New to reloading, will be reloading 6.8SPC for semiautos and .300WM for a bolt action. Here's the procedure I've arrived at:

1. Inspect and sort brass;

2. Remove primers using single stage press and universal decapping die;

3. Clean primer pockets using hand-held primer cleaner;

4. Clean deprimed brass, either with tumbler or liquid brass cleaner;

5. Wipe/dry off clean brass;

6. Spray brass with Hornady One-Shot lube;

7. Run brass through reforming die on single stage press;

8. Trim brass to correct case OAL, debur and chamfer case mouth;

9. Prime brass using hand-held priming tool;

10. Decant a powder charge using a powder measure with micrometer insert;

11. Add powder measure to primed shell (sitting in press?);

12. Seat bullet using seating die on press.

I plan to have all my dies in Hornady Lock N Load bushings, so swapping dies and shell plates should be very quick and easy. I'd also like to use a single stage press for now to control my process and go slow while I'm learning. I also understand I should weigh the powder charge every so often to make sure it's still correct.

I only plan to reload about 3000 rifle rounds per year - will these procedures be OK for this volume?

Thanks for your input.

Aside from real obvious throw aways the case inspection is going to work better after they are cleaned since you will notice things you could't otherwise. it doesn't hurt to pay attention at both points though.

Sounds like you have it right. You will of course have to check the bullet depth/OAL after the initial bullet seating (even if you are using a Lock nLoad it is a good idea). I check every so many rounds anyways. Depending on how accurate your dispensing system and the powder used (some of the powders iwth a longer grain don't dispense as well as flake for instance, at least in my setup) you will check it every few to every ten rounds I would guess. I don't use a dispenser for my rifle rounds, I weight them individually, but when I loaded pistol I would check every 10 rounds.

I think if you are loading 3000 per year you'll soon want a progressive press.

Red

Hey caporider

Welcome to AR

The process involved in #7 is as important as all the rest combined. What die will you use, how will you set it for NS, FL or PFLR resizing, how will you lube, how far will you move the shoulder back and what kind of runout will you generate.

#12 is also important regarding how far from the lands you will seat the bullet.

A lot of us trickle charge each case for consistant velocity. Throwing charges will work but trickle charging does not take that long, IMO.

Your methods will produce accurate ammunition, and you will learn more by going slowly and observing what is happening at each stage of the proceedure. What I would add however is that I feel you might get more consistancy from weighing all your charges and then seating the bullets. Use a loading block to keep the cases together and from spilling. When seating the bullets strive for consistant pressure and feel. While it is a basically simple process you will be amazed at the subtilties which have a major affect on your finished quality. By doing each stage seperately you will gain knowledge and technique quickly. Good luck and good shooting. Oh yes, WELCOME TO AR!

What Woods said, plus, get you a good loading block and charge your primed cases while they are sitting in it--all of them--then seat your bullets, as a seperate process. I do like specifically weighing each charge, like Woods says, it isn't that long of extra time invested, I use a harrels precison culver powder measure, and it won't throw within a 1/10 of a grain, so I guess it's just how precise you feel you need to be.

I step loads up in 3/10 increments when load developing, so loads to within a tenth are important to me.

Seating depth makes as big a difference as anything to me, and I have plenty of rifles that shoot better with bullets seated FURTHER off the lands as opposed to right close to.

Good Shooting--Don

I would do away with the universal decap step. I prefer to clean the brass first, then decap and resize with either a neck or FL die. This will make sure that all flash holes and primer pockets are free of any tumbling media. I've tried tumbling after sizing hated tinkering with this particular problem.

The order in which I do it is a bit different. I will wipe off the brass first while inspecting it and then lube the cases and full length size, I dont use a decapper either except on millsurp brass. Next I will clean the primer pocket and then tumble the brass. That way there is no case lube left on the finished product so there is a squeaky clean brass to chamber seal when fired, and the primer pockets get real clean as well.

I then trim and chamfer as nessecary then add primers. I check my powder throws on a scale several times for consistancy, and then charge the case and seat bullets one at a time, that way I dont get anything mixed up and try to charge the same case twice or add a bullet to an empty case etc. If my powder throws arent consistent enough I will trickle scale each powder charge, it usually depends on the particular powder.

Take your time and pay carefull attention. I find it a rewarding and enjoyable pastime. Welcome to AR!!

Mine are different.

Let assume all brass is yours just fired in your gun.

1.Check case length if they are at max length or over before sizing they go in resize bin.

2.lube using Dillon spray lube on a pad.

3.Resize & deprime wipe off cases of extra lube

4.Vib. clean all cases

5.I use a RCBS trim mate to deburr primer pockets clean pockets chamffer in & out case necks and inspect cases for splits.

6.Prime

7A.drop powder in cases 5 at a time if using ball powder (meters well) I do a visual check on powder in cases and only charge 20 @ a time, I then spot check 4 or 5 out of the 20.

7B.If i'm using stix powder like 4350 or 4831 I hand weight and charge each case depending if it's a hunting or plinking load.

8.Seat bullet.

If cases need trimming I FL size then trim, then Vib. clean and over to trim mate.

Everyone does it different.

One thing I try to do and suggest is Everytime you handle a case, loaded or not. That's an inspection point. Many times a person can over look something if they don't inspect except as it's own step.

Greg differs on his charging here. I charge either a block of 50, or what ever smaller batch. Then get a flashlite, or good lite and look down in every case to make sure they all have the same amount of powder in them before I ever stick a bullet in one.

Here's why: no matter who we are, or how much experience we have. We CAN and have missed one sometime or other.

