How do you load rifle Ammo?

[3DGearGuy]

[longrange1]

heres what i do...


1) decap with lee universal decapper
2) wet tumble...250-300 cases for 1 hour
3) lube...with lanolin and 100% alcohol
4) full length resize
5) trim with lee quick trim and drill...same different tool
6) deburr and chamfer...my trimmer does this
7) check brass with case gauge...never owned a case gauge...i never seen the need if your FL sizing and trimming
8) run flash hole uniformer...dont do this any more
9) run primer pocket uniformer
10) wet tumble again...im guessing to clean off the lube?...i use alcohol and a micro fiber rag...tumbling after deburring is pinning the mouths and may be causing small issues you dont know or realize
11) prime with lee hand primer...same different tool
12) charge with Lyman gen 6...same different scale
13) seat bullet
14) verify OAL with calipers...tips vary so much you should be checking base to ogive not over all length

[edgerly779]

Way to much prep unless shooting for sub moa.

[koehn,jim]

I do my annealing before the full length resize. I also do not uniform the flash hole and primer after the first time. I rarely have to trim, I use the RCBS x-dies and they really work. I also do my load development on a single station press, once I have it worked out I use the Dillon progressive press.

[kcstott]

Here's how I do it.

starting with new unfired unprimed Peterson brass

All brass is run through a forester benchrest precision full length sizer first. lanolin and alcohol mix for lube
Hand primed on an RCBS hand priming tool using BR primers
Powder charges are droped to within .05 grains on an A&D milligram scale with auto drop/trickle kit
Bullets are seated with a forester Micrometer seater and checked with a bullet comparator. They are seated to my selected depth depending on the bullet used, I have multiple bullets available to me in my load binder so if I run out or can't immediately get one bullet i have options.
Cartridges are individually wiped off with alcohol to remove lube and placed in cartridge box

Now there are some changes for once fired brass.
I neck size only with a forester neck bushing bump die from this point out until the should needs a bump and that take a few firings to do.
I also anneal every other loading
I also do not clean my brass for at least three firings

Trimming is done when cases need it



Things I don't do and see no need to do

I don't sort brass by weight, uniform primer pocket or the flash hole I spend good money on good brass to not have to.
I do not wet tumble, shiny brass looks good in a box but will not help your group size.
I do not sort bullets by weight or bearing surface.
I have yet to make up my mind if bullet tipping is worth the investment in tooling for a minor increase in BC

[tonyjr]

I don't do pression .
1st lube , then deprime , size neck [ maybe every 5 - 6 reloads
get fl resizing ]
then the cases are cleaned - primer pocket flash hule and case
run on prep center [ RCBS and neck brushed ]
Run thru a tube of cases on load master - check powder drop and OAL .
I put them in plastic ammo boxes [ which gun on label ]
I seldom have more than 10 reloads before putting in ammo box .
I have seen people with 1 , 2 gallon buckets and ammo cans with
loose rounds - I am afraid the bullets would can be knocked loose .
Not saying those people are wrong - it is just not me .

[Mesa Defense]

Here's how I do it.

starting with new unfired unprimed Peterson brass

All brass is run through a forester benchrest precision full length sizer first. lanolin and alcohol mix for lube
Hand primed on an RCBS hand priming tool using BR primers
Powder charges are droped to within .05 grains on an A&D milligram scale with auto drop/trickle kit
Bullets are seated with a forester Micrometer seater and checked with a bullet comparator. They are seated to my selected depth depending on the bullet used, I have multiple bullets available to me in my load binder so if I run out or can't immediately get one bullet i have options.
Cartridges are individually wiped off with alcohol to remove lube and placed in cartridge box

Now there are some changes for once fired brass.
I neck size only with a forester neck bushing bump die from this point out until the should needs a bump and that take a few firings to do.
I also anneal every other loading
I also do not clean my brass for at least three firings

Trimming is done when cases need it



Things I don't do and see no need to do

I don't sort brass by weight, uniform primer pocket or the flash hole I spend good money on good brass to not have to.
I do not wet tumble, shiny brass looks good in a box but will not help your group size.
I do not sort bullets by weight or bearing surface.
I have yet to make up my mind if bullet tipping is worth the investment in tooling for a minor increase in BC

KC,

How do you like the Peterson brass?

[Kwikvette]

I only use new brass (Nosler) and pretty much follow kcstott's process except, I do wet tumble my brass after it's been fired once.

[3DGearGuy]

Way to much prep unless shooting for sub moa.

Why shoot if not for accuracy?


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[Dave626]

I use Peterson and lapua brass, so I skip duburr the flash hole.

Anneal all brass
Wet trumble
Dry
Dillion spray lube, *least effect on headspacing
Body die
Lee necksizer die, *neck concenticity under .002 reading
Use microfiber rag clean up the lube or wet trumble again
Check coal, trim it if necessary
Prime with my press, more consistent for me
Powder weight with A&D scientific scales
Seating with Redding competition seating die.

[Bainter1212]

Nobody crimps here?

I crimp for my magazine-fed semis. Last step of all.

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[kcstott]

KC,

How do you like the Peterson brass?

If Peterson Makes it, I won't use anything else.
Consistent weight, sized, trimmed, chamfered, cleaned. neck tension is very consistent. primer pockets are tight. noticeably tighter than lapua

[kcstott]

Nobody crimps here?

I crimp for my magazine-fed semis. Last step of all.

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Only if you want to really screw up your accuracy.

I only crimp heavy magnums and I mean African dangerous game magnums or I crimp tube feed guns, 30-30 and the like.

Mt .416 Rigby loads 400 grain Hornady DGX bullet over 100 grain of 7828


Well I take that back a bit I do crimp .223/5.56 but I don't consider that rifle accurate and don't really care what it eats. It's in camp for two reasons, something cheep to shoot with low recoil for any new shooters that may show up, and self protection.

But no Match ammo gets a crimp yet. I say Yet as I have a new project cooking and it may require a crimp, And 1874 Shilo Sharps Quigley in 45-110. Those rounds need a crimp to insure proper ignition of the powder.

[JackEllis]

I follow the same routine as the OP with a couple of exceptions: wash in hot water, Dawn and Lemishine instead of wet tumbling. First to remove range grime, second to remove case lube. I don't run cases through a gauge. I check length periodically but generally speaking once the die is dialed in it produces consistent rounds.

I do weigh each charge individually (sometimes twice, once on a beam and again on an electronic) and load on a single stage press because it's all for rifle.

Since I'm handling the cases many times I have lots of opportunities to see defects and problems

I want reasonable accuracy but I also don't want to spend all my time hand loading at the expense of flying, fishing and hunting so one MOA is good enough for me.

[tonyjr]

Bainter1212
The crimping die is always there , weather it needs or not .