I'm finally ready. Be gentle.....

[Mike D]

The one thing that surprised me when I upgraded from a $20 set of frankford calipers to a $120 set of Mitutoyo calipers was that they both consistently read the same (minus the extra decimal place on the Mitutoyo's).



This is assuming you knew not to flex the frankfords by pushing the roller too hard and checked the zero often. The mitu's required no such babying.

Mitutoyos are high on my want list.


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[sierracharlie338]

Mitutoyos are high on my want list.


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I just picked up a set and was given another set that was no longer needed. They are nice that is for sure!

[Craw3773]

This is great advice. Keep it coming guys! I've decided I dont want a progressive press. At least at first, I won't be looking to crank out thousands of rounds. For working up new rounds, I think a turret press is the most economical. Is there a reason to get a single stage over a turret?

I've been wanting to get into this for years. Starting in the middle of an ammo shortage probably isn't the most ideal time, but ill work through that.

[Mike D]

This is great advice. Keep it coming guys! I've decided I dont want a progressive press. At least at first, I won't be looking to crank out thousands of rounds. For working up new rounds, I think a turret press is the most economical. Is there a reason to get a single stage over a turret?

I've been wanting to get into this for years. Starting in the middle of an ammo shortage probably isn't the most ideal time, but ill work through that.

It depends on how precision you want the rounds to be. The Co-Ax typically makes the most concentric rounds without spending 3x the price or more. The floating heads of the turret presses tend to introduce more runout than a straight single stage press.

I do have a Tedding T7 turret press that I currently use mainly for high volume loading pistol, 5.56 and 300 blackout rounds. It will eventually be replaced by a Dillon progressive. Considering how much money I’ve spent on the turret press, auto powder dispenser and bullet feeder dies and tubes I would have been well on my way to paying for a progressive instead.


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[Craw3773]

It depends on how precision you want the rounds to be. The Co-Ax typically makes the most concentric rounds without spending 3x the price or more. The floating heads of the turret presses tend to introduce more runout than a straight single stage press.

I do have a Tedding T7 turret press that I currently use mainly for high volume loading pistol, 5.56 and 300 blackout rounds. It will eventually be replaced by a Dillon progressive. Considering how much money I’ve spent on the turret press, auto powder dispenser and bullet feeder dies and tubes I would have been well on my way to paying for a progressive instead.


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This is where I start to get out of my element. The 3 rifles I'm talking about now shoot MOA at 200 yards. I'd like to be able to get to 1/2 MOA. These are hunting rifles, so I'm not shooting any competition with them. Right now, im buying premium rounds and taking a gamble on whether or not my rifles likes them. At $50/box, I'd rather develop my own rounds.

It would also allow me to mix and match bullet types for different applications.

Is 1/2 MOA considered precision, or not. When I think about precision, I imagine the guys shooting 1000 yards.

[Wanlail]

1/2 MOA at 1k yards is 5", thats better than most folks get.

A chronograph helps for dialing in the loads. Magnetospeeds and Labradars are nice if you can afford them.

[Craw3773]

1/2 MOA at 1k yards is 5", thats better than most folks get.

A chronograph helps for dialing in the loads. Magnetospeeds and Labradars are nice if you can afford them.

I dont think I will ever get to that level of precision. I would like to be able to build rounds that will shoot an inch at 200 yards and MOA out to 400ish.

At these ranges, how much do I need to worry about precision of the press vs powders, length from lands, etc?

Will a rock chucker or lock and load work at these ranges, or do I need a forster?

[Wanlail]

I did fine with a RC for my 6.5CM. On a good day, I was getting 1/4 MOA. All of those factors play a part, as does humidity and temperature. Some powders burn like crap when its cold. I only recently started measuring length from lands, but tend to just sit within the SAAMI specs.

Consistency is key IMO. Consistent powder has yielded a small delta in velocity for me with the right load. You can see huge swings in velocity if the powder isn't completely burning which will throw the rounds.

Its been a minute, but is the furthest range in SA @ A place to shoot? I think they're 200Y.

[Clay6x45]

It depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go and how much you want to spend to jump in it. All of the advice above is great but if an initial budget is a concern the best value out there is a lee classic turret kit (the cast iron one). For about 215 bucks you get everything you need to get started other than the dies. It also includes a lee pro auto drum powder dispenser which will allow you to crank out pistol loads and plinking loads for 5.56 in a hurry compared to a single stage. It falls somewhere in between a single stage and a progressive. Its not as precise as a T7 but its a whole lot faster because it cycles the turrets without manually moving them. You can crank out over 200 rounds an hour on a lee turret without any problem. All turret presses are nice because once you set up the turret and adjust your dies you can leave them set up and you are ready to load the particular load you have worked up. The lee turrets are only about 12 dollars a piece so you can set them up cheaply. I keep one turret set up specifically for brass prep- decapping dies, crimp swaging dies etc. You can remove the advancing rod from the lee turret and use it just like a single stage if you wish. If you are limited on space I would recommend the lee precision reloading stand to go with the kit. Its about $125 but it comes with quick disconnect mounting blocks to mount whatever press you want on it (It doesn't have to be a Lee Press). You can move it anywhere you want it quickly and once you weight it down with a cinder block on the bottom its much sturdier than you would think. You can decap rounds while watching TV and then put it back into storage. If you pay attention to case prep it will probably load rounds more accurate than your shooting ability. Will it load rounds as concentric as the CO-Ax -no. But unless you are shooting 500 plus yards you probably won't notice. Will it keep up with a Dillon-no. But it will load shell much more accurate than factory and get you into the game cheaper than anything else. Once you start reloading you will develop your own preferences and probably upgrade but you will never outgrow the lee classic turret.
The lee classic turret kit includes a good introductory reloading manual. I would recommend buying another manual from your favorite bullet maker as another cross reference. The scale in the lee kit will work for a start but you will want to upgrade to better scales at some point. As mentioned above you will still need a good caliper. I went the cheap route. I have a dial caliper and a digital caliper from Harbor Freight for probably less than 30 bucks total. If you ever doubt a reading you can cross reference them and know they are not off. Dial calipers are great because they don't need batteries but digital are easier to read. You can prime on the turret press but a hand primer is nice so because you can feel the primers seat better and you can sit in the recliner and watch the Cowboys lose while you prep brass. I would skip vibratory tumbling and go straight to wet tumbling with stainless media. Pretty brass just seems to shoot better. Youtube has a video for anything you can imagine but I would highly recommend finding a mentor that can walk you through the basics of reloading. Lee case prep tools work ok but if you are doing any significant volume you will want to upgrade to something better.

[Leverhunter]

This is great advice. Keep it coming guys! I've decided I dont want a progressive press. At least at first, I won't be looking to crank out thousands of rounds. For working up new rounds, I think a turret press is the most economical. Is there a reason to get a single stage over a turret?

I've been wanting to get into this for years. Starting in the middle of an ammo shortage probably isn't the most ideal time, but ill work through that.

I use a Rock Chucker and Lee dies for all initial load work up. The dies are relatively inexpensive and I have no problem getting 1/2" 3 shot groups at 100 yards with rifle or Contender rounds. For high volume pistol, I still use same equipment but after the load development is done I set it up on a Dillon 550 dedicated tool head with Dillon carbide dies. If I was reloading a lot of rifle in one caliber I would upgrade the dies to something more high quality too.

[labman]

Some good advice on here. I started with a Dillon 650 to reload pistol and .223. I bought a T7 when I started preloading for precision rifle. I use the turret press just so I don't have to change out dies. Solid calipers, weight measurement device (scale) and powder dispenser are needed, along with imho a trickle dispenser to accurately know your charge weight if you're not using an electronic scale. Need a chronograpgh to determine what node your rifle is shooting the most accurately without too much pressure.

I also use an arbor press to minimize bullet runout when seating. This was a game changer for me. A concentricity gauge will help as well.

I'd recommend a couple of books-anything by Bryan Litz and Competition Hand Loading by Glen Zediker.

There are lots of youtube videos, some good and some are terrible. I'd highly recommend anything by David Tubb, he's the man at a 1000yard competition. You may never shoot that far, but his methodology for consistent reloading works for 100y or 1000y.

Other than that, get the checkbook out. Easy to spend money, you'll never save any rifle loading. You'll just shoot more and be more accurate. You can save on pistol and .223 ammo if you shoot in volume.

[Mike D]

This is where I start to get out of my element. The 3 rifles I'm talking about now shoot MOA at 200 yards. I'd like to be able to get to 1/2 MOA. These are hunting rifles, so I'm not shooting any competition with them. Right now, im buying premium rounds and taking a gamble on whether or not my rifles likes them. At $50/box, I'd rather develop my own rounds.



It would also allow me to mix and match bullet types for different applications.



Is 1/2 MOA considered precision, or not. When I think about precision, I imagine the guys shooting 1000 yards.

My experience has been that with a rifle that already shoots well most any reloads will do ok. The difference comes in when you have a finicky rifle or cartridge.

It takes the same amount of time to load a mediocre round on mediocre equipment as it does to load on better equipment. When everything is straight and concentric it’s just easier to load good ammo.


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[labman]

[QUOTE=Mike D

It takes the same amount of time to load a mediocre round on mediocre equipment as it does to load on better equipment. When everything is straight and concentric it’s just easier to load good ammo.


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That says it all!

[howabouttheiris]

Is 1/2 MOA considered precision, or not.

Normally it is, but this is the internet. Everyone here can shoot 1/4 MOA all day every day in 25mph winds.


I make due with a single press and hand weighing each round. Takes me 1 minute per round on average.

Makes the big batch jobs take a long tIme, but it can make quality rounds.


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[Buzzsaw]

i have this in the classifides