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High quality reloading on the road
Hi guys, I am a crop consultant ( and civil engineer) and as such I am on the road 2-3 weeks a month in the growing season (now).
While on the road I keenly read the various forums in anticipation of finding that gem that puts my rounds in one hole.
The problem is that when I get home I have little energy to load quality ammo for load testing after I do all the chores that need addressing.So I have concocted a plan that should let me load high quality ammo while I am sitting in a hotel room that might rival the ammo I make with my Forster press and chargemaster at home.
I don't have a run out tool so cannot verify my quality yet, but the mechanics seem sound.
First I bought a Lee Breechlock hand press, which is basically a “c” press that doesn't need to be mounted to a bench. Then I bought (actually ordered at this point) a 21Century arbor press and bought an LE Wilson Chamber seater die. Most folks in the precision loading game acknowledge the Wilson die to be as good as it gets for precision loading.
I target load for one rifle (my Tikka T3 Sporter .223 with 24″barrel and tweeked trigger) in 1:8 twist.
So when on road I can't mess with brass much, so I plan to use my Lee collet neck die with the hand press with an undersized mandrel to neck size my cases (.001 under). I have 3 mandrels, standard, -.001, -.002 and -.003 on the collet die. lee's instructions say 25 lbs force on collet sizing but smaller mandrel is way better for controlling neck tension. A smaller mandrel = less force to neck size and maintain neck tension.
Priming is going to be done by my 21 Century hand primer and measurements by my Mitutoyo caliper and innovative Tec measuring tool.
My portable powder scale will be my 250 Gempro, which is a decent strain scale, but takes some fiddling to be repeatable. This is where I really need to tighten up on quality control. My RCBS Chargemaster is good but my large E.S.'S are prob due to letting my chargemaster do all the work.
So to recap: neck sizing with Lee collet die and Lee hand press, priming with 21 Century tool, charge weighing with Gempro, bullet seating with Wilson Chamber die and 21 Century Arbor press.
All seems in order, how do you folks do similar?
Oh I forgot that I plan to have fun as well lol!
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