How to get into reloading

You have the ogive concept down but also remember that for accuracy each rifle reacts different to OAL. Some rifles are more accurate when you jam the the bullet into the 'lands', others require some 'jump' to the lands. My .308 is most accurate, all else being equal when I load 20 thou off the lands, your mileage may vary but part of the fun of reloading is finding what works best in your rifle. My hand loads are definitely more accurate than factory loads.
 
Ok great info. So when your measuring your projectiles with the comparator, what would be a acceptable difference in the lengths of the pills??
 
If they are match, should be pretty damn close. The base/ogive are parts of the bullet that are "drawn" while the tip is left open/hollow so there is no structure/forming done.

Edit: I am talking about hpbt projectiles like smk's
 
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Gotcha. Good to know for when I want to reload for my hunting rifle. Luckily this has been already determined by the original owner for the precision rifle I am looking to buy :D
You have the ogive concept down but also remember that for accuracy each rifle reacts different to OAL. Some rifles are more accurate when you jam the the bullet into the 'lands', others require some 'jump' to the lands. My .308 is most accurate, all else being equal when I load 20 thou off the lands, your mileage may vary but part of the fun of reloading is finding what works best in your rifle. My hand loads are definitely more accurate than factory loads.
 
Lightbulb just went off. So to ensure that your loaded rounds are all optimum length, you measure the distance from the base of the case to the spot where the bullet fits snugly into the hole of the adapter on the caliper (which will be at your ogive), rather than just the OAL of the round? So the tools I'm looking at are not a this *or* that, it's a "use the in-chamber tool to determine optimum OAL of the round, then put the finished, loaded round into the caliper adapter to find your optimum base to ogive distance. Then use this measurement for follow-up loaded rounds to make sure they are the optimal length, taking bullet length deviation that is inherent to their manufacture out of the equation"? so you actually are looking for a base to ogive length rather than an OAL to achieve maximum accuracy?

Correct.

The COAL or the distance to the tip of the bullet is entirely and wholly useless information because every bullet type and size will be different and bullets vary even within a box.



I suggest you set aside the neck turning tool for a couple of years until you have the hang of reloading. Neck turning is an advanced technique that is easy to screw up and done wrong has the potential to cause a serious problem.

I also suggest you stick to a decent balance beam scale. Those cheap digital units suffer from all kinds of issues with wandering measurements as they warm up and they can be influenced by fluorescent lights and air currents etc.
 
Thank you- this is good advice. Plus it saves me money not having to buy a scale :D. The only reason I got the neck turning tool is because it was on sale and it goes with the trimmer I bought as an accessory. I figured better to get it now and not need it for a while, vs not being to get one later.

Correct.

The COAL or the distance to the tip of the bullet is entirely and wholly useless information because every bullet type and size will be different and bullets vary even within a box.



I suggest you set aside the neck turning tool for a couple of years until you have the hang of reloading. Neck turning is an advanced technique that is easy to screw up and done wrong has the potential to cause a serious problem.

I also suggest you stick to a decent balance beam scale. Those cheap digital units suffer from all kinds of issues with wandering measurements as they warm up and they can be influenced by fluorescent lights and air currents etc.
 
GreenBob is awesome! :D

Your Lee kit will come with the Lee manual. Read it (the first 100 or so pages) & everything else you can get your hands on, and don't be afraid to ask questions here. There are some VERY experienced reloaders here who are EXTREMELY generous with their time, providing advice and information to new and inexperienced reloaders!



FYI - this outstanding CGN'er has a number of reloading resources in PDF format, that he will email to you at NO cost:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...-Lyman-Cartridges-of-the-World?highlight=book
 
What you need is

The ability to size cases
To trim cases
To accuarately mesure powder
Mesure critical dementions

So a press
Dies
Case trimer
Scale
And calipers

Aviod lee... their presses are garbage.
Do yourself a solid. But a rcbs rock chucker. It can do magnum rounds without the ram banging out and getting sloppy. It will last a lot of years of hard use.

Dies are inportant... ive tried most brands. What ive come to the conclusion is... redding compitition s serries dies are the best... but they also cost like $300.... the next best... is also the cheapest... lee dies... and they have good avalibility
rcbs junk... lyman ok, hornady garbage... big issues with run out and what not. You realy start to notice things when your always doing military brass...

Case try trimming... you want to do it cheap and idiot proof? Buy the lee trimmer and guide... you can even use a hand drill And the hole thing costs as much as an 8 pack of beer.
The best one for accuracy is the Sinclair one from brownels.... but its going to cost you.

Scale get a good beam scale.... rcbs redding lyman will all work... avoid the lee one its junk. This is one of the most inportant things... if this item is inaccurate or inconsistent your buggered from the get go... those $30 scales drift...i tried one for a while.

Calipers... what ever works... lyman, rcbs, redding , canadian tire whatever.

After that its just convenience and fine tuning.

A good powder thrower funnel and trickler should be on your "buy next" list

Case tumbler (go stainless steel much better cleaning no residue or stuck media in the flash hole and the media last forever)

Eventualy if you choose buying things like run out gauges... neck trimmers, semi automatic primers, head space gauges and mics etc.
 
You'll have to excuse his Lordship....he doesn't have much luck with the inexpensive stuff....like Norincos.


(Har,har,har)

I swear, I have a disruptive field... I've walked past a coworker using a saw that had "worked flawlessly for years" and it exploded, the next day I walked past a shelf of steel that hadn't been touched in 6 months and it collapsed. Not only did it collapse it did so in such a way it took out the new drill press that was beside it.

If its notwell built it breaks around me. Its why I got good at fixing things. :p

And for the record, my lee press broke popping a primer on a LC .308 case.... one of the link arms snapped in half.
then the other snapped doing IVI .223,

the only things i keep from the whole lee kit was the hand case trimer blade and drill shell plate holder (which has sat almost unused for years). and the funnel.... and the funnel broke too.

I bought a rock crusher for $150 and it worked flawlessly for years and thousands of rounds; when I sold it it stall ran true on the ram.

Never have any issues with redding products.
 
OH MY!

What happens when you touch a woman? :kickInTheNuts:


I swear, I have a disruptive field... I've walked past a coworker using a saw that had "worked flawlessly for years" and it exploded, the next day I walked past a shelf of steel that hadn't been touched in 6 months and it collapsed. Not only did it collapse it did so in such a way it took out the new drill press that was beside it.

If its notwell built it breaks around me. Its why I got good at fixing things. :p

And for the record, my lee press broke popping a primer on a LC .308 case.... one of the link arms snapped in half.
then the other snapped doing IVI .223,

the only things i keep from the whole lee kit was the hand case trimer blade and drill shell plate holder (which has sat almost unused for years). and the funnel.... and the funnel broke too.

I bought a rock crusher for $150 and it worked flawlessly for years and thousands of rounds; when I sold it it stall ran true on the ram.

Never have any issues with redding products.
 
when you say something like that you're either misinformed or ill intended.
from a reloading point of view, there's not difference between magnum rounds and non-magnums.

maybe "magnum" is the wrong choice of wording, when you do bigger rounds (like .338) it puts a lot of pressure on the ram, I found my lee was getting sloppy from doing military brass and the pressure it took to unseat the primers and bump back the shoulder after it was fired in an MG.
 
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