With the Redding Match Dies I just use one stroke. I have used the stroke-turn-stroke method with regular RCBS dies and it didn't make a difference I could see-mind you I switched to the match dies as soon as I saw the difference between them.
I had a helluva time loading good straight precision rifle ammo on my Dillon 650 when I first started. After trying many different dies, it turned out there were two problems.
The smaller problem was bullet seating. Using a good design (sliding bushing) bullet seater, one that holds and aligns the case, and only then seats the bullet, was a useful improvement. I have seen good results with the Forster seater, and also the Redding precision seater. I would assume that the RCBS equivalent sliding-bushing seater ought to also work well. I have tried the Hornady New Dimension seater, and found it to not work any better than ordinary hunting dies. The overall design of the Hornady seater is sound, the problem is that it is built to rather sloppy tolerances, so the potential benefits of its design are not realized.
My bigger problem was that I was modestly "bending" my brass when sizing, whether F/L or neck sizing. This ended up showing later with a crookedly-seated bullet. It was only after trying quite a number of sizer dies did I end up with a few that worked well. I now ordinarily use a Redding neck bushing die. Between it and the above-mentioned seater, I can make .308 Win ammo to a typical Total Indicated Runout reading of .002" (set up and measured in a manner to produce the largest possible reading).
With regard to the powder throwing - I don't think .5 a grain varriance is that big a deal. If you are a benchrester, all bets are off, but as an example, I have data that shows a velocity difference of 60 ftps between a Hornady 68gr. HPBT loaded with 24.5 grains of Varget compared with one loaded with 25 gr. of Varget. (2860 and 2920 ftps respectively)
You'd be surprised just how often it is not that big a deal, even for benchrest. Benchresters use really good gear, and use it well, but they throw stick powders, and shoot unbelievably small bughole groups. At short range (100y-300y), which is where most BR shooting is done, minor velocity variations make surprisingly little difference; run a ballistics program someday and check out the results for yourself.
Even at midrange (500y, 600y), you can nearly get away with murder, as far as velocity consistency goes.
It's only at long range (1000y+) that the differences in time of flight end up making meaningful differences to the bullet's vertical point of impact.
I don't subscribe to the thought that some hand crank measures are any better at dispensing extruded powders any better than the next -unless they count kernal for kernal -because it is ultimately volume of powder that matters, and not weight.
It's also the fact that a press-mounted measure sees a certain amount of variable and nonrepeatable vibration, which can allow the powder to settle into the metering chamber in a different manner from throw to throw. So it's not "hand crank vs. press-activated", it's more "press-mounted vs. bench mounted".
Nice polish job kombayotch. On my list of things to do now!
He is a *bad* man for showing us that picture... ;-)
