Trying to help you achieve what you want and you throw out insults.

Forget the doctorate, bachelor analogy. You're worrying about step 18, and you skipped steps 4, 5, 6. This stuff happens in an order. Skip steps and you'll never get what you want.

Well, you earn it frequently.

Damn this went off the rails quick LOL,,,, IMO Redneck opinion the rabbit hole is deep but it can be fun the same time, spend the money and get a very good neck turner, case trimmer, dies etc etc and a hydro bullet seater and you can enjoy your time in the hole, or get so aggravated you throw it all in the corner that’s for you to decide but I can guarantee you you it’s not something that’s going to be figured out overnight.. Taking the firearms out of the equation do your homework and play with your equipment to get the absolutely best ammo you can build than then take it to the gun and you can see how it performs. Then you can spend a few more weeks playing with neck tension, seating depth as well as the powder and bullets to see how your gun likes it. Having said this your guns only going to shoot so good as you know even with the best ammo on the face of the earth until you have a truly custom gun built on precision tolerances.

I know exactly what your wanting to do and I respect your desire to figure it out, I say jump in the hole and get educated along the way, I find learning things about ammo and guns to be fun and that’s my hobby so I’m a little OCD about it. I’m definitely not the best by a long shot, I’m not the best shooter either but it’s damn sure not because I haven’t tried, I need a lot more time behind the gun but times hardly ever on my side to do so.. Keep us updated on whether you decided the hole was for you or not Sometimes holes will give me STD’s and in this case it’s draining your pockets and mental status

Haha, whether over texts online or in person, i sometimes insult people without even having a clue how. Perceptions shape how messages are received as much as how it's delivered. Maybe by comparison I am a prick but my 5' nothing wife thinks me gorilla-like mandingo. yea, now try and take that nasty image out of your head. Who knows!
Any-hoo. I certainly got what i was looking for...and then some. I really enjoy this accuracy thing and on a large sense none of it seems like a waste of time. My screen name should really "Korean Wanna Redneck." The plan is to continue this pursuit straight through retirement to death. Our life goals center around acquiring large tracks of land to shoot all the time.

you like to brag that you're an "engineer"

but the elementary questions you often ask makes me and Fireman question your "engineering" abilities


reminds me of a Korean guy on the lease with me decades ago, he likes to brag that he's an engineer

he reloads

proceed to put 7 stuck bullets in his revolver

and I kicked his [censored] in precision shooting

had another guy from A&M that brags about being an engineer

His wife divorced him and took half his millions, she was better at engineering the Exit

to this day, I don't trust anybody that claims to be an "engineer"

Some folks need to piss on the electric fence to see if it’s on. Enjoy the journey KR.

Perfect analogy.

KR, since this all started as a quest for consistent seating depth: I have found that a match grade (define that how you wish) seating die with an easily readable dial is a must have. I also try to use the same, light, consistent pressure when operating the press and hold it just a fraction of a second (maybe 1/2) when it bottoms out. My next quest is a set of calipers with a wide base so that turning the case to get the most accurate reading is not necessary, (or maybe a tool of some kind to guarantee perfectly flat and concentric bases!).

102, I actually tried that too but this dang shortage is hitting all sorts of items, match grade seating dies included. Even decided I'd like to try a forester die. Maybe I'll look again.

A tangent but it I used to hate the cam over feature of the hornady press, now I really like it for seating purposes. Don't know if it's the best way or whatever, but I try to apply such light (which is the only way I feel I can be consistent) that my handle just free falls slightly after it cams over. On my 308 with lapua brass, I can get great consistency.

KR, I don't believe you want to have your bullet seating die adjusted to reach cam over. Suggest adjusting to stop movement just prior to cam over and see if you get more consistent results.

Yup.

Cam over on a seating die is a never for me. It is unnecessary, and some dies apply a crimp right after seating, if the die is screwed down far enough. My seating dies have daylight between die and shell holder.

KR, there is one more trick for straight ammo. Seat a bullet, rotate the brass 90° or more, and seat again. It is not a "have to" but it doesn't hurt anything but time.

