You must have misread, I'm doing it on a progressive press. Yes, I did wet tumbling first, then corn cob until the vibratory tumbler decided to die on me. The last few times I've used them in the wet tumbler without pins.
After about 60 plus years of various competitive shooting venues and experiences I have concludeded " Whomever reads the conditions properly and makes no mental errors, wins the match". How you size, do you annual, or what primer you use is real out there on the fringe of what makes a winner, just saying.
You have been shooting a long time. A lot of us are still try to learn some of the stuff you have forgotten or don’t have to think about. Primarily the question is how to prepare the perfect round with the assumption that it will lead to the perfect tune, group and aggs. I have read and done enough to be convinced that runout is a red herring issue. Obviously, a lot of us have not figured that out.
Your experience and opinion does not contradict the fact that preparing as perfect load as possible significantly contributes to final result. I would even exaggerate by saying that a perfect round is mandatory if you think about competing at the highest level. Reading wind is also very important, but you try to beat other guys with every possible and legally admissible means- equipment, reloading etc.
I will stand by my thoughts . For the record, until I I can shoot back to back groups at least twice less than .150 I don't consider the rifle in tune. As far as your last sentence , I will put my money on the wind reader.... but few I know who have not figured out how to read conditions have learned to tune their rifle either. Learning is great, chasing shadows is seldom rewarding. Good luck in you endeavors. Since we are talking about what makes you sucessful lets include bench manners. Most shooters could learn a lot if they paid attention to the recently posted video by Bart on how and why he prepped for the TD. Like read it often and think about it. Probably worth a lot more than how to come up with a new way to prep brass, in my opinion.
I figured something close to this. I hope you realize many of us are still struggling mightily to reach this standard. And, I might add that for a lot of us, it’s a pipe dream.
If you do the work and pay attention to those consistently doing well you can figure it out.
I think the problem here is that there is a broad spectrum of what people consider the different ways to make accurate rounds. The trouble with that is you have the true competition benchrest shooters, the long range varmint shooters, the I'm a hunter and in my mind this is the way that I make the most accurate ammo for my rifle. There is just too wide a gap to answer this question correctly. If your a true benchrest shooter the std answer is get yourself a custom set of bushing dies that are made with your reamer and full length size your cases each and every time. I don't think a guy with a hunting rifle is going to benefit a whole hell of a lot from what the true competitive BR shooter does. IMO go test stuff on your own with the rifle you have and see what works the best for that rifle. I think that all we are doing is speculating back and forth what might work and what might not work. JMO.
