Is there a more efficient method for me?

[Birdhunter1]

First off I reload for 4 different calibers, .223 (actual 3 loads there for 2 rifles), .30-30 (1 load 1 rifle), .243 (1 rifle 2 loads) and a 7 mag.

My press is the Lee 3 hole turret press. Not the fanciest thing out there but in the accuracy I get out of my loaded rounds I will put it against anything.

Every set of dies is in it's own turret and I have 1 turret with only a decapping die in it.

My methods may be different than most, I believe in loading consistent shooting ammo so I get the best accuracy I can all the time. So step 1 is decap the primers and throw em in the vibrator, then resize (so I keep any powder residue out of my dies) everything (might be 20 cases of 3 calibers, might be 100 of 1 caliber)..... then since I really don't like wiping case lube off I throw em back in the tumbler and go grab a bite to eat.

Come back and of course now they've been cleaned enough case necks are clean, I clean/check primer pockets, trim the long ones, chamfer/debur... this also doubles as my full out case inspection.

Then if I am going to load them, they get primed, I drop powder in 50 cases (.243 gets every charge weighed for a few reasons) and then smash a bullet into each one of them......


So in the process I use, how in the world could I be more efficient with a progressive press loading rifle calibers? The 30-30 pretty much all have to be the same length due to the crimp they get, nothing else gets crimped but I like em all within .005" of my trim length. I do a press operation in mass quantity, all resizing, all bullet seating, crimping operation.......


And then I read some that use the same press I have and do it completely differently. Now I am one of those types who while I was a sheetmetal worker tried to minimize a process or at least condense it or tag it with something else to make for better efficiency. My current boss in our plant thinks I would make a better process engineer than operator, but how would someone modify the way I described to go to the same detail of making components consistent to keep the loaded ammunition shooting consistent with the press I have described.

For information's sake my trimmer is a Forster classic (the base and handle/shaft, collet, pilot). my scale is a Lyman Pro 1000 (I modified it for my needs but would someday like the Lyman auto dispenser) and my powder measure is a Redding (BR3, BR30.... I forget, but something BR and something 3...works so good with ball powder and H322 that I check the first 5 charges and then just crank and load), I use a hand held Lee Priming Tool (round tray, flat shell holders)

I see so many people want to jump right into this hobby and addiction with a progressive but I feel a progressive for me would slow me down because I want to physically feel how the primer seats, case prep seems to me too detailed an operation for a progressive press to be relevant..... I don't want my powder measure to be effected by any shocks, vibrations, motions of the press that might help to pack the powder into the powder measure drum thus maybe that setting I have the measure on is now dropping .5 grains more due to it being packed into the drum rather than freely falling into it.....
Seems like a progressive will only be beneficial once everything is done and a primed charged case is ready to swallow a bullet. But at that grabbing a bullet, sticking it on top of a case and operating the handle into the die seems to me to be the cost effective way to do it.

 

[kludge]

The only thing I can think of is eliminate the decap step, then tumble, decap and resize in the same step. You are cleaning primer pockets anyway, no need to decap before tumbling if you do that.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I have thought about that, and I don't always do it. Some times when I tumble my brass I keep it sorted by the 50 ct. I decap 50, leave them in 50 (as in these 50 have been shot 5 times, thee 50 have been shot 8 times). So it is not always just to decap.

 

[NCsmitty]

I see so many people want to jump right into this hobby and addiction with a progressive but I feel a progressive for me would slow me down because I want to physically feel how the primer seats, case prep seems to me too detailed an operation for a progressive press to be relevant.

It's good to see the verbal musings of another connoisseur of the single stage. Many view reloading as a task to hurry and finish, without savoring the process. But to each their own thoughts.
I decap with my universal decapper then toss them into the case vibrator. I process the batch and scale every rifle load to less than +-.1gr, because I want to, not because I have to. My Lyman 55 measure holds better than +- .1 grain with most powders, and I accept nothing less in my rifle loads.
I usually tune in to the internet bluegrass stations while I'm making bullet magic.



NCsmitty

 

[Canuck-IL]

No reason to change ... I do the same except the powder and bullet are on a progressive - not much different from a turret. I could do primers as well but I like to handseat them for ARs and the M1.
/Bryan

 

[Birdhunter1]

NC you are right, it's not the idea of loading hundreds of rounds just to be able to shoot cheaper. For me it is the process of making an accurate and consistent cartridge and keeping my mind sharp in things such as process, mechanics and all the other things that go into this.

My way is the same as yours, tune the laptop into a streaming audio of some sort in the shop and the little dog running amuck as my shop steward.

 

[medalguy]

Remember every road is not straight, and there's more than one way to get from here to there.

I load mostly military calibers so I first tumble clean before anything else. Then I size and trim in a Dillon trimmer (one step) deprime in a RCBS universal deprimer,swage pockets if necessary in a Dillon Super Swage, then prime in an RCBS autoprime tool because I like the feel of seating primers. Only then do I put the brass into a Dillon press and charge and seat and sometimes crimp the bullet. Last stage is for the loaded rounds to go back into the tumbler with clean cob for about 15 minutes to clean any errant lube off the cases.

This may be more steps than you are doing because of the crimped primers. But I look at the cases several times this way, and it's not necessarily about maximum speed anyway. BTW I use a Dillon 450 press not the 1050 but it's only slightly slower.