Quality Reloading/Handloading Components?

[pushcoguy]

First, I would like to say that while I have been reloading for about 18 years, I haven't gotten as serious as many. I mean, I do what I can to achieve the tightest groups, for a given rifle; but I haven't considered purchasing top shelf equipment, and I haven't tried concentrisy(spelling?) tools and neck turners and so-on. Keeping this in mind, I will ask a few questions.

1.) Which company(ies) do you believe make the highest quality dies and/or tools?
-I have used only Lee, Hornady, RCBS & Lyman.
2.) Which brass is considered, in today's shooting environment, to be of premium quality and consistency?
-When I started out, Norma was considered some of the best
3.) What (tool(s)) do you guys use to turn necks?
I have been looking at a hand neck turner, mostly due to price.. and I don't load thousands of rounds per year, probably just several hundred.
4.) When considering single stage presses, what do you consider to be the best make/model, and what is your reasoning?
I have experience with the Lee, which I started out with, and the Lyman that I currently use. I will say that I ruined a die, when I started using the Lyman, due to the cam-over. I do like the press though.

 

[gj]

#1:Redding and Dillon
#2: Norma and Lapua
#3 RCBS
#4 I no longer use a single stage press but Dillon RCBS

 

[just country]

redding, rcbs, and hornandy
Winchester and Lapua
do not turn necks. never had to?
RCBS Rock Crusher, had for 35yrs

 

[243winxb]

1. FL type S Bushing die, Redding.
2.lapua or norma, so they say. I use benchrest preped Win.
3. Lyman that works with my case trimmer.
4.Single stage Frame Material: Cast Iron RCBS . With steel linkage. No Solid Aluminum or alloy. They spring on sizing at times.

 

[Predator 22]

1. Redding type s FL with micro seater
2. Lapua, Norma in that order.
3. Modified Hornady
4. Same as 243winxb a cast iron rock chucker.
One thing that is missing on your list is a good balance beam scale. I use a rcbs 10-10 with a 5-10 back-up. I do not trust a electronic scale.

 

[pushcoguy]

Thanks for the replys.

I've been using a RCBS scale, digital. I started off with a balance beam powder scale, years ago. I've often wondered just how consistent the two types are/stay. I check my digital scale pretty frequently, and haven't had reason for alarm yet.

As far as case necks, I've trimmed, but not turned them. In the realm of operations I've operated, it hadn't been a concern.

As you can probably tell, I have loaded for cost and increased accuracy, but not extreme accuracy. I am just now considering the factors that could potentially take my accuracy to the next level... the one that many of you consider normal.

 

[gj]

Digital is the way to go , guys say fluorescent lights interfere with digital hogwash the only thing digitals need are good strong quality batteries or a reliable power source, other than that balance beams are a thing of the past....

 

[waltercrouse]

redding, rcbs, and hornandy
Winchester and Lapua
do not turn necks. never had to?
RCBS Rock Crusher, had for 35yrs

I prefer Winchester and Nosler brass
I do not neck turn, I do trim my brass to size
I use a
Lyman orange crusher, you have to set your dies so you do not have a cam over. I Rcbs Jr I use for pistol case.
Dies Redding ,Forester and Rcbs with forester internals.

 

[pushcoguy]

What tools do you guys use to measure base to ogive?

 

[SansSouci]

Good Morning, pushcoguy,

The best components and equipment won't compensate for a rifle that won't hold a group.

I use RCBS equipment. I got a Rockchucker combo set for Christmas some 30 years ago. It works better than I'd of expected. Were I a target shooter, I'd probably buy match grade everything, But I'm a hunter.

I use a RCBS ChargeMaster powder measure. I used to use a RCBS beam scale. Beam scales take too long, and their accuracy vis-a-vis a digital scale is debateable The ChargeMaster has been a very good friend. BTW, a good quality digital scale will measure a pencil mark on paper. Unless you're competing, there's no need for such an investment.

I will always visually inspect ALL charged cases before seating bullets.

I've had good success with RCBS. My 3 primary big game rifles will shoot .25 at a hundred with my hand loads.

As far as components go, it doesn't cost a fortune to kill big game. For a long time, the Partition was the gold standard elk bullet. A 3 dollar bullet ain't required to kill the largest big game. For Rocky Mountain mule deer-size big game, it's hard to beat Sierra Gameking bullets. Deer drop in their tracks when hit with 'em. Even better, they're extremely accurate.

I used to use W-W brass exclusively for my big game rifle cartridges. However, its quality isn't what it once was. In fact, after receiving 100 pieces of W-W .270 Win brass, I became frustrated with its quality. I bought a hundred pieces of Norma .270 Win brass and a hundred pieces of Norma 7MM Rem Mag brass. It was worth the extra money. The Norma brass will last me the rest of my big game hunting life.

I did pick up 250 pieces of Federal Premium .270 Win brass on the cheap. I haven't yet tried it. It looks to be good quality. But looks can be deceiving.

I like Federal primers. But for hunting purposes, I'd doubt that there's much difference in brands. My 44 year-old Model 700 .270 Win will shoot .25" at a hundred with 60 grains of H-4831, older W-W brass, 130 grain Sierra GK bullets, and CCI primers. Casting humility aside for sake of clarification, this is astounding considering equipment & components are pedestrian. Were I inclined, I'd invest in match grade reloading equipment and components to see if I could compete in target shooting with big game rifles. But that notion hasn't yet hit me.

