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I went down the rabbit hole with this stuff, but it appeals to my love of precision. Currently using a Redding T7 turret press with a dedicated decap die, a Hornady bullet puller, a Lee Collet die, Redding Bushing die, and Redding micrometer seater all in 6.5CM. Then on the other side I have RCBS micrometer seater, Redding Bushing and taper crimp for .223. I leave it set up for PRS matches in both bolt and AR. Then I just got the Hornady LnL AP progressive for doing bulk AR and pistol rounds, the quick change bushings make die swaping easy. I also have the A&D FX120 balance with the RS232 controlled powder thrower and trickler, an annealer, a 21st Century lathe for turning necks, and their concentrically gauge as well.

So my process for 6.5CM

Decap
Ultrasonic case clean
Size
Trim to length (Giraud)
Tumble in walnut
Sort by weight
Hand prime
Charge
Seat and check base to ogive with the Forster setup and Mitutoyo calipers.

I'm sure I've spent over $5,000 just on gear in the last three years, but I'm getting single digit SD's and ES numbers, and good velocity as well as good barrel life. It's worth it. That target is 7 shot groups at 100yds, except the lower right that's 14 shots, cause I got distracted and forgot to move to the center after the first 7.


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Stuck said:
Almost all the LGSs around me have small pistol primers. Large rifle not so much.
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Consider yourself lucky, we've got nothing that I can find locally and so far all the online places I've searched are backordered.
 
The LGSs have been having stuff trickle in. They have more reloading stuff than ammo. There arent nearly as many people reloading as buying ammo.
 
Box of stuff arrived today. Getting it all sorted. Also got a cheapo laptop to run some software, fire up a YouTube video if I need, and just something to keep on the bench. So that'll be good.

This guy is freaking awesome. I sent him extra brass, a new AR vice block, and a gift card to BassPro.

Thanks for the box of good stuff! I can now talk my wife into going to Nashville 'cause I have a couple lures from Bass Pro paid for!

I think this is close to an even yrade from my perspective, which isn't what it was supposed to be. I'll be casting some Saeco 315s soon, I'll send you 100 or so. They were originally just a 30-30 bullet but turned out to be so accurate, its sold as a match bullet these days. It's a fine bullet for big game. You'll need a flat point seating stem for your reloading dies, the manufacturer RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Redding will send one for free.

This guy is really cool. Going to order the dies tonight. Also need a tray to line the casings on and a lube pad. Other than that...wait for consumables to come back into stock.

Oh, question. I didn't find it in my book, but what tolerances can I expect in case length? I'm going to start with 30-30. The book says 2.039 in. So how high or low can that vary?
 
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Max case length is set by or codified in SAAMI specs. Now, you could have a chamber that is set deeper than spec, but that is another issue.
 
Pony_Driver said:
Max case length is set by or codified in SAAMI specs. Now, you could have a chamber that is set deeper than spec, but that is another issue.
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So the published amount is the max COAL? Then once the the brass is trimmed to spec, the variances in length can be solved by the depth of seating the bullet I imagine?
 
SAAMI specs show case length between 2.0195 and 2.0395 is within specifications. Most published "Trim To" lengths is 2.029. So if its in spec and youre going for DRT on a deer size target under 200 yds, load it and shoot. That small variance is case length isnt going to make a difference at that range, espeecially off hand. Once it get over spec trim it back to 2.029.

If you want to be fussy or just want the practice, trim all your brass back to 2.029 and call it good.

My testing (ymmv) on several calibers shows less than .1 moa improvent between within spec brass and triimed brass. That small a differennce could very well be me, not the ammo so I dont trim any more than necessary.
 
Stuck said:
SAAMI specs show case length between 2.0195 and 2.0395 is within specifications. Most published "Trim To" lengths is 2.029. So if its in spec and youre going for DRT on a deer size target under 200 yds, load it and shoot. That small variance is case length isnt going to make a difference at that range, espeecially off hand. Once it get over spec trim it back to 2.029.

If you want to be fussy or just want the practice, trim all your brass back to 2.029 and call it good.

My testing (ymmv) on several calibers shows less than .1 moa improvent between within spec brass and triimed brass. That small a differennce could very well be me, not the ammo so I dont trim any more than necessary.
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mmk, this is making more sense now.

