I was wondering what people here use as a routine for getting cases prepped and loading procedures when seeking benchrest acuracy.

I have evloved my own process, but I'm sure I'm missing some things, and wasting too much time on others.
So I'd like to hear what others do.

I have an RCBS Rock Chucker single stage press, RCBS dies, no fancy gear as of yet, but a good digital caliper dial, which I use a lot when comparing cases and C.O.L.
Though there are a few gadgets I'd like to invest in.(power case trimmer, RCBS trim mate prep center)
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First I trim all casess to a desired length.

Then sort by weight into groups within .5 or 1 grain of each other.

The closest matching cases will make up one "best" lot, for the range, possibly all the same or within .1grn +/-
Box and label each batch of cases and their spread of weight.

Discard whatever can't be placed into a group.

Uniform primer bockets, flash hole deburr.
Trim & chamfer necks.

brush out necks and wipe cases clean.

Lubricate cases

Size 3/4 neck for used and full for new brass.

wipe out necks again with felt ceaning wads, wipe lube residue off shells.

Prime, charge, weighing each dose.

Seat bullet to desired depth.

I ask myself, what is it that makes for very accurate reloading?
Consistency in reproducing the same operations I suspect.
Just how minute must one be in these operations? Which ones are most important?
I notice that some of my case mouths are more or less trimmed than others, should I establish a set number of "twists" of the tool for each case when trimming?
What about primer pockets, how can you tell they are all equally uniformed.
How can you tell if some flash holes have been trimmed more than others?

I remember a thread here about finding the exact length of your rifles chamber by cutting a slit into a case neck, seating a bullet too far out and chambering the round. All I got from this was bullets stuck in my barrel. I tried blackening the bullet, and this got me some very "round about" results. I settle for something that is as close to the lands as I can get with these techniques.

Then I find that my overall length varies from bullet to bullet! This has been the sace with Nosler ballistic tips. Could this be due to imperfections in the plastic tip?

At the end of the day I am getting some good results for my troubles. .5MOA average with 70grain b-tips in 6PPC but not so good with the 55 grains. They give erratic groups varying from .5 to 2MOA;
So something is going right sometimes, othertimes, it's going not so right.
That is why I am writing here.

I would like to do better than this because I feel my rifle(cerntainly the cartridge) is capable of better shooting, and most of the testing is done from a benchrest type rest that blocks the rifle, so my shooting is not an issue.

Thanks for your time, to anyone who has read this far...I' appreciate any advice.

Joe.

I used to just load up some bullets w/ the old Pacific press after finding a recipe in one of Dad's manuals and sight them in. Then, I found out that my rifle shot better groups when I used different powders. Over the last 10 years I've learned tons about reloading,ballistics and the science involved. Then I got internet service and started to frequent these boards. Now I realize I'm only just beginning. There is so much to making match loads and shooting tiny groups. Most often the limiting factor is the hardware(rifle). Factory barrels will never shoot as well as a custom Hart, Lilja, or Kreiger(and countless others). Also brass prep is very key. Cases are formed to fit the chamber axactly. Tolerence are held as close as .0001 by the gunsmith when cutting the chamber. When everything is perfect and you have swirling winds when you load test, results won't reflect all the painstaking time you've spent thus far. It just make us crazy. Boards such as this shave hours even days from our learning curve. I thank all those who help the rest of us catch up to you level of knowledge

Thakns Carverelli.
Like most things, the more I learn, the more I realize I didn't really know much about it...
I have a factory barrel on a Sako 6PPC that has been bedded, floated, trigger finished to the most crisp and clean I have ever shot.

I am waiting, shooting and shooting some more to get experience in load develpoment and trying to wear the barrel out so I can put in an aftermarket job. I would like to put a thumbhole stock on this rifle and may get the muzzle re-crowned.

What would be a good choice of barrel?

I like to size the case first, and then trim it to length. This is because the sizing process works the brass and POSSILBY could change the length of the case.

quote:

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Then I find that my overall length varies from bullet to bullet!

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This is due to the swaging process that takes place during the manufacturing of the bullets. The distance from the ogive to the lands SHOULD remain constant, however, since the bullet seating die SHOULD press against the ogvie during the bullet seating step.

Hope this helps.

Gee, that's a lot of work!

I deprime 'em, throw them in the tumbler, remove the media from the flash holes, jiggle them in an old bath blanket to remove tumbler dust, re-prime 'em and neck size 'em, dump in the powder and seat the bullet, and finally, throw them in the old towel again to remove the lube.

Then I do the dumbest thing in the world...I shoot them!! Seems to work for me...

http://stevespages.com/targets.html

See?

The only additional step I do is to run up into the seating die twice. Turning the case a 1/2 tuen in btwn strokes. Supposedly evening any lack of concentricity.

On any given day don't know how much any of this matters but its fun...

Did you cut two slits (one on each side of the neck) or just one? If you only had one slit neck tension might be too tight.

