New cases - 300 Win Mag

[CzarDonic]

I have a Tikka 300 Win Mag for hunting. It is wildly inaccurate with factory ammo, so I used it as a reason to start reloading. I had 80 nickel-plated Federal brass that I used to get started. Of course, as soon as I figured out a recipe that shoots <0.5 MOA, about 10% of the case necks split when I resized them, so that lot has been retired.

I replaced them with Peterson's 300 Win Mag-Long brass. The case shoulder is 0.005" from the chamber wall. I was using a 0.002" shoulder bump on the old brass.

Two questions:

1. Can I just start working up a full power load for the new brass, or should I run reduced loads to fire form them? Are there additional case prep steps that you guys would recommend?

2. ...I should leave my old cases retired, right?

 

[Leibhart1]

Always reduce load and work back up to find your load. I always fire form the brass to the chamber of that specific gun before I work up a load. Your “load” will be different from virgin brass to fire formed brass.


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[mtnbound]

I have a Tikka 300 Win Mag for hunting. It is wildly inaccurate with factory ammo, so I used it as a reason to start reloading. I had 80 nickel-plated Federal brass that I used to get started. Of course, as soon as I figured out a recipe that shoots
I replaced them with Peterson's 300 Win Mag-Long brass. The case shoulder is 0.005" from the chamber wall. I was using a 0.002" shoulder bump on the old brass.

Two questions:

1. Can I just start working up a full power load for the new brass, or should I run reduced loads to fire form them? Are there additional case prep steps that you guys would recommend?

2. ...I should leave my old cases retired, right?

Once I have a load developed I load full on new brass.
I would use the cases you have until they are all in the trash. You might get a few more reloads with.

 

[Odd1out]

If you know your velocity from the 0.5 moa load. Work up to that in the peterson brass. You already have an idea where it likes to shoot. Once it's fired once, reload and see where it sits. Adjust the powder up or down to get into your desired velocity window. Usually, better quality brass won't grow as much apon firing.

Nickel brass, while more weather resistant and slippery, has the issue of the nickel making the brass more brittle. You can anneal it to combat the split necks.

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