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I finally collected enough brass to take my first batch of reloads over the weekend and learned a few things about the round that werent as common of knowledge that I am glad I learned and figured that I would pass along to anyone interested:
1) Although the cases are made of brass, they are coated in lacquer. This is to aide in getting the ammo to feed and load into the magazine as easy as possible. It almost acts as a slight lubricant in reorienting the case in the magazine. i actually stripped the lacquer off of 10 rounds with some paint stripper to see if this made a difference, and it actually makes the round feed poorly, so dont remove the lacquer and dont tumble it with any overly abrasive media. Just keep the lacquer on.
2) Since the casing is so small, I overlooked a key point any reloader should look for: crimps! I ended up having to decrimp every piece of brass prior to priming which wasnt a huge ordeal, but a little time consuming.
3) A good chamfer is definitely in order on these little cases. Otherwise they can really scratch the copper jacket up on your bullets.
4) Adhering strictly to the COAL is very important here as the magazine does not allow for much deviation from the 1.58" COAL. Also, I tested a slightly shorter bullet seating of 1.56" which caused the primer to "flow" slightly and gave a couple small smilies on the brass which definitely indicates that much shorter and there could be some serious pressure issued. (Note: this was with a 40gr V-Max)
5) Powder: I am using Ramshot's True Blue pistol powder which is one of the only companies with published load data (along with Accurate Arms). And I am not about to trust someone's load data from an unknown source online, so I'm going to be limited a bit to powder selection until some other reputable sources publish data. Maximum charge of powder with this powder is 5.6gr, which means I can load a little over 1200 rounds with one pound of powder! (Reload cost with 5.2gr of powder is $0.19 per round, and factory is $0.50 per round!)
[attachment=2:t8o8dmsr]Ramshot Load Data.png[/attachment:t8o8dmsr]
6) Although I used only one powder, I started off with the minimum charge of 5gr and worked up to 5.4gr. The lower charge of 5gr failed to cycle my action reliably and failed to chamber about every third or fourth round, so I wouldnt call this a reliable load. This also happened a couple of times with a charge of 5.1gr of powder. Starting at 5.2gr, every round chambered and fed reliably so I would consider this a good starting point if you were to load for this round. The 5.3 and 5.4gr loads performed well but I didnt detect much difference in accuracy to make me say one load over another is better at this point in time.
7) While priming the brass, I noticed that it was helpful to slightly twist the casing while squeezing my RCBS priming tool. Because the case is so small, the primer pocket is smaller than the rod which presses the primer into place which means the primer can shift around slightly in the priming tool. By twisting while lightly squeezing, this helps orient the primer better and prevents damaged primers (I lost five or so primers while learning this).
My conclusion thus far: the 5.7x28 can be a fun little round to reload. But it has very tight tolerances that if ignored, can cause dangerous results. Adhere closely to recommended load data and specs. It definitely makes shooting this round a lot more affordable and gives you a reason to buy a new oddball caliber! Would I suggest taking the time and effort to learn how to load for this? Yes.
I know many of you may not care much about this thread, but I know there are some guys who are interested in the 5.7x28. And I figured that I would pass along what I have learned thus far. And maybe this will be the info that gets you to commit to finally buying one of your own!
Here is the Accurate Arms published info as well just in case you are interested:
[attachment=1:t8o8dmsr]Accurate Arms Load Data.png[/attachment:t8o8dmsr]
If anyone ends up buying something chambered in 5.7x28, let me know and I will gladly give you all of the information that I have learned outside of this thread
1) Although the cases are made of brass, they are coated in lacquer. This is to aide in getting the ammo to feed and load into the magazine as easy as possible. It almost acts as a slight lubricant in reorienting the case in the magazine. i actually stripped the lacquer off of 10 rounds with some paint stripper to see if this made a difference, and it actually makes the round feed poorly, so dont remove the lacquer and dont tumble it with any overly abrasive media. Just keep the lacquer on.
2) Since the casing is so small, I overlooked a key point any reloader should look for: crimps! I ended up having to decrimp every piece of brass prior to priming which wasnt a huge ordeal, but a little time consuming.
3) A good chamfer is definitely in order on these little cases. Otherwise they can really scratch the copper jacket up on your bullets.
4) Adhering strictly to the COAL is very important here as the magazine does not allow for much deviation from the 1.58" COAL. Also, I tested a slightly shorter bullet seating of 1.56" which caused the primer to "flow" slightly and gave a couple small smilies on the brass which definitely indicates that much shorter and there could be some serious pressure issued. (Note: this was with a 40gr V-Max)
5) Powder: I am using Ramshot's True Blue pistol powder which is one of the only companies with published load data (along with Accurate Arms). And I am not about to trust someone's load data from an unknown source online, so I'm going to be limited a bit to powder selection until some other reputable sources publish data. Maximum charge of powder with this powder is 5.6gr, which means I can load a little over 1200 rounds with one pound of powder! (Reload cost with 5.2gr of powder is $0.19 per round, and factory is $0.50 per round!)
[attachment=2:t8o8dmsr]Ramshot Load Data.png[/attachment:t8o8dmsr]
6) Although I used only one powder, I started off with the minimum charge of 5gr and worked up to 5.4gr. The lower charge of 5gr failed to cycle my action reliably and failed to chamber about every third or fourth round, so I wouldnt call this a reliable load. This also happened a couple of times with a charge of 5.1gr of powder. Starting at 5.2gr, every round chambered and fed reliably so I would consider this a good starting point if you were to load for this round. The 5.3 and 5.4gr loads performed well but I didnt detect much difference in accuracy to make me say one load over another is better at this point in time.
7) While priming the brass, I noticed that it was helpful to slightly twist the casing while squeezing my RCBS priming tool. Because the case is so small, the primer pocket is smaller than the rod which presses the primer into place which means the primer can shift around slightly in the priming tool. By twisting while lightly squeezing, this helps orient the primer better and prevents damaged primers (I lost five or so primers while learning this).
My conclusion thus far: the 5.7x28 can be a fun little round to reload. But it has very tight tolerances that if ignored, can cause dangerous results. Adhere closely to recommended load data and specs. It definitely makes shooting this round a lot more affordable and gives you a reason to buy a new oddball caliber! Would I suggest taking the time and effort to learn how to load for this? Yes.
I know many of you may not care much about this thread, but I know there are some guys who are interested in the 5.7x28. And I figured that I would pass along what I have learned thus far. And maybe this will be the info that gets you to commit to finally buying one of your own!
Here is the Accurate Arms published info as well just in case you are interested:
[attachment=1:t8o8dmsr]Accurate Arms Load Data.png[/attachment:t8o8dmsr]
If anyone ends up buying something chambered in 5.7x28, let me know and I will gladly give you all of the information that I have learned outside of this thread
