I just finished processing some 30-06 brass and I know all of my friends that have seen me load laugh because I am supposedly too anal. I was wondering if it's just me or how anal you really are. For me with rifle I am flat out obsessive. All my brass gets resized, trimmed, deburred, chamfered, flash holes uniformed, flash holes deburred, primer pockets uniformed, and neck turned. After the brass is processed I sort by headstamp then weight. Then it comes to actually measuring the powder and seating the bullet. I trickle my powder to the exact weight that I want and verify every charge on 2 different scales. If I am happy it goes into the case. My bullets I sort by ogive location using a comparator and sort by actual diameter and weight. I then seat the bullet and verify my ovarall length with a comparator on every round. After that is all said and done I weigh every completed round and verify they are all the same weight and check for runout.

 

Now for pistol I weigh every 10 or so charges, seat my bullets and for every 5 I measure the COAL. I do not sort by weights or anything, just make the ammo. For me, pistols aren't accurate enough to go through all the work of making match ammo.

 

So how anal are you? Do you have any extra steps you make?

I have faith in my equipment and backup plans.

 

I do not reload rifle as much anymore. (no time or interest to shoot), and only load for pistol.

 

It does lack a few rounds and the poll options are heavily geared towards single stage. It is not easy to weight every charge for pistol on a progressive.

 

What I will do is... for loading handgun ammo.

 

Load on a progressive with case feeder.

There is a RCBS lock out die right after the powder drop die to verify the powder charge, to prevent double charges and or squibs.

Separate seat/crimp.

Crimp, (Lee factory crimp die), gives a second resize of a loaded round.

All goes into a 100 round box, bullet down to check primer uniformity and OAL consistency.

 

Match ammo will then all get chamber checked in the gun, to make sure it drops in freely and smoothly.

Eric I think your questions are somewhat lacking. I for one employ different QC procedures for differnt types of ammo usage.

 

Progressive pistol is one thing and Tactical rifle is on the other end of the spectrum.

 

Your procedures are akin to benchrest procedures. Are you loading for benchrest? If not, you're wasting alot of time.

 

I've seen some of your results and while good I think you could eliminate some of your procedures and obtain the same results.

 

Just my $.02

 

So how anal are you? Do you have any extra steps you make?

 

Not as anal as you.

I haven't loaded rifle in while, but I still didn't do most of the steps you mentioned. For pistol ammo I check every twenty rounds or so for correct charge weight and OAL. Other than that, it is grip and rip. I am more interested in volume than precision for my pistol ammo. At worst, I think it is equal to factory ammo.

http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0707.htm

 

For your reading pleasures.

Since I have only loaded pistol so far and these are not for competitions, I belong to the Lunker school of thinking. I am careful to check all my setting on the progressive machine, run a few rounds and check again then let her rip. I have loaded thousands of rounds and they always go bang.

Well I think the voting need some more choices ! :-)

 

My .02 is you need to have faith in your setup and hardware that it will perform to spec as as setup for that loading run.....I have since become a huge fan of the powder sense dies when loading progressive. My biggest fear is a double charge...

 

I have just ran through close to 1k rounds of 9mm over the past month on a Hornady LNP AP....I have no problem stating that the Powder cop die found TWO double charges in the 1k....in retrospect this was a result of a distraction while loading in the sense that a case got out of time on the rotation and was double charged. I will not load without one.

 

I an a little more lenient for case prep for pistol, especially 38/357, than say rifle.

 

Rifle loading I am off the chart anal and have not loaded rifle progressively yet....I am setting up for a .223 run so I will let you know how it goes...

 

Lastly, someone made a suggestion in another thread to have a QC batch code per loading run, what that batch size is I guess is up to you, BUT I love the idea and will be implementing it here at home...I am pissed that I did not even consider it... >:- /

Just the $.02 again. Select a powder that if it does double load will spill over the top of the case, You will see it...

 

Once you set your powder measure check it for repeatability at least 5X. If it's within .1gr average in 5 trials that measure isn't going to change significantly. Keep the level in the measure more than 1/4 full and check it every 100 or 200 rds if it makes you feel better.

 

I load rifle out of a progressive press and shoot .6" @ 100yd. Case sorting by Manufacturer/lot is essential. Case trimming is essential. And this is done primarily for safety.

 

Just remember benchrest loaders only load to the .1gr as they find that variable to be one of the least important. But remember they may not be shooting Max loads either.

 

I read the article that Maks posted. Good beginer info. But let me just say if you reload with good quality equipment, I use a dillon 550B, I don't get high primers, I get consistant powder charges, and it makes nice ammo.

Frank I agree and have been saying the same thing to Eric for a long time now. But he's got all the time in the world so if he wants to do it, by all means go for it.

 

I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I don't do anything out of the minimal except I now have a powder dispenser so I always get perfect charges without trickling.

 

We'll see what happens when I get the 700p up and running if I change my reloading characteristics. But at the moment my reloading is better than my shooting so.

The only rifle I ever make ammo for is my Savage Model 10 Precision Carbine. Since I use iron sights on my M1A Scout Squad, I'm not sure I would realize the benefits of handloads in it. My Colt AR is a M4 clone with an AimPoint PRO. While it is accurate, again I am not sure I would notice the difference (at 100-200 yards anyway). If I ever buy the CZ Varmint in 223, then i will have a reason to reload 223. Right now factory 223 ammo is cheap, and that guides my decisions.

I'm not too anal at all. If it goes bang and not boom and has reliability and good accuracy I'm happy.

I load handgun only right now. Once I find a load that works I don't tinker around too much. I just

crank out as many as I can till I run out of bullets.

I'm not going to vote because the choices are insufficient.

 

Most of my care in rifle is taken with brass prep. I've tried the whole sorting by weight game, and find it mostly useless. For brass it makes minimal difference, and if you buy a quality bullet these days, there just isn't enough variance for me to care. As for trickling powder, I don't know if it is worth it if you buy in large lots and load in small ones. Most powders tend to like absorbing moisture, so you are better off getting a volumetric measure set up right for your prefered load while the jug is as fresh as possible, and trusting volume to be volume.

 

If you are going to be anal, rather than all the sorting, you really want to spend time controlling neck wall concentrically and thickness, and runout, but that's more expensive than weighing stuff.

 

For pistol, I load progressive, but I'm more anal than most after basically losing a season to ammo vs. chamber problems. My .40 gets push through sized before use, and every finished round gets case gauged.

I think 40S&W is more deserving of extra attention due to high pressure and often less than perfect case support in the gun shooting it. I have not seen Glock belly on 9mm brass very often. I don't use a push thru die on my 9mm brass.

I'm not going to vote because the choices are insufficient.

 

Most of my care in rifle is taken with brass prep. I've tried the whole sorting by weight game, and find it mostly useless. For brass it makes minimal difference, and if you buy a quality bullet these days, there just isn't enough variance for me to care. As for trickling powder, I don't know if it is worth it if you buy in large lots and load in small ones. Most powders tend to like absorbing moisture, so you are better off getting a volumetric measure set up right for your prefered load while the jug is as fresh as possible, and trusting volume to be volume.

 

If you are going to be anal, rather than all the sorting, you really want to spend time controlling neck wall concentrically and thickness, and runout, but that's more expensive than weighing stuff.

 

For pistol, I load progressive, but I'm more anal than most after basically losing a season to ammo vs. chamber problems. My .40 gets push through sized before use, and every finished round gets case gauged.

 

Raz-0 - Good post! Sounds like you've been hanging with the benchrest boys. But you're right on the money!!