reload equipment for the range

[Willoughby]

what reload equipment works best for the range ?
I think all I would need is a way to seat the bullets
I could have the cases pre-sized at at home
my existing scale is portable enough
wouldnt be loading enough to need a dropper -? or would I ?
just doing a few to follow up if needed after a ladder test -
which would allready be loaded up at home
I allways end up wishing I had a few more rounds
of a certian charge weight -
sure would be nice to make up a few more right there
what all do I need ?

 

[fredhorace77]

i take a hand press to seat the bullets in preprimmed brass. At a garage sell i recently found 300 old 35mm film canisters from someone that used to do their own photography. I pre-weigh charges and drop them in the film canister one charge per canister. then write the charge on the lid. I usually make 20 canisters for each charge weight of powder i want to test. this may sound like it would take way to many canisters to do but i have found that most of the time i am just usually testing 2-3 powders at the most. I usually load powder in .5gr. increments and i often end up close to a max charge with my powders. the most time consuming thing is trying different seating depths....this is where a chronograph makes a huge difference. I will make a load with a powder...then seat the bullet to specs. per the reloading manual...shoot and see what the velocity is...check my reloading manual and see if I'm even close to the listed velocity. Then I seat the bullet out from there going further out each time towards the lands till i find accuracy. I have found that you will never go further in with the seating depth. I change seating depth .010" at a time till i see a huge difference. then when i find a depth that looks good i change it .005''. then change .002" till i find that sweet spot.

Now keep in mind that this is a system that works for me...and it is for hunting rifles only....benchrest and other disciplines are a completely different ball game

I use a Harrells compact press to do my seating depth at the range.

 

[Bulseyetom]

I use little vials that are similar to what they put blood samples in. I bought 100 of them and a 100 round MTM box that they fit in so you can pre-measure quite a few variations in your test loads. I have Wilson dies and an Arbor press for most of my cartridges but I also have a Partner Press that doesn't weigh much and clamp it to a table at the range or to my portable table I sometimes take. I used this system shooting Benchrest when I wanted to try slightly different loads as the conditions changed to make sure that I had the proper tune. I have the Partner Press bolted to a short 2x4 that I c-clamp to the table or bench. Tom

 

[BoydAllen]

I take the whole kit to the range. For powder that needs to be weighed. I have a "wind box" for a tuned up balance scale. The box has a sliding glass front, and a trickler inside with the scale, with the knob that is used to meter powder sticking out through a closely fitted hole in the end of the box. With this, I can throw a light charge, and trickle up to final weight, just as I would at home. For larger cases I have a Harrell's turret press, or I can take my Rockchucker that has a Lock-N-Load conversion. With a set of wind flags, and my chronograph, I have what amounts to a portable ballistics lab. This allows very efficient load workups. I can get more done in a day, if the wind is good, than friends do in several weeks.