sr90,
You can not go wrong with a BAT action. I've got one on my HG and Bruce does fantastic work. I've shot other rifles built with BAT actions and they consistantly are very very good fit/finish. And Bruce is a good person to deal with.
As for my gear: This isn't a must have, it's simply what I use with some comments added in.
Press Lyman Orange Crusher:
The throat is a little taller than the RCBS RockChucker. But both will work for this case and I couldn't rate one over the other. When I bought mine the Orange crusher was on sale for $5 less than the Rockchucker. So knowing the throat was bigger it was a no brainer. FYI: I paid I think $44 brand new for mine.... years ago.
Powder Measurer don't use one because of the course stick powder used in the large quanities for these big cases. I did throw my charges through a Culver conversion in 2000 at the NBRSA Nationals on day#2 to save some time. Didn't have any unexplained flyers on those 3 targets. But that is the only time I've ever thrown any of the slow burning stick powders. It was tough to "cut through" the powder to throw it though.
Powder scale I use the Redding Model #2 that has a 505gr capacity and it has a +- scale above and below the "0" indicating line. This make it easy for sorting components by weight. By having that scale over at the end of the beam you don't have to move the smaller counter-weight on the "10ths" end of the scale to get an exact weight. Just saves time and patience IMO. But all good brand name scales are in the same league. It's jsut the little extras that come with them that are convienent.
Trimmer I use an RCBS trimmer. NOTE: for the 338 Lapua case RCBS recommends the #4 collet. This collet is made for 2 cases and has 1 very small step in it that the 338 Lapua case head is suppose to seat against. I beleive RCBS has made this step way to small. The reason I say this is that if you put Lapua brand 338 Lapua brass in there and set your trim length that's fine. But I noticed there was usually a thousands or 2 variation in the OAL. Then the first time I went to trim some of my Norma 338 Lapua brass it was way off and wasn't trimming anything close to the length I had set using the Lapua brand brass. What happens is there is a small chamfer on the rim of the case head of Lapua brass. Norma's chamfer is a lot shallower. They hardly even have one. It's just enough to break the sharp edge really. But Lapua uses one that is quite heavy so those cases sit deeper into the RCBS collet because of that real shallow lip in there. Plus any variation of this chamfer depth changes the OAL cutting legth. This is the variations I was seeing. I'm trying to devise a way to have my collet ground out so there is no lip for those chamfers to set against. I want it to seat against the case head period. Just something to keep an eye out for. I don't know if another manufacturers have the same setup or not. But I've used this trimmer for all of my other loading for well over 20+ years and has worked flawlessly for all other cases from 223 to 338 Win Mag.
Neck Turner I use the old Sinclair PhaseII model (don't think they are made anymore, not sure). I have 1 neck turner for each of my competiton guns. So once it's setup I don't touch it. The same mandrel always stays with the cutter head also as there is tolerences there also. All neck turners operate the same way from one brand to the next. The only difference is how handy/comfortable they are for you to handle, and how easy it is to repeat from one setting to another.
Handiness/Comfortability can only be answered by yourself. The newer Sinclair turners are a little smaller and more comfortable comfortable (have one ofr my (6.5x55 Ackley). But for this big 338 case I like the bulkiness of the Phase II model. I can send pictures if you would like.
As for the repeatability of one turner over the next... me personally I don't care. When your talking about 1/10,000ths of an inch that is tight and you can't repeat to that reliably using allen wrenches and set screws fr adjustments. So I set it up and leave it right there for each custom chamber I have. I haven't changed any of mine in over 2 yrs. Whenever you get ready to do some neck turning though, put the turner in your pocket while eating dinner to get it warmed up to your body temperature at least. It makes a difference. Because for every 1/10,000ths of change of the turner depth, equates to 2/10,000th of the neck diameter. Still doesn't sound like a lot right? If you double that (2/10 of change which still isn't much) your already talking approx 1/2 of a thousands in neck clearance change. Some BR shooters have less than that for overall clearnece period.
Glad I could help. Let us know when you start putting parts together and start shooting. The fun has only just begun
Steve