A few yrs ago I had a visitor that had been discussing my loading with another guy by phone & mail etc. When he came here, we loaded some shells and as we both had many yrs exp. I had him charge the cases so I could do the final powder inspection and seating. Sure as hell he purposely tried to run a few empties past me. Needless to say he promptly had his ass run out of here.
A few days later the wife found a letter he'd dropped the next day when he came after his things as I wasn't in the mood to have him kill any more time that night. He'd written to the his buddy that I sure got p'd about finding those empties. There's no excuse in that kind of bs. What would have happened if I'd missed them?? Lock a bullet in the bore, then fire a loaded one?? Too many what if's that could create a dangerous situation.

I've also missed one at times and caught it there. I picked that little deal up from reading loading books several times.

I like to clean the cases after firing, then inspect, then resize and inspect, trim etc.

Because once when hunting elk I dug in a pocket and cut a knuckle pretty bad on a sharp case mouth. I always very slightly crimp them all. Unless I intend to crimp them tight, this is barely enough to break the sharp edge over and is not intended to be a crimp. It's all done when seating with proper adjustment. To get them all the same, they must be the same length so trimming is a must at this point.

Wish you well, good shooting, hope these suggestions help.

George

I understand that stick powders like H322 and H4350 are now cut quite short (much shorter than IMR 4350), so they meter pretty well out of powder measures. Anyone have any experience with these Hogdon powders through a powder measure? I'm also wondering if anyone uses a powder measure with a micrometer insert, and if that does a better job of keeping powder charges consistent.

Thanks everyone for your valuable insights. I think I'll go the single stage route until I'm comfortable with the reloading process. I can always use my single stage press to support a progressive press.

caporider, I load a lot of the hogdon powders, specifically the 4831, both regular and short cut. It meters OK. The Harrels precision culver measure does haved a micrometer adjustment on it, and is really sweet quality, needle bearings and such....a really great quality measure, but it won't consistently throw within a tenth. I don't feel any traditional powder measure will. I now almost exclusively use the RCBS or Pact electronic scale/trickler combos--I love em.

The micrometer on my Harrels makes it easier when setting up to get to your charge weight 'zone'
but I like .10 level of accuracy.

The most accurate powder measure I have ever used is actually the Lee 'perfect' powder measure. It has a nylon (or such) 'measuring chamber' (late at night for me--terminology fuzzy) but in a nutshell it ain't as nice as the Harrels, but it throws really accurate charges, and won't cut powder.

Regards--Don

If you are reloading for an autoloader, you need to get a case length gage and after the rounnd is assembled, gage it to insure it will chamber with no resistance.

I find that most of the rounds I check can be corrected by taking my dremel tool and "sanding" the case base rim where the extractor has marred it. Kudude

Don:

Do you, or have you used the Lee measure with the real fine powders, like: AA2200, H110, and such??

I've got four, and two old one's. Every damned one leaks around the cone no matter what kind of adjustment, or even new whipers.

Far as stick powders I don't think they can be beat far as accuracy and long lasting. Especially for the price.

But, I'm stumped for a fine powder measure.

Thanks,

George

You seem to be well on your way to produce accurate safe ammunition.
I add a couple of “one time" steps.
• Deburr the Flash hole
• Uniform the Primer Pockets
• Uniform the neck Thickness
I also weigh cases and sort to a .5 gr spread.

Many very good and experienced hand loaders will skip some or all of the above steps and still get good results… but these work out for me. I use a "RCBS Chargemaster 1500 scale and dispenser".

quote:

I'm also wondering if anyone uses a powder measure with a micrometer insert, and if that does a better job of keeping powder charges consistent.

Absolutely not. The purpose of the micrometer is a reference mark for the next time you throw the same weight of the same powder. Just the same as a micrometer seater die; having it hanging on the top of the die will not cause it to make ammo with less runout. Just gets you back to the proper seating depth after you changed it for whatever reason...different bullet, different rifle, etc.

Also, reloading for that semi-auto is akin to loading pistol ammo. Millions of rounds get reloaded each year without the primer pocket ever getting cleaned. That's match grade ammo, not just for plinking. So, depending on the purpose of your 6.8mm, you needn't be quite so anal about every inconsequential detail wereas each shot from your 300 mag could mean the difference betwen bagging a trophy of a lifetime, or not.

George, I used the Lee on some ball powders, like H 110 and Win-760, and experienced some of the leaking you describe, but most of my loading is with the extruded stuff--For ball powders, my Harrels does a really good job, pretty close to within a tenth, amd the stuff just meters real smooth. When I'm loading a bunch of rounds for practice w/ W760, I'll use my Harrels, it is a lot faster than the electronic rigs for sure.

Take Care--Don

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

I'm also wondering if anyone uses a powder measure with a micrometer insert, and if that does a better job of keeping powder charges consistent.

Absolutely not. The purpose of the micrometer is a reference mark for the next time you throw the same weight of the same powder. Just the same as a micrometer seater die; having it hanging on the top of the die will not cause it to make ammo with less runout. Just gets you back to the proper seating depth after you changed it for whatever reason...different bullet, different rifle, etc.

Also, reloading for that semi-auto is akin to loading pistol ammo. Millions of rounds get reloaded each year without the primer pocket ever getting cleaned. That's match grade ammo, not just for plinking. So, depending on the purpose of your 6.8mm, you needn't be quite so anal about every inconsequential detail wereas each shot from your 300 mag could mean the difference betwen bagging a trophy of a lifetime, or not.

Thanks for the info on the micrometers - seems like I need to adjust my dies rather often to ensure correct case sizing!

As for the 6.8SPC, there have been some issues with the SAAMI specs and chamber reamers among barrel makers - the bottom line is that 6.8SPC cases must be trimmed to the bottom of the spec to work in all chambers. That's the only reason I may be a bit anal about reloading my 6.8SPC brass for now...