Thanks A.J. I use a Rockchucker and have been contemplating C-clams and plywood and thinking hard about this hand press. I am going to pick 1 up after christmas. A concentricity gauge is on my list. so I can't easure runout yet. but will let you know how the same rounds shoot.
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Straighter reloads for $19
- Thread starter AJ Peacock
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AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
Thanks A.J. I use a Rockchucker and have been contemplating C-clams and plywood and thinking hard about this hand press. I am going to pick 1 up after christmas. A concentricity gauge is on my list. so I can't easure runout yet. but will let you know how the same rounds shoot.
I just measured the difference between my Rockchucker and the hand press, the handpress is .085" closer, so 1 1/4 turns out with your dies would get you awful close.
AJ
new shooter
Well-Known Member
338am
AJ could you do the same thing with the 338am? Did you play with differnt seatings with your 338am? What did you end up with for ES and velocity and powder and load? Kirby starded to put my 338am together last week.
Not really. The press I was talking about is the big AmmoMaster 2 that I use for my 338AM and it does a good job and has a HUGE window for the big guy. I'm sure the runout I saw on those rounds were a combination of the long throw on the press and my 'carefullness'. I've made very good rounds on that press in the past, I think its just too big of a press for such a short (WSM ) round, any small amount of out of square (none of them are perfect) or 'looseness' shows up at the very top of the stroke (just when the WSM is feeding into the dies). After all, in comparison to a lot of reloads I've measured (from other folks) .002" average isn't all that bad, I was just completely impressed with the rounds I made with the little hand press.
AJ
AJ could you do the same thing with the 338am? Did you play with differnt seatings with your 338am? What did you end up with for ES and velocity and powder and load? Kirby starded to put my 338am together last week.
AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
AJ could you do the same thing with the 338am? Did you play with differnt seatings with your 338am? What did you end up with for ES and velocity and powder and load? Kirby starded to put my 338am together last week.
I will be doing the exact same thing for my 338AM. I only had a few days from the time I received my 338AM until my elk hunt. I used the low end loading and tried a few seating depths until I found one that worked well, it ended up being a few thou off the lands and it shot great, so I left it. I will be fine tuning the load this spring (as if being able to hit at 1200+yds needs fine tuning!). I am using 143gr H50BMG, Fed 215M primer and 300SMK. Email me at don_peacock at hotmail dot com if you want to discuss in detail. Velocity leveled out at almost exactly 3300fps with once fired brass, a little lower on the new (only fireformed) brass. I didn't shoot enough over a chrono to do an SD or get a lot of data for a meaningful ES. The few rounds I checked were very close to 3300fps.
To use the hand-press on the 338AM, you need to grind a short flat on the front edge of the shell-holder, as it will rub the press otherwise. Then you insert the shell into the seating die and then install the shell holder over the shell and into the press at the same time (super easy to do, hard to explain).
I actually reloaded some 338AM today and loaded them all real long so I can do final seating at the range. I seated the first 5 to my known good length using the hand seater and it worked perfectly (I did need to readjust the die, but thats not a big deal). I placed another lock ring above the first one, so I can easily reset for my big press.
Hope that helps,
AJ
284LUVR
New Member
I have used a RCBS Partner press at the range for bullet seating. Nice little press and with a pair of "C" clamps yer good to go.Do your FL sizing at home and use the little guy at the range. Keep in mind that when you do this that the RCBS will become your designated seating prees unless you are planing to reset your seater at home.
MidwayUSA - RCBS Partner Single Stage Press
MidwayUSA - RCBS Partner Single Stage Press
AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
I have used a RCBS Partner press at the range for bullet seating. Nice little press and with a pair of "C" clamps yer good to go.Do your FL sizing at home and use the little guy at the range. Keep in mind that when you do this that the RCBS will become your designated seating prees unless you are planing to reset your seater at home.
MidwayUSA - RCBS Partner Single Stage Press
I only re-seat the bullets at the range. While adjusting a load, I resize,prime, powder and seat them FAR TOO LONG at home, then I can experiment with seating depth at the range. The little hand press will fit in my shooting bag with my calipers and I'm good to go.
How do you measure your powder when you load at the range? I've tried in breezy environments and its a no-go with scales I've tried.
Merry Christmas,
AJ
devildoc
Well-Known Member
I've been considering getting one of those for a while, I've heard nothing but good things about them and have some close friends that use nothing but the Lee hand press. Of course they aren't long range guys, I think your glowing review will probably spur me to have one in my possesion in short order. I've wanted one for the purpose of a dedicated depriming die and seating at the range just as you did, but the possibility of being able to use it as an all around press is just great. What cartridges have you resized in it? Will it handle the belted magnums?
Alan Griffith
Well-Known Member
Throwing powder at the range
AJ,
Throwing powder at the range is easy if you live with the parameters you set.
1. You'll want a measure which is easy to convert some kind of value "on" the measure to grains. Ie, my Harrell Premium "meter" uses clicks. Example, 113.5 on my Harrells relates to 113 on the drum and an extra 5 clicks. It will throw 69.9 gr of Magum propellant. Their are 6 clicks inbetween each number. The custom 90 has 4 if memory serves me. Here is the BR premium link just to show the culver drum with graduations. Some of the Harrell models will throw to 120 grains; big enough for your AM?
