Brand new to reloading looking for advice/equipment upgrades past my basic setup.

[Webster]

I've loaded up some fireforming loads prior to these, but they're the first batch of match ammo I've loaded (apart from testing before the main run, which was a great success).

I'm currently taking factory loadings with quality brass, shooting them, cleaning the necks, tumbling them, lubing inside necks, lubing bodies, full length sizing/decapping, cleaning primer pockets, chamfer and deburr necks, brush necks out, priming, using a Lee dipper into a pan on a scale then trickling to weight, then seating bullets.

What is going to add the most to my process at this point while being budget conscious? I'm not against buy once cry once, and I'm ok waiting and saving now I know I can get by, but if there's something cheap (or even 'cheap') and usefully I'd love to know about it.

For calipers I have a pair of mitutoyos, and a set of ogive comparitors... no base to neck comparitors, because I don't even know what to use for 223ai, let alone during the first few firings while things are still changing a bit... so I've been using a 270 ogive comparitor which swallows a 223 neck to measure from that diameter back to the base and it seems to be a valid way to measure.

I'm really not overly worried about having the shiniest brass in the world, and just chucking it on while I'm at work is super convenient, so I don't foresee wet tumbling on the cards any time soon. However I've heard dry tumbling can be improved greatly by adding certain things to the mix. Worth it, or not?

I know annealing will be on the cards at some point, but I don't know whether to focus on other upgrades to save time first.

Although the rcbs digital scale seems accurate, I'm really not confident in it, though I'm more than happy with the speed and ease of just scooping powder then trickling up to weight. I've been considering simply buying some check weights I can chuck on the scale every few rounds to make sure my scales aren't drifting and raise my confidence... the other option is to buy new scales, but it seems like everything is going to be just as shakey until I'm spending top tier money. I'll get a quality powder thrower at some stage (if I don't settle on a autotrickler type system), but I'll still be weighing every load.

One of the many case prep stations will eventually make their way onto my desk, and will definitely be a timesaver, but not really going to increase precision.

As far as my press goes, and dies I'm happy with my setup. Rcbs press works like a Swiss watch and I'm happy that my dies are giving me consistent sizing and seating, so although I'm using Lee dies and more money can be spent, I'm getting a perfect 0.002 shoulder bump and I've modified my seating stem to suit vld bullets.
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I have been reloading for 50 years and you have more equipment than I have. Decide what is accurate enough for what you want to use the rifle for. You are not going to turn it into a BR rifle by tinkering with reloads. If you can shoot under .500" with a factory rifle consider yourself lucky. I have always bought Kreiger barrels and they always shot small groups. I guess I have been lucky. It gets expensive trying different bullets and powders but it's important. Don't get stuck on trying to force a particular bullet to shoot small. With my 6BR I can clearly see a difference in groups with different bullets.

I have two chronometers and never use them anymore. The rifle is used for GH hunting and BR shooting to improve my skills. I have enough Chrono data that I don't need any more data. If you zero the rifle at 100 yrds then shoot at 200 and 300 you can make a good drop chart out to at least 400 yrds. All I care about when working up loads is group size. I know what the fps is from 15 years of chrono work. At least it's good enough to kill GHs. don't care about ES, % case fill or burn rate charts.

From your picture it looks like you loaded up 100 rounds all the same. What happens if you shoot a couple 5 shot groups and they are big. Do you pull the bullets on 90 rounds? A collet puller damages the bullet. I usually load up something like 3 groups of 5 with different powder charges and see what the groups look like. If one load shoots small I redo it with different seating depths. I am happy with a load that is consistently under.500". It isn't reasonable to try to make my rifle shoot smaller.

 

[Ccrider]

Buy what you may, there is a learning curve to making good consistent ammo, even if you have the best and most expensive equipment.

Part of it is learning what to do that matters, and what things make you feel good but don’t make your ammo better. You learn these things by doing them/ testing them. Start with a process. Never change but one thing at a time. Rely on what the target tells you.

 

[Greg@wfcustom]

Buy what you may, there is a learning curve to making good consistent ammo, even if you have the best and most expensive equipment.

Part of it is learning what to do that matters, and what things make you feel good but don’t make your ammo better. You learn these things by doing them/ testing them. Start with a process. Never change but one thing at a time. Rely on what the target tells you.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This pretty much wraps it up!
G

 

[pjd]

From your picture it looks like you loaded up 100 rounds all the same. What happens if you shoot a couple 5 shot groups and they are big. Do you pull the bullets on 90 rounds?

I did actually load up testers and shoot them before the main batch... I actually had the prepped brass primed and ready to go for all 100 and had that exact thought before I loaded up the testers and fired them. Pulling so many would be a huuuge pain.