help me spend some money

[hntnnut]

Ok I have some money I want to spend on some reloading equipment and am looking for some ideas. What I'm looking at is either annealing, neck turning or possibly upgrading my aging chronograph.
If I were to go the neck turning route I was thinking of the possibility of a mini lathe verses a stand alone unit so I could do other things with it.
My current chrono is a ProChrono and I were to upgrade I was thinking of either the Labradar or the magnetospeed.
For annealing I really have no Idea other than the salt bath method looks interesting.

What say you all?



Richard

[Fizz]

Well, if you decide on the LabRadar... I know a guy.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1469315

/shameless plug

[Switchbarrel]

[fguffey]

For annealing I really have no Idea other than the salt bath method looks interesting.

I could help you in many ways; I make barrel cleaning equipment and annealing equipment. Problem, we are in among a tuff crowd when dealing with reloaders on the Internet meaning it is not possible to discuss cleaning of barrels and or annealing cases.

When it comes to presses, dies and components etc, let me know what your are looking for; the etc., could weight as much as 3,000 pounds.

F. Guffey

[eric n]

[tanks]

Well, if you decide on the LabRadar... I know a guy.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1469315

/shameless plug

I have been very happy with mine.

[hntnnut]

Sorry for the late reply, I wrote out one the other night and lost it when I was forced to log one again. anyhow here it goes again.
I've been reloading/handloading about 33 years. My pa never loaded but my parents bought me a reloading kit when I was 14 thinking it would keep me out of trouble. Boy talk about a rabbit hole. Most of my reloading is for hunting and casual shooting although my wife and I are starting to play around with long range.

I load for,
.223 Rem.
.222 Rem.Mag.
22-250 Rem.
.243 Win.
.257 Bob.
6.8mm S..PC.
.270 Win.
.30 W.C.F.
.308 Win.
30-06 Sprg.
300 WSM
.300 Win. Mag.
.35 Rem.
45-70 Govt.
9mm para.
38/357
.40 S&W
.45 Auto
.45 L.C.
.30 Carb.

I was thinking of annealing mostly for the .257 Roberts and the .222 Rem.Mag. due to the difficulty in acquiring brass. plus to improve neck tension consistency in my .300 winny. and a couple of other calibers.
Thinking neck turning again for consistency with my .300.
Also looking looking to replace my chrono with one that doesn't need screens. Where I shoot the sun messes with my current one at certain times of the day and gives false readings also I suspect its readings are on the fast side.



Richard

[Meety Peety]

A lab radar is a great convenience and I have been very happy with mine. You can get them pretty regularly for ~$500 or so shipped from brownells with one of their various codes and if you catch a code during LRs sale (Couple times a year) you can grab one for $450. Today's code would make it $504 shipped FYI. I run mine on a leofoto LS223 tripod but there are several options available including a new product called the Quad Pod that looks interesting. Have not found a need for one myself, but it's another option.

With the calibers you are loading for, annealing is definitely something I would look into. You can build a DIY annealer for $100-$150 depending how handy/thrifty you are (Lots of info here) and there are several commercially built annealers available at various price points depending on what you want to spend. Annealeez, Bench source, Giraud, Annealing Made Perfect (AMP) to name a few.

For the type of shooting I do (PRS) I have not found neck turning to be worth the effort, so no advice there.

[golfish]

Sorry for the late reply, I wrote out one the other night and lost it when I was forced to log one again. anyhow here it goes again.
I've been reloading/handloading about 33 years. My pa never loaded but my parents bought me a reloading kit when I was 14 thinking it would keep me out of trouble. Boy talk about a rabbit hole. Most of my reloading is for hunting and casual shooting although my wife and I are starting to play around with long range.

I load for,
.223 Rem.
.222 Rem.Mag.
22-250 Rem.
.243 Win.
.257 Bob.
6.8mm S..PC.
.270 Win.
.30 W.C.F.
.308 Win.
30-06 Sprg.
300 WSM
.300 Win. Mag.
.35 Rem.
45-70 Govt.
9mm para.
38/357
.40 S&W
.45 Auto
.45 L.C.
.30 Carb.