Powder will compel a lot of thought. There's all kinds of new stuff on the market. New doesn't always mean better. So far, I've yet to beat H-4831, IMR-4350, RL-19, & RL-22 results.

This new thing about temperature sensitive powder might be valid, I don't know. I do know that with old stuff, every time I've pulled triggers, cartridges fired, and big game animals died.

I wish you the absolute best in your loading endeavors. Hand loading is a fun and rewarding hobby. However, some caution might be in order. Before you know it, you could have thousands invested in loading equipment when hundreds would produce identical results.

 

[243winxb]

What tools do you guys use to measure base to ogive?

None. The old method. Take a fired case, bend the case mouth to hold a bullet, seated long. Chamber , extract, measure about 3 times or more to get a OAL to bullet tip.

I want a good amount of bullet shank into the case and have the rounds fit the magazine.

Trying to reach the rifling with a factory rife is mostly a waste of time.

 

[pushcoguy]

Good Morning, pushcoguy,

The best components and equipment won't compensate for a rifle that won't hold a group.

I use RCBS equipment. I got a Rockchucker combo set for Christmas some 30 years ago. It works better than I'd of expected. Were I a target shooter, I'd probably buy match grade everything, But I'm a hunter.

I use a RCBS ChargeMaster powder measure. I used to use a RCBS beam scale. Beam scales take too long, and their accuracy vis-a-vis a digital scale is debateable The ChargeMaster has been a very good friend. BTW, a good quality digital scale will measure a pencil mark on paper. Unless you're competing, there's no need for such an investment.

I will always visually inspect ALL charged cases before seating bullets.

I've had good success with RCBS. My 3 primary big game rifles will shoot .25 at a hundred with my hand loads.

As far as components go, it doesn't cost a fortune to kill big game. For a long time, the Partition was the gold standard elk bullet. A 3 dollar bullet ain't required to kill the largest big game. For Rocky Mountain mule deer-size big game, it's hard to beat Sierra Gameking bullets. Deer drop in their tracks when hit with 'em. Even better, they're extremely accurate.

I used to use W-W brass exclusively for my big game rifle cartridges. However, its quality isn't what it once was. In fact, after receiving 100 pieces of W-W .270 Win brass, I became frustrated with its quality. I bought a hundred pieces of Norma .270 Win brass and a hundred pieces of Norma 7MM Rem Mag brass. It was worth the extra money. The Norma brass will last me the rest of my big game hunting life.

I did pick up 250 pieces of Federal Premium .270 Win brass on the cheap. I haven't yet tried it. It looks to be good quality. But looks can be deceiving.

I like Federal primers. But for hunting purposes, I'd doubt that there's much difference in brands. My 44 year-old Model 700 .270 Win will shoot .25" at a hundred with 60 grains of H-4831, older W-W brass, 130 grain Sierra GK bullets, and CCI primers. Casting humility aside for sake of clarification, this is astounding considering equipment & components are pedestrian. Were I inclined, I'd invest in match grade reloading equipment and components to see if I could compete in target shooting with big game rifles. But that notion hasn't yet hit me.

Powder will compel a lot of thought. There's all kinds of new stuff on the market. New doesn't always mean better. So far, I've yet to beat H-4831, IMR-4350, RL-19, & RL-22 results.

This new thing about temperature sensitive powder might be valid, I don't know. I do know that with old stuff, every time I've pulled triggers, cartridges fired, and big game animals died.

I wish you the absolute best in your loading endeavors. Hand loading is a fun and rewarding hobby. However, some caution might be in order. Before you know it, you could have thousands invested in loading equipment when hundreds would produce identical results.

/\
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This is basically what I have been doing, for the last decade or more. I've just recently got the itch to really work at tightening already good (< 1") groups.

I've got a really nice little Rem 700 that I think ought to shoot better than the .92" groups that it has produced so far.

I like my Savages also. My Mod. 16 will hold real close to 1/4", with factory ammo. I've tried to beat that by handloading, but I haven't been able to... yet.

 

[pushcoguy]

None. The old method. Take a fired case, bend the case mouth to hold a bullet, seated long. Chamber , extract, measure about 3 times or more to get a OAL to bullet tip.

I want a good amount of bullet shank into the case and have the rounds fit the magazine.

Trying to reach the rifling with a factory rife is mostly a waste of time.

Agreed. And I almost always load to mag length anyway. The reason that I am interested in the base-to-ogive measurement is this.

I am super meticulous with the caliper. I habitually measure almost everything that I produce. The problem though- I want to know how consistent (read in "perfect") my dies are, at seating. There is enough difference in the bullets, when measured from base to tip, to throw off my "COL" measurements. I used to constantly tweak my dies, because I thought that they weren't being consistent, when it was probably just the difference in bullet lengths. I now keep notes of new bullets' weight and length variances.

 

[TwoMore]

I use the hornady comparator but I make my own bushings for each caliber that I use to set my BTO, I also will back off on my seating die about .005 to .010 every time and creep up the the length I am after