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Hierarchy of the precision reloading process

sjb269

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 11, 2010
185
0
52
Coyote Valley
List in order of importance, the processes one must complete to load precision rifle rounds.

Let's not debate neck vs. full size... for the sake of argument, let's just say a properly sized case is needed.
Let's not debate balance scale vs. digital or the Speed with which the reloading process takes place.
 
I'm an F-Class (Open) competitor. I shoot a 6Dasher in matches from 600 to 1,000 yards.

By order of loading virgin Lapua brass:
1) Run brass thru an expander mandrel to iron out any out-of-round casemouths.
2) Resize neck to desired neck tension using a bushing die. (Whidden FL Bushing die)
3) Remove any burrs from the flash hole with a pin vise using a .058" bit.
4) Chamfer inside and outside of casemouth.
5) Weigh cases and put in order of ascending weights.
6) Prime cases and place in loading block retaining order of #4.
7) Fill cases with powder (as mentioned, there are many ways to skin that cat, but getting the loads EXACTLY the same case-to-case is absolutely required for low ES/SD and control of vertical dispersion at 1K)
8) Sort bullets by Ogive length using two comparators with calipers.
9) Seat bullets of same bearing length (Redding Competition Seater)
10) Completed rounds are put into a MTM box retaining the order set in step 4.
11) Go kick ass.

The crucial steps for me are sorting the bearing surface and powder weights.