From here:
https://saami.org/wp-content/upload...99.4-CFR-Approved-2015-12-14-Posting-Copy.pdf

SAAMI spec 30-30.png


red arrow indicates max, or .02" under. So anywhere between 2.0395" to 2.0195" and I should be golden.

I can't think of anywhere in the region that I can even come up with a 200yd shot. This is all deep woods in my backyard. I don't even think I could shoot 30yds without a tree in the way.

I'm going to have to print out some of these SAAMI spec sheets and pin them on the bench.

I'm also going to have to get a trimmer eventually. I'll start by measuring my brass though. I've got a LEE die set coming too.
 
I don't how these guys on the Dillon progressive 1050 turrets do it. I'm over here measuring to the .001" with the plans to load about 50 at a time. I'm going to measure each piece of brass. Those guys cranking out 500 rds/hour must not care as much?
 
Nobody does 500 necked cartridges in an hour from start to finish. You might get close with 5.56 on a progressive. Pistol cartridges are a different animal, those you can get 500 in an hour on a progressive pretty easy.

Turret presses are so you can set all the dies and not have to change them for each step. You just
rotate the turret to move the correct die into place for the next step and the die is already set.
 
Stuck said:
Nobody does 500 necked cartridges in an hour from start to finish. You might get close with 5.56 on a progressive. Pistol cartridges are a different animal, those you can get 500 in an hour on a progressive pretty easy.

Turret presses are so you can set all the dies and not have to change them for each step. You just
rotate the turret to move the correct die into place for the next step and the die is already set.
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wow, that big of a switch from pistol to rifle huh?

I'll set myself up with this single stage for the time being. It ends up sticking, I see myself going to progressive. Maybe crank out a bunch of 9mm on it.
 
Pistol cases are straight wall. They can be done very safely and quickly on a progressive press. There is very little resizing in the process. The cases generally dont need to be trimmed. The first stage decaps and sizes. The second primes and drops powder. The last sets the bullet and crimps.

On a progressive the powder is metered out automatically. For straightwall pistol cartridges its usually not as critical if its off by a .1 - .2 of a grain + -. On some setups it places the bullet automatically as well all you do is crank the lever and make sure it goes right.

I place mine by hand and look into the case when I do it to make sure there is a charge inside. Its pretty hard to double charge a case because it will usually spill over or at least fill the case to the top but short charges or empty cases are just as bad. If youre runniing a fast string and get a squib you can stick a bullet in the barrel and that is no bueno.
 
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this reloading tray sucks, right? it said it'd fit 30-30. I don't care for them all cocked like that.
 
Welp, first lesson learned. The canal that the old primers deposit through got clogged on the press. I didn't realize it until I pulled the handle and it didn't go all the way. Cleared the clog fine, and continued on. Deprimed about fifty brass. Looked at the press and the decapping pin is bent. I'm guess from the primer clog. I emailed Lee about replacement pins, but did I mess up the brass after I had continued?

Now I know to keep a check on that primer hole. :homer:
 
Tech Tim said:
Any luck on that recapping pin?
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Oh yea. Got three of them now. Work just fine. Just keep an eye on that hole getting plugged with old primers now.

Bought World's Finest Trimmer attached to a small drill press too.

Got 50 rds of 30-30 all cleaned and prepped. Now to wait for large rifle primers to come up.
 
Just trying to contribute to a fellow shooter and future bench rest champion......:flipoff2: I havent carefully gone over every post but, did you get a manual or two ?
I was looking through Hornady for 5.56 and stumbled into their recommendations for new reloaders. excellent read. Will also answer many of the questions in this thread. Good luck. Quite a feeling putting that powder up next to your face and squeezing one off the first time :beer::beer::beer:
 
Splib said:
Just trying to contribute to a fellow shooter and future bench rest champion......:flipoff2: I havent carefully gone over every post but, did you get a manual or two ?
I was looking through Hornady for 5.56 and stumbled into their recommendations for new reloaders. excellent read. Will also answer many of the questions in this thread. Good luck. Quite a feeling putting that powder up next to your face and squeezing one off the first time :beer::beer::beer:
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Yea, I bought the Lyman book. Been very helpful.

