I am a former Service Rifle competitor (US ARMY retired) and have reloading experience with shotgun (mec) and rifle cartridge (RCBS). All that was decades ago and the equipment is long gone. My latest interest is in long range shooting. I have a SSG3K with IOR 10X56 along with enough property to shoot safely out to about 600 yds. I'm looking for advice on reloading equipment designed for quality and not quantity. I think a single stage press will suit my needs. I'll be reloading .308 and .223 in fairly low quantities. I would expect to average 100 rounds per month.
My question is: What equipment should I buy? Money isn't an issue. Time isn't an issue. Accuracy is my goal. Thanks
Congratulations on getting back into reloading. I also shoot at local range that goes out to about 600 yards and load for 223 and 308. It has been my goal over the past couple years to buy the best reloading equipment I can afford to make the most accurate ammunition possible. While my equipment list is nowhere complete, I feel I can make a couple suggestions based on personal experience.
1. Press: A Single Stage would probably make the most sense for the round count you listed. For years I loaded on an RCBS Rockchucker that was manufactured in the 70's. My Dad still uses that press and it works flawlessly. I am currently using a Redding Big Boss II and prefer it to the new RCBS Rockchuckers, mostly for atheistical purposes, but the Redding does have a tube that catches the spent primers which is really nice. Both produce very accurate ammo and are built like tanks.
An arbor press is another option. I see a lot of benchrest shooters using these at the range as they are portable and in theory produce the lowest runout and the most "feel" or "feedback" while neck sizing and bullet seating. Sinclair sells these on their website; the dies are made by L.E. Wilson. I don't believe you can FL size on these however.
2. Tumbler: A couple years ago, I purchased a Thumler's Tumbler Model B Rotary Tumbler which uses stainless steel pins instead of the traditional corn or walnut media. This has really saved a lot of time prepping brass and made the whole process much more enjoyable as well as producing perfectly clean brass every time. This is a wet tumbler that cleans the brass inside and out, including perfect primers pockets and necks. It literally makes your brass look brand new again. Truly incredible! I posted a couple pics a while back, should be able to just look at my posts to see. After using this style of tumbling, the dry media seems fairly archaic as a primary cleaning method.
3. Dies: Single stage; redding competition seating dies seem to be the industry standard--purely subjective--but I find they produce tight groups downrange and are very easy and enjoyable to work with. Also, consider buying the Redding Type-S neck sizing die. This allows you to size only the neck of the brass to your desired dimensions by using interchangeable bushings. This produces very accurate ammo and saves brass life by minimizing the amount the brass is worked. The titanium nitride bushing also eliminates the need for case lube. If purchased as a set, it also comes with a body die which basically FL sizes the case, with the exception of the neck.
4. Scale: Buy a good digital scale. They are invaluable and simple to use. That being said, I still think a balance beam is more consistent for loading precision ammo. I have three digital scales marketed for reloading and have also owned a number of other digital scales and have yet to find one that gives me the same confidence as the balance beam.
Digitals
can be very accurate, but they are also very sensitive to light, temperature, wind, static electricity, etc. The balance beam does not have these problems and allows for a visual confirmation of the charge weight. The digital scale may say 45.0, but who knows. I ran a very informal test a while back loading just five rounds using the balance beam to see if would give acceptable results over the chronograph. The first 4 shots were exactly the same velocity and the fifth was just 11 ft/sec faster. This was on 308 Lapua brass that had been fired 8x already. Since then, I have been using the RCBS balance beam for all precision rounds and have been very pleased with the results and gives me more confidence in my ammo. Does take a lot more time however.
5. Trimmer: Lots of good ones out there. Probably can't go wrong with any big name trimmer. I have been using a Sinclair/Wilson trimmer and absolutely love it. It is the most accurate trimmer I've used and cuts through the brass like a hot knife through butter. ALMOST makes trimming enjoyable! It also has a micrometer that makes for easy, accurate, and repeatable adjustments. If you decide to neck turn your brass, you will need an accurate trimmer to insure the neck tool makes accurate and consistent cuts. There is also an adapter to attach a power drill for faster results. I bought and tried this, but went back to manual operation as I felt it provided better feedback.
6. Neck Turning: Never done this. If you choose to, check out the 21st century mini-lathe. This seems like a very effective method, they also have measuring tools for this that seem to be of the highest quality and design.
7. Priming Tool: Currently using the Sinclair and it is great, gives very positive feedback and is actually pretty fast. However, I am very intrigued by the 21t Century Shooting tool. It seems to be of the highest quality with options not seen on any other models. This appears to be a superior piece of machinery. They actually have some really cool reloading equipment you might be interested in if accuracy is the goal. The RCBS universal priming tool is pretty nice and allow loading of almost any cartridge without having to change case holders. Do not buy the Hornady handheld priming tool-it is terrible compared to all the others mentioned.
8. Powder Thrower. No real opinion here. I use an old RCBS to throw charges and I also use digital powder dispensers. Both have their places.
These are obviously just the big items and you will need some other smaller items such as calipers and other measuring tools depending on how precise you want to go; caliper attachments to measure ogive length, shoulder bump, primer pocket uniformers, etc.
Stick with quality brass like Lapua, the tolerances are just so consistent and it shows downrange. Consider ordering a Sinclair catalog and read through it circling the items that interest you. Then go online and read reviews or ask on this forum, that will give you some real feedback. Of course, take ALL advice with a grain of salt.
Here is a link to a great article about producing match grade ammo:
One of the Many Great Articles from the Archives of Precision Shooting Magazine...
Also, consider buying some books or DVD's about long-range or precision shooting. I have become a big fan of Bryan Litz and think his book, Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting was one of the best purchases I ever made. If you are unfamiliar, he is the Chief Ballistician for Berger Bullets and an accomplished LR shooter. His goal in this book is to, "help the average shooter improve their performance thru a better understanding of the
science behind shooting."
After reading, I feel his goal was accomplished.
Hope this helps and gives you some things to think about. Good Luck and welcome to the forum!
