Leozinho Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) What are the basic steps of reloading for precision rifle? In other words, I'm not looking for the elaborate voodoo that benchrest or extreme precision shooters do when reloading. Just the basic "95%" solution. This is for a 6.5 Creedmoor in a long action Savage with a 26" McGowen barrel. I'm using once-fired Hornady brass from some factory Hornady 120 Amax cartridges. (Fired from my rifle) I have A4350 (not H4350) powder and 120 and 140 gr Amax bullets. I'm using Hornady Custom dies (full length resizer) I'm thinking - Tumble Lube with Hornady One shot Deprime and full length resize Trim using Lee case trimmer Chamfer and deburr neck with Lee tool Clean pocket with Lee primer pocket cleaner Prime using Lee Autoprime Weigh powder using RCBS trickle charger and RCBS beam scale Load powder Seat bullet ---------- Am I missing something? Any use in sorting brass by weight? Do I need to do more prep to the primer pocket, or is using the little cheap Lee primer pocket cleaner enough? Debur the flash hole? Can I use the factory OAL length, or do I need to find my lands and back off a bit? (I don't have the specialized Hornady tool to measure when the bullet is hitting the lands, but will get it if necessary) Thanks. I've never reloaded anything other than 9mm on a progressive reloader. Edited October 13, 2013 by Leozinho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Use Dillon case lube, or redding imperial sizing wax. One Shot has a nickname of One Stuck for rifle cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 My Creedmoor was good with book OALs. Work up a powder load, then play with oal if you feel like it. What bullet do you plan on using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 One Shot works fine when used as directed and following the directions. Most people who have trouble don't. Make sure after you spray the cases to let them sit for about a minute to allow the propellent to evaporate. I have loaded literally tens of thousand rifle cases with One Shot and have never had a stuck case. Your load method looks good. Use it and see where it gets you. It should load very good ammo for you but if you find a need to change something you can. I do basically the same with some different tools. I use the standard Hornady dies, as those were all that was available when we started shooting these back in 2008. They load very accurate ammo. All i did was add a micrometer stem to the seater. Those dies you have should work very well. No need to sort by weight with either bullet or case. A primer pocket uniformer will clean the pocket as well so with one step it will clean and uniform. I used to deburr the flash holes and then I did some testing and found no difference in performance so I stopped. Just more time to put towards something useful. You can make a dummy round with a partially sized case neck and seat a bullet a little long and put it in the chamber and close the bolt. If it doesn't feel like it's taking some effort to close the bolt then you might need to load it longer as you are basically seating the bullet with the lands. Sometimes you need to put some black magic marker on the bullet to see if it's hitting the lands but most times you can see the marks. Extract the case and then measure it. Having a comparator is nice so you can measure from the ogive which is what will first be hitting the lands. This way you know the exact measurement. I load my Creedmoor 140 AMAX about .020" off the lands, as i do all my AMAX bullets in other calibers, but factory length also shoots very well when I shoot factory ammo in matches. If you didn't want to mess with OAL just yet then just use the factory length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newboy Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 If the brass were fired in the rifle, I would skip the full length resizing, and just move the shoulder back 5 or 10 thousandths. Full length sizing works the brass too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 If the brass were fired in the rifle, I would skip the full length resizing, and just move the shoulder back 5 or 10 thousandths. Full length sizing works the brass too much. No you never want to bump the shoulder back that much. That's what works the brass. .001-.002" max for a shoulder bump on fireformed brass. Anymore and you are going to get stretching and eventually a case head separation. Full length sizing won't over work the brass if done properly. You still need to size down the neck as it will be too large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leozinho Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 (edited) My Creedmoor was good with book OALs. Work up a powder load, then play with oal if you feel like it. What bullet do you plan on using? I have 120 gr and 140 gr Amax to start. I've read that the 140's are the best, but I picked up the 120's at a gun show just for the heck of it. I have one pound of Accurate 4350 to start (I know it's not as popular as H4350, but I can't find H4350). If the brass were fired in the rifle, I would skip the full length resizing, and just move the shoulder back 5 or 10 thousandths. Full length sizing works the brass too much. Well, already have my dies, which are FL. So I'm pretty much set there anyway. Edited October 14, 2013 by Leozinho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leozinho Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leozinho Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 (edited) One Shot works fine when used as directed and following the directions. Most people who have trouble don't. Make sure after you spray the cases to let them sit for about a minute to allow the propellent to evaporate. I have loaded literally tens of thousand rifle cases with One Shot and have never had a stuck case. Your load method looks good. Use it and see where it gets you. It should load very good ammo for you but if you find a need to change something you can. I do basically the same with some different tools. I use the standard Hornady