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Post anything that has helped you as a reloader!

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Jun 11, 2012
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I want to hear about any methods, equipment, or theory's that helped you as a hand-loader create more accurate loads!

Im two years into reloading, I really like the redding instant indicator, however I still struggle to find a truely meaningful way to extract an accurate load at long ranges. I am switching over to berger bullets, and would LOVE to hear your method!

Thanks
 
Been handloading for rifle and pistol, as well as casting for pistol since 1965 when I was fifteen. When I read the post, HANDLOADER magazine immediately came to mind. A wealth of information that I've drawn on over all these years.

For accurate loads from a rifle I'd have to say my Forster Co-Ax press and Redding dies. As well as keeping good records.

Upgrading to a QUALITY rest, bags and a rock solid bench was a big improvement too.

FN in MT
 
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FN in MT said:
Been handloading for rifle and pistol, as well as casting for pistol since 1965 when I was fifteen. When I read the post, HANDLOADER magazine immediately came to mind. A wealth of information that I've drawn on over all these years.

For accurate loads from a rifle I'd have to say my Forster Co-Ax press and Redding dies. As well as keeping good records.

Upgrading to a QUALITY rest, bags and a rock solid bench was a big improvement too.

FN in MT
Click to expand...

I often thought about getting a good rest, but wanted the practice of how i would shoot in the field ( bipod and tab gear bag in the rear). Im thinking about getting a nice rear rest for working up loads, any suggestions?
 
i've found reloading while nekkid has doubled my production rate and made my reloading experience orgasmic
 
For myself (and i consider my self new even though ive been doing it for two years now) one of the biggest things was just getting out there and doing it. Trying things and see how they effect everything. I can sit and read about ways to be better but actually trying things out has taught me way more than reading will. Of course i am not talking about super light loads or hot loads but just within the book loads.
 
Detailed notes. I agree, knowing what worked and what didnt work is important. When I develop a load, I put together a plan and make notes and check stuff on the document. I put the targets together with this and keep it all together with my brass lot tracking paperwork. I keep all my brass separeted in 'lots'. I know how many firings are on all my precision stuff this way.

Records carry the day.
 
Practicing the basics has been the biggest help to me. Detailed case prep, a good scale and good records. The biggest step for me was once I found an accurate load, stop fudging with it. Focus on shooting technique and leave the load alone.

It's not the tools that make the loads better as much as the attention to detail along the way. That's why some shooters score high with a set of Lee Dies and others who have all the latest and greatest "Competition" die sets can have trouble hitting paper.
 
I agree totally about keeping detailed notes.
Read, research, read more, listen to others & then figure out what works best for you by trying out what you've read/listened about.

I think equipment choice/brand can be important but you being consistent in your process is the most important factor in the reloading. Dont rush & don't or at least try not to get frustrated.
 
be mindful of the fact that reloading is death by a thousand mosquito bites...in other words, prep your bank account.
 
Great info lets keep it flowing! I to have a hard time not messing with a load once I've found one. I do always do a 4 shot .1gr 4 round test when I FL all my brass again. For some reason on my 300 WM everytime I size all my brass again the sweet spot moves .2 gr (5X fired brass)
 
Won't your harmonics be different strapped into a benchrest vs off bipod and rear sandbag? I just picked up a hyskore beast rear rest to replace my rear bag, in hopes I can shoot it prone the same way I can my tab gear bag.
 
YouTube YouTube YouTube and practice practice practice for the process.

OCW and ladder for load testing and dialing in.
 
FALex said:
be mindful of the fact that reloading is death by a thousand mosquito bites...in other words, prep your bank account.
Click to expand...

Learned this the hard way. I started out with no idea what I needed so every step of the way I had to stop the process to order just one more part from Brownells... Many random tools here and there sure add up!
 
Also, I use an empty piece of brass, half full of powder, to trickle powder into my scale. Just hold the brass horizontal and twist it to trickle 1-2 granules at a time..!

Saved me the pain of buying another random tool that wasn't quite necessary.
 
Diver160651 said:
1- Sorting and prepping brass in batches that never leave their MTM boxes. That way I never have to sort again.
2. Annealing after every two firings.
3. Ultra sonic 25 minutes, rolled by a quick tumble in no treated corn media to dry and keep primer pockets and necks clean and consistent.
4. Using FS bushing only bumping shoulder back .001- seating dies like mfg's suggest results in many cases of weekend bases.
5. Using a very good scale. Go either beam if on a budget or spend the big bucks and get a very high end lab scale.
6. Neck tension is really important

Practice ;)


Jt

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...

You know, I'm thinking I may have encountered what you're talking about on #4. I had a case separation at the base a few weeks back... How do I remedy this?
 
Turn necks to get consistent neck thickness, remove the neck resizing button from all dies and expand necks using a Sinclaire mandrel die. Makes loads virtually runout free.
 
I would like to hear how in deapth people get in brass prep, is uniforming primers and deburring, neck turning, annealing really worth while. I just want my loads to be completely consistent throughout my loading poccess. For example I want to be able to load my batch of 100 pieces of brass and get the exact same drop data, MV, BC everytime.
 
[email protected] said:
I would like to hear how in deapth people get in brass prep, is uniforming primers and deburring, neck turning, annealing really worth while. I just want my loads to be completely consistent throughout my loading poccess. For example I want to be able to load my batch of 100 pieces of brass and get the exact same drop data, MV, BC everytime.
Click to expand...

