Excited to watch this series! Started loading 4 years ago for my 270 and 223. Nothing serious but enjoy the process of building and testing. Then tweaking; finding the perfect mix. Truly enjoy it!
i used to mark the carton, in the case, the loads for each set of rounds, then one day i dropped it and they all fell out, had no idea which was which, since then, with a sharpie I mark the load on the case, super easy to keep track of then and make no mistakes. You tumble it long enough and the markings will come off. Once you get the load you are going to use you don't need to mark individual cases
I'm with Marcus, I dry tumble brass before it touches my dies. Carbon residue is dirty and acts as an abrasive on dies. Then (in order) I deprime, lube and full length size, trim if necessary, clean primer pockets, prime cases, charge cases with powder, seat bullets. Lastly, quickly verify cartridge final dimensions using a Lyman Case Gauge.
I built my long range bolt gun on a Howa 1500 short action. Mine is a 308W. It has a: 24 inch McGowan 11 twist heavy palma contour barrel Area 419 Hellfire match brake GRS Bifrost stock W/ Magpul bipod AICS compatible bottom metal W/MDT mags To barrel the action I use a Short Action custom action wrench and a cheap barrel vice I found on Amazon. For hunting I use an AR10 I built myself. Here on the east cost shot opportunities come quick and aren't that far away. Anyway, love the content.
RCBS (and others) make decapping dies for knocking out your primers. I decap, then wet tumble with stainless steel media and a simple green/water mix. I've done this with some nasty green and black range brass just for testing and it's crazy how clean it gets. When it's done tumbling I use an old (dont use a good one) dehydrator for 15-30 minutes depending on the cases. Beautiful shiny brass that you barely have to hit in the primer pocket to clean out if at all.
Yeah, I remember when it was a lot cheaper to reload also. Not so much these days, the prices of components all went up after Covid and never came back down! Shameful, I might have to start mowing lawns or something 😂
For dies, i can’t recommend enough, the LE Wilson dies! Also I use a rcbs universal depriming die, before tumbling. Before charging, I use 21st century expander die and mandrels. One place I put money on, is the digital scale! I use the creedmoor sports digital scale. It’s a mid priced, but very high quality scale. 1 last thing, as Marcus said, you’re going to spend so much more money handloading, than buying box ammo! But, you’re going to know exactly what your bullet is going to do, once you find your load! When doing development, I find the lowest es and sd, then I play with seating depth, after shooting a ladder. Before the ladder, I start with the lowest charge, and shoot 4, 5 shot groups of different seating depths. I’ll start .020 then .050, then .080, then .120, from the lands. Nosler bullets usually like at .080-.120 off the lands.
You guys are gonna want to run different bullets and brass if you want to be more competitive and print tighter groups. Awesome to see you guys go down the rabbit hole though. It never ends!
I have a question about howa mini for 6arc. I noticed the factory Hornady ammo, 103ELDX, 105Black, 108ELDM are seated quite deep into the neck. SAAMI spec COAL I guess. My question is if you reload and push long bullets further out, would the mini action and magazine be hindrance and is it better to go with Howa Short action? Would either hinged floor plate or magazine still allow longer seating depth for the mini action or will it be better to use the Short action?
Marcus, I commend you on cartridge choice. Since 1978, when I bought my first hunting rifle, I chose the 308 Winchester. Cannot get enough of it. Tight groups.......
If you have a hard to find cartridge like I do. (338 RUM) reloading is significantly cheaper. A 20 round box of factory ammo will set me back $80-120 bucks. I can hand load for $1.70 a round.
After building 4 custom rifles and handloading and developing loads it gets frustrating when i bought a tikka that shoots almost as good with factory ammo.
You won't save money loading your own. What you can do is reduce your cost per shot. The catch is instead of keeping the difference in our pocket, we shoot more.
Dont ever get stuck on one powder, primer or bullet , trying to billed a load , sometimes what you want to use doesnt work well . I always try three diff bullets and powder that i would be happy with , sometimes powder makes a huge diff in group size as well as bullet design or weight . Its a huge puzzle and you have to be able to put all the parts together that your rifle likes to eat.