New BR PREMIUM Powder Measure
My old RCBS Uniflow with the micrometer insert will do nearly the same thing but without the high cost and the clicks.
2. You'll want a powder which will "meter" well. I feel every powder has it's own merits. I've acutally tested some long grained propellants which metered decently well. Some don't!
3. You'll want to preestablish a Hi/Lo range for your charges. An example would be +/- .1 gr, .2gr, .3gr, etc. Obviously for such a cartridge as an AM your percentage can be larger.
4. Before heading out, run a range of throws to predetermine where you'll want to start and where you'll want to stop when you've hit your predetermied max. Example, when I ran a ladder test last month for my 30-06Ackley and the 200 Accubond, I had determined that 68.9 gr of Rel 25 was max via QuickLoad. I subracted 10% and had my bottom end. Actually, I determined 21 shots at .3 gr variance I came up with 62.9 gr. I then found out what click value gave me an average of 62.9 gr and that was my low at the range. I then determined what click value gave me an average of 68.9 and that was my high. I've stopped before the high when pressure signs showed max and sometimes even continued beyond when pressure said to keep going.
Hope this helps.
AJ,
Throwing powder at the range is easy if you live with the parameters you set.
1. You'll want a measure which is easy to convert some kind of value "on" the measure to grains. Ie, my Harrell Premium "meter" uses clicks. Example, 113.5 on my Harrells relates to 113 on the drum and an extra 5 clicks. It will throw 69.9 gr of Magum propellant. Their are 6 clicks inbetween each number. The custom 90 has 4 if memory serves me. Here is the BR premium link just to show the culver drum with graduations. Some of the Harrell models will throw to 120 grains; big enough for your AM?
New BR PREMIUM Powder Measure
My old RCBS Uniflow with the micrometer insert will do nearly the same thing but without the high cost and the clicks.
2. You'll want a powder which will "meter" well. I feel every powder has it's own merits. I've acutally tested some long grained propellants which metered decently well. Some don't!
3. You'll want to preestablish a Hi/Lo range for your charges. An example would be +/- .1 gr, .2gr, .3gr, etc. Obviously for such a cartridge as an AM your percentage can be larger.
4. Before heading out, run a range of throws to predetermine where you'll want to start and where you'll want to stop when you've hit your predetermied max. Example, when I ran a ladder test last month for my 30-06Ackley and the 200 Accubond, I had determined that 68.9 gr of Rel 25 was max via QuickLoad. I subracted 10% and had my bottom end. Actually, I determined 21 shots at .3 gr variance I came up with 62.9 gr. I then found out what click value gave me an average of 62.9 gr and that was my low at the range. I then determined what click value gave me an average of 68.9 and that was my high. I've stopped before the high when pressure signs showed max and sometimes even continued beyond when pressure said to keep going.
Hope this helps.
AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
AJ,
...
Some of the Harrell models will throw to 120 grains; big enough for your AM?
Thats what I figured you guys did. The starting load on my AM is 143gr, it shot so well, I didn't mess with it (3300fps with the 300gr SMK will do whatever I need to do!). I'll play around and see if there is an even sweeter load this summer.
Thanks for the explanation,
AJ
AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
I've been considering getting one of those for a while, I've heard nothing but good things about them and have some close friends that use nothing but the Lee hand press. Of course they aren't long range guys, I think your glowing review will probably spur me to have one in my possesion in short order. I've wanted one for the purpose of a dedicated depriming die and seating at the range just as you did, but the possibility of being able to use it as an all around press is just great. What cartridges have you resized in it? Will it handle the belted magnums?
I resized some 7mm Rem mag brass (old stuff I don't use any more). And it will do it, but pushing the shoulder back an exact amount (half a thousandth) is tough with the hand press. I had no problem with the 300WSM and new norma brass, but the old 7mm Rem Mag brass was a little springier. For most things, it would work, but for real touchy resizing, I'd prefer a strong bench mounted press. In fact, I prefer a strong bench mounted press for everything. This little guy will just be for seating at the range.
That said, if someone was just getting into reloading and wanted to reload a few boxes/year for their .243 or 30-06, this would be a great little setup. The press, dies, calipers, powder dippers, scale and hand primer would all fit in a medium size tackle box and wouldn't need anything but a kitchen coutertop to do the reloading. Probably wouldn't cost much more than $100 either!
AJ
A.J. my son knew I was wanting this little press. And got one for me for christmas. I am going to load some A-Max to shoot at the deer lease . I have sized the brass with my collett die. This batch doesn't need shoulder bump yet. But I put one through the F/L sizer and it seemed to do fine . I can go through my process just as fast as my Rockchucker. I did have to do some readjusting too but it is miner. I have 190 Bergers to shoot from my rockchucker and the A-Max from the hand press. It is compareing apples to oranges but I will let you know how they shoot.
AJ Peacock
Well-Known Member
Chino034,
Good luck on the deer lease.
AJ
Good luck on the deer lease.
AJ
