Sounds good. In my opinion, and my opinion is mine for my purposes. I dont shoot benchrest, bullseye, F Class, or super long ELR stuff. I shoot steel from 200 out to 1000 and occasionally out to 1500 or a bit farther, the occasional PRS style match, and animals with ethical, clean shots.
For by bolt action rifles: I take my fired brass, put it in my Dillon Cv2001 tumbler with a 50/50 mix of Lyman corn Cobb and walnut media for a couple hours. If I need to anneal (for me, every 2-3 firings, and beyond the scope of this post) I do it at this point.
I lube, size, and deprime. Shoulder is knocked back .002 +/- 0.001. My lube is a home made lanolin and 99% alcohol mix. Neck exterior diameter is .290" +/- .0005.
Brass is trimmed back to 1.915" if needed. Chamfer and deburr.
Toss cases back in tumbler for 20 minutes to get lube off.
Primer pocket prep? LoL, no. Show me where a clean primer pocket effects accuracy in a blind-controlled test. I used to clean primer pockets because that's just what you did....until I stopped a couple years back, and the ammo still shot well. Now the only prep I do for primer pockets is if the previous primer was crimped in there like NATO brass (or Black Hills... dicks) and I have to swage or chamfer out the crimp.
Primer pocket depth measurements? Useless. What would you do with that info even if you had it? What if other brands had different depths? What if different brands of primers were different thicknesses? ???
You're thinking too much. Stop.
What about primer pocket diameter? How will you know if it's too wide? A primer gets seated waaaaay to easily. You'll know it as soon as you feel it. Toss that case, it lived a good life.
Where were we? Uhhh.. yeah...clean, size, deprime, trim, chamfer, primer pocket exists and the flash hole is clear of media once you get it back out of the tumbler....... cool, brass prep is done. On to priming, powdering, and bullets.
I seat my primers on my Dillon 550 press. It works for me. I should really take a video someday and post it just to show how much of an asshole I am to my brass and primers. I'm not all nice, genteel, demure, or romantic with it. The shit gets seated a hair below flush, and sometimes it takes some force to do so. It's not pretty. I've never had one go off. But still, and seriously, wear safety glasses because apparently someone somewhere on the internet made their entire magazine tube of primers go off (dont know how that's even possible, but whatever).
Casings primed? Rock on, let's march forth on our path to reloading glory.
What powder charge is up to you... (*cough*somwhere between41.2-43*cough*H4350/Reloder16*cough*) stupid coronavirus got me coughing over here.
Powder: It visually confirms the powder is in the primed casing, or else it gets the squib again.
Bullet seating, well, we know what depth because..........here's what worked for me for years and what would probablywork for you too as a guide as you're learning: duplicate factory match ammo dimensions with a more consistent powder charge which is tailored to my rifle. Simple, right?
Here we go: standard disclaimer; this is merely a guide of what has worked for me. You should work up your own charges based on load data available in reloading manuals. If you hurt yourself because of your decision you made during this reloading process, that's on you, not me.
My Tikka T3x Tac A1, it shoots pretty much any brand of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo well. That makes it easy peasy.
I measure the base to ogive of 5 rounds of ALL the brands of factory match ammo I may want to replicate. I Write that average measurement down in my reloading notebook. Step 1 complete.
Next, gotta pick which bullet to use. There are many excellent choices out there from all the big names: Sierra, Hornady, Berger, Nosler, Norma, etc.
Let's say you pick either a Sierra 142 Matching, Hornady 140 ELDm, or Berger 140 Hybrid. Good choice. I personally am shooting the 142 Matchking as of now. I also shoot the Norma 130 Golden Target, Berger 130 Hybrid, Hornady 147 ELDm, 120 Barnes TTSX, and 120 Hornady GMX....
Yes I'm a bit glutton for self-punishment when it deals with load development.... back on track....
So, you picked... the 142 Matchking. Sorting by weight? No. By OAL? No. Ogive length? No. Bearing surface length? No
Yup, nada, zero, zilch in the way of sorting. Open box, take bullet, seat bullet. That's it. Crazy, am I? Negative. What's crazy is sorting bullets to the n'th degree in all the silly ways in the forever quest to shrink groups down to the .1" or less size out of a crazy precise benchrest gun.... but you dont shoot benchrest and you dont have a high speed, fancy badass benchrest gun. THAT is crazy.
Sorting has its place, just not for what 95% or more of rifle shooters to. If you're in that ultra precision side of the house, by all means, go for it.
Ok, now what powder? A reasonable investigation of assorted internet buffoonery and reloading data books would likely yield (in no particular order of anything) powders like: Varget, Reloder 16, Reloder 17, H4350, IMR 4451, Reloder 19, Hybrid 100v, and some others.
I know, not helping. Choices and decisions.
A couple things to consider are:
(Important)**safety first** What is the temperature sensitivity of the powder? Phrased differently: will I be able to use the same powder charge in all seasons without really having to worry about unsafe pressures in either low or high temperatures?
What is the general availability of the powder? How much should I buy?
For my 142 Matchking load, I have used Reloder 16 or Hodgdon H4350, and so should you.
@Steel head has has a good run with IMR 4451, you can bug him for his experience, or he may chime in here. He his a feral cat, wandering about the interwebs... I digress.
All of the above info I had to learn from somewhere, I didn't make this up on my own. I read all the stickies here, but before that, years ago, I read an article written by a gentleman named Dan Newberry and his "Optimal Charge Weight" testing method.
Dan Newberry's OCW Load Development Method.
Once you get done wrapping your brain around that, you'll be ready for more stuff.
That's it for now. Soak it in like a dry sponge.
Edit: I have no doubt you're at least as smart as me. I've just had waaaaaaaaay more fuckups reloading than you which somehow builds smarts. ??
