Mike those larger rifle magnum primers must be hard on them. LOL..... jimFeel,,, I use a Lee hand primer seater. Gone through around four of them..
Hardly. I prefer to describe myself as someone who has been a bit of a journalist in the sport, with continuing interest in all of the details. My competition experience was in short range group, but at some point, I decided that for health reasons it was too much of a strain.Well Boyd I have a question. A lot of us listen and take your advice on many things. And thank you very much. But for future reference have you set any National records?
I've been loading since 1970. I didn't know how little I knew until I landed here and started reading and asking questions!but you know what I still ask for advice.
Joe it is like a spiral .... the more you know, the more there is to know.... jimBoyd the thing I find most interesting is how people read into things, thinking you know everything there is to know about shooting just because you give your opinion on a subject.
I've been shooting 1000 yard Competition for Fifty years, I've won a lot of wood and prizes but you know what I still ask for advice.
Joe Salt
I shoot with several NBRSA Long Range National Champions. Some times I outshoot them all, sometimes I get my hind end handed to me.
One champ uses an RCBS handheld primer seater, so he seats by feel. Another uses a gauge he made to measure the depth of each primer after its seated. Some use the 21st Century primer seater, so that would be by feel.
I am now using a K&N Primer Gauge that measures the pocket depth and primer cup height of each case and primer, which ensures I can get the exact primer crush I want. That lowered my ES consistently by a few FPS my 6 BRAs. I doubt it would make much difference in my 300 WSM since I was getting single digit ES with that cartridge several years ago using a Lee Primer tool before I started weighing primers.
I don't know how much sameness there is primer seating, cleaning, load development, etc among the top shooters. I do know this. Everyone of them has developed a systematic and consistent process, and that is what makes them successful.
And my current progression is the better I shoot, the less I know for sure......
Tom Leave nothing on the table........ jimFeel with rcbs, feel with Lee, feel with 21st, measured crush with km. All of those for me and basically in that order through my years. Now playing with a CPS tool to see where that leads, good, bad, or undetermineable. As Jim said above, it don't matter what you know, there's always more to learn. No different to me than it not mattering one bit what I did to break a record in 2008, that's 25-30% larger than current record....the reason it is is because we keep "looking".
Tom