I'm at a stand still right now because of primers and powders though.
 
woods said:
Yea, I bought the Lyman book. Been very helpful.

I'm at a stand still right now because of primers and powders though.
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You cant find any powder or primers at your local gun shops? Dont get hung up on the brands for two hundred yard shots its not gonna make much difference. Check the lyman books see what powders it has for .30-30 take the list with you and go check out all the LGSs. Then buy what ever brand you find that you can buy 2lbs of. That should get you close to 400 rounds. Same for primers. Buy whatever primers they have 500 of. If you can only get 1 lb and 100 primers do it. It will at least get you started.
 
Stuck said:
You cant find any powder or primers at your local gun shops? Dont get hung up on the brands for two hundred yard shots its not gonna make much difference. Check the lyman books see what powders it has for .30-30 take the list with you and go check out all the LGSs. Then buy what ever brand you find that you can buy 2lbs of. That should get you close to 400 rounds. Same for primers. Buy whatever primers they have 500 of. If you can only get 1 lb and 100 primers do it. It will at least get you started.
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Issue with that is, since I'm so new at this I'm not sure if I'm getting pooched on prices. I'm in no major rush so that's why I haven't really pushed to find the consumables.
 
$25 - $35 per pound for powder. $30 - $50 per thousand for primers, depends on whether you buy a bulk pack of a thousand or buy a hundred at a time. Did you buy bullets yet?

10 to 15% higher wouldnt be out of the question considering the covid bullshit. I wouldnt wait to long if biden wins shits gonna disappear.
 
Stuck said:
$25 - $35 per pound for powder. $30 - $50 per thousand for primers, depends on whether you buy a bulk pack of a thousand or buy a hundred at a time. Did you buy bullets yet?

10 to 15% higher wouldnt be out of the question considering the covid bullshit. I wouldnt wait to long if biden wins shits gonna disappear.
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No bullets yet.

Next time I get some free time, I'll ride the motorcycle down to the LGS and see what they have.
 
Stuck said:
You cant find any powder or primers at your local gun shops? .
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What are you seeing at your LGS? Small Pistol and Small Rifle are non-existent erveywhere including online. Everything else is hit or miss, mostly miss.
 
Tech Tim said:
What are you seeing at your LGS? Small Pistol and Small Rifle are non-existent erveywhere including online. Everything else is hit or miss, mostly miss.
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Ive had good luck finding powder and large rifle primer. Most of the shops had small pistol primer but I wasnt buying at the time. If I see it now Im gonna grab a 1000. Im gonna take a cruise around the next couple of days and see what I can scare up. Theres a lot of shops around here that carry some stuff just gotta look. Grab the phone book and call all the shops in the area you might be surprised.
Woods your middle of nowhere NH right? You may have an issue finding close shops. Let me ask some buds up your way.
 
Stuck said:
Ive had good luck finding powder and large rifle primer. Most of the shops had small pistol primer but I wasnt buying at the time. If I see it now Im gonna grab a 1000. Im gonna take a cruise around the next couple of days and see what I can scare up. Theres a lot of shops around here that carry some stuff just gotta look. Grab the phone book and call all the shops in the area you might be surprised.
Woods your middle of nowhere NH right? You may have an issue finding close shops. Let me ask some buds up your way.
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Yea, there's a few places around I can check out. Like Tech Tim said, primers are pretty much non-existent so I didn't even bother looking. I knew that coming into this, so I really didn't bother. I could use a day ride on the motorcycle, so I'll check around to see what I find.
 
https://okshooters.com/threads/30-ca...ctiles.298227/

From a local board. Here's your bullets. Cheap enough. Should be able to ship in a flat rate box too. While I cant help with your powder or primer issue, I have a few 30-30 cases Id send your way. Shoot me a PM with your addy and they're yours.


Stuck, I'm not sure where you are, but if you can find SPP, you'd better buy em all up.
 
Halffastford said:
While I cant help with your powder or primer issue, I have a few 30-30 cases Id send your way. Shoot me a PM with your addy and they're yours.
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Oh, you don't have to do that. I've got about 80 cases right now, and about 120 rounds of 30-30. Should be enough to keep me busy.

I may grab a proper priming tool. I don't have a feeder of any sort, I need to manually put them in the press. I may just get a simple something to make that bit a little easier.
 
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