Priority of Rifle Reloading Factors

[Fire_Moose]

I do .308 with the Lee 3 piece set. I replaced the FL sizer with an RCSB.

I have had no noticeable runout on the 200 rounds I have done. I don't have a gauge to check, but rolling them on the flat benchtop they look nice and straight.

[BumbleBug]

Maybe instead of worrying about spending money on "premium dies" consider getting a dial & fixture that measures run out. Cartridge necks are never to short, too long, too dainty, too stout or whatever to hold a bullet straight. All I'll say to that is if you are handling loaded rounds so roughly that they get "crooked" you are wayyyyyyy too rough. Use cheap dies (Lee) if you prefer & use the gauge to sort them. As a matter of fact, some shooters mark their ammo as to the "high-side" with a marker & make sure the mark goes into the chamber at 12 o'clock every time for target shooting. Sometimes, the difference between what you can do with $20 dies vs $200 dies is not significant. The gauge tells all.

FWIW...

...bug

[FLChinook]

if you are handling loaded rounds so roughly that they get "crooked" you are wayyyyyyy too rough.

Actually, my rounds reside in plastic boxes and are treated with the greatest of care (those that are destined for the target range, that is ). I'm just wondering if premium dies would produce a more concentric product and which of these two cartridges might benefit the most from them...

[Bart B.]

If good lots of Federal's Gold Medal Match ammo in .308 Win. can shoot near 1/2 MOA at 600 yards (under 1/3 MOA at 100 yards) from a well built match rifle with the following details about the load:

* Metered powder charges with a 3/10ths grain spread in weight.

* Bullet runout up to .003".

* Cases unprepped in any way, not weight sorted, brand new virgin brass.

...then isn't all that detailed case prep and sorting, powder charge weighing to a kernel, absolutely zero bullet runout and even sorting bullets by some means. . .a waste of time?

The best lots of arsenal match ammo will shoot under 6 inches at 600 yards and 1/3 inch at 100 yards from semiauto service rifles rebuilt right. That ammo ain't nearly as accurate as Federal's match ammo.

Sierra Bullets doesn't do any case prep on the ones used to test their bullets for accuracy. They use Redding full length standard or bushing sizing dies on all bottleneck cases, do no load workup at all when changing test barrels nor powder or primer lots, meter, not weigh, powder charges. Such methods shoots their best match bullets into 1/4 MOA groups at 200 yards.

My first choice of anything is to full length size fired cases properly setting shoulders back 1 to 2 thousandths.

Second is to have the bullet diameter at least .0005" larger than the barrel's groove diameter.

Third is to only use stick powder of the right burn rate; no ball powder's produced consistant best accuracy in any cartridge.

All the others are way, way down the list, if they're on it to start with.

How one tests their loads for accuracy is another thing completely.