I ended up making a friend at the range that was willing to show me. Twenty years of experience and F class shooter, made me feel like I was in good hands. Very grateful for that, was always hesitant to learn it on my own. Have made a couple threads here asking how to get started. But I spent the last 3 days playing with it and I think it's safe to say I'm bit by the reloading bug.

Friend has a nice setup and has let me start on his. Area 419 press. RCBS digital powder dispensor and scale. I bought my own rcbs dies.

Ended up loading 100 rounds of 6.5cm, once fired hornady brass fireformed in my rifle, h4350 powder, federal large primers, Sierra match king 140 gr bullets.

My ctbo on this batch is all 2.247, with the coal around 2.767. Trimmed to about 1.907.

Started at 36 grains, and have currently loaded up to 38. Still have some more to load up until max. Will shoot the initial loadings first before then though.

After testing various factory projectiles in my rifle prior to this, the 140 SMKs yielded the best results.

Not sure what the purpose of this thread is other than to say I'm very excited to be reloading now. Learned alot this weekend. Can't wait to get out and see the results.

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If you've loaded 100 rounds, you've saved $100.

Congratulations and enjoy your new hobby .  

Reloading helps me forget about life for a while.
It's like therapy.

Oh no another soon to hoarder!!!

Stock up this is an election year

Congratulations on the new hobby. I would like to share with you some advice, which may be worth exactly what you paid for it.

Don't think you need top shelf everything to achieve suitable results. If you want high-end everything, then absolutely go for it. But don't think you have to spend big bucks in order to make anything worth shooting.

There are of course some places where the money counts. A good set of calipers (mitotoyo for example) is worth it over a set of amazon calipers. My place of work has a quality dept and I was actually able to see the difference. Repeatability, and how 'sure' the calipers are of their measurement, IE, the number doesn't wander.

I prefer wet tumbling over dry. I find dry vibratory tumbling to be too noisy for my liking, and far too dusty, even with polish added to the walnut. But, dry is a cheaper way to do it and will deliver adequate results. If you opt to go wet, you don't need a special purpose made chemical. Just about anything it seems will do the job. Lots of people prefer dawn, lemishine, etc. I like simple green. A splash of concentrate works wonders in just about everything, including my ultrasonic cleaner for gun pieces. I hear simple green is bad for aluminum though, so be wary of that.

For case prep, you don't have to have a big all in one rotary unit with all the bits turning. A hand held version will work, just takes more time. Btw, you can chuck the bits in a drill and do the same thing.

There's a lot of good scales on amazon. Get check weights! Check weights, imo, are absolutely a must for any scale. Check weights are one of the few things I would be a brand snob about.

Books, too. There's hardcover ones from Hornady, Sierra, Lyman, etc. I have all three, and several of the 'one book, one caliber' books as a supplement. They're very inexpensive, and may be worth it to you if you only intend to reload one or two calibers. However, they don't contain any information about the process, just the data. So that's something to consider.

You see the idea. There's a wealth of knowledge available out there. Don't be afraid to ask, and have fun.

Congrats on rolling your own!

Can you give more detail on how your loading this load ladder?

You mentioned 36 - 38grs and have a pic of a box that holds 50 rounds labeled 36gr.

For a load ladder, I typically load 5 of each charge weight in 0.2gr - 0.3gr increments.

Something like this:
36.0; 36.3; 36.6; 36.9; 37.2; 37.4;  37.6; 37.8; 38.0

In a 50 position box, 9 different charge weights leaving space for 5 rounds to sight in on the target.

Sometimes I load a charge over max just to see if max charge is at the harried edge or if there’s a safety margin there. This is in case the powder measure throwing charges goes over max or temperature is higher than when the ladder was tested.

Once a node is identified, I’ll load another ladder at 0.1gr increments around that node.

Example Node seems to be around 37.8 - load another ladder -

37.6; 37.7; 37.8; 37.9; 38.0 - 5 at each

A node is where the velocity flattens out when the charge weight changes. This shows barrel harmonics are stabilized in that area. You want to load the final charge weight in the center of that node.

Load and shoot 10 rounds or more to confirm the charge gives you best grouping.

I would suggest case gauges for each of your calibers they solve problems BEFORE you get to the range

There were 20 rounds at each charge which was maybe overkill. I was doing steps of .5

Not really overkill. I load in multiple steps. My first round is really just checking safety, and identifying any really bad results. I do 5 shot groups for that. Once I know my safe max and know the general area I want to be, I load 25 rounds per charge. I too generally do 0.5 grain steps, although I will do different if it seems to make sense. If I'm going slightly over a listed max, or using a different bullet, I might go .3 or .2 steps once I get to where I'm near a safe max. i really only go over a listed max if I'm shooting a bullet I think is not getting the same pressure. I do not intentionally hot load anything.

