Gear upgrades

[jb27]

I've been migrating towards precision loading and shooting and am in the process of upgrading my reloading equipment. I've done a good bit of reading on this site and a few others and was wondering if there's anything that I'm overlooking that would be a benefit. My main cartridge I will be loading for is 6mmBR (Savage 12 Benchrest). I will also be loading some .223 for my RRA bull barrel AR15. I primarily use Lapua brass and either Sierra or Berger bullets. For powder dispensing, I typically use a RCBS Chargemaster. I realize I won't see the full benefit of my efforts shooting factory rifles, but at least when I build my reloading skills and equipment to a good point, I hope to be able to move into a custom rifle to really enjoy it.

Here's what I've got (or the brown truck will soon be bringing ;D)

Press - Forster Co-Ax
Dies - mostly Redding bushing dies and competition seating. I did pick up a Lee collet die for my .223.
Arbor Press - K&M (with force measurement)
LE Wilson micrometer seating die (Redding 0.267 titanium nitride bushing)
LE Wilson neck die
K&M expander mandrel

Wilson/Sinclair case trimmer
Wilson deburring/chamfer tool
Wilson case gauges (also picked up a Hornady headspace gauge)
Hornady overall length gauge
K&M neck turner
Sinclair concentricity gauge
21st Century priming tool

I plan on doing some experimenting to determine what works best for me (standard press bullet seating vs. arbor press) and also experimenting with different sizing dies (type S vs. standard vs. lee collet/body die).

 

[ar10ar15man]

two views on 223 ar ammo......
the ammo i SELL has a factory crimp...
the ammo i SHOOT has no crimp......very accurate, no issues with bullet movement....
try it

neck turning has minimal benefit on std chambers. dont get carried away.. a light clean up cut say 50% contact...

single stage press and an ar do not really mix unless you really are a low volume shooter.

i work up a load and do 500-1000 on a dillon......std ar's are not target rifles....

( i do own target ar's also)

 

[jb27]

Thanks. The AR that I primarily shoot is a Rock River Arms Varmint LAR 15 with a 20" bull barrel. Pretty accurate for a factory rifle. Best 5-shot group to date is 0.31" (centers) at 100 yds. I have never crimped my AR ammo and haven't had a problem. I wouldn't imagine that crimping would enhance accuracy (would it?), as I understand it, it would enhance feeding/reliability. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Good advice on the minimal neck turning. I have played around with it a little bit for my AR, but didn't see much of a benefit on the target, so I am not going to do it for it. I will probably do some clean-up turning on the 6BR as you suggest.

I am a pretty low-volume shooter. I typically can only make it to the range every 2 weeks for an hour or two. I typically shoot 50-60 rounds per session in groups of 5. So a single stage works well for me. I do have a Lee Classic Turret press that I load bulk .223 and handgun ammo on.