Question about precision dies

[Delfuego]

Either way works great with a Giruad. I'm just barely smart enough to compensate for the fact that the case length is going to change after I size. Just barely.

You have the cool kid tools, why not use them


The comparators are cheap!
https://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...prod34014.aspx
https://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...prod35265.aspx

I would start slow and add more steps if they are needed. I am lazy and do the bare ass minimum.

Wipe dirt off brass with a cloth
Spray lube
FL resize with the expander and decapper
Tumble (walnut)
Prime
Charge
Seat
Done!

Every 3-4 firings I will
Deprime
Stainless Tumble
Anneal

[C Ward]

Annealing is probably the step that has made the most difference in consistency, I do mine every 2-3 firings and especially for big batches for money matches .

I still deburr flashholes but uniforming primer pockets is a waste of time and can damage brass with making the pockets to loose to hold a primer .

If your processing lots of crimped brass get a swage from Dillon .

The Dillon trimmer is exponentially faster than a Giraud trimmer but you have to handle the brass 2 more times to chamfer and deburr the cases . When I had my Dillon trimmer I could never get it to cut square necks and it went away and there is a Giraud in its place now .

[Great-Kazoo]

Annealing is probably the step that has made the most difference in consistency, I do mine every 2-3 firings and especially for big batches for money matches .

I still deburr flashholes but uniforming primer pockets is a waste of time and can damage brass with making the pockets to loose to hold a primer .

If your processing lots of crimped brass get a swage from Dillon .

The Dillon trimmer is exponentially faster than a Giraud trimmer but you have to handle the brass 2 more times to chamfer and deburr the cases . When I had my Dillon trimmer I could never get it to cut square necks and it went away and there is a Giraud in its place now .

I replaced the cutter on the dillon with a blade from giraud? solved the square cutting issue. For the money the Giraud Power trimmer is they way to go. https://giraudtool.com/giraud-power-trimmer.html

[offgrid]

So many ways to go about the reloading process. I believe our personalities play a major role. I'm results oriented. Large part of that comes from being a repair tech and being married to a statistician. Make a change see a result, improvement or no change. No change, don't waste my time and my customers money.

Person who influenced my reloading process the most is Trudy Faye. Several years ago while in Raton for the Sporting Rifle match friend and I stopped in gunsmith Clark Faye's shop, Trudy's husband. Trudy is a well accomplished Palma, F-Class shooter. Won many matches on the national and world stage. No doubt she can shoot. Probably should pay attention to what she does! At the time she worked at the Whittington center, putting 30K+ rounds down range annually. Asked about her reloading process. Surprised how little she did. Sinclair not making any money off of her! She shot world/national matches with virgin brass, no prep, cases out of the box, load and shoot. Her biggest advice to me, learn to read the wind, no reloading step will help you with that.

Most or what I view as a waste of time now is not going to hurt brass. Exception would be cleaning up primer pockets. I did all the stuff Sinclair sold parts for primer pocket clean up on 10 cases, kept those cases separate. Primer pockets loosened up much quicker then the non-prep cases. Waste of time, cost me brass life. Couldn't shoot the difference.

Forster dies are a great value. As Tim mentioned, they'll honed the neck for the desired neck tension. Micrometer top on their seating makes it easy to see where I'm at.

Dies I'm using.

Dasher. Harrels FL bushing sizer (matches my reamer/chamber perfectly). Forster Micrometer seater
7SAUM. Forster FL sizer, neck honed. Forster Micrometer seater.

My process.

After two firings of a new batch of brass, find the shortest OAL. Trim all case .020-.025 shorter, never trim again for the life of the brass. Only de-burr necks after that trimming, never de-burr again. I've put rounds on paper at distance with cases trimmed to the exact same OAL/necks de-burred and cases random OAL not de-burred, could not shoot the difference.

Shot brass. Spray with lube, FL size (bumping shoulders .002-.003), stainless media clean/tumble, prime, load and shoot. Anneal randomly or when all my brass is in the same state.

Regarding annealing, I've put rounds on paper annealed and not annealed, I can't shoot the difference. Brass probably last longer annealing.

See many newbies to reloading do lots of stuff, something you can control. I too was that guy. When in fact to improve shooting, should be working on fundamentals, learn to read the wind....

Once again lots of ways to go about this. Gotta find out what works for you.