Wow, apparently kissed and made up. I like that. Theres a thread going right now about legalizing "dueling", evidently sometimes thats not necessary.

Haven't read much into this since I commented but thought I would share some data. Loaded 100 rounds of 22 creed. These are loaded in resized mediocre hornady 6mm creed brass sized on a old pacific press and ran through a 21st century nk mandrel with 90gr Berger vld's seated on a redding to press. Here is a pic of a rando sample of 10 I had my daughter pull for me to run on a Sinclair runout gage.

Dee I know zero run out is ideal, but what is acceptable?

I'm no br guy so I'm not certain. All I figured is the closer to zero the better.

My Forster tool came with instructions that for typical Varmint type ammo under .004 was acceptable but .002 was more desirable of course

The wilson in line seaters will produce sub .001 with Lapua brass fire formed with a .002” shoulder bump or slightly less.. especially with custom bullets. The wilson seater shines especially when your hanging a bullet out of the case so far only the last .250” of the neck is holding the bullet. Using any press mounted seating die can produce all sorts of run out variance.

All of my rifle ammo I load is with wilson seaters, with 2 exceptions I have a 375 h&h mag and only use a rcbs standard die set, because this is a relatively short range rifle. I also have a 223 I load for and just use the basic RCBS dies for it as this is a plinking/ varmit hunting rifle and will likely never be shot over 300 yards just the same as the 375..

Bedding, lapping bolt lugs, custom triggers and some carefully assembled ammo should yield a 1/2 moa or better rifle with ease, no matter what brand of rifle you have. I recently worked up a load for a friend of mine and we managed to get 3 separate 1/4moa groups out of a skinny barreled savage axis in star line brass using a 143 eldx bullet over some RL17. It’s not hard, just time consuming and it’s worth the effort.

Don’t waste money, Redding type s full length sizing die, with your bushing of choice, set up for .002” neck tension. Use a wilson inline seater with the bullet set out almost kissing the rifling and then look for the powder charge that groups the best, it’s never failed me and is easy second nature loading now. The bullet seating feeling you’ll have will be easy and if there is something stiff or hard it will let you know really quick that you have changed or have some issue.. if you go to a BR match and watch the way those guys load it’s always a full length bushing die and a wilson inline style seater.. why because it’s the best, most consistent and near zero run out you can get. Of course if your feeding from a magazine then you can ruin all that hard work to have zero runout.. but that’s another topic for another discussion.

From a bigger insuling PRICK !!!!!!

Yep, that Fitz guy is one sharp dude... even for an engineer.

My great uncle told me the same many years ago when i just started. I have never measured runout on my ammo, but have always done it. Never hear it talked about though.

I do the 90 degree thing on everything, learned that way, even on pistol ammo. I’m such a poor pistol shot that I could likely seat the bullet backwards and not notice, still do it.

The turning is something I have been doing more recently. I have no hard evidence but I like doing it so far.

As for the cam over...always a little torn on this. I actually like the feature for seating but have absolutely zero to compare it to. I would say it does produce some very consistent seating depths on my 308 loads, again better brass and dies. However I never liked the feature on when sizing. Feel kinda dumb, but never thought about using it where it never cam-overs. This may be the imputations for me to commit to a Forster press.

Ill never abandon my rockchucker as it is fulfills my needs and I'm happy with it. Is the foster really an improvement in consistency? I have limited looking at it just because I'm not interested in changing mine. There was a pretty extensive video testing multiple presses for consistency and the foster didn't really fare any better than many of the run of the mill rockchuker lee etc. presses if memory serves me right, which sometimes it doesn't.

I'm cool with my Hornady single stage but looking for excuses because...

A. wanted to get another press so i can leave one at my friend's family country place.
B. I bought a primer pocket swager to be used on a press.That was a mistake. For the first time I was really worried that I screwed up my press but using to much force. I never paid attention prior to using the swagging die but now the collar for the bushing system floats a little when i do a hard-ish resizing. The results are still within acceptable, although coincidentally I haven't sized much since doing the swagging.

I don't believe the press is my problem, cam over or not. One thing I loved about the Hornady was the quick changing of the bushing system. Forester is just as fast without requiring the purchase of those bushing things.