Try seating your bullet so it just touches the lands, works in a lot of rifles. Shoot some groups without changing anything else. If groups improve stay that way if not move the bullet so it just misses the lands. Try some other bullets! Good Luck

EXPRESS,
Most of us use a method we've found works for us. I'm not saying my way is the only right way, just that this is the way I do it. The first thing I do with new cases is to throw them into the tumbler. Once they're clean: Full length resize in dies that have been adjusted to the headspace measurement of my rifle. Trim for length. Deburr inside and outside of case mouth. Deburr inside flash hole. Uniform primer pocket. Turn the outside of case necks. Throw cases back into tumbler. Weigh and seperate cases by weight.
To determine land contact length I use a jag that I've filed flat and insert cleaning rod into bore so the flat jag rest against the face of the closed bolt, then mark the rod with a fine pencil. Seat a bullet into a reject case just far enough to hold the bullet. Back the cleaning rod out about 5". Gently place the dummy case into the chamber and hold it lightly in place with a finger. Move the rod so the jag lightly touches the point of the bullet and mark the cleaning rod again. Use a dial caliper to measure the distance of the marks. Do this several times until your sure you've got it right. This measurement is the depth to which that bullet should be seated to have the ogive just touch the lands. Use the dummy case to adjust your seating die so the dummy round is that length. I like to keep the dummy as a "master" for any adjustments that may be made. Select your components. I usually start with the powder that gives the highest velocity in the manual. This usually indicates the most efficient powder for that cartridge. Start your loads near the lowest suggested load. Load three rounds at that charge and then step up in half grain increments to a charge that is one grain over book. Especally if a 26" barrel was used to establish the manual loads and your rifle is a 22" barrel. When you go to the range, examine each and every case for pressure signs. Once you get pressure indications, stop. I don't care what step your at. You've reached the maximum for your rifle and components. Three shots will not give you absolute information, just a good indicator. If yout load doesn't give you one ragged funny looking hol, its time to play with seating depth. Back to the loading room. Pull all bullets not fired and put them aside for plinking ammo. Load eighteen rounds of the of the most accurate load. Seat three at the orininal OAL and use the dummy to adjust your seating die so the next three rounds are seated .005" deeper. And so on until finished. As you reduce OAL pressures will increase, inspect every case for pressure signs. If you get such signs, stop. Back at the bench, reload all unfired loads with half a grain less powder and seat new bullet to the length of the unfired loads. Once you've found the most accurate OAL, load twenty round at that length. Five rounds should be the same charge, five should be three tenths more powder, five at three tenths less and five at six tenths less. This should give you the final answer as to the most accurats load with those components. If this doesn't give you the accuracy you want, start changing components, but only one component at a time.I know this sound like a lot of work, and it is. It also gets costly in time and money. It is however, the only way I know of to get the most out of your rifle.

The sad part of all this, is that it is a waste of time, work and money if the rifle hasn't been tuned and the scope not properly mounted. IMHO, the rifle and scope is the place to start your search for that one, slightly out of round hole, five shot group. I think you'll be pleasntly suprised just how accurate a factory rifle can be with some work. I hope that this will be of some help. Good luck.
PS Just thought of an other useful tip. Check your dies to insure they ar aligned to the ram of your press. A sizing die misaligned will cause runout. I suggest that you get a neck sizing die. works much better than using a full length die that is adjusted to use as a neck sizing die.

[ 02-20-2003, 13:47: Message edited by: BigBob ]

I am pretty new to reloading and i do pretty much the same procedure, however i have found that running my brass through the FL sizing die stretches the length of the brass. So i always FL size the brass before I case trim. I find the metric system easier to use when measuring and found that after FL sizing the cases stretch up to .2 mm

well I think you have most of the steps, but I think they may be in the wrong order... I would full length resize first, then go ahead and clean up the primer pockets and the flash hole, then turn the necks, then trim to length and deburr THEN wiegh the cases and sort....remembering that you can cut a lot of brass in those operations and throw your weigths off all after you have sorted...so do all the cutting first then sort via weight...I have used a wall thickness fixture ( but this is kinda a similar step to weighing , the idea is the different weights are telling you the walls vary...but I think even if the wall thickness is not the same from case to case...you are looking for a wall that varies on the case itself...which is bad. We know it happens!!! when we cut the necks and the cutter cuts one side and not the other!...I would check bullet runout after seating to make sure the seater is doing a good job.....then as one of the other guys said.......all that dont hold a candle to good concentric and square gunsmithing.....good luck...man i dont miss that stuff any more! ha ha ha..bob

22BLR,
I learned the same "pull a bullet and look at it" trick from reading Bart Bobbit posts in the rec.guns archives. That taught me to chamfer the case mouth properly, and even jig up steel wool and polish the inside of the neck.

Bigdaddy,
where do I get a flash hole deburr with limit sleeve?

carverelli,
I like to tell myself the accuracy learning curve has been extra slow for me because I am extra cheap. The avoids the cognitive dissonance of accepting that I am a slow learner. And yes, I finally paid for a good barrel and a good scope, after I paid for the cheap ones with years of frustration and lost enthusiasm.

Billy Buck,
I got a Sinclair bullet comparator[just a big nut with holes in it], and I now measure from the base of the case to the ogive instead of from the base of the case to the tip of the bullet.

Express,
I got a trick for Vern:
http://www.serveroptions.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=006975#000012
and rolling hills:
http://www.serveroptions.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=006517#000004