SmallCaliberCentral

skipper ............Whats the large optical lens for on your powder scale?? Talk about splitting lines with a glass that big..haha
Nice looking targets on the wall behind your bench. Thanks for sharing your prep pics.
Good luck and thank you for doing the leg work and getting the targets out.
Later
Ray P

I've seen Skippers magnum magnifier before. Great idea. If I ever give up on the electronics I'd find one for myself.
What I'd like to hear ALL about is the strain guage on his seater. What has that taught you?
Jamming into the lands with your Panda "slightly" inconsistent neck tension can be more easily tolerated. (I think) Not desired of course but slightly less critical.

Jumping a long distance to the lands that piece of equipment would be very very beneficial.
Just my theories. What are your expieriences?

I love my RBCS 10-10 scale but I'm over fifty so hence the magnifying glass. I would probably use it even if I didn't need it. It sure makes getting my charges consistent a lot easier.

The strain gauge on the K&N arbor press has actually taught me a lot. First it taught me not to ever put a strain gauge on my press again because it opened up a whole other world of variables. I have found that my neck tension can be very inconsistent if I'm not paying attention to the details. It is a lot more consistent now days. I have also found that I achieve about 5 more pounds of seating pressure with every .001 change in neck sizing bushings. I have also found that my rifle likes the neck tension pretty tight and the bullets seated hard into the lands. It usually takes me about 25 lbs. of force to get the bullet started into the case with my .222 bushing. (chamfer must be consistent) Once the bullet starts into the case the pressure steadily increases until the end of my stroke when the seating stem bottoms out on the die shoulder and then I usually keep the pressure up until I read about 60 lbs. Even if the bullets are being set back into the case as I close my bolt, they all should be jammed a consistent pressure into the lands. I find that important for getting my Extreme Spread down into the teens. That's about the best I can do with the .204 on a good day reloading. I don't think I will ever get down to the single digits. When I anneal, my seating pressure always drops by about 5 lbs. Oh yeah, annealing was leading to inconsistent neck tension also. I had to go back and re-evaluate my annealing procedure. The torch needs to be a consistent distance from each case, held on the case for a consistent time and the case needs to rotate at a consistent speed. The flame should not be moved up and down during annealing but rather held at the same angle to the case every time. Even the case holder heating up during the annealing process can change neck tension. Bottom line is not to buy a strain gauge.

Skipper
What's with the VV N133 on your bench?? I thought you gave up on VV???... I'm having a hard time finding CCI BR4 primers. I hope to get 1000 on Saturday from my only local guy who has them, Or says he can get them. He says $25 for 1000. It sounds to good to be true . I hope it doesn't come down to begging on the forum .
About a year ago I asked how uniform the hardness is with the manual annealing process. I see I got my answer.

The picture is just a ploy, I'll be shooting Benchmark. I got some primers I'll send ya'.

Manual annealing is acceptable as long as you have rests and stops so everything is kept in check. I need to spring for a Ken Light annealing machine, but I don't compete enough to justify it. Did I just say I needed a reason to justify buying another toy? What's up with that?

Thanks for the review Skipper.

FWIW I've found that with annealed or new brass (read: no/or irregular carbon in the necks) its imperative to use Imperial dry graphite with the expander ball to burnish it onto the neck for a few loadings to improve seating consistency.
I know you despise expanders

Couldn't agree more with your chamfer statement. I give all my brass a healthy chamfer with a VLD type now.
If I want to try a tighter tension with a flat base bullet they're all set to go. Heck right or wrong even the old 30-40 Krag brass has a VLD chamfer.

Good luck to all the participants.

I was lucky to pick up a VLD chamfer tool when I first started reloading. No copper shavings on my bench from bullet seating. Just make sure you spin the case in some kind of chuck, "NOT" the tool. This makes the chamfer nice and even all the way around the case mouth. If you spin the tool you need to hold both ends of the tool on center with the case. If not, you'll get a uneven chamfer.

count me in Skipper
factory, factery custom, black rifle
Hawkeye i have a 50 gr 20 cal berger that looks like that also

robert

Skipper
Just sent PM to sign up. Sounds like this will be fun. I will be shooting factory class with my Ruger target gray & savage #11. Sure hope I do not get embarassed . Thank you for all your hard work on this.

Hawkeye Joe wrote: I'm having a hard time finding CCI BR4 primers. I hope to get 1000 on Saturday from my only local guy who has them, Or says he can get them. He says $25 for 1000. It sounds to good to be true .

Well the 1000 CCI BR4's are on back order . "BUT" I managed to get 200 from a coworkers stash. At least I'm set for the postal shoot.