7mm Valkyrie loading 101

Now that we have quite a few end users i thought i should go over the reloading procedure for the Valkyrie and really all rifles.

New round loading procedure for already made brass

1. Prime 
2. load ladders to find grouping and or max charges/ fire form brass
3. measure shoulder position on fired cases
4. measure case water capacity on fired cases
5. set up sizing die to give .003-.005 shoulder bump - want as little bump as you can and rounds still chamber and extract.
6. reload normally

Most have bought the kits that came with brass so the first firing you load your ladders work up and find your loads. Now after you have  your brass fire formed before you do anything else you need to take the little aluminum adapter that came with your die and mount that on your caliper zero your caliper and measure the fired cases record your data.( Another good thing to do right now is get your fired case capacities by putting your case on a scale zeroing fill with water and weigh it, i do this to 10 cases and take the average and jot it down for reference. When you get new brass you check it the same way to make sure the capacities are close and so you can adjust your loads accordingly.) You can also use the Hornady headspace kit for this it has adapters to work with most rifle cartridges.

This is your fire form shoulder position and unless they were full power loads may not be fully formed. i normally take the top 3 charges from each combo and measure them they will be the most formed. When starting out you can measure them all so you can see as the charges go up so does the measurement till it stops that is when they are fully formed. So now you have your fired cases, your measurement, so now it is time to set up the die. You are looking for .003-.004 bump on the shoulder you can start at .002 and see if they chamber and extract but the chamber is a tight one and normally i have to ru_n around .004 on my AR's. 

To set up the die put it in your press Screw the die down to the shell holder and back off 1/4 turn. Lube your case, measure the shoulder again, and run through die. Measure again start turning the die a little at a time till the measurement is .003 under the first measurement. now i like to go ahead and seat a bullet and check to see if it chambers and extracts correctly. If not pull the bullet bump another .001 and try again. Now that you have the die set the hard part is done. I like to repeat this after 3-4 fires just to double check by then the cases will be fully formed to the chamber.

I do this for every rifle I own it keeps you from over sizing the brass which can lead to case head separation, false pressure signs, accuracy issues and the list goes on.

Now loading the rounds is just like any other round.

• Clean brass
• lube and size brass
• trim brass
• chamfer/debur
• clean off lube
• prime
• charge with powder
• seat bullet
• shoot and repeat

just double check the head space measurements once in a while to make sure you are still where you need to be.

Those wanting to get the most out of their rifles will also check distance to  lands with the bullets they plan to shoot to know where max oal is and set distance to lands when seating. A bullet comparator set is another tool that every reloader should have. it is more accurate way to measure your loaded rounds and get them consistent.

here are a few more tools any wildcat reloader should have and most rifle loaders should too

Hornady oal tool

Hornady bullet comparator

I will make the 7mm Valkyrie oal modified cases for the hornady oal tool for you if you would like one, they are $10 shipped. just email me
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Thanks for reading load safe and have fun shooting

Bruce Finnegan