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In order to be a good shooter, you have to shoot a lot. In order to shoot a lot, you need to be a reloader. This is true for shooting pistols and rifles. Im going to start on Reloading and the equipment you will need. I'll start from a dirty/fired peice of brass to loaded and ready to fire. I will stick to SAAMI specs.
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American firearms and ammunition manufacturers. SAAMI publishes various industry standards related to the field, including fire code, ammunition and chamber specifications, and acceptable chamber pressure.
Once I get through all the steps, I will get more detailed about specific areas that will "tune" your ammunition to your gun. The more time and detail you put into your ammunition, the more accurate it will be. Also, the more detailed you are the more tools you will need.
When reloading if you are look for quantity (pistol ammo/AR ammo) this can be done with a minimal amount of tools. If you want quality (precision shooting) it will take more time and tools. This is not to say that quantity ammo that you make won't be quality, because it will. Probably better than the ammo you buy. But, just not as good as what you can make when you "fine tune" a load for your rifle.
When it comes to loading ammo for precision shooting, I recommend buying the best you can afford. Even waiting to save a little money if you need to. It will pay off I promise. I will show you where you can get away with lower priced tools and where you should not. You need to keep in mined your future reloading too. Meaning, are you going to reload pistol and rifle ammo, or just rifle. This will determine what equipment to buy.
Something to keep in mind, this also may cause an argument with the wife,
BUY ONCE CRY ONCE
If you buy quality equipment, your kids can use is long after your gone. If you buy cheap equipment, you will most likely have to buy it again, or buy what you should have bought the first time.
Just a few pointers to help get you started.
1. PICK UP ALL THE BRASS YOU CAN!!!
Most people just throw this stuff away. It's all yours for the taking. But, please ask before you pick it up to make sure you aren't taking someone's brass. If you ask first, most of the time the person will help you pick it up.
2. PICK UP ALL THE BRASS YOU CAN!!!
No, its not a mistake. I said it twice.
Pick up brass even if you don't have that caliber of firearm. You may buy that caliber in the future, or you can trade brass for a caliber you do have. If you have to buy brass it can get expensive. That money is better spent on bullets and powder. Once you have a lot of one caliber, you can make really good deals. Let's say I'll trade you 5 pieces of 45 brass per one piece of 308 brass?
3. Start talking to people.
Ask, What rifle rifle and scope is that? How do you like it? I'm interested in this, can you give me any pointers? Most, if not all long range shooters spend a lot of time and money on there rifles and love to talk about them. You will even get the "you want to shoot it"? That's part of the reason I do this page, I love to talk about long range shooting and want to share my knowledge. Just be sure not to take up to much time. Remember, we're here to shoot.
4. Open your ears.
Now, we're at a gun range and have hearing protection on. I know. What I mean is listen to the conversations around you. You will learn. Just be careful because you will also learn things that are not correct. Don't take what anyone says as correct or right. Even here on this page. Verify everything that you hear. You will learn very quickly that there's a lot of misinformation out there. Always be open to learn a different way or something new.
When reloading, you can keep the process simple or be extremely detailed, such as measuring the depth of the case's primer pocket. If you're a newer long range shooter and a new to reloading, worrying about the primer pocket depths when you can't shoot 1 MOA groups yet is something that you do not need to worry about. Starting out as a new reloader I would keep it simple, then incorporate other steps and tools to improve the accuracy and consistency of your ammunition. This will allow your skill set of shooting long range to improve and then you will see where you can improve on reloading. Some of the steps I have already given you such as, the method to seat the bullet, will be far more advanced than what most new reloaders will be doing. Some other steps you can take to help improve you cartridges accuracy are:
Sort cases by head stamp
(at minimum you should do this)
If I pick up a lot of .308 brass at the range lets say I'll have Remington brass, LC and hornady brass. I will separate the brass by headstamp. Meaning, all the LC brass in one pile and Remington in another. I will load this group of brass as a batch. Ideally, you would want all your brass the same but if were picking it up from the range we can't be to choosie. (< is that a real word?)
You will get better consistency with the same type of brass than you would using mixed brass in your batches.
Weighing your cases and bullets
Sorting your cases by weight will help minimize pressure differentces from round to round in a given batch. You can have two cases that are essentially identical, but will have different internal volume. Sorting cases by headstamp then by weight will help lend to lower SD and ES. I will tell you straight up, I don't and won't do this. It is a LOT of work. If I need this kind of accuracy, I will buy brand new Lapua brass. And that's exactly what I did with my
Tikka T3x Tac A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor.
Other things to mention that can help with consistency, but are very detailed and require more equipment are, concentricity gages (used to measure the concentricity of the neck and run out) and messing with your seating depths of the bullet in proximity of the barrels lands.
The Overwatch
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