

Maybe one day, if there is ever 1000 yards to shoot at...

Good to know about the sand bags. Supposedly the LED strips make it more reliable but not sure about it in the direct sunlight.

You could try shooting at targets on Molokai, or would that be endangering the public? 

Good to know about the sand bags. Supposedly the LED strips make it more reliable but not sure about it in the direct sunlight.

You could try shooting at targets on Molokai, or would that be endangering the public? 

I have a roll of LEDs. Just need time to rig something up Power supply etc

There are ways to do it, but I won't detail here, as it can go in a bad way in a hurry if not done properly, also, you'd need things like expander mandrel and bushing neck dies, corn meal, and other stuff...

One could do research on fireformimg wildcat cases to get an idea. 
Do at your own risk and peril.  Not worth the trouble on redily available brass, IMHO.

+1 I wouldn't even bother if it wasn't premium brass such as lapua,nosler etc.. because your gonna have to buy tooling or waste bullets and powder

So have we concluded that the rounds are not over pressured, just some are too short?

Confirmed. Loaded and fired 50 rounds after weeding out the short cases, no flattened primers! Thanks for the feedback guys.

Confirmed. Loaded and fired 50 rounds after weeding out the short cases, no flattened primers! Thanks for the feedback guys.

Awesome!

I'm very particular about my COAL but haven't gotten into bumping the shoulder yet. There's always something new to try. Ren might say it's my Torment of Tantalus.

I'm very particular about my COAL but haven't gotten into bumping the shoulder yet. There's always something new to try. Ren might say it's my Torment of Tantalus.

More along the lines of watching a spider monkey hump a football.

That would more accurately describe all politics these days.

I'm very particular about my COAL but haven't gotten into bumping the shoulder yet. There's always something new to try. Ren might say it's my Torment of Tantalus.

COAL (base of brass to top of bullet) is not near as important as the headspace, for safety and accuracy. 

COAL (base of brass to top of bullet) is not near as important as the headspace, for safety and accuracy.

I know. One step at a time. Don't want to make too many changes in my reloading at a time, you know.

COAL (base of brass to top of bullet) is not near as important as the headspace, for safety and accuracy.

So, since the problem was found and no harm was done I was going to load all the cases regardless of datum length and toss the fired cases with flattened primers and rings from stretching. I decided to check the brass from my first batch of reloads (the brass in the original post was my second batch) with flattened primers and found this.

The results of a couple of light taps with a hammer . . .

The results of a couple of light taps with a hammer . . .

Yep that's no good..       Would be a real pain if the end broke off and left the body of the case in the chamber. Or worse, debris/hot gasses getting your eyes.   



ATA: When saying COAL isn't as important, I mean a few thou here and there...  just to be clearer..  The bullet still needs to be within a certain range, not crammed too deep in the case and not jammed against the lands.

I forget, are you using any kind of case gauge?



https://www.amazon.com/Lyman-Reloading-Length-Headspace-Gauge/dp/B002RJURSM

I forget, are you using any kind of case gauge?

Not yet but soon. I made this and use a dial caliper to sort out the short cases (base to datum).