accurate reloading

[hodgehodge]

I was just wondering on some tips or routines some guys go through to make say 100 rounds or more, all accurate and consistent. I have just been popping out old primers, put new ones in, measure the correct powder and put it in and then put in the the bullet. Is there anything that i should be doing or im missing???

 

[Mikecr]

Zediker Publishing

 

[woods]

weight sorting brass
weight sorting bullets
turning necks
steel wooling the inside of the necks
deburring flash holes
uniforming primer pockets
vld chamfering
primer pocket depth gauging
chasing concentricity
eliminating seating depth variation
partial full length resizing
OCW or Audette ladder testing

 

[milanuk]

...and sacrificing the occasional virgin chicken under a blood moon helps too.


Seriously, though... most of the things that woods mentioned are worth considering, but if you look closely, most of them are one-time events. You're only going to weight sort, turn necks, uniform the primer pocket, debur the flash hole, etc. one time, and if you're smart, you'll keep your stuff sorted. Some of the other ones such as weighing bullets, brushing the insides of case necks, etc. are every time occurences (if you do such things).

The book mentioned above, Glen Zediker's "Handloading for Competition: Making the Target Bigger" is a good read on the subject. Note: note everybody likes his very... conversational or chatty tone that comes up frequently in the book. Personally I think it lightens up an admittedly dry subject. At any rate, the information within the covers is still good stuff.

 

[Cruizin]

I found this article to be very informative. The only other thing I do is lightly ream the primer hole after each firing with the flash hole deburr tool. I've noticed that some of those holes end up not being round after a few firings....

One of the Many Great Articles from the Archives of Precision Shooting Magazine...

 

[rocky_lange]

Something I just stumbled across that not only makes sense, but works as well. Make sure all your brass in that batch is trimmed to the same length. If you use the seating die to crimp as well like alot of us do, the differences in case length will cause differences in crimp tension. Do it the first time you load and again as needed as your brass stretches. I shaved almost .1MOA on my first trial batch when testing this and had made no other changes.

Rocky

 

[Reloader]

Consistency....

It's all about consistency.

I'm sure their are better ways, but what I do to ensure I get a consistent batch is:

Set up a Redding body die to just touch the shoulder and size all cases
Set up a Lee Collet and size all cases trying to apply the same pressure to each case
Trim
debur and champher
clean all pockets
clean all necks with 0000 steel wool
Sort by weight( I usually sort prior to doing any of the above to get them close from the start)
Prime all cases and place them in loading blocks
charge all cases(RCBS CM thrower)
Set the seating die(prefer Foster BR)
After every case is loaded, I roll them on a concentricity gauge

That may not be the best way, but it gives sub 1/2moa consistency in my target rifles.

Many ways to skin a cat

Good Luck

Reloader

 

[Niles Coyote]

...and sacrificing the occasional virgin chicken under a blood moon helps too.


Seriously, though... most of the things that woods mentioned are worth considering, but if you look closely, most of them are one-time events. You're only going to weight sort, turn necks, uniform the primer pocket, debur the flash hole, etc. one time, and if you're smart, you'll keep your stuff sorted. Some of the other ones such as weighing bullets, brushing the insides of case necks, etc. are every time occurences (if you do such things).

The book mentioned above, Glen Zediker's "Handloading for Competition: Making the Target Bigger" is a good read on the subject. Note: note everybody likes his very... conversational or chatty tone that comes up frequently in the book. Personally I think it lightens up an admittedly dry subject. At any rate, the information within the covers is still good stuff.

+1 one thing I would add to Wood's list, start with quality brass lapua or norma.

Switching to quality brass, trimming all cases to same length, uniforming the primer pockets, reaming inside and out of the flash hole, vld chamfering. This has improved my groups by 1/4" at one hundred yards and given me lower E.S. and S.D. over the crono.

I tried weight sorting brass and bullets but dont any more as I must not shoot well enough or far enough to see the results on paper. Now I will go though all new brass and weigh, then a cull out any that are alot different than the rest.

I am a chaser of concentricity, and neck thickness. The closer to zero the needle stays, the more accurate/tighter the group will be.