Reloading Class

[pennys dad]

Anyone know if there is a class out in SoCal somewhere that teaches reloading? I am comfortable with pistol reloading but rifle seems like a whole nother beast.

[SB643]

Trial and error, man. It's not greek. The mechanics are the same as pistol, you'll just playing in a bigger league.
Put in the time reading all you can find and talking with folks. Get a baseline to start with and fine tune from there.

[f4tweet]

http://www.allsafedefense.com/

[Sheldon]

There is a big difference in case prep. There is almost none in reloading pistol cases, other than to look for damaged cases, crimped primer pockets (and odd sized primer pockets sizes), and whether the priming system in the case is berdan or boxer.
With rifle cases you can use a drop type gauge to set your sizing die up or use a more precise tool to determine the headspace dimension of a fired case and then base you sizing die settings off that dimension. The ultra precision guys may only neck size their already fire formed cases using bushing dies to control neck tension. There are different trimmers to trim the case to the correct length. The electric ones are the way to go unless you only load a box at a time. Then there are tools to determine what length to seat the bullet to. The Stoney Point Overall Length Gauge (I think Hornady bought the rights to the tool) is used to detrmine the OAL dimension for a particular bullet to be seated to touch the lands of you barrel.....most adjust to seat to a specific length off the lands. Then there are tools to measure the length of the cartridge off the oglive of the bullet versus the tip of the bullet, as the tips are not manufactured very consistantly. You can prep the primer pockets for consistant depth if you feel the need.
You can really spend time and money on case prep, but most of us don't really need to go to the lengths that a benchrest shooter would.

[f4tweet]

+1 Sheldon, great explanation. I used an RCBS micrometer to set my sizing die to bump the shoulder back .002-.003 from my chamber measurement on my .308 M1A brass.

[dreyna14]

I think that the reloading store at the Angeles Range has reloading classes. Rifles isn't really any harder than pistol, it's just more tedious with case prep. You have to measure, trim, deburr, etc. It just requires a couple extra tools and some time in front of the TV.