Reloading 308 Win Sierra Match King on my Dillon 650?

[mhconfo]

I am looking for some advice from this excellent forum as I am a new reloader. I currently have a Dillon 650 that I reload 45 acp and 308 Winchester on (using the Dillon Carbide 45 ACP Pistol Dies and Dillon Carbide 308W Dies). I currently have a Giraud Power Trimmer that I use to trim and chamfer my rifle brass with, use a large tumbler, and clean out the primer pockets and flash holes by hand currently. The 308W produced via this set up shoots well in a variety of my weapons.

However I own and beginning to regularly shoot my Springfield Armory M21 which shoots exceptionally well with Federal Match Gold Medal 308 Win Match, 168 Grain Sierra Match King BTHP rounds (the round does not have a crimp). I am not doing benchrest competition shooting but instead shooting at my club out to 600m and eventually would like to compete at some club level.

I am wondering if it would be possible to build this accurate and consistent round using my Dillon 650 press and if so what dies and powder measure you all would recommend? Or am I simply a moron and it isn't possible to create the accuracy of this round on a progressive press.

I greatly appreciate your comments and time as my question and request for advice is sincere (I don't have anyone around to really learn from).

Thank you for your time and help,
Mike

 

[mallc]

Well...

Depends on how well you shoot. I load .223 on my Dillon 650. I polished the inside of the funnel, smoothed the edges of the slide and added a Micro-Tek dial to the powder measure. I replaced the seating die with a Redding Competition Seating die and backed off the crimp.

Later I set up a Redding T7, with Redding neck sizing competition dies and a Redding BR3K powder measure. At 300 yds I can't tell the difference.

30.06 in the Redding T7 with Redding Competition dies versus a stock Dillon set seems slightly more consistent but with me shooting, it really depends on the day.

Hope this helps.

Scott

 

[readr1]

Which powder will you be using for this load? I ask because if it a ball powder the dillon PM will meter very well, if it is a stick powder it will still measure fairly well but wont be as consistent. My experience is that dillon makes a good die, but it isnt up to bench rest standards. When loading for accuracy I usually do it on a single stage. For what you are wanting to do, and with your case prep, I think you should be fine loading on the 650 as long as you keep in mind its limitations, mainly the powder measure being slightly less consistent with stick powders.

 

[1858rem]

do they seat the match bullets long? ive been wondering about factory match ammo shooting well but still far off the lands...as to how much difference distance from the lands makes, i myself load to mag length.

 

[30Cal]

It'll produce accurate loads and probably without a lot of fuss. Most people make match ammo harder than it should be.

The powder measure sits on top of the press, so if you are sloppy and inconsistent in how you work the press, your powder charges will reflect it. I do all my case prep first (size, trim, whatever--sometimes I use a hand primer if I want to watch TV), then I run the cases through the press one at a time. I tap the body of the measure before dropping the charge.


When I have an extra bump due to a bullet seating a little different, or bang the press or it just doesn't feel fairly smooth, I throw out the next charge or two. I've measured a hundred drops of 4064, and the keepers were mostly within 0.2grs and none worse than 0.3grs off. The nice thing about a bench mounted measure is that you eliminate half of the noise that causes variability.

I don't like picky loads, and that's how I test a load--five charges will be 0.3grs heavy and the other five 0.3grs light--all ten are shot at the same target. If it groups well; say about a minute or better, then it's a good load. I know it'll always be better than that. I've also polished the inside of the powder funnel with a strip of crocus cloth.

In general though, I just use a bench mounted powdermeasure (Harrell--it was a gift)--I do like being able to dial in a number. I use an RCBS Competition Seating die, mostly for that same reason.

I can't load any of the SMK's past 2.81", but I can get AMAX's within 0.010" of the lands and still feed from the magazine (2.845"--I shot about a thousand of them and never had a problem). The Sierra's and Nosler's aren't really sensitive; 0.02" off the lands works every time.