Since you specified match grade .308 and .338LM ammo OP, here's my opinion ... at forty years and counting, into the attempt to produce consistently accurate ammo. And, with many a false start, $ wasted, on the long trail too!. Match grade accuracy is consistent 1/2 moa or under for me ... not being a BR shooter.
Start with a good quality single stage press, mine's a Hornady 007, plenty of good ones out there to choose from. Make sure it's long enough to handle seated out LM's.
Next, dies. They are not all the same, and standard ordinary FL sizers and seaters will not produce ultimate accuracy in your precision rifles. The main thing is runout, only straight ammo will shoot straight, consistently. Standard dies load crooked ammo, 10 thousanth's TIR, or more is not uncommon to measure in your loaded cartridge. Opened groups and fliers are the result.
This following die combo loads straight carts., no need to buy expensive gauging tools for they all come out 0 to under 3 thou straight after seating, mostly they are half to one thou. TIR.
Lee Collet neck die, tweaked to optimum 1 1/2 - 2 thou. neck tension by polishing the mandrel dia., and then operated by camming over TDC in the press. (requires very carefull set-up.)
Redding body die. It does all the regular FL die does, bump back the shoulder and body a wee bit when needed ... without touching your case neck. This leaves them straight and unstretched by the unneccessary overworking of the brass by the repeated oversizing then dragging out of an expander button. Less trimming required, and longer brass life. No bending of necks, and more firings between annealings.
Redding or Forster bench rest seater die. These have a sleeve that aligns bullet to case neck during seating. Worth their cost in spades.
No more crooked handloads ... no more run out caused misses.
All three dies will cost you $160 to $210 or so, the Redding seater being more expensive than the Forster.
Regular annealing has helped a lot with consistent results.
I use a 10/10 balance beam scale and trickle to weight from the measure set 1 grain light. This goes fairly quickly and very accurately. After some problems with digital scales, I don't trust 'em any more.
After trimming, it is good to inside de-burr with a shallow angle cutter(15 degree?) then run a twist of steelwool on an old brush into the neck .... this reduces scoring of the bullet shank.
Welcome to reloading OP, you'll never be satisfied with sundry common ammo ever again !!.
Start with a good quality single stage press, mine's a Hornady 007, plenty of good ones out there to choose from. Make sure it's long enough to handle seated out LM's.
Next, dies. They are not all the same, and standard ordinary FL sizers and seaters will not produce ultimate accuracy in your precision rifles. The main thing is runout, only straight ammo will shoot straight, consistently. Standard dies load crooked ammo, 10 thousanth's TIR, or more is not uncommon to measure in your loaded cartridge. Opened groups and fliers are the result.
This following die combo loads straight carts., no need to buy expensive gauging tools for they all come out 0 to under 3 thou straight after seating, mostly they are half to one thou. TIR.
Lee Collet neck die, tweaked to optimum 1 1/2 - 2 thou. neck tension by polishing the mandrel dia., and then operated by camming over TDC in the press. (requires very carefull set-up.)
Redding body die. It does all the regular FL die does, bump back the shoulder and body a wee bit when needed ... without touching your case neck. This leaves them straight and unstretched by the unneccessary overworking of the brass by the repeated oversizing then dragging out of an expander button. Less trimming required, and longer brass life. No bending of necks, and more firings between annealings.
Redding or Forster bench rest seater die. These have a sleeve that aligns bullet to case neck during seating. Worth their cost in spades.
No more crooked handloads ... no more run out caused misses.
All three dies will cost you $160 to $210 or so, the Redding seater being more expensive than the Forster.
Regular annealing has helped a lot with consistent results.
I use a 10/10 balance beam scale and trickle to weight from the measure set 1 grain light. This goes fairly quickly and very accurately. After some problems with digital scales, I don't trust 'em any more.
After trimming, it is good to inside de-burr with a shallow angle cutter(15 degree?) then run a twist of steelwool on an old brush into the neck .... this reduces scoring of the bullet shank.
Welcome to reloading OP, you'll never be satisfied with sundry common ammo ever again !!.
