Pretty happy with my reloading results so far but always looking to do better and love tinkering. Ignoring the obvious, using a better gun or practicing shooting more what of the following reloading components should I upgrade next?

- Sinclair Decapping Die
- Lee Collet Neck Sizing Die
- Lee Dead Length Seater Die
- Lee Challenger Press
- Lee Powder Measure and Safety Scale
- K & M Neck Turning Tool
- K & M Primer Seater w/ Dial Indicator
- K & M Primer Pocket and Flash Hole Reamers
- RCBS Deburring/Chamfering Tool
- Forster Original Trimmer

RCBS 1500



Redding Body Die



Redding Competition Seater

Just to make you a little more independent of whoever you might like to be independent from, I think that rather than upgrade anything, you might want to try some bullet casting about now.

That would require a lead pot, a mould, a lead thermometer, a couple of manuals, some good gloves and a used lubrisizer, at the least. It probably would also require talking with some of the guys at the local tire shops, to get some used wheelweights for use as bullet casting metal. By dropping the bullets directly from the mould into a bucket of water, you can harden WW metal bullets enough to drive them at up to 2,300 fps rather easily.

With experience, learning, and practice, you'll find that you can shoot 5-shot 100 yard groups of well under an inch with them. And a 180 grain .30 bullet at 2,200 fps will slay deer better than original 30-30 loads.

I'd work with what you've got until you run into snags, over time you'll decide what to invest into because you'll struggle with this or that or find a certain step in your process is taking too long. For now if you aren't having problems I'd keep my equipment the same and tweak your loads until you are shooting the best you can possibly shoot....vary weights, powders, primers, overall lengths......... Trust me when it's time to upgrade a piece of equipment you'll know.

I learned it was time for a better trimmer when I tried to do 3k pcs of 5.56 LC brass in a weekend....ordered my Giraud trimmer the following Monday. It was pretty much the same deal with my progressive press and Chargemaster...they were all bought as time went on and I ran into time crunches.

I'm pretty sure I'm at that point now, or at least I feel like I am. I've been using the equipment I've listed for some time now and have tried pretty much every combination of the things you've mentioned. I even tried several combinations against converted 30-06 brass to .308 (did I mention I`m shooting a .308). With the 30-06 brass being a little thicker in the neck after converting I figured it might fit a little tighter in my factory chamber. I think I have the best load I`m going to get with this equipment. Last time out to the range I averaged .650 moa at 200 yards in my factory rifle. Groups ranged from 0.9 - 1.4 inches (4 shot groups).

I was leaning towards a better seating die as I do have some bullet runout issues. I was actually thinking about the Forster Micrometer Seater over the redding just because it`s a little cheaper and from what I hear, just as good. The chargemaster is also at the top of my list. I do have the redding body die, forgot to mention that.

It`s good to know that you guys are thinking along the sames lines as I am. I`m about a year into reloading and can`t get enough of it.

Thanks for the advice.

How satisfied are you with the Lee scale? I think if it were me that would be the 1st thing I would upgrade, but maybe they work better than they look..

I have a challenger press and they do the job just fine, but I got a deal on an older cast steel "O" frame Pacific press and the Lee hasnt been mounted since, am also awaiting delivery of a Lyman T mag II turret press. I intend to mount my Lyman powder measure in one of the holes and a Lee auto-prime II in another to have every stage of the process at my fingertips. I think it will be a pretty slick setup after reading numerous reviews.

I didnt want to go full progressive but wanted to step up the process just a bit.

Just a couple upgrades Im doing or have already done myself, perhaps some food for thought.

It took me quite a while to get used to the Lee Safety Scale. Once you figure out that you can't touch any part of the scale except for the powder tray once you start your batch of loading things work a lot better. I am getting an average of about a 30fps spread across a 5 shot group but I believe it is more due to my runout issues than the shortcomings of the powder scale.

You're gonna think I'm nuts, but if you ever do any high-volume stuff (like the poster mentioned above), then this (below) can be a handy little gadget.

I know it changed my attitude about a mountain of brass a buddy and I were working on before a big varmint shoot.

You mentioned something about run-out. I'd say a concentricy gauge alone will keep you chasing your tail for years from my experience! Haha

Other than that and the suggestions you have above, I think you are looking good.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/.a...burring_Tool_Holder#

I hear ya on the concentricity gauge. Love the idea of the deburring tool holder. Didn't know they existed. Cheers.

I was going to say get a chronograph but it sounds like you have one. Anything else would be based on how much you load at a time. I'd look at ways to speed up case prep or powder measurement.

Agreed again. I hate measuring powder. I'd rather have a root canal. It's just that the chargemaster is so expensive.

Well, it matters what volume you are loading if 'up-grading' anything you now have would mean anything. Like, paying for a digital powder dumpster to load 100 rounds or less at a one time seems pointless to me.

Actually, dropping and trickling up charges on manual equipment can be very nearly as "fast" as a digital system IF we position our tools (measure, beam scale and trickler) properly for an efficent work flow. You would benefit from a trickler; I don't much care for any of the commercial units because they are all too light but Redding's trickler seems about the best available.

Without a run-out gage (?) you don't know if a more costly seater would do anything for your ammo or not. The Forster seaters are fully equal to Reddings and the costly micrometer heads don't do a thing for the quality of the ammo they can produce. Used correctly, Lee's Dead Length seaters usually do very good work.

No seater can make straight ammo in bad necks and most size dies/expander balls distort even perfect necks. Lee's Collet Neck Die usually does a great job for concentric ammo.

Lee's little "Safety Scale" is accurate and very sensitive. It's also quite light and that tenths window thing makes it a PITA. I'd suggest you think of a Dillon beam scale to replace that, it's made by Ohaus and is the same quality scale that's sold by RCBS as their 505 but Dillon charges less.

Your accuracy is great. Actually, I don't believe you will be able to get much more out of a factory barrel. Nor a lot of custom barrels on a factory action for that matter.