Rim thickness variation sorting

M

model14

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How do you sort rim thickness? What is an acceptable thickness difference and still be allowed to stay in the same group?
Thanks,
Richard
 
What I have done is to sort by rim thickness keep all the cartridges that fall into the same one thousandth together. Then after all the sorting is done weight sort them. You'll find many are all the same weight and a few are out there quite a bit, those are culls and can be used for fouling a barrel. To some extent it doesn't seem to matter what thickness you use, just that there are all the same when you group them together, but the weight sorting culls the losers out of the selection.
 
I'm not trying to steal your thread, but I have a question pertaining to sorting also. Do you need to use a gage made for doing this or will a dial veneer gage work?
 
"Do you need to use a gage made for doing this or will a dial veneer gage work?"

You can do it with a dial caliper & a fired .223 case.
 
Sorting

I have records of 5000 sorted rounds. First by rim thickness{Bald Eagle guage} and then by weight. All with cheap ammo. It seemed to make a slight difference but then I shot some groups that were just as good with the culls! Could have been me, no doubt. Shooting Tenex or R50 I found sorting to be a waste of time. That winter, however, was nasty here in NH so I figured what the hell. If you have the time and desire, try it. I'm no expert and only shoot in local matches so my experience is just that, eh? My best, Guy
 
40 or more years ago there was a great deal of variation in rim thickness. The small bore shooters in my club swore by sorting. At that time they used Rem. Target, Win. T-22 or Eley Club for practice and the variation was huge. Less in Eley 10X but still worth sorting.

At that time I was a competitive pistol shooter and spent many hours testing 22 ammo and loads with a Ransom Rest. I was unable to find a difference in our High Standards or Smith 41's so we didn't sort but we switched to Eley Pistol Match when we went to Perry.

Every once in a while I break out my gague and sort my current "killer ammo" and I am pleased with the consistency of todays Eley Match brass.

The gauge I use is still carried by Champion Shooter Supply " 22 RIMFIRE Accuracy Gauge".

Al Kunard
 
Thanks for the info. Don't think I will sort, even with Wolf Match.
Richard
 
I tried sorting the Wolf when I 1st started using it & found it to be of little help. The Wolf, sorted or not, seems to shoot pretty well, but occaisionally get a sort of squib round that goes low. It is good for the cost, but not in the same league as the $10 & up ammo IME.
 
Only if you can sort and pick out rim thickness that will allow zero clearance for the rim between the bolt face and chamber will you have a theoretical difference in ignition. If you can't establish this perfect fit of the bolt against the rim then no matter how uniform rim thickness is you can't have theoretical uniform ignition. Most rifles aren't made with head space low enough to get
zero clearance so probably the most improvement would come by simply selecting and using only those cases with maximum rim thickness.
 
I used to gauge the rim thickness of my shells and then somebody brought this to my attention.. If your rifle has a headspace of .042 or .0425 or .043, then when you close your bolt, the rim thickness on that .22 rf shell is going to be whatever your headspace is, unless the rimfire case has a rim thickness of less than your headspace..
After trying rim gauging my ammo, I found out that the "culls" shot just as good as the shells that had the same rim thickness, so I sold my gauge.. It was not worth the trouble..

Dave..
 
How do you measure headspace? Can I do it or does it take special tools that a gunsmith has?

Thanks Roy
 
Does your gun shoot?

Most 22RF's will vary from .040 to .050 and still shoot well with most match ammo. If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. To accurately measure the HS of your rifle, you must remove the FP and extractors. Then using a set of HS Gages, you Insert ome of the gages into the chamber and slowly close the bolt. If there is no resistance, go to the next size up. When you feel a slight resistance, you can figure that the HS is approx .0005 less than the gage you have in the chamber. You can purchase a Go ( .042) and a No-Go Gage ( .046 ) from Brownells. My set goes from .038 to .046. and I have a No-Go. I try to set my HS to .042 to .044. depending on the action. I purchased them from Joe Cowen. Don't have his number, but I'm sure someone will jump in with it.
 
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