So, I am really a beginner to reloading generally--fundamentally a beginner. I've gone through the resources, and am still having trouble getting info that will get me from the beginning to the end of the process as a beginner.

My goal is to reload slowly, not bulk, and to make the best precision rounds I can make. I'm willing to spend what I need to so I don't have to purchase upgrades as I progress in experience, but I see no need to go for anything but a single-stage, as I intend to do everything as carefully as possible with precision rounds in mind. The calibers I want to reload are .233/5.56, 300 bo, etc. up to .308, 6.5 creedmoor and even .338 Lapua magnum. No real intention to reload 9mm or pistol cartridges at all, and if helpful, I am happy to learn with .223/5.56 as the basis of explanation.

Would really appreciate feedback on the entirety of the process. From equipment needed, recommended powder/primers, etc. I am very much willing to buy once and cry once.

Thanks in advance

-guy who has only ever used factory rounds

I think its Aksnowrider who has a really good thread on his process in the precision rifle forum. I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is lots of good information.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/precision-rifles/My-long-range-reloading-process-/10-8957/

Muuuch appreciated

Go get yourself one or two or three reloading manuals. At the beginning of the book, before you hit all the actual load data common is generally some good instruction on how to get into reloading. Read that entire section once or twice in each book.

Then read threads in this forum and the precision reloading forum. Believe it or not, the questions you are asking have been asked many times here and there's a lot of good conversation just waiting to be read.

Read some books, spend a few hours reading threads, then come back with some specific questions you have.  That is my advice. reason being is because we can't teach you advanced practices until you really understand the basics, the basics you will get from books and the forums. Forum threads you will get some advanced stuff as well

See?

Therein lies the rub...

The process ...whatever process... you settle on is going to be based on:

1.  your expectations of accuracy (which is in part a function of the quality of the rifles you shoot)

2.  Your time constraints (Do you work 60 hours a week and have a wife and 3 kids?)

3.  The reloading equipment you buy (A beam scale versus a digital scale?  A single stage press vs. a progressive press?)

3a.  Which, of course, is going to be a function of your budget and....

3b.  Also a function of your time constraints

4.  The availability of certain components.  (Yes, I am talking mainly primers....but that can also be powder, cases, and bullets too)

Given the current situation on things, if I was you, I would pin down a local source for primers and powder first. (Local to avoid hazmat fees getting it shipped to you)

Then start looking at presses, dies, scales, calipers, etc.

If by “resources“ up above, you mean the internet, there is a lot of noise out there.  See if your local library has any reloading manuals.  There used to be a book called the “A, B, C’s of Reloading”.  Look for that one.

Very helpful. In response to your questions:

1.  your expectations of accuracy (which is in part a function of the quality of the rifles you shoot)

Want to get what I will need to maximize this as I get experience. Don't want to have to upgrade later. Absolutely, min/max precision accuracy is the (hopeful) goal

2.  Your time constraints (Do you work 60 hours a week and have a wife and 3 kids?)

Pretty free weekends/not starving on time

3.  The reloading equipment you buy (A beam scale versus a digital scale?  A single stage press vs. a progressive press?)

noted

3a.  Which, of course, is going to be a function of your budget and....

willing to buy once and cry once

3b.  Also a function of your time constraints

4.  The availability of certain components.  (Yes, I am talking mainly primers....but that can also be powder, cases, and bullets too)

Given the current situation on things, if I was you, I would pin down a local source for primers and powder first. (Local to avoid hazmat fees getting it shipped to you)

Do you have a rec on what primers and powder I should be looking for (with respect to the ends above)?

There is also a precision reloading subforum inside the precision rifle forum :

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Precision-Rifles/Reloading/10/

That said the basic process or processes are this (assuming bottle necked rifle brass):

1.  Tumble clean brass
2.  Lube brass
3.  Decap/resize brass
4.  Tumble lube off brass
5.  Trim brass to X length
6.  Chamfer inside of case mouths
7.  Deburr outside of case mouths
8.  Seat a new primer
9.  Charge case with Z powder at Y weight
10.  Seat bullet so round has Q overall length (OAL or COAL)
11.  Crimp case mouth slightly into bullet
12.  Case gauge each loaded round
13.  Set reloads into box
14.  Label box with pertinent data
15.  Shoot said reloads

And of course, there may be some steps that can be omitted   Or the order of the steps can be changed.

