Bullet Concentricity--What should I expect?

[Hawkeye Reloader]

On another forum my personal press, the Redding T7 got some negative press over the turret head leaning. A lot of folks say the Forster Co-Ax is a better animal. It got me thinking. So does which ones better all boil down to how concentric my bullets are where ultimate accuracy is concerned? Should I toss my T7 and call Midway right away!?! I want to shoot 1/2 moa or better so how much is too much? Where is the line where I toss my rounds (or my press) and re-do?
Thanks,
Chris

 

[LRPV]

You will probably get a lot of advice on this. I have both a T-7 and the Co-ax. I really don't notice a difference in run out using one or the other when using the same dies in both presses. Both presses make straight ammo for me. I like the Co-ax press better all the way around and will probably end up selling the T-7 one of these days because I really don't use it anymore. It is nice for loading pistol ammo though. I used to load ammo on old Lyman turret press that had ten times the wiggle of the T-7 and those rounds shot very well.
Jason

 

[Scott Harris]

Using 140 pieces of fired brass, I loaded 70 on my Harrell's turret press (more slop than your redding) and loaded 70 rounds on my Redding Big Boss II single-stage. Yes, I used the exact same dies in both presses. There is a tiny amount of play in the turret press and I wanted to see what difference it would make in loaded cartridge run-out. After measuring the run-out for all 140 cases, I found no "statistically significant" difference between the two presses.

I allow my dies to float and make sure the shellholder comes into solid contact with the die. That seems to work well for me. As another experiment, I just loaded 140 rounds of ammo on my new Dillon 550B press. I purchased the Whidden/Uniquetek toolhead. With this setup, my average runout was less than with the Redding Big Boss: got about .0014 of run-out on average with a max of .0025, not too shabby for brass fired many times from an AR-15.

Bottom line for me is any decent press will do about the same quality work. I think the quality of the dies makes a bigger difference. I know for a fact that bushing dies have more run-out than non-bushing F/L dies.

 

[dig]

Great advice so far, I also load on a Redding T-7, Lyman T-Mag and Forster Co-Ax. Overall, especially for magnum calibers and up (300 Wby) resizing the Co-AX is the best. I purchased the Redding to replace the Lyman T-Mag and it loads no more accurately, in fact I use the Lyman way more as its set up and already have multiple turrets. I have loaded the same calibers on the T-Mag and Co-Ax and found no difference in concentricty as measured by an H&H gauge (300 Wby, 375 H&H). My turret is set up with floated dies, ie a rubber "O" ring under the die and not severely tight. Learned the trick from this site and it improved my runout 2-3 thousands so max is generally 3 thousands. Look your shell holder floats and if your dies have a little float all this about a no slop ram in the press is not so critical.

You will be fine with the equipment you have which is some of the best! The T-7 does feel a bit better built than the T-7 but both get the job done well. In the end its the set up as much as the equipment.

 

[nra-for-life]

yeah the t7 is total garbage...but instead of tossing it, PM me, ill give you my address and you can send it to me. ill toss it for you


i personally am using a co-ax, which i like very much and i certainly wouldn't discourage you from getting one, but i have no doubt that there is a lot of very high quality ammunition being loaded on many other presses, many of which are cheaper in price than the co-ax. personally id say that your dies are going to have a bigger impact than your press, jmo. the t-7 however is a pretty top notch product like most of the redding products, so unless for some reason you have a lemon, id say its a keeper.

 

[Hawkeye Reloader]

Thanks for advice guys! I'll try floating the dies. I have a concentricity gage so maybe I can start checking, sorting and testing my ammo.

 

[Longtrain]

I had a Redding Boss press, I wasn't happy with it and sold it. I bought a Lee Classic and it's a good solid press. Great for the money and I have no issue with concentricity, using honed Forster dies for sizing and Redding Competition Seaters. R/O for my LR 308 ammo is all under .002, with all the 1K ammo sorted at or under .001.

Tony

 

[amlevin]

Some criticize a press for not being rigid enough and then "float the dies". There are even "toolheads" made for a certain press that allows the die to float side to side.

Maybe those sloppy old turret presses had something going for them that nobody recognized at the time 8)

 

[alf]

The big question is.......

Are you, your gun, scope, rest, bags, bench, etc, etc, etc, capable of shooting/discerning the difference between .001 and .004" (pick your own numbers) runout on your ammo?

 

[snert]

The big question is.......

Are you, your gun, scope, rest, bags, bench, etc, etc, etc, capable of shooting/discerning the difference between .001 and .004" (pick your own numbers) runout on your ammo?

Amen x2!!!

Sve your money for bullets, powder and gas to take you to and from the range more!

It is far more fun, really

Snert