Reloading at the range

[Ledzep]

I'm tempted to buy one of the $30 Lee Hand presses and use it for load development while I'm at the range. The more I think about it the more sense it makes.

My thought is to prep and prime a bunch of cases, sort bullets, and bring along 1lb of powder and go to town at the range.

My intentions are to get a suitable load for my new .260 remington which I've never shot before. The main problem is that I'm on a huge time crunch (in the military, get to come home for 3 days at a time, not much time for load development).

Does anyone do this? Besides you guys that have a range in your back yard

Any tips or tricks?

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Reloading at the range

I use a RCBS Partner press mounted on a piece of Alum clamped to the bench for FL resizing, and a K&M arbor press with Wilson seater, I clean my cases with a Krazy Klothe, powder charges are the hard part, I used to take my gen 1 Prometheus to the range and use it in a room to charge cases, now I use either a Lyman m5 scale with a Redding Trickler or pre weigh my charges in vials and just dump them in at the range to play with seating depths, your gonna need a well organized box to keep all the tools of the trade in.

 

[BuzzBoss915]

Re: Reloading at the range

I think you would be much better off to invest in a pair of Wilson hand dies and an arbor press. You resize the case with a plastic mallet and de prime while it's in the die. Then re prime with a hand priming tool Then, you need a good quality powder measure rather than a scale, because the wind won't let it settle.

Then, you need the seating die and this is where you need the arbor press to actually seat the bullet. And, it's a lot simpler in practice, than it sounds. And, you produce high quality handloads.

This is the same method that prairie dog and squirrel shooters use in the field, on their tailgate, when they shoot up all the ammo they brought to South Dakota, (for instance) and need more for the next day. It's not as fast as a progressive, but you would be surprised at how many you can do in an afternoon, while forgoing your stainless steel ultra polishing media. (right mayfield?) BB

 

[Cegorach]

Re: Reloading at the range

What vials do you use for pre-weighed charges? I've been looking into doing this myself and was curious about what worked best.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Reloading at the range

I'm a diabetic so I use the strip containers that the test strips come in, there about the same size as a 35mm film canister.

 

[JByrd]

Re: Reloading at the range

My range is out my front door BUT, my press is bolted to a 1/2 " thick 3"wide by 16" long plate of steel so i can clamp it anywhere with a c clamp. An inverter fer your vehicle if you run a chargemaster and a bag full of sized primed brass/projectiles and your ready to roll em at the range. To me this is a must to ladder out a rifle and get'r really dialed in.

 

[justinbaker]

Re: Reloading at the range

here is what i use at the range, and i just clamp it to the bench

and i just use my regular beam scale, but have a little cardboard house to keep it out of the wind

 

[Ledzep]

Re: Reloading at the range

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I hadn't even thought of the wind messing up the scale (doh). I think I have a plan that will work, however.

First I'm going to load a series of increasing charges at magazine length (longest I intend to go with this rifle-- semiauto), to test pressure. Once I start seeing high pressure signs, stop, make a note of it, and de-mil the remaining rounds when I get back (if necessary).

Next will be OAL test. I'm going to load 5 live rounds and 1 dummy of each separate length (mag length, then go shorter by .020", then .040 etc..), and see if I can find a OAL node. Once it's found, I'll use the corresponding dummy round to set up the seating die in my LEE hand press.

Then I will load in .2gr increments, 5 rounds of each load from 42.1 to 43.5gr (140 berger, H4350, .260 remington) at magazine length. These rounds will all be adjusted at the range to the best performing OAL with the LEE hand press. Then I'll run a 500yd ladder test. Chronographing throughout all tests.

Anyone see any major flaws with this program?

Thanks

 

[Linkless]

Re: Reloading at the range

Get a Harrel's precision press. Build in clamp so you can use it anywhere essentially. It comes in three sizes and I have the PPC one, use it all the time for my Fireball cases and no issues with it at all. As for powder, I've thought about doing this at the range and will likely take my Lyman DPS1200 with me and power it using an inverter. It has a cover so the wind won't affect it as much, though I will probably set it up in the back of my Excursion.

 

[justinbaker]

Re: Reloading at the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ledzep</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I hadn't even thought of the wind messing up the scale (doh). I think I have a plan that will work, however.

First I'm going to load a series of increasing charges at magazine length (longest I intend to go with this rifle-- semiauto), to test pressure. Once I start seeing high pressure signs, stop, make a note of it, and de-mil the remaining rounds when I get back (if necessary).

Next will be OAL test. I'm going to load 5 live rounds and 1 dummy of each separate length (mag length, then go shorter by .020", then .040 etc..), and see if I can find a OAL node. Once it's found, I'll use the corresponding dummy round to set up the seating die in my LEE hand press.

Then I will load in .2gr increments, 5 rounds of each load from 42.1 to 43.5gr (140 berger, H4350, .260 remington) at magazine length. These rounds will all be adjusted at the range to the best performing OAL with the LEE hand press. Then I'll run a 500yd ladder test. Chronographing throughout all tests.

Anyone see any major flaws with this program?

Thanks </div></div>



find your powder charge node first, and then play with seating