I was thinking of annealing mostly for the .257 Roberts and the .222 Rem.Mag. due to the difficulty in acquiring brass. plus to improve neck tension consistency in my .300 winny. and a couple of other calibers.
Thinking neck turning again for consistency with my .300.
Also looking looking to replace my chrono with one that doesn't need screens. Where I shoot the sun messes with my current one at certain times of the day and gives false readings also I suspect its readings are on the fast side.



Richard

your parents created a monster kudos to you and your parents. That's a hec of a lot of calibers to load for.
I just started reloading today, I'm hoping my son will get into along with me. It's hard to get the attention of a 17 year old boy unless you're a girl.

[longrange1]

how much money do you have to spend? and i am not asking for an exact number but for instance a 21st century neck turning lathe set up for one caliber is $700 bucks.

amp annealer $1400 bucks...lab radar $500 bucks...this hole gets deep fast.

now the chrony....the lab radar is nice but i have seen these things miss shots quite often unless set up just right and the question is how much do you actually use it?....ive had 3 magneto speeds and ive never had one not record a shot with the exception of 22LR rounds.
the magneto speed spoter is $180ish

annealer....i used a drill and torch for a few years then built a couple of brackets that held a drill and the torch then bought an annealezz which i really liked and used for a few years...and now have an amp annealer.

neck turning does not make you a better shooter but it most definitely will make neck tensions more consistent which in turn makes ESs and SDs lower but again is this a tool that you are going to use enough to warrant the cost of a lathe.

[JackEllis]

...is this a tool that you are going to use enough to warrant the cost of a lathe.

I'm pretty stingy when it comes to reloading gadgets. I consider how much I'll use it, whether it's cost-effective, and whether I can get my money back when I have to start downsizing. So a used case prep center makes sense but since I can find plenty of .223 brass and already have a lifetime supply an annealer doesn't.

I think an annealer might make sense in your case even though brass still does seem to be available for the unusual calibers you reload. Who knows how long the brass you need will be commercially available.

I have a Caldwell chronograph and the thing definitely is twitchy at times, but I've learnd to work around the quirks and I can pay for a lot of extra test cartridges before something fancier starts to make economic sense, especially for the number of times a year I'll use the chronograph.

Can't say one way or the other about neck turning although longrange1 has a good point about the cost/benefit tradeoff - will you use it enough to justify a pretty big expenditure?

[Citadelgrad87]

This insterests me.

I load for lots of common calibers, and am working on precision loads for .308. I am at the point where i am looking at annealing, both to extend the life of expensive Lapua brass, and to make neck tension more consistent.

There seem to be three schools of thought:

Guys who dont anneal.

Guys who anneal every 3, 5, or some other firing.

Guys who anneal every firing.

Im trying to figure this out.

[longrange1]

at 4 firings my numbers start to climb so i anneal every second firing i dont see the need for every firing or even 2 firing but every second time makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

[Meety Peety]

I anneal every firing and my reasoning is that I am a fan of keeping the process the same every time. Warm and fuzzy is a good way to put it. For me, it's more about appeasing my own (Slightly irrational) tendency to get in my own head if (When) something goes wrong at a match. One less thing to worry about for me. I have come to understand that reloading involves a good amount of personal preference and what makes you feel warm and fuzzy about your ammo. Everyone is going to be a little different and that's okay - It doesn't have to make sense to the next guy, it just has to produce results that you can be confident in. Confidence is key.

[ocabj]

I still don't anneal. If I were going to upgrade my reloading equipment, I would get the AutoTrickler + AutoThrow + FX120i combo - https://ce-products.myshopify.com/co...utothrow-combo

As far as LabRadar vs MagnetoSpeed V3, I own both. I prefer the LabRadar because you're not attaching stuff to the gun. With the MagnetoSpeed, you have to adjust it from gun to gun (to make sure you don't hit the bayonet). With a LabRadar, once you're setup, you can swap guns during the session in quick order (really quick if you don't care about the energy data - have to adjust bullet weight in the system). That is not to say that I don't like the Magnetospeed. When I have it on the Wiser Precision mount, it's a pretty cool setup.