I was loading Retumbo in a 7RemMag with 140 Barnes TSX. I thought I had another pound, same lot number. I did not. The bottle I was using was purchased in 2021. I achieved an excellent load, accurate, SD of 3, low ES. Prepped 50 brass ready to load more for that rifle. Ended up having to use a different lot number purchased last year. Sadly I lost 100fps. YES, ONE HUNDRED fps with the new lot. The problem is the case is full and slightly compressed as it is so I chose not to add more powder. Curiously, the new lot powder ammo shot the same with low SD again, just 100fps slower. from 3230 to 3130fps. Bummer
Marcus, Two things, if I may, 1. You really shouldn't experience that much variance going from 1lb to 8lb , was your ambient temperature much different when shooting? Were there any thing else that was different from the 1lb to the 8lb? 2. You might set Kiras (sp- your wife) tripod slightly higher when seated as it would straighten her back instead of being all scrunched up
I would bet you're impatient like me . Get out you rockford , plug it in , level it thelet it calibrate for at least a half hour . You can't have changes in air flow like furnace or ac kicking on all the time or someone walking by you even . Anything electrical on the same circuit can screw up your calibration too . Take your time getting it going and it works great especially on auto . Good luck .
Run the number on a 130 Berger or a 130 SMK. And you will be shocked at the ballistic performance. Lower recoil and give up nothing ballistically. Now if you are hunting I understand the extra payload.
HUGE thanks to Brownells and all our other sponsors for supporting this video series! Click the link below to enter the giveaway! alnk.to/58qD8L6
Great stuff!! You guys are awesome! Great info and keeping it simple. Appreciate it!🤘
This series is freaking sweet! Loved the first one, and love this one even more!
Excited to watch this series!
Started loading 4 years ago for my 270 and 223.
Nothing serious but enjoy the process of building and testing. Then tweaking; finding the perfect mix. Truly enjoy it!
Right on! Thanks for watching!
Hey Kitchen is the prime place to reload,Your cooking up new recipes.. 😂
i used to mark the carton, in the case, the loads for each set of rounds, then one day i dropped it and they all fell out, had no idea which was which, since then, with a sharpie I mark the load on the case, super easy to keep track of then and make no mistakes. You tumble it long enough and the markings will come off. Once you get the load you are going to use you don't need to mark individual cases
@@kencreager1 I use a marker to color in the primer since they get replaced anyway.
I'm with Marcus, I dry tumble brass before it touches my dies. Carbon residue is dirty and acts as an abrasive on dies. Then (in order) I deprime, lube and full length size, trim if necessary, clean primer pockets, prime cases, charge cases with powder, seat bullets. Lastly, quickly verify cartridge final dimensions using a Lyman Case Gauge.
Lee universal decapping die and then wet tumble for me. I tumble a second time after sizing trimming chamfer/debur.
i also tumble first
@@21psd I also tumble before sizing, and then briefly afterward to remove case lube.
I built my long range bolt gun on a Howa 1500 short action. Mine is a 308W.
It has a:
24 inch McGowan 11 twist heavy palma contour barrel
Area 419 Hellfire match brake
GRS Bifrost stock W/ Magpul bipod
AICS compatible bottom metal W/MDT mags
To barrel the action I use a Short Action custom action wrench and a cheap barrel vice I found on Amazon.
For hunting I use an AR10 I built myself. Here on the east cost shot opportunities come quick and aren't that far away.
Anyway, love the content.
Varget is great for the .308 win. Have been using that for years.
RCBS (and others) make decapping dies for knocking out your primers. I decap, then wet tumble with stainless steel media and a simple green/water mix. I've done this with some nasty green and black range brass just for testing and it's crazy how clean it gets. When it's done tumbling I use an old (dont use a good one) dehydrator for 15-30 minutes depending on the cases. Beautiful shiny brass that you barely have to hit in the primer pocket to clean out if at all.
Yeah, I remember when it was a lot cheaper to reload also. Not so much these days, the prices of components all went up after Covid and never came back down! Shameful, I might have to start mowing lawns or something 😂
I'm also using my dad's old reloading stuff. Been replacing components as they break or wear out. Really want an auto-trickler!
Michael... Love the safety glasses. A dang good idea when working with primers....
For dies, i can’t recommend enough, the LE Wilson dies! Also I use a rcbs universal depriming die, before tumbling. Before charging, I use 21st century expander die and mandrels. One place I put money on, is the digital scale! I use the creedmoor sports digital scale. It’s a mid priced, but very high quality scale. 1 last thing, as Marcus said, you’re going to spend so much more money handloading, than buying box ammo! But, you’re going to know exactly what your bullet is going to do, once you find your load! When doing development, I find the lowest es and sd, then I play with seating depth, after shooting a ladder. Before the ladder, I start with the lowest charge, and shoot 4, 5 shot groups of different seating depths. I’ll start .020 then .050, then .080, then .120, from the lands. Nosler bullets usually like at .080-.120 off the lands.
