Fire Forming Brass

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Gator

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I'm an amateur reloader at the bottom of the scale. I'll never come close to shooting or reloading at the level discussed in this video. But damn, I think it's a pretty cool process doing it this way.

Even reloading at the level that I do I have learned some useful things from Eric, I'm a fan




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Saw that. Cringed at the waste of components. But I guess it’s needed in f-open competition.
 
Pogue said:
Saw that. Cringed at the waste of components. But I guess it’s needed in f-open competition.
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Me too, I started trying to add up what it cost just for the fire forming process but soon gave up on it.

.
 
I don’t see much value in fire forming to the wrong chamber. I guess maybe he went with an oversized chamber in this rig, then has his sizer set for his target rifle chamber. I’ll never be good enough to care, and I’ll never care enough to be that good.
 
These guys are in an entirely different league than most of us simple minded mortals. I enjoy watching Eric's videos and he has one where he shows you his reloading setup and it's way up there in the thousands of dollars. And I imagine the BR guys are even worse! Winning in the Wind is another youtube site where there are are some helpful tips on reloading for rifle. But I'm happy just banging away behind the house with some friends and our half-ass handloads.
 
Yep. Supposedly he's the man. I dont follow him. I dont have the attention span or patience. I dont have his resources either. Also I'm pretty sure he has multiple sponsors. I compete in benchrest and one of the guys to beat has unlimited resources. I try and not compete with him by shooting different class of gun and or caliber. I fire form at a local club match. Ive won with new brass. The man who wrote the book on benchrest shooting and rifle accuracy, literally and figuratively, Tony Boyer says fire form brass twice before competing with it. Everything in Tony's book is based on the 6ppc caliber and some of the info is outdated now. The caliber was invented in like 1972. I do get a custom resizing die made by Harrel's in VA. They suggest 3 firings on 2 pcs of brass, send them the fired brass and they will make a custom FL sizing die based on the fired brass. Not that expensive either.
 
JimB said:
I don’t see much value in fire forming to the wrong chamber. I guess maybe he went with an oversized chamber in this rig, then has his sizer set for his target rifle chamber. I’ll never be good enough to care, and I’ll never care enough to be that good.
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99% chance that his fireforming barrel is chambered with the same reamer and to the same headspace as his match barrels.
 
HTSmith said:
99% chance that his fireforming barrel is chambered with the same reamer and to the same headspace as his match barrels.
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I forget how much these guys spend.
 
6mm bbls dont last long usually. 1000 to 1200 rnds. If you use the same reamer, when you get a new bbl, most folks use old bbl to fire form. Worth noting that one of NC's finest shots, Joel Pendergraft shot a 1000yd record with a gun that looks for the world just like the one in the video. Accurate Shooter says that was in 2009.
 
Impressive stuff.

However,, not ALL fireforming is expensive or laborious. Long ago,, I found it quite easy to fireform 7x30 Waters brass out of 30-30 cases. Easy & inexpensive. Fire, trim, and reload.
 
Yup, chambered with same reamer as his f-class rifles.
 
I like fire-forming, not for the precision aspect as much, but that you can convert brass from one cartridge/caliber to another.
 
I'm surprised that there are any BR or F class shooters on this Forum at all? Mostly what I see are tacticool, military surplus, and handgun shooters. Nice to see a bit of variety on here once in awhile. I usually go straight to the memes. :D
 
Getting better at F-TR. .308 at 300 yards this morning. I think we will have one more 300 yard match and then go to 600. Ten shots, 5 X's. I kind of like this load and not sure how to tweak besides maybe 1 click (1/8) to the right.
Shooting 168 SMK with R15.

August 28 2022 300 yd.jpg
 
That pic was taken at Archers Range in North GSO back in 2002. A 22-250AI 7 twist piddlin with those rediculous 90gr JLK's. 🤣
Still have the tackle box set up, and the Harrell's press-n-thrower. They were pretty much the standard fare at BR matches back then.
..Concerning fireforming. For varminting rigs, if it was just a minor adjustment like making something Ackley we'd try it for accuracy and if it wasn't too far outta whack (<.75") we'd just load'em up and hit the hoggin fields or head to the hunt club for some plinking in the cut overs.
A few of the more "drastic" transformations re-quired sittin at the bench goin thru the motions. Neck turning and all that BR voodoo.
But primers were only $15 a brick.. 🤣🤠
 
What about this BR shooter named Speedy Gonzales? Sorry if I'm stealing this thread.

 
Downeast said:
What about this BR shooter named Speedy Gonzales? Sorry if I'm stealing this thread.

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IIRC I met him at Kelbly's Super Shoot back in 2004. Him and the Hart Bros, Harrell Bros, plus a pile of others from the old BR magazine that I now disremember along with a lot of names.. They were all really great folks and fun to BS with in the loading room or wherever..

We used ta hafta FF all that 220 Russian into PPC's so it's just a little hi-jack.. 🤣 😁 👍
 
We should have a Benchrest/F Class Sub Forum under Long Guns; Precision and Long Range Rifles, or simply just put it under Long Guns, just to see if there was enough interest.

@Gator, @HawgBonz. @georgel , @Pogue , @JimB, @T-ball

Oh that group I posted was shot with an ugly Savage rifle. 🤣
 
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jimmyjames8 said:
I do get a custom resizing die made by Harrel's in VA. They suggest 3 firings on 2 pcs of brass, send them the fired brass and they will make a custom FL sizing die based on the fired brass. Not that expensive either.
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Super nice guys and very helpful. Have ya ever been to their shop? When I went to their farm back in the early 00's it looked like an old barn from the outside IIRC. But once inside it was a serious set up. I kinda wonder if they've changed things up any since then.. 🤠

@Downeast - Yes, Salvages are butt ugly. But there's no denying that they will generally shoot fairly well. Shooters are bad for blingin' it. Myself included. But if whatchya have, is doing whatchya want, then nothing is wrong. 😁👍

My BR buddy and I attended the Roanoke Egg Shoot one year. He was hardcore BR and hated the AR platform. Well leu-an-behold he ended up inna shoot-off with a guy runnin an AR10 of some sort. I think they were 3 heats in before he finally missed.
He was absolutely fumin'..
I was about to break a rib from rollin'-n-laughin'... 🤣🤣
P1010309.JPGRoanoke_Downrange_Nums.jpg
 
@HawgBonz I've rebarreled one Salvage with a 30" BRUX barrel and a new trigger. So I guess they are now Frankensalvages. o_O
 
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