The only problem with loading 20 each for the first workup is if you get to a max, and still have them loaded over that, you have to pull that many more bullets.

Since you loaded 20 of each charge weight, shoot 5 of each on the first trip, and 5 of each on each subsequent trip and compare how they shot.

Welcome to the addiction.

Gotcha, my max is 40.2-41 depending on which source you reference. Maybe next time I'll do one of each to prevent pulling bullets then.

Current results of the first three boxes. Four groups of 5 at 100 yards.

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Averages of 0.77, 0.78 and 0.84
If I cherry pick the best two groups were 0.53 and 0.56

I was going to suggest something like this.  

I like using a home made target.  A 2” black square with a 1” square in the center, although a diamond is better if hung up perfectly vertical.   Shoot all the groups on their own piece of paper but always the same target.  Makes it easier to spot trends of groups migrating from charge to charge.   You can even overlay your targets and flip through them quick to see trends in a different light.

I was going to suggest on one day shoot two five round groups, and on another trip shoot another two five round groups.  

I like that you’re starting at a low safe charge. I am guessing you may get up around 40 grains.  Too much farther than that you’re going to see pressure signs and shorten case life.

I shoot .260 Rem with probably the same 140 SMK and H4350.  They’re near identical in performance with the .260 having a minuscule more powder capacity.

No need to hot rod it up to max either.  Save the wear and tear on the brass, the rifle and yourself.  If you get satisfying accuracy for the distances you shoot there is no need to duplicate the over max loads of competitive shooters shooting 800-1000 meter.  

A deer or a target at 2-300 yards isn’t going to miss the extra 87 fps.

Looking good so far!

Yeah being new I didn't want to start at an arbitrary spot. Not when there's a detonation 4 inches from my face. Maybe with experience eventually. But I'm good with starting from the bottom.

The first shot I checked the bore because the recoil was so soft with 36 grains. I thought something was wrong lol.

Realistically the longest range I have available is 600 yards. At minimum charge a 6.5 moving 2400 will still get there no problem. I'm not interested in playing around the max charge. I planned on stopping at 40, and fine tuning whichever group was best. I would rather have the brass life.

I just wish I had a touch more magnification. Using a nightforce 4-14 right now.

Shot the next two charges. Went really well.

First four groups was 37.5 grains:
1) 0.70 in  (Cold and clean bore)
2) 0.50 in
3) 0.53 in
4) 0.67 in

Average of 0.60 in. or 0.57 moa. I don't have the mean in front of me but I believe it was around 0.24 in.?  The chrono said I had a 2540.4 average with a standard deviation of 6.2 fps and a spread of 27.3. I'm new to this but that seems pretty consistent. Happy with this loading.

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Next charge was a cut a little short, had one that I used for the sample cartridge and another that wouldn't chamber. This is the end of my first 100 rounds loaded.
These were 38 grains:
1) 0.53 in.
2) 0.61 in.
3) 0.87 in.
4) (Didn't count in the AVG, but was 0.42)

Average of the three 5 round groups was 0.67. The velocities were a little less consistent. 2,578.5 average. Standard deviation was 16.9, and the spread was 70.1. Chrono showed the third group had the two slowest in it that were on the extreme end of the spread.

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I have materials to make the next batch just looking to match up schedules with my friend to continue past 38. I feel like it's going well so far though.

Only question I have is, my sizing die is bottomed out currently and some of my cartridges are pretty snug when I lock the bolt. I had one cartridge that wouldn't allow the bolt to lock. I'm assuming my brass is springing back, and I'm under the impression that annealing should help that brass conform better next time? Am I correct in that assumption?

Sorry I should have explained better. I'm already turned quite a bit passed it hitting. Over half a turn. I adjusted down a few times with no change in measurement of the shoulder and figured that's all I was going to get out of it.

They are both RCBS

I should be able to manage that. Shell holders are cheap. I'll order a spare. It shouldn't take much at all. I think I'm right on the edge of tolerance.

Welcome to a new passion.

One thing bugs me.

You added 1/2 grain to the charge.

The groups flipped from the left side of the target to the right.  

Adding another 1/2 grain has them starting to move back to the left.

That kind of sensitivity is a bad thing in my mind.