Precisions reloading equipment and tactics.

[Dubious]

Any of the reloading masterminds want to share some of the equipment or techniques that has been caused real gains at the range in accuracy and consistency? My reloads and shooting ability has improved a lot over the years some has been from using better rifles, barrels and trueing actions and some has been from more consistent reloading practices. I’ve been thinking lately it might be nice to have an arbour press to be able to take reloading with me to the bench or a neck turner to turn brass necks but I’m just not sure either are worth the cost. For me building a home annealer was one of the biggest ways to tame extreme spread with my ammo. would getting a professionally made one improve that even better.

I find sometimes with shooting and reloading there are a lot of gizmos and beliefs that may not be worth the investment in time or money to chase. Any tips or ideas would be great to hear.

[elkhunter11]

I have switched over to Redding match die sets, with neck bushings to better control neck tension. I also find the match micrometer adjustable seating dies reduce runout, and make it quicker and easier to experiment with seating depths.

[catnthehat]

I use a Lee hand press for final seating bullets at the range.
If loading BP I mount a Rock Chucker on a piece of 2x4 and clamp it to the bench.
Cat

[Ackleyman]

Was using Whidden micrometer seating die and then went to the arbor press with Wilson in-line die. Using the Whidden or any other seating die it seemed even after being set and locked you had to keep an eye on it and check frequently , the seating depth could vary at times.
With the arbor press and Wilson die your CBTO is exact load one to load 100.
Being light and easy to pack around you can load long and adjust seating depths at range for load development. As far as "real gains in accuracy and consistency" I think marginal improvement in accuracy but big improvement in consistency that can't hurt.

[Smokinyotes]

Throwing my Chargemaster in the garbage and buying a V4 auto trickler has significantly reduced my ES and SD. I only buy bushing dies and micrometer seaters.

[wallz]

Mine seemed to be annealing as well. Made the induction annealer as per u tube videos.

This in combination of removal the ball on the sizing die, and then after sizing running all brass through a mandrel seemed to settle things in well.

This might not seem like much to most, but consistent 60 shot strings were running ES: 37 DS: 8.0. This is load the 10 round mag, shoot, load, shoot. No cooling in between, unless you call the 1 min to load the 10 round mag cooling.

I have been eyeing the wilson dies, and arbor press as well, so its good to hear some direct results of gains from that.

[Dubious]

What arbour press is the go to brand.

[Ackleyman]

K&M is a good one that wont break bank.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Ackleyman

Was using Whidden micrometer seating die and then went to the arbor press with Wilson in-line die. Using the Whidden or any other seating die it seemed even after being set and locked you had to keep an eye on it and check frequently , the seating depth could vary at times.
With the arbor press and Wilson die your CBTO is exact load one to load 100.
Being light and easy to pack around you can load long and adjust seating depths at range for load development. As far as "real gains in accuracy and consistency" I think marginal improvement in accuracy but big improvement in consistency that can't hurt.

This and consistent neck tension. Control the neck tension with annealing every two or three firings and a neck bushing type die.

[6MT]

Originally Posted by Dubious

Any of the reloading masterminds want to share some of the equipment or techniques that has been caused real gains at the range in accuracy and consistency? My reloads and shooting ability has improved a lot over the years some has been from using better rifles, barrels and trueing actions and some has been from more consistent reloading practices. I’ve been thinking lately it might be nice to have an arbour press to be able to take reloading with me to the bench or a neck turner to turn brass necks but I’m just not sure either are worth the cost. For me building a home annealer was one of the biggest ways to tame extreme spread with my ammo. would getting a professionally made one improve that even better.

I find sometimes with shooting and reloading there are a lot of gizmos and beliefs that may not be worth the investment in time or money to chase. Any tips or ideas would be great to hear.

That's really going down the rabbit hole. Got a few hours? Way too much to list in a post here.

[Smokinyotes]

Originally Posted by 6MT

That's really going down the rabbit hole. Got a few hours? Way too much to list in a post here.

6MT you could write a book on making consistent quality ammo.

[markg]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Throwing my Chargemaster in the garbage and buying a V4 auto trickler has significantly reduced my ES and SD. I only buy bushing dies and micrometer seaters.

Me too but i didnt throw it in the garbage. But I am a huge fan of the Auto Trickler V4

I have some short action customs dies on order and will see if they make a difference.

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by 6MT

That's really going down the rabbit hole. Got a few hours? Way too much to list in a post here.

Feel free to share a little something that haven’t been mentioned.

