WV Hunter said:
Nice shooting! Sounds like a nice rifle.
Have to say, I have not ever personally heard of anyone shooting 160gr of BH. I know some like up to around 140 which is still pretty stout.
Encore, what happens if the flash hole wears and enlarges? What do you do then? (Admit, I don't fully understand that BP - even with looking at the pics). I did see one yesterday at Gander...price was $809 SS/Grey laminate. Last summer it was $1200 there :shock:
What one has to worry about is how well the rifle head spacing is, then the life of the brass. The head spacing is totally dependent on the bolt, nipple and the thickness of the case head.
Not the OA length of the case. In fact, case heads do vary in thickness and case length, which may present an issue. When the bolt closes on the case there should be some noticeable resistance when the case seals to the nipple. If there's to much head space the seal isn't made properly and then can allow gases to escape into the case. This will eventually gas cut the nipple and it will require replacement. It may not leak in new or one time re-primed used brass, but primers backing out of the case is also an indication of too much head space. Not being able to close the bolt indicates to little head spacing.
The lessor of the two is having to little head space. However it can create more work (better than watching re-runs of NCIS). In the case of having to little you can trim all the brass, say .003" shorter, then set a reamer and ream the flash hole to fit. With each piece of brass the identical length and the reamer set properly, one always has the proper seal for every case. You can't just set the reamer on a single case unless they are all trimmed. One has to remember that case head thickness varies and so will the case length. With the reamer indexing off the case mouth there's no guarantee that when reaming it will work properly, unless the case lengths are exact. In reality, this is the way I prefer it and what I have with my BP Xpress.
The brass can be re-primed as long as they don't start leaking or if they don't feel like there's some resistance when closing the bolt. Each time a piece of brass is chambered and sealed against the nipple, the brass starts retaining a memory. Once a full memory on a case is made, it takes away from the seal. Continuing to use that piece of brass with the memory will eventually start letting gas escape which could lead to gas cutting the plug and replacement. If a case shows signs of leaking, throw it out.
If the head spacing is good and the owner pays attention to his brass (I bag and label mine), the breech plugs will last a considerable amount of time. As I stated, I know one shooter that has over 10,000 rounds through the original breech plug on his UF rifle and its still shooting. Keeping track of your brass condition is crucial. How fast a memory starts is dependent on each piece of brass. I would HIGHLY caution any RU owner to believe any writer's claim that they will re-prime a dozen times. Not saying that some won't, but I highly recommend inspecting each piece of brass after firing.
