OK Doc, from what I can see you need a Dillon/RCBS/Lee/Redding. :D :munchin

Heartily agree with Gene on the advice of getting a guy that has reloaded for more than a bit and have him hand carry you through the process.

Do not allow your self to get distracted. It is tedious and can get monotonous, and the mind can wonder. Double check and triple check. Do not place a bullet on an empty case and do not double charge a case. Go slow and deliberate.

Above all, have fun!

In my experience, weighing powder charges has a lot less to do with accuracy than prepping cases properly, picking the right bullets, and loading ammo to the proper specs for your weapon.

I cut my groups in half when I started prepping cases, in half again when I selected the right bullets for the job, and in half another time when I learned that loading to the proper seating depth off the rifling is critical to accuracy and keeping peak pressure down.

Just my experience.

Good seeing you yesterday LR and Longtab.

TR

Gollu I forgot about Lee, they make great stuff, and generally people under rate it because of price. On a single stage press, I used two sets of loading trays.

1) place cases in the first tray, when you resize them they go into the the second tray, right handed cases to be resized on the tray on the right, resized cases go on the empty tray on the left.

2) now switch trays, (assuming rt handedness). Prime the cases, the cases are placed in the empty tray on the left up side down. This allows you to check the primer seating.

3) switch trays, the primed cases are on your right, upside down, flip them up and charge them, and place them on the tray to your left, right side up. This allows you to check the powder depths and insures each case gets charged.

4) switch trays, the charged trays are now on your right, place bullet in case and seat. and place the cartridge in the tray on your left.

Using two trays will help preventing mistakes in over/under charging powder and primer mistakes. Each tray will hold 50 cases.

On a Dillion, only problem I have had was in primer seating. Other problems do arise when the cycle is interupted.

I hope this comes out ok?

Hollis - Same procedure I use. Except I check all cases with a flashlight to make sure each case has a powder charge before beginning bullet seating. This is especially true if interrupted during the powder cycle.

Thanks Guys.

I will go slow and deliberate. I bought The Complete Reloading Manual for the
.270 Winchester today. This looks like a new adventure. I can see the need to be careful.

Hopefully the new glass and rings will be on top of the Sako soon.

It's nice to have a basement where I can set things up.

Please stay open to questions.

Doc

Ever locate that scope Doc?

Ran across one (Zeiss) I might be able to get at a steal.

I have a Rockchucker as well ... my main press.

BK

Thanks briansain but ChandlerSniper has already got one ordered for me. It should be in this week. Thanks for thinking about me.

Doc

Easy day. Good luck with the project.

BK

One last thing about reloading, keep meticulous notes....

Only load 20 at a time, that way if your gun doesn't like the load you will not have too much time invested. (20 should let you know how they handle.) I've not hand loaded rifle but have loaded thousands of handgun rounds....

TS

TIP:

If the air conditioning vent in your reloading room blows directly on your reloading table, be sure and turn the fan off before weighing powder charges with a powder scale.

The scale is sensitive enough for the blown air to cause an errant measurement.

fwiw

Don't forget ceiling fans too! I moved some of my equipment around and couldn't figure out why my powder charges weren't consistent. It took me 10 minutes of adjusting the powder measure and checking the scale before I figured out what was going on - duh! :o It's the obvious things you take for granted/don't even think about that'll trip you up. (And I've been doing this for 27 years. It's a good thing I'm meticulous about cross-checking.) FWIW - Peregrino

Reloading
 

I was wondering if the admins could break out the reloading part into a new thread. This is info that others may like to have but do not know it is hidden in a scope thread.

Just wondering. :)

Some tips on reloading high pressure rifle cartridges:

It's almost impossible to double-charge a rifle cartridge if you're using the correct propellent, so your greatest danger is case-head seperation. Case-head seperation at 50,000+ copper units of pressure can be akin to having a pipe-bomb explode next to your face. You might get lucky and avoid the big, fast pieces, and you might not. To avoid the situation altogether...

Start out with new brass, or brass that you KNOW to be "Once-fired". The first time you reload for a particular rifle, do a full-case resize. After you've fired these in a particular rifle, and only if you intend to fire them from the same rifle again, only resize the neck. This avoids stressing the area just in front of the case-head. ALWAYS inspect your cases for cracks or leaks around the primer pocket, and for cracks or a bright band just forward of the case-head. Depending on how hot you load, find a happy number at which to dispose of your brass. I use 3 for maximum loads, and 5 for anything less. After that, throw the brass away. It's not worth spending an hour extracting the case remnants or blowing up your rifle and your face to save a couple bucks. A case-head sep in an auto-loader is usually no big deal..( http://www.tacticalsupplies.us/media...seperation.mpg )... .it can be a little more messy with a bolt-gun.

I'm a little late on the original thread. I have 3 USO scopes and I have never had a problem with any of them. The only issues I had were with rings that they made. Stick with Badger or some of the better ones.

On reloading I stopped doing handgun and shotgun. The reason is you can get 9mm, 40s&w and 45acp cheaper than what it cost you in time and components. It may not be the cleanest but it works fine for close stuff.

I use a single stage press for rifle loads. I load rifle because over time I have matched components to the rifle and they don't sell my combinations. Also I have a few wildcats that have to be handloaded. If you stick with hand loading the best investments are in case preperation. Tumblers, trimmers, the little green machine etc. This is where you'll spend most of your time so it pays to have something that saves time. Giraud trimmers, RCBS case prep green machine, and a good scale and dispenser. The digital stuff is a little on the slow side but I like it because I have trouble tring to see and count the little hash marks. I guess this is just plain old age.

Sorry to bump an old thread.

Doc, how have you found the scope?