Ready to start reloading

rayporter

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Jul 3, 2014
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arkansas or ohio
the heart of your reloading is your dies. your scale is the life blood. the muscle is the press that pushes a case into a die, it wont make your ammo more accurate. convenience features of the press can make loading easier.
 
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You need to add a bullet puller of some type to your list, the cheap frankford impact model has worked well for me over the last 15 years.

A concentricity gage like 21st century's is a nice piece to have, it will help you determine if your finished product is actually of high quality, and can also help you determine where the errors are being introduced, i.e. which equipment needs tweaked or replaced, or if you just need to improve your technique. Mine has taught me that turning the case 1/4-1/2 turn and reseating the bullet cuts my runout down to <0.002" with my better die sets.

44 mag is a straight wall case, it's tough to imagine any of the major die manufacturers messing up boring what is essentially just a straight hole. In general, Redding dies are very nice, RCBS and Lee work, except for the RCBS gold medal seating die with the cutout window. The gold medal seating die adds 0.01-0.015" of runout no matter how I fiddle with it. I can't speak for Whidden, but have read some funny posts over the years from inexperienced people who couldn't figure out how to set them up properly.

If you get a chargemaster you just need to duct tape a piece of a mcdonalds straw in the end of the tube, that way extruded powders will actually flow out smoothly, eliminating the big jumps on the scale that happen when powder bridges and then dumps out all at once.
 

muddydogs

WKR
Joined
May 3, 2017
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1,099
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Utah
Decided I'm going with the co-ax press. Now for die selection.... I'll be reloading for the 44 mag first. My Ruger SBH shoots 2" groups@ 100 and 4" @200 with factory Hornady ammo. Does damn well. What dies should I get to help tighten that up even more?

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Dies have very little to do with group size, guys have no problems with the cheaper Lee dies. Group size is all about how well your firearm likes your load, small adjustments in charge weight and bullet seating depth have the greatest impact on groups as well as bullet type. 2" group out of a revolver at 100 yards is a good group, any tighter may have more to do with the shooter then the load. I don't stop messing with a load until I get 3 holes touching at 100 yards with a rifle and I use RCBS and Hornady dies with a few Lee crimp dies in the mix. Open sight handguns I'm working up loads at 25 to 50 yards.
 

cjl2010

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 12, 2015
Messages
201
Why not get a Dillon 650 progressive since you shoot a lot of volume pistol and 223 ammo? Get some floating heads from whidden and rock n roll.
 
OP
Pgohil

Pgohil

WKR
Joined
Feb 16, 2018
Messages
497
Why not get a Dillon 650 progressive since you shoot a lot of volume pistol and 223 ammo? Get some floating heads from whidden and rock n roll.
I absolutely plan to get a progressive in the future. Right now, I want to learn precision reloading first, volume 2ND. I shoot my 44 revolver and others for precision I even have a 223 precision rifle. The rest I can buy in bulk and save enough till then.



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cjl2010

Lil-Rokslider
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Jun 12, 2015
Messages
201
Why can’t you learn and load precision on a Dillon?
 
OP
Pgohil

Pgohil

WKR
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Feb 16, 2018
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497
Why can’t you learn and load precision on a Dillon?
I'm sure it is very possible. But it's just not for me. One step at a time for learning then the transition will be much easier.

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Joined
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Reading this thread up to this point could lead someone to believe that neither the quality of the dies nor the press quality matter at all, which would leave us with what, the case trimmer or powder scale as the single biggest contributor to hand loading accurate ammunition? The truth is...every tool matters, but what matters the most is how they all work together. The goal is to have every loaded piece be exactly the same size, shape, straightness, powder charge, jump to lands, and neck tension. Then, each of those variables is tweaked to optimize the performance of the firearm.

Dies have very little to do with group size

This is technically true, but dies definitely play a large role in the overall quality of the ammunition. Dies have a direct impact on runout/concentricity. This is easily verified with a concentricity gage. Changing nothing but the seating die can take my loaded rounds from 0.001" of runout to 0.015" of runout.

While at some ranges the concentricity may not directly impact the group size, at other distances it may have an impact. Personally, reducing my runout has helped my groups be more consistent across a variety of ranges, i.e. a 0.5 moa rifle/load combo stays that way as range goes from 100-200-400 ys rather than going from 0.5 moa at 100 yds and becoming a 1.5 or 2.5 moa load as range is increased.

For precision handloading, and getting the best performance out of your set up at all ranges, having as little runout as possible is worth pursuing. Your odds of getting a die that produces low runout are better with a premium die (Redding, Forster), but it could happen with RCBS or Lee too. Likewise, all of the manufacturers have a chance of producing a die that makes crooked ammo (high runout), some manufacturers are just more likely than others to have that imperfection. Regardless, the only way to know how your dies are performing is to use a gauge and measure.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
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I feel you OP I just did the same thing. I researched for a couple weeks and read read read. There are several guys on you tube that I like. Panhandle prescion is really great no none sense information. It's hard to dive into anything these days cause it is pretty expensive no matter how good and really expensive when it's what guys think is best. I got a MEC press and whidden dies (iam only doing one rifle to start) I bought a rcbs beam scale and powder measure spoons to start. I also found 2 forums for benchrest shooters and they have all manner of 2nd hand stuff from a cheap trickler and ammo trays to thousands of dollar medical scales. Check them out. I got all my small stuff off those forums classifieds. They have tons of info for reloading cause they are really into it. Bad news is I think I spent around 1200 bucks to get all the stuff and that's alot of ammo lol. Also the guys that make dies love to chat and they all have stuff laying around theyll sell you. After talking to one he sold me a priming press and a old tumbler and a bullet comparator for cheap. . Check out panhandle prescion he seems like a real straight shooter. Erik cortina is good too. Accurate shooter and Australian benchrest guys. That's alot of info. Itll be fun when this part is done. Then we have to learn load development! I got a chrono from natchez black friday for 80 bucks. Oh yeah natchez has better prices than midway on most stuff. The old timers told me not to worry about triming and turning necks for awhile. One less thing at the start. Hope this is helpfull. Dont forget that you ask ten guys you get ...ten different answers lol
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
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Sure,
Accurate shooter
Snipers hide
Long range hunters
Australian benchrest association
All these guys do long distance contest stuff where the hand load is ALL IMPORTANT. I mean they spend tens of thousands on this stuff. Not really hunting but lots of hunters on there. Just got a nightforce nxs 3.5x15x50 ffp scope off there for 800 bucks. They sell stupid expensive stuff so dont go down the rabbit hole and end up with the silly automatic powder scale deal and a 800 dollar target camera lol. Natchez is great. Sinclair is great for dies too. I just bought whidden cause I could talk to him and of course I have a 6 5 prc which is kinda new and less availability for quality so far. Man theyll have all the dies for your rifles on classifieds!!
 
Joined
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The old timers told me not to worry about triming


You might not need to trim for a while, but you better be measuring your cases and not loading the ones that are over length or you're going to get excessive pressures. Hard bolt lift will probably be your first clue, but depending on how much growth you had during your last shot and how your chamber is cut that's not a guarantee. In extreme cases, this will damage your gun, hurt someone nearby, or hurt yourself.
 
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