I finally loaded and fired my first 20 handloads. What an awesome feeling! I just wanted to give a big thanks to all on TFL who have helped guys like me get started. I've spent months pouring over threads, both old and new, here and I believe it's a big part of the reason why my first experience was such a successful one.
The one thing I did wrong (that I could see) was I failed to deburr/campher about half of the cases. I case-trimmed half of them and deburred those, but then forgot to do the ones I had sitting in the loading block. They scraped up the bullet jackets a little bit when I seated the bullets and probably led to some slightly less accurate rounds. My best group was 1.1875" with shot 5 going through the same hole as shot 4. I fired them all while sitting on a bucket and shooting off the tailgate of my truck at 100 yards. So while I didn't get sub-MOA this time I'm not too worried. This is my first centerfire rifle (CZ 550 American, 6.5x55SE), I've only had it about a month, my handloads weren't all perfect and I could have been shooting under better conditions. I don't know how humidity affects shooting, but a storm had just passed through and it was a very humid 101.4F out.
Thanks again to all of you who share your knowledge and experience here with those of us who are trying to learn this most enjoyable hobby. I think it's safe to say I'll be handloading for life!