[6MT]

Originally Posted by Dubious

Any of the reloading masterminds want to share some of the equipment or techniques that has been caused real gains at the range in accuracy and consistency? My reloads and shooting ability has improved a lot over the years some has been from using better rifles, barrels and trueing actions and some has been from more consistent reloading practices. I’ve been thinking lately it might be nice to have an arbour press to be able to take reloading with me to the bench or a neck turner to turn brass necks but I’m just not sure either are worth the cost. For me building a home annealer was one of the biggest ways to tame extreme spread with my ammo. would getting a professionally made one improve that even better.

I find sometimes with shooting and reloading there are a lot of gizmos and beliefs that may not be worth the investment in time or money to chase. Any tips or ideas would be great to hear.

1. Press - Forster Co-Ax because of the free float principle.
2. Annealing because it extends case life and gives better neck tension consistency.
3. Seating the bullet closer to the lands.
4. Precision powder measuring.
5. Keeping brass to a single head stamp.
6. Precision measuring tools are a must. (Including a chronograph.)
7. Bushing dies for controlled neck tension.
8. Shoulder bumping at .0005" of fire formed size.
9. Comparators for shoulder and bullet seating measurements.
10. Resizing a case to your chamber, not the lawyer approved SAAMI or CIP spec'd die sizes. (See point #8 above.)
11. Proper record keeping assures consistency and safety.

Etc., etc., etc....

There's also techniques when using a press or whatever piece of equipment that need to be mastered. I've seen people's bad technique when doing all sorts of loading processes. I like to think that when I operate a press, there's a bit of artwork at play. Once you master things like the feel of a sizing stroke, or when seating a bullet...the feel of that process. Mastering the metering of certain types of powders. Those things will give better consistency. But they all take time to learn and get good at.

And please remember, I'm no expert. But I have learned some things over the years that make my ammo consistent, accurate, and precise. I learn things almost every time I load (and shoot for that matter). It's a never ending experience. And I find it very interesting.

YMMV

[Ackleyman]

# 6 above...spring for a good caliper. Mitutoyo are excellent.

[byronick87]

I'm no pro but I threw away my electronic powder measure and bought a lyman and and RCBS balance style scale.
Bought a manual powder trickler as well.
I also found anything made by Lee is not gonna get you anywhere worth your time

[32-40win]

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, look at the vids from Primal Rights on YT, he has a website too, where he has a blog and sells his priming tool, he is about as much of an over thinker as I have seen. Then look at Erik Cortina's vids and website, "Shoot Small Groups", Jack Neary's vids, most anything Speedy Gonzales has put out, then pick and choose what you think is really practical for you. F-Class John has some good reviews on equipt as well. Lots of high priced gimmicks around, some may be worthwhile, some are probably overpriced and maybe not necessarily really any better. All depends on what you can afford, and how deep down the various rabbit holes, you want to go.

[6MT]

Originally Posted by byronick87

I'm no pro but I threw away my electronic powder measure and bought a lyman and and RCBS balance style scale.
Bought a manual powder trickler as well.
I also found anything made by Lee is not gonna get you anywhere worth your time

Nothing wrong with Lee stuff. Their Perfect powder thrower is a great design. In fact, it's been copied by a number of manufacturers and mechanized. Their dies are simple and they work well. While i would not use them for loading precision bottle neck calibers, they're great for straight walled calibers. Lee's factory crimp dies can't be beaten. IMHO, they are the best crimping die for straight walled cases. Lee's 4 hole turret press has a simple tool holder that changes out extremely fast. (I happen to index the press manually though because their indexing rod is a poor design.)

Lee's stuff is not expensive and readily available at lots of retailers.

But...it is not the premium quality reloading equipment of other companies. It does have its place though....including in my loading room.

[DrQuack]

+1 to the V4. Also eliminating expander balls has helped me greatly.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by DrQuack

+1 to the V4. Also eliminating expander balls has helped me greatly.

How has eliminating the expander ball helped you?

[6.5 shooter]

Caliber Specific Expander Mandrel Kits from 21st century. (neck tension and no expander ball needed) I still use an RCBS charge master, the trick is to level it every time. But I do double check with a RCBS two beam scale (old school) similar to the ones used in laboratories but is set up for grains instead of grams. And everything 6MT mentioned as well. I use a Sinclair arbor press and Wilson dies.

[Dmay]

Quality equipment is important for sure. One "tactic" to precision ammo is to index brass, so that it enters the rifle chamber, sizing die, and seating die in the same orientation every time.....for it's life.