204 AR
Well-known member
Yes, the drill moves and the gutter spike runs the trigger.So does the entire drill slide back and forth?
Yes, the drill moves and the gutter spike runs the trigger.So does the entire drill slide back and forth?
204AR, I had special dies made for fired brass for my Gracey Trimmer. If any trimming is needed, I do it first.Me, I have newish and old school stuff. Have a RC just like the one my mentor hated for my single stage, but started on a Lee hand press. I also have a 90s vintage Ammomaster progressive I bought from someone on here more than 10 years ago now. Works fantastic and I try to do as much on it as practical. My electronic scale is 20 years old now probably, it's the RCBS scale and dispenser that Pact made for them back in the day where they're two separate pieces. Slow but works well. Sometimes I just use a balance beam scale and throw charges and trickle for the coarse powders, it's actually faster than you think but it labor intensive compared to the electronic set-up. For most of my ammo, throwing is plenty precise enough, especially for ball powders it's a no-brainer and even small sticks like Benchmark throw on my progressive within a tenth of a grain. Trimming is a Trim-pro which I refined into a fast trimming beast, I can't really describe it but I'm pretty proud of my idea there, will have to post a pic. A Hornady case prep trio sits right behind it so it's trim, chamfer and de-burr and clean primer pocket within seconds.
My absolute biggest pita is still trimming though, when running progressive. To get absolute uniformity you have to resize first then trim, which wrecks the whole process speed wise. It's usually not a problem as I resize just enough that cases don't stretch much and stay pretty uniform in a lot, but with some things like 30-30 which I crimp, I want them all very close to exact so they get touch-up trimmed every time.
When I shot HP competition, I used to neck turn my brass and trim on a Forster case trimmer in one step. I changed out the screw which held the hand crank, replacing it with a hex headed machine screw and used my cordless drill w/socket to drive it. Since I no longer neck turn, sold the Forster and started using the Lee hand trimmer, which requires primer removal.To get absolute uniformity you have to resize first then trim, which wrecks the whole process speed wise. It's usually not a problem as I resize just enough that cases don't stretch much and stay pretty uniform in a lot, but with some things like 30-30 which I crimp, I want them all very close to exact so they get touch-up trimmed every time.
I do the same thing my drill just hangs off the end of my bench.
Sounds like you have all you need.I guess I'm just stubborn, or maybe a little senile, but I'm still loading with the minimum of equipment and most of it is old. Anyone else in that boat?
My Stuff:
RCBS Rock Chucker
505 scale
Redding powder trickler
Lee perfect powder measure
Small electronic scale
Other assorted hand tools to chamfer, trim, etc
Yep, it's slow. But it's also precise and relaxing. I've thought about buying another press, but not sure I need it for the volume of shooting that I do even though I'm loading for 4 rifles and 1 pistol.
When I was shooting High Power, I saw people do a kinds of things. What opened my eyes was a guy that was High Master who bought Win brass, charged it and stuffed a bullet in it. Then he just sold the brass as 1X Fired brass. He did t even run new brass through a neck sizer! If a bullet didn't fit, he just threw it in the 1x fired brass pile. He said all of that was just a waste of his time. And you know how much time we all spent on brass. One guy even had a tool he made, that had a micrometer that measured concentricity of loaded rounds, and it had a lever to apply pressure on the case neck and bullet to straighten it. I just did what I thought woukd result in consistent rounds and the rest was up to me.When I shot HP competition, I used to neck turn my brass and trim on a Forster case trimmer in one step. I changed out the screw which held the hand crank, replacing it with a hex headed machine screw and used my cordless drill w/socket to drive it. Since I no longer neck turn, sold the Forster and started using the Lee hand trimmer, which requires primer removal.
When loading w/the Dillon progressive, I hand deprime, trim and chamfer after each firing. Russ, I have shortened the stem on several different shell holders until an unsized case, when trimmed w/altered mandrel results in correct case length when sized. Just trim the fired case w/shortened mandrel, size and check case length, repeat as necessary to achieve proper length. While the mandrel fits unfired case neck a bit looser than designed I haven't detected any accuracy issues with this method.
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Something like this one? I never did straighten those that did not make the cut, however, just sorted them out and used the best for 600 & beyond, where concentricity is most important, and the others @ 200 & 300.One guy even had a tool he made, that had a micrometer that measured concentricity of loaded rounds, and it had a lever to apply pressure on the case neck and bullet to straighten it.
It looked somewhat different. He was a precision machinist for cardiac hardware. He made his. He also made my first electric case trimmer. This was 30 years ago.Something like this one? I never did straighten those that did not make the cut, however, just sorted them out and used the best for 600 & beyond, where concentricity is most important, and the others @ 200 & 300.
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I even mounted a sight base on the side of mine so it did double duty of checking my sights for repeatability.
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I tried it all, sorting cases by weight, neck turning, primer pocket uniforming, etc. Gave up sorting cases first (I used GI Match brass when I could get it and M2 ball the rest of the time; Match brass is softer.), continued most until I made high master, but, while I continued the drill, somewhere along the line began to think it was more a mental crutch than an actual advantage. IDK, but I do believe that having faith that your gear and ammo is the best possible, let me concentrate on the task at hand just a bit better and shooting is primarily a mental game IMO. Ammo was good enough, left target was practice @ 100 yds. Spotter disc @ 600:
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I used machine gun brass for everyday stuff, Winchester for the matches. Weighed and sorted brass and bullets. I never saw anyone shooting better scores than me, that was neck turning brass. When I went from the M14 to the AR, I had an immediate score increase. I bounced back.and forth from Expert to Master. Then needed 1 more Master to move up, but quit shooting to develope the 4H shooting sports in my county. Did that for 9 years, and saw my son bring home state championship trophies from Louisiana and Texas. It was worth it.Something like this one? I never did straighten those that did not make the cut, however, just sorted them out and used the best for 600 & beyond, where concentricity is most important, and the others @ 200 & 300.
View attachment 7204
I even mounted a sight base on the side of mine so it did double duty of checking my sights for repeatability.
View attachment 7205
I tried it all, sorting cases by weight, neck turning, primer pocket uniforming, etc. Gave up sorting cases first (I used GI Match brass when I could get it and M2 ball the rest of the time; Match brass is softer.), continued most until I made high master, but, while I continued the drill, somewhere along the line began to think it was more a mental crutch than an actual advantage. IDK, but I do believe that having faith that your gear and ammo is the best possible, let me concentrate on the task at hand just a bit better and shooting is primarily a mental game IMO. Ammo was good enough, left target was practice @ 100 yds. Spotter disc @ 600:
View attachment 7206View attachment 7207
I have one very similar. LOLHM1996, that bench is great, I like that set up, only you know where things are!
Yes they are! I loaded lots of 30-06 for competition. Shot out 3.5 barrels in my #1 Mod. 70 (over 26,000 rounds), another in a Garand (average life of 7500 rounds ea.) + several others well worn during the twenty some years I participated. The single stage press gave way to two Dillons and my loading procedures changed w/time. Went through a couple of different case trimmers, but found the Lee trimmer is as simple as they come and the most efficient. Easier to trim after every firing than to measure and trim only ones that need it.HM, those little Lee case trimmers are pretty handy. I have several sets. Sure makes trimming cases a bunch easier.