{"id":8526,"date":"2014-03-12T16:27:05","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T16:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramworks.net\/blog\/?p=8526"},"modified":"2015-12-07T20:58:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T20:58:15","slug":"the-evil-expander-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-evil-expander-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evil Expander Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"To
To get five-shot, 100 yards groups like this you generally have to do a little something extra when handloading.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today I was talking to a friend about hand loading rifle ammunition and the topic of accuracy came up. Accurate ammunition is usually very straight or concentric ammunition meaning; the case neck and the bullet, when it is loaded into the case, are parallel with the centerline of the case. Start a bullet down a barrel straight and it will generally come out and fly straight. Course, trigger pulling matters too but we can all shoot great from a bench – or we at least like to think we are\u00a0Walt Berger<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Checking the concentricity of your brass before you load a bullet into it is the smart thing to do. (Ever seen an archer look down their arrow? Guess what they are doing!) You can do this with the RCBS Case Master<\/a>.\u00a0 Just position the case so the ball tip rests on the case neck near the case mouth.\u00a0 First check the concentricity of fired brass. This will tell you if the chamber in your rifle is cut straight. If you are seeing a neck run-out of more than .003 in fired brass, you have a rifle problem.<\/p>\n

\"The
The expander ball in your sizing die can sometimes be the culprit when groups are large.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If fired brass shows little or no run-out, size five cases and check the run-out of each case. If it\u2019s over or varies more than .003, you have a problem with your sizing die and it\u2019s likely the expander ball that\u2019s causing it. Remove the expander rod and ball from the die and run those same five cases back through the sizing die. Odds are that case neck run-out will drop below .003 for every case.<\/p>\n

I rarely use the expander ball when sizing cases. Most often I replace the expander ball that comes with the die with one from the next smallest caliber so I can continue to de-prime while sizing. This leaves the case mouth about .003 to .005 smaller than what it would be if the expander ball was used. I have yet to see this cause a problem when seating bullets – even flat base bullets – especially if the inside of the case mouth has been chamfered.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the difference an expander ball can make I took 10, once fired, .243 Winchester cases and found the neck run-out of each case was less than .001. I then sized five cases with the expander ball still in the die. Neck run-out after sizing was between .003 and .006. I then sized five cases with the expander ball removed from the die. Four showed .001 run-out and one showed .002. I then re-sized the first five cases and all had run-out of less than .002.<\/p>\n

\"An
An RCBS Case Master will tell you if your necks are straight and after sizing and if your bullets are seated straight too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To see how well lubrication inside the neck might help keep necks straight when using an expander ball, I sized five more .243 Winchester cases with lube applied to the inside of the neck. The results were better than when lube was not used but not as good as when the cases were sized without an expander ball. If you try this method just remember you will need to tumble your cases afterwards to remove the gooey lubricant inside the case neck or your powder will stick to the case neck when you try to put it in the case.<\/p>\n

If you are not concerned with sub MOA accuracy, then I’d suggest you not waste your time with any of this. There are a lot more fun things to do with your spare time. For instance, you could go shoot or maybe watch a reality cooking show on TV.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Handloaders<\/a>
Handloaders might like this post too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I was talking to a friend about hand loading rifle ammunition and the topic of accuracy came up. Accurate ammunition is usually very straight or concentric ammunition meaning; the case neck and the bullet, when it is loaded into the case, are parallel with the centerline of the case. Start a bullet down a barrel straight and it will generally come …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2509,2522,2500],"tags":[516,517,518],"class_list":["post-8526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense","category-hunt","category-shooting","tag-handloading","tag-making-accurate-ammo","tag-sizing-brass"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hujZ-2dw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15295,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/a-text-book-for-rifle-loonies\/","url_meta":{"origin":8526,"position":0},"title":"A Text Book for Rifle Loonies","author":"gunwriter","date":"November 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Back before Wal-Mart and big box sporting good stores ran the little guy out of business, you could walk into a real\u00a0gun shop and become educated. Often there was no one behind the counter; you\u2019d find several gents huddled around the wood stove pontificating on things like growing green beans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Empty Cases Exclusive"","block_context":{"text":"Empty Cases Exclusive","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/empty-cases-exclusive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/barsness.jpg?fit=868%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/barsness.jpg?fit=868%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/barsness.jpg?fit=868%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/barsness.jpg?fit=868%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8347,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/2000-fps-9mm\/","url_meta":{"origin":8526,"position":1},"title":"2000 fps 9mm","author":"gunwriter","date":"February 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 A few weeks ago I received a supply of ammunition from\u00a0Liberty Ammunition. 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