.222 V-Max issues. . . Need help!

Acronin

Acronin

New member
I've been working up a load for my dads .222 Remington 722 with 40gr hornady V-Max's. where I'm running into an issue is the C.O.L. The Hornady reloading book says 2.130", bu when I get to that point the bullet falls through the neck and into the case.has anybody else had this issue? Am I doing something wrong? Siggestions?
 
What's the length of the case? Trimmed to short maybe? Or not to same spec as the Hornady manual?

Build a dummy bullet and find out where the lands hit a smoked bullet. Need to figure out if the brass won't work or if you can just load them longer.
 
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Quote:when I get to that point the bullet falls through the neck and into the case.

Do you mean that the bullet falls in the case when you try to get the 2.130 COL? how are you measuring COL?
 
Are you sure you are measuring correctly? The length of 2.130 is standard for .222 in most manuals I checked with 40gr bullets so something is wrong with your measurement I would guess. I know my .222 touches the lands of the barrel at 2.170 so the fact that your bullet drops in the case at 2.130 means either you have measured incorrectly or you have the wrong case.
 
Something is wrong. The 222 Rem case is 1.7" long and COL is 2.130", that leaves .413" of bullet sticking out of the neck. A 40gr V-Max is .690" in length that means your only inserting the bullet .277" into the neck and the neck is .313" from the shoulder to the mouth.

Sounds like your expander ball is too big. Or your using 222 Rem data with 222 Rem Mag Cases(even then they shouldn't fall into the case).
 
Perhaps you mistakenly got 222 Rem Magnum cases? They are quite a bit longer than 222 Rem cases and could cause what you are talking about at an oal of 2.130".

Not trying to insult your intelligence, but I could see that happening (confusing the 2 cartridges) by mistake.
 
OAL of the case is right on with the manual. Smoked round? Teach me what that is.

Thanks for the help. The rifle is 3 1/2 hours a way, but I'll load some a little long and see if they fit.
 

I will have to go back and triple check. I must have been measuring wrong. Don't ever worry about insulting my intelligence that's why I ask the questions! I'll look over the case, bullet, dies and caliper and see where I went wrong.

They are not .222 rem mag cases, I did the double check on that already.
 
The 40 V-MAX is all I shoot any more in my 222. Sounds like you don't have your neck re-tensioned properly before attempting to seat the bullet. 2.130 (Book COL) is also what I use, and it works fine. I use Lee collet die to neck size only on all of my reloads.
 
Originally Posted By: Acronin

The rifle is 3 1/2 hours a way, but I'll load some a little long and see if they fit.


You should NOT be loading for a rifle that is 3.5 hours away. Get the rifle and do it safely.
 
I've shot the rifle and had made handloads for it before using different bullets/brass and everything has been good as far as function goes. I never ship ammo, I always have the rifle when the loads are test fired. There is nothing unsafe with what I'm doing and have done for years without accident.
 
Take a empty case barely seat a bullet. Smoke the bullet with a candle, chamber it slowly. Remove and measure AOL, this tells you how close to the lands you are, back off 5-10 thou to start.
 
I use a sharpie instead of a candle. Just a WAG, measure your case length and the bullet length. Add the two, subtract the bullet diameter. Use that number for a starting point for OAL.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI use a sharpie instead of a candle. Just a WAG, measure your case length and the bullet length. Add the two, subtract the bullet diameter. Use that number for a starting point for OAL.

"... subtract the bullet diameter."

Why?
 
I think he said subtract the bullet diameter cuz some people like to keep atleast the diameter of the bullet, what ever the diameter is in the case. Iv done it on a rem 700 in .204 ruger. Couldnt get close to the lands so i loaded them to max mag length and ended up backing off a little to keep .020" in the case. I dont know if it really makes much difference with neck tension or not.
 


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