No problem TS.

Doc

Dang, I wish I had weapons instructors and co-students like those in the posters.....

I use a Lyman electronic trickle scale for my "precision" loads. They are 338 Win Mag, and 300 Ultra Mag. If I had it to do again, I am not sure I would have not gone to the RCBS or PACT, scale/measure combo if I had to buy one again.

Doc:

I will head in a different direction from conventional wisdom.

Redding Presses and Redding Competition Rifle Dies.

You want an inexpensive kit to start with? Believe it or not -- get a Lee kit that has its Classic Cast press. Cost will be under $150.00 for the kit and you will never get rid of the press or powder measure. The rest of the stuff will eventually break and Lee dies aren't real good. However, it is sufficient for producing good ammo and is cheap enough for you to determine if you want to continue in hand loading.

I use a number of presses and reloading items. I don't care who makes them -- only that they give me the results I want. Redding gives the results.

Sure, I have a Rock Chucker. Have owned it for twenty five years. It has one purpose in my loading area. I have a collet bullet puller on it and use it to pull bullets. I do use one piece of RCBS gear for loading. I bought a bench primer seater at a gun show for ten dollars and it is very handy when seating primers.

Oh yes, what ever you get -- get someone who has loaded many thousands of rounds over the years to take you step by step through your process. Ensure he has all ten fingers and both eyes are original. That is an indicator that the guy knows what he is doing with hand loading. An indicator of a fellow you may not want to walk you through this process is one who tells you that the loading manuals always go low on powder charges due to liability issues. Such guys should be avoided, particularly when they are 'testing loads' on a range.

Have fun -- I have been handloading for close to thirty years and although it is boring as hell, it is a fine way to learn about cartridge and bullet design.

Gene

OK Doc, from what I can see you need a Dillon/RCBS/Lee/Redding. :D :munchin

Heartily agree with Gene on the advice of getting a guy that has reloaded for more than a bit and have him hand carry you through the process.

Do not allow your self to get distracted. It is tedious and can get monotonous, and the mind can wonder. Double check and triple check. Do not place a bullet on an empty case and do not double charge a case. Go slow and deliberate.

Above all, have fun!

In my experience, weighing powder charges has a lot less to do with accuracy than prepping cases properly, picking the right bullets, and loading ammo to the proper specs for your weapon.

I cut my groups in half when I started prepping cases, in half again when I selected the right bullets for the job, and in half another time when I learned that loading to the proper seating depth off the rifling is critical to accuracy and keeping peak pressure down.

Just my experience.

Good seeing you yesterday LR and Longtab.

TR

Gollu I forgot about Lee, they make great stuff, and generally people under rate it because of price. On a single stage press, I used two sets of loading trays.

1) place cases in the first tray, when you resize them they go into the the second tray, right handed cases to be resized on the tray on the right, resized cases go on the empty tray on the left.

2) now switch trays, (assuming rt handedness). Prime the cases, the cases are placed in the empty tray on the left up side down. This allows you to check the primer seating.

3) switch trays, the primed cases are on your right, upside down, flip them up and charge them, and place them on the tray to your left, right side up. This allows you to check the powder depths and insures each case gets charged.

4) switch trays, the charged trays are now on your right, place bullet in case and seat. and place the cartridge in the tray on your left.

Using two trays will help preventing mistakes in over/under charging powder and primer mistakes. Each tray will hold 50 cases.

On a Dillion, only problem I have had was in primer seating. Other problems do arise when the cycle is interupted.

I hope this comes out ok?

Hollis - Same procedure I use. Except I check all cases with a flashlight to make sure each case has a powder charge before beginning bullet seating. This is especially true if interrupted during the powder cycle.

Thanks Guys.

I will go slow and deliberate. I bought The Complete Reloading Manual for the
.270 Winchester today. This looks like a new adventure. I can see the need to be careful.

Hopefully the new glass and rings will be on top of the Sako soon.

It's nice to have a basement where I can set things up.

Please stay open to questions.

Doc

Ever locate that scope Doc?

Ran across one (Zeiss) I might be able to get at a steal.

I have a Rockchucker as well ... my main press.

BK

Thanks briansain but ChandlerSniper has already got one ordered for me. It should be in this week. Thanks for thinking about me.

Doc

Easy day. Good luck with the project.

BK

One last thing about reloading, keep meticulous notes....

Only load 20 at a time, that way if your gun doesn't like the load you will not have too much time invested. (20 should let you know how they handle.) I've not hand loaded rifle but have loaded thousands of handgun rounds....

TS

TIP:

If the air conditioning vent in your reloading room blows directly on your reloading table, be sure and turn the fan off before weighing powder charges with a powder scale.

The scale is sensitive enough for the blown air to cause an errant measurement.

fwiw

Don't forget ceiling fans too! I moved some of my equipment around and couldn't figure out why my powder charges weren't consistent. It took me 10 minutes of adjusting the powder measure and checking the scale before I figured out what was going on - duh! :o It's the obvious things you take for granted/don't even think about that'll trip you up. (And I've been doing this for 27 years. It's a good thing I'm meticulous about cross-checking.) FWIW - Peregrino