dies, as those were all that was available when we started shooting these back in 2008. They load very accurate ammo. All i did was add a micrometer stem to the seater. Those dies you have should work very well. No need to sort by weight with either bullet or case. A primer pocket uniformer will clean the pocket as well so with one step it will clean and uniform. I used to deburr the flash holes and then I did some testing and found no difference in performance so I stopped. Just more time to put towards something useful. You can make a dummy round with a partially sized case neck and seat a bullet a little long and put it in the chamber and close the bolt. If it doesn't feel like it's taking some effort to close the bolt then you might need to load it longer as you are basically seating the bullet with the lands. Sometimes you need to put some black magic marker on the bullet to see if it's hitting the lands but most times you can see the marks. Extract the case and then measure it. Having a comparator is nice so you can measure from the ogive which is what will first be hitting the lands. This way you know the exact measurement. I load my Creedmoor 140 AMAX about .020" off the lands, as i do all my AMAX bullets in other calibers, but factory length also shoots very well when I shoot factory ammo in matches. If you didn't want to mess with OAL just yet then just use the factory length. Rob, Thanks for the reply. That is a lot of knowledge that is a tremendous help to me. I appreciate it. Out of curiosity, how many reloadings are you getting from a case, and what are you looking for to let you know when it's time to discard a case? I doubt I'll be pushing the Amax's at the highest velocities. Edited October 14, 2013 by Leozinho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Got about 8 loadings on the brass now and it's pushed near max. Not pushing the load hard you should easily get at least that. It should last a good time if loaded properly and not too much brass working occurs. Annealing the shoulder and neck will also help lengthen the brass life and accuracy with proper neck tension. When you notice the primer pockets loosening it's a good sign or keep an eye about an 1/8" above the rim for any signs of case head separation. You can check with a paperclip straightened out and then a small 90 degree bend on one end. Sticking it in the case mouth and down to the area near the base and feel the case for an abnormal groove. Here is a little video on it but you can search the net and find alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Here is a decent article written by a Highpower shooter that might help you out. http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/basics-resizing-case-dimension-changes.html To get the important measurement from base to the datum line, or "cone" as the article calls it, on the shoulder you will need a device like the Hornady Headspace kit. They don't list the Creedmoor but I am guessing the D would work but call Hornady customer service to make sure. This will allow you to adjust your FL die so you are only bumping the shoulder that small .001-.002" distance so you don't overwork the brass. http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Headspace-Kit-With-Body-1-Each/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Also the sticky posts on the top of this page have alot of good info. A warning though. Don't think you have to run out and buy every piece of cool equipment shown though. Use what you have and if you find a need to get something for either use or to make your reloading easier then buy it but you can dump the bank account quick on equipment. http://forum.snipershide.com/snipers-hide-reloading/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinecone Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Get a Full Length BUSHING sizing die. Whidden, Redding, Forster, etc. Pick a bushing to just size the neck for your desired neck tension. Normally about 2 thousandths smaller than the neck of a loaded round. Adjust the shoulder bump to 1 - 2 thousandths for the body of the case. This setup will work your brass the least. Then, anneal your cases every 4 - 5 firings. Lots of good info online about annealing, and some people who will anneal them for you. Doing all of this, people have gotten well over 10 and sometimes 20 firings out of rifle cases. A micrometer seating die is nice when working up a good COAL, but once you have that, you don't need the micrometer seating. If you load the same cartridge with different bullets or for different uses, it may be useful. For working up a good consistant load, use the OCW method. http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ This method gives you a load that is not sensitive to small things, so is overall more consistant, but still with good groups. If you are loading a lot of rounds, something like an RCBS Chargemaster is VERY nice to auto dispense and weigh every charge. Not needed, but nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornhunter04 Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I use a Whidden bushing die with a 0.288 Bushing. Micrometer seating dies are the best thing since sliced bread if your switching back and forth between differant bullets. For instance, I shoot 140gr amax, 120gr amax, and i've got some 140 and 129gr SST's to play with for deer season. So i just seat one, measure it, and count down or up on the micrometer stem until i get to where i need to seat my rounds. This works measuring COAL and should get you within .001 - .003 of where you need to be. Just check the COAL for each bullet and start low and work up. Pay attention to pressure signs. For instance i have a short chamber in mine, so my COAL is less, and i'm loading 1-2gr less than most people. I got pressure signs pretty quick, and had to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyjhallen Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Good info here. Thanks for the contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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