With this as your goal you are well on your way to reloading OCD. So yes, you will find most if not all the things mentioned in this thread to be on your radar to try in order to achieve perfect consistency. If you shoot primarily at 100 yards then you will be more tolerant of variation and become less tolerant as the distance increases. Its definitely a learning process.
 
Rub aluminum foil on any plastic containers, scale pans, scoops, etc to mitigate static. Surprisingly effective.
 
Using a good chronograph (PVM21) for every round fired during load development. Also, recording the charge, seating depth, group size, velocity, and ES for all groups on the target and taking a picture of it and saving it to a file on my computer. It is the easiest way I have found to easily look back on load development and make tweaks down the road.
 
Limedust said:
Rub aluminum foil on any plastic containers, scale pans, scoops, etc to mitigate static. Surprisingly effective.
Click to expand...

sounds like your using a powder thrower, which one? What are your reasons of using it over a scale, say RCBS chargemaster?
 
Not sure of your set ups BUT a really good trigger is absolutely necessary to shoot well.
You could have the best loads and best gun in the world with a stock trigger and the results are bad.

Hope this helps.
 
mtang45 said:
With this as your goal you are well on your way to reloading OCD. So yes, you will find most if not all the things mentioned in this thread to be on your radar to try in order to achieve perfect consistency. If you shoot primarily at 100 yards then you will be more tolerant of variation and become less tolerant as the distance increases. Its definitely a learning process.
Click to expand...

I agree with mtang45, you can make yourself crazy thinking you can cover all of the variables before shooting just to find out the rifle or you had another issue and it wasn't the loads at all, and you will convince yourself it was. Do your homework on prep, just be consistent and don't change to many things at one time. Some rifles shoot sub 1/2 and maybe 1/4 moa groups (don't listen to all the BS on here, not that many 1/4 rifles on the tactical side, bench rest yes) with whatever you feed them, some require more load workup, some are a lost cause. I like to think I do just enough load work up and case prep to shoot the shots I need, could I turn necks, weigh cases and do better? Maybe but I ain't doing it, I like to shoot not load! Hope this helps.
 
FALex said:
be mindful of the fact that reloading is death by a thousand mosquito bites...in other words, prep your bank account.
Click to expand...

Or marry a woman with money. That's what I did. My wife took charge of my money about 6 mo's before we got married. Only reason I can afford to still shoot 30 years later :)
 
The Glen Z book.
Chargemaster.
OCW.
Tempilaq.
Sharpies.
Mandrels (instead of expander buttons.)
WFT (instead of the hand cranker.)
Excel.

I turn necks for some things. It seems to help a bit, but if pressed for time I'd skip it. I uniform primer pockets. I'd skip that too if pressed for time. I clean up the flash hole burrs - but don't have a favorite tool just yet. Next up is a magnetospeed. Current chrony is useful, but difficult to effectively use at times, so it doesn't get used every time.
 
[email protected] said:
I want to hear about any methods, equipment, or theory's that helped you as a hand-loader create more accurate loads!

Im two years into reloading, I really like the redding instant indicator, however I still struggle to find a truely meaningful way to extract an accurate load at long ranges. I am switching over to berger bullets, and would LOVE to hear your method!

Thanks
Click to expand...

Buy enough powder, bullets, primers and brass of the same lot# to wear out your barrel.
Use Lapua brass if possible.

Benchrest prep your brass, weight sort it and anneal it -"correctly" using tempilaq. Uniform bullet seating tension is paramount. Omit primer pocket uniforming.

Buy your own reamer and custom dies.

Buy a Scott Parker tuned beam scale.

Throw a charge then trickle to the kernal.

Use Saturn caliber specific funnels.

Use temperature insensitive powders.

Buy Innovative technology products.

Do ladder testing.

Buy a quality air rifle and practice often. Why??? Because if you don't have good repeatable fundamentals nothing above will matter.
 
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jcampbellsmith said:
Being beaten in competitions is painful, but regrouping and thinking about what I could do better has helped my reloading a lot. Regards JCS
Click to expand...

I tend to over think things, and in reloading this can be very expensive.

I just bough a K&M neck turner with all the accessories I need, flash hole uniformer and deburrer... hope it helps! Also bough Zedikers book, and two DVDs, would love to hear some good pages I should read in the book.
 
I had a really great mentor who was an avid shooter/reloader and had been reloading for over 40 years. He died a couple of months ago, so I'm on my own now. Also, I gained a lot of knowledge from reading and asking/answering questions on this forum. Mostly, it has been a strong desire to achieve great results that has kept me actively pursuing the best loads I can produce. I think nothing can beat experience....the more you load and shoot, the better you will understand what is required to improve your results. I have a favorite quote from Mark Twain..."the man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way"....I certainly don't advocate anyone trying to reload without reading up on the subject first, but sometimes you just have to put in a lot of time at the reloading bench to teach yourself what works best.
 
Find someone to pre process my brass. Trimming cases and swaging primer pockets drives me nuts. If only I could find someone to process 50BMG for me!
 
Lube, a bullet puller, a mill and a lathe but best of all, a very anal retentive friend that answers my question with 2 hour replies.
 
Well I spent literally 8 hours of today reading Zedikers "hand loading for competition" and B.L "putting rounds on target". I am now going to turn case necks (if needed), uniform primer pockets, de-burr necks and flash holes, Sort brass by weight, use his semi improved ladder test/ group test method at 500 yards using a 190 gr berger .000" off with .2 gr difference (300 WM) to extract a semi good load over a chronograph, to make watch for ES and hold an SD under 12, than play with seating depth to fine tune at either 500 or 700 yards.. sounds good in theory. Also am going to start annealing my cases ever firing.
 
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