Interesting stuff! Have never reloaded but would like to someday.
You guys are gonna want to run different bullets and brass if you want to be more competitive and print tighter groups. Awesome to see you guys go down the rabbit hole though. It never ends!
I have a question about howa mini for 6arc. I noticed the factory Hornady ammo, 103ELDX, 105Black, 108ELDM are seated quite deep into the neck. SAAMI spec COAL I guess. My question is if you reload and push long bullets further out, would the mini action and magazine be hindrance and is it better to go with Howa Short action? Would either hinged floor plate or magazine still allow longer seating depth for the mini action or will it be better to use the Short action?
Marcus,
I commend you on cartridge choice. Since 1978, when I bought my first hunting rifle, I chose the 308 Winchester. Cannot get enough of it.
Tight groups.......
Ah yes, the most common choice for the past 40 years! A real thinking man’s choice.
How much of the reloading equipment did you get for free or a big discount on? As far as brass, bullets, powder ? Etc
We got some bullets and brass from NOSLER, but we paid full retail for everything else.
If you have a hard to find cartridge like I do. (338 RUM) reloading is significantly cheaper. A 20 round box of factory ammo will set me back $80-120 bucks. I can hand load for $1.70 a round.
After building 4 custom rifles and handloading and developing loads it gets frustrating when i bought a tikka that shoots almost as good with factory ammo.
You won't save money loading your own. What you can do is reduce your cost per shot. The catch is instead of keeping the difference in our pocket, we shoot more.
What dry lube are you using?
Imperial Dry Neck Lube
Reloading is way cheaper than factory if you dont do the math!
You forgot annealing used case necks
I prefer to use the ocw ladder test then play with seating depth
Dont ever get stuck on one powder, primer or bullet , trying to billed a load , sometimes what you want to use doesnt work well . I always try three diff bullets and powder that i would be happy with , sometimes powder makes a huge diff in group size as well as bullet design or weight . Its a huge puzzle and you have to be able to put all the parts together that your rifle likes to eat.
I was loading Retumbo in a 7RemMag with 140 Barnes TSX. I thought I had another pound, same lot number. I did not. The bottle I was using was purchased in 2021. I achieved an excellent load, accurate, SD of 3, low ES. Prepped 50 brass ready to load more for that rifle. Ended up having to use a different lot number purchased last year. Sadly I lost 100fps. YES, ONE HUNDRED fps with the new lot. The problem is the case is full and slightly compressed as it is so I chose not to add more powder. Curiously, the new lot powder ammo shot the same with low SD again, just 100fps slower. from 3230 to 3130fps. Bummer
Marcus,
Two things, if I may,
1. You really shouldn't experience that much variance going from 1lb to 8lb , was your ambient temperature much different when shooting? Were there any thing else that was different from the 1lb to the 8lb?
2. You might set Kiras (sp- your wife) tripod slightly higher when seated as it would straighten her back instead of being all scrunched up
I would bet you're impatient like me . Get out you rockford , plug it in , level it thelet it calibrate for at least a half hour . You can't have changes in air flow like furnace or ac kicking on all the time or someone walking by you even . Anything electrical on the same circuit can screw up your calibration too . Take your time getting it going and it works great especially on auto . Good luck .
You really shouldn't be hunting with match bullets if that's your plan. I'd recommend using the Nosler Accubond or E-tip instead.
We are not going to hunt with match bullets. Later in the series, the guys change up their loads to hunt specific bullets! Thanks for watching!
@@Fresh_Tracks Good deal!
Once you have all the equipment it will save you money eventually.
You do save money per round, but you shoot a whole lot more
ant that the truth
Jace... Why didn't you use 140's? Seems like kind of a waste shooting 130's out of a 6.5 prc.
Yeah I just ran the 130s during the match stuff. Using 142s for my hunting load. Looking back should have just started with 140s
@@JaceMcfetridge gotcha. Thanks for the response 😊
Run the number on a 130 Berger or a 130 SMK. And you will be shocked at the ballistic performance. Lower recoil and give up nothing ballistically. Now if you are hunting I understand the extra payload.
@@curtisgordon8297 huh. I'll crunch the numbers
Know when you are watching an infomercial.