Flash hole uniformer

[Bunnybuster]

Who makes a good flash hole uniformer for the 20-cal?

[capitol]

Sinclair makes a nice one, but it's expensive.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/cat ... type=store

[heikki02003]

I have that exact one... It's great! Buy it and don't look back.

[Bunnybuster]

Thanks guys. I ordered one last night.

[Orion2see]

How important is this process to accuracy? I have not been deburring flash holes, and I am not getting top accuracy - maybe now I know one possible reason why.

[skipper]

Winchester, Remington and Hornady are notorious for having a burr on the inside of the flash hole. This will kill consistent ignition and lead to inaccuracy. Norma and Nosler brass comes with the flash holes pretty uniform right out of the box.

The trick is to just remove the burr without making the flash hole any larger. I like to use an electric drill or screwdriver when setting the depth of my flash hole uniformer. When you first start out the tool may bind when it encounters a large burr. You can minimize this tendancy by advancing the tool very slowly. The case will vibrate just until you have completely removed the burr. When the case stops vibrating the blade should be making a uniform cut all the way around the flash hole versus just cutting one side. Stop there, where the vibration stops and set the depth. Then you can simply let the depth control sleeve stop the tool for the rest of the cases.

It's just as important to uniform the primer pockets as it is to uniform the flash holes. Consistency from round to round is the key to 204 accuracy.

[Orion2see]

One more question, with the Sinclair unit, it presumes all cases are trimmed to the same length, right? If so, case trimming would have to come before this step in case prep?

[heikki02003]

You got it. It indexes off the case mouth, so any variation in case length will cut either less or more. You need to remove the same amount of material, which is not much at all, in order to keep case capacity consistent. The nice thing about this operation is you only have to do it once, so perform it once right after you trim.

Just an aside about acheiving accuracy, and how important each process is.
In the arts we use the German word "gestalt", mostly to refer to form or shape in both drawing and sculpture. A deffinition of gestalt would be: the whole is different than the sum of the parts. It may be thought of like this... 1 + 1 = 3.
What I'm getting at here is that all the little things you do, like uniform primer pockets, debur flash holes, and wieght sort brass and bullets, might not seem like big things. But when all of these are added up, the sum is greater than the parts.


I'm back to the forum after a short hiatus... been away for quite a few days. I just finished and submited my Masters thesis paper. It feels like I've been writing and writing and writing... maybe that's why I just rambled off some long winded crap about deburring flash holes... sorry!
Anyway, time for a pint... or six.

[skipper]

Be very careful how much neck material you trim off of new brass. New brass hasn't been fireformed to your rifle's chamber yet and can either shrink or grow on the first firing as it takes the shape of your rifle's chamber. Just remove enough to get them the same without trying to cut them all to a specific length. Do that after the first firing.

A lot of the brass you find is pretty short to begin with. Some of the Nosler brass I bought measured 1.828 out of the box. If you go trimming all your brass to the shortest one's length so you can deburr the flash holes and then the majority of them get shorter upon the first firing you're going to have some awfully short brass. You might want to do it after the first firing.

[Orion2see]

trim.

Just an aside about acheiving accuracy, and how important each process is.
In the arts we use the German word "gestalt", mostly to refer to form or shape in both drawing and sculpture. A deffinition of gestalt would be: the whole is different than the sum of the parts. It may be thought of like this... 1 + 1 = 3.
What I'm getting at here is that all the little things you do, like uniform primer pockets, debur flash holes, and wieght sort brass and bullets, might not seem like big things. But when all of these are added up, the sum is greater than the parts.


I'm back to the forum after a short hiatus... been away for quite a few days. I just finished and submited my Masters thesis paper. It feels like I've been writing and writing and writing... maybe that's why I just rambled off some long winded crap about deburring flash holes... sorry!
Anyway, time for a pint... or six. [/quote]

Great point about "gestalt" - I remember that from my masters program as well - synergy is another fitting word, as all these processes of case prep tend to have a synergistic effect on accuracy. I still have not purchsed a trimmer, as I am trying to determine which method and type is best.

[heikki02003]

Yea, synergistic works nice also. Orion2see, what do you have your Masters in?

About the the timmer... I'm sure you'll notice two trends developing. Firstly, Sinclair make some of the best reloading equipment in North America. Secondly... it's not cheap. I stongly suggest the the Wilson/Sinclair trimmer, it's awsome. Two notes about the trimmer. Make sure you get the new one with the "shark fin" like mine. It's the aluminum lever that swing into place over the shell holder. They started making them this way now because it eases (speeds) the operation. When I called they had both in stock, you pay a bit more for the "shark fin" but get it. The wood base that is mounted to mine I built. Sinclair makes one out of plastic with a raised section for tapping out cases very similar to mine. So you have a choice, buy one or make one. You can also get away with simply clamping the black base of the trimer to a table or your bench. One more thing. If you go this route, make sure to order the .204 shell holder. Hope this helps.

Shark Fin

[Orion2see]

Keikki,

Great looking setup! Thanks for the tips. Think I'll be calling Sinclair (again!). My post grad degree is in IT Management. What about yours?

[heikki02003]

Glad I could help. Mine is in Fine Art, I specialized in Sculpture.
It's kinda funny we are having this converstation. It is because of this degree that I bought my .204 (in a round about way). I moved out here (Saskatchewan) to come to school. We don't have gophers where I live back home (Ontairo), so the first time I went out here we shot about 100 gophers shooting a friends 22-250. I was hooked! That's when I found this forum, bought a .204, and as they say the rest is history.

[Orion2see]

Glad I could help. Mine is in Fine Art, I specialized in Sculpture.
It's kinda funny we are having this converstation. It is because of this degree that I bought my .204 (in a round about way). I moved out here (Saskatchewan) to come to school. We don't have gophers where I live back home (Ontairo), so the first time I went out here we shot about 100 gophers shooting a friends 22-250. I was hooked! That's when I found this forum, bought a .204, and as they say the rest is history.

Kyle,

PM sent!

Bill