Or some steps may need to be added, like if you are using Lake City brass with crimped in military primers, you will have include a step where you remove the primer crimp.

I would have to say that just about everyone here would say Federal Match Primers are the gold standard.

As far as powders go, that is going to vary based on the caliber and the weight of the bullet(s).  And your dispensing system.

Some people here will swear by Varget in .223.

But for me using a Dillon progressive press with Dillon’s proprietary powder measure, those extruded rice-like grains of Varget don’t meter very well.  A powder H335 is just about as fine as granulated sugar.  It meters extremely well through a Dillon Powder Measure.

If you really are in a “buy once, cry once” mood, then this auto trickler is what you want:



But only once you get a local source for powder and primers Locked down.

Buy any brand primers you find in the “size/type” your manual recommends for a given load/caliber.

Everybody has their own idea of accuracy, but with that said, start with video's and books/threads showing how people do their LR accuracy reloading..this at least lets you see their thought process/tools and starts you comparing to your own needs, making a great starting point...
Lets start with tools...since this is long range accuracy we are looking for, obvious the likely candidate is a single stage press, but the not so obvious choice most miss is besides single stage, you also will want to look for a deeper throated press for the magnum type cases..while you can load magnum cases on most single stage presses, it only works with the normal dies..So since we are loading for accuracy, we are going to be using the much better Redding or forester dies that utilize the case sleeves that help hold the bullet and the case in alignment to seat, meaning we need a taller press to seat off.....

Another you will need to decide is full length sizer die or neck die and separate shoulder "bump" die or some combo of...I choose to use separate dies for each operation for one simple reason..I an only doing one operation at a time and it makes it much, much simpler to make it more precise from case to case.. can that same level of consistency be had with a normal full neck die, sure, if everything is done perfectly every single time...

Next do you use a powder dispenser, a simple mechanical scale, an electronic dispenser combo or an electronic scale/trickler... absolute best is a Prometheus setup but 5 grand is a bitch expensive for most..

Same with a trimmer, while most trimming is easily done with a little crow, Dillion or som thing else, all of these are more about speed and good enough then about consistency.. lathe type trimmers are what we want, either a hand Wilson type or a powered RCBS lathe ....their accuracy and consistency is second to none...

And that list just keeps going..neck turning, calipers, measuring tools, case holders, annealers,  you name it..you get quick and close, or decently fast and accurate  and some that do nothing worth a shit....The same thing is going to apply to your methods, what is good enough versus what is have to do...thats only answerable for you and what results you see and accept..I have a pretty simple rule on my LR accuracy stuff....I try to keep everything with in .001" total as my deviation limit..even if its been well proven that .002" will be good enough..And this is from a person who only shoots for fun and hunting..not competing, not in a dick pissing contest, just  me and my gear against Mother Nature..all for fun...

BINGO!

Oh...within the past 48 hours here in this subforum, there have been at least two threads poo poo’ing Winchester primers.  

I have been reloading since  1994.  I have only used Winchester primers.

Not once have I used Federal match primers.

But then again, I don’t have any centerfire bolt action rifles.

(Shrugs shoulders)

Heck, let me destroy that myth some more..I have found I generally get better results with Remington primers, including being able to run higher charge weights and see higher velocity/consistency/accuracy in identical loads...Feds GMM primers are good though, no question about it, but it takes testing to verify whats best for each and every load combo..even in the same chamber...

Lots of good info here. I would say the number one thing to think about and execute is consistency. Be as consistent as possible, make every round as uniform as possible. Figure out your process and only test or change one variable at a time to collect data. And enjoy it! It's fun and therapeutic for me.

That thread by AKSnowrider is not the place to start.  It is where he ended up after a long search, I'm sure.

Let me give you a better place to start.  Assuming you want to reload 223, like you said, as a starting point.  Also, buy once, right?

Even if you have the budget, don't start with a $1k annealer or a $1k electronic scale/dispenser.  <-- What budget do you have?

Buy a box (100) of 52 gr Sierra MatchKing bullets.  

Buy a box of their 77 gr MatchKings.  

Buy a box of 80 gr MatchKings.

Buy a pound of TAC powder.  Varget would be better but I understand it is in short supply right now.  There are many other good powders, too.  Anyway, get some powder.

Buy a brick (1,000) small rifle primers.  

Buy your single stage press.  Alternatively, consider a quality turret press like the Redding T-7.  Don't scrimp on the press.

Buy some premium dies.  I like Redding's Type S Full Length sizing dies.  I also like their micrometer-topped Competition seating Die.  Don't bother with a crimp die but if you HAVE to have one, get a LEE Factory Crimp Die.

Get a Sierra Reloading Manual.

There's other stuff you need but those accessories are described in too many places to bother here.

That, right there, will get you reloading precision ammo of the type that would cost well over $1/round from the factory and will be capable of producing groups well under 1 MOA.

All answers have been great, but this is the kind of answer I really need. Thanks a lot. If you say not to get a $1k annealer/electronic scale, what do you propose as an alternative. I am willing to buy once and cry once, but if certain functions are merely simplified with the purchasing of expensive equipment and can be done by hand or more cheaply with care, I am willing to cut costs in that area. Do you have a rec on a single stage press that I won't want to update after I get the hang of things?

I second this.  Although, a Hornady comparator body and bushings wouldn't be a bad idea.

Stuff like neck turning and annealing are more advanced level reloading.  Work on understanding the basic process.  Once you are confident that you can outshoot the ammo from that, then start exploring was to eek out even more consistency.

But a single stage, measure everything every load.
A friend who would shoot M1 Garand matches would order match bullets and way every one. If they where off a grain he would set them aside for plinking and not use them in a match. Way every load and invest in a good powder mesure.

Are you far from the Rocky Mount area? I've been reloading for about a decade and have an entire precision reloading setup. Id be glad to meet for lunch, walk you through what to buy or not to buy, and give you some pointers (or let you watch/help me reload my precision ammo) if you're local and interested?

This, and IME, when aksnowrider talks about reloading, open your ears. He seems to know a thing or two about making world class ammo.

An additional tool you will find very useful is a powder trickler. For $25 or so, it will save you so much time/effort setting the powder measure to move up .3gr when working up a load. It's much easier to just trickle.

You may also appreciate a set of the lee powder dippers. They're glorified measuring spoons, but again, they're cheap and will save you a bunch of time.

Definitely invest in a micrometer seater die for the major calibers you load. IIRC a RCBS standard die will yield +/- 2.5-3thou. A forster gives me +/- 1thou, usually .5thou. A majority of that is likely in neck tension, since I have yet to anneal, nor am I using a bushing die. The micrometer part is also terribly convenient to quickly and easily switch between various bullets you might use. Just note the die setting once you figure out where it needs to be.

Don't discount having the ability to load your own pistol ammo. Dies and components don't go bad when stored properly. I'm kicking myself now for putting off investing in pistol stuff. A cheap die set takes up almost no room and can still make viable ammo.

I may have screwed myself out of some accuracy by going with a turret press. There's no way around it, they have play in them. They have to. If you want super prescision, you need a stout single stage. I still produce ½MOA loads with what I have, but along with a few other things, it's holding me back. For general reloading, and getting started, the turret is just fine. I'm sure my grandchildren will still be cranking out perfectly usable ammo with the thing, but they won't be cleaning courses with it. Eventually I'll get a co-ax or rockchucker, and a dillon.

I'm getting along just fine with a cheap e-scale and the RCBS beam. Get close with the cheapo to save your time/trouble, then use the beam for the real work. Do NOT get some cheap e-scale as your only method. The beam scale will work correctly every time until gravity gets screwed up, and then you'll have bigger problems.

You'll probably find use for a drop tube. I don't use it much, but for like $5 it has earned its keep.

Get a couple loading blocks. Have you been saving your coffee cans? Plenty of plastic ammo boxes too.

Get a package of load data tags. Don't stick them on the box, just put the tag in there.

You'll probably want a primer pocket swaging die set, but you need a crimp reamer. You'll also want a uniformer and flash hole deburr tool.

There's some gear pointers for now. Just some jackass on the internet who tries to listen to the real pros here, but every once in a while I manage to get a bullet to go down range straight, ya know?

ETA: oh, just go ahead ahead and get your paychecks forwarded to midwayusa now. They'll send you a check for the difference at the end of the month.

You're going to be on there constantly. Among a few other retailers. Namely grafs for me.

Some turret presses are more than suited for making precision ammo. The T7, T-mag and All American turