Anyone Using Benchrest Grade Primers?

[Barrelnut]

IMO an expensive annealer is not necessary. If you can count 1001, 1002, 1003, you can be as accurate with a small propane torch and cordless.drill as you can with an auto annealer. IMO the torch and drill are even faster.

I weight sort my Hornady Creed brass and keep it in 50 case groups. I have Right at 10 rounds on two of those groups and have annealed each about three times.

 

[J E Custom]

The more I learn (about hand loading) the more I realize I don't know. But I learn a lot here and on the "6.5 Creedmoor Forum". And in both forums we speak in civil terms even when we disagree and I greatly appreciate that.

For PRS competition I often hear that I don't need the Nth degree accuracy of bench rest shooters - that is until I get out past 800 yards - then I do need it.

I'm retired and have the time and patience (I've been married 49 years so have learned patience ;o) to do the best loads I can. That includes using HBN bullet and barrel coating, precision bullet seating for a consistent COAL, culling out way over and under weight cases, and, one of these days soon, buying an annealer to get more loads from my brass. So as I progress in this fine madness I'll hopefully find "a point of diminishing returns", where anal retentiveness at some point does not equal smaller groups. The day I begin lusting to measure bullet runout is the day I'll know I've reached that point.
Hell, I even have a Neil Jones precision gauge for sorting .22 LR and .22 WMR rim thickness into lots. Rim thickness = headspace in rimfire rounds and they do group differently due to this slight headspace difference. So, yes, I can get anal about shooting, even rimfire.

Eric B.

I am also a little anal but it is fun to find out if anything makes a difference and why.

Some of the improvements are very slight, but as long as they are consistently better I will use it because even though the improvements are very little, when you add all of the improvements up
they can make a noticeable difference even at the closer ranges.

I have made many changes over the 55+ years I have been shooting and re loading because the process improved the accuracy of both the rifle and the shooter (More confidence that If I did my part the rifle would still out shoot me).

When I first started shooting, sub 1 MOA groups was fine and I assumed that most rifles would not shoot much better than that. once I began shooting competitively I realized in order to have a chance, I had to improve everything. and every time I found an improvement It only made me look harder for that edge. (It's a sickness) I am ok with sub 1/4 MOA but have found that with patience most of the time I can find a load that will produce 1/10th MOA.

I have still not reached that level of total satisfaction so I keep looking.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Gord0]

I am also a little anal but it is fun to find out if anything makes a difference and why.

Some of the improvements are very slight, but as long as they are consistently better I will use it because even though the improvements are very little, when you add all of the improvements up
they can make a noticeable difference even at the closer ranges.

I have made many changes over the 55+ years I have been shooting and re loading because the process improved the accuracy of both the rifle and the shooter (More confidence that If I did my part the rifle would still out shoot me).

When I first started shooting, sub 1 MOA groups was fine and I assumed that most rifles would not shoot much better than that. once I began shooting competitively I realized in order to have a chance, I had to improve everything. and every time I found an improvement It only made me look harder for that edge. (It's a sickness) I am ok with sub 1/4 MOA but have found that with patience most of the time I can find a load that will produce 1/10th MOA.

I have still not reached that level of total satisfaction so I keep looking.

J E CUSTOM

Total satisfaction. When it only looks like you put 1 of 10 through the X ring.

 

[69firebird]

I load the CCI BR2s for everything instead of federal 215s its just what i could get when i initially started reloading so I've stuck with them. I load mostly weatherby calibers and .30 standard calibers.

 

[codyadams]

There was a significant difference in e.s. and s.d. In my .260 AI switching from standard large rifle to br-2's. Standard cci primers were high 20's to low 30's e.s. With 10 shots, where as once I switched to br-2's, my 10 shot e.s. dropped to high single digits to 12-13 fps max.

Groups remained the same at 100, but it significantly improved my vertical spread at range, thus shrinking my groups. If you improve your e.s. and s.d. #'s, you are shrinking your groups.

 

[stever88]

Hi Litehiker!

... one of these days soon, buying an annealer to get more loads from my brass.

Here is a Link that should really help you get the best Loads and increase Brass life -

Varmint Al's Handloading/Reloading Page

His example of how to Anneal (with a photo) is dramatically simple plus all his other 'Steps' in re-Loading are great examples of how much more I need to learn.

Hope you find it interesting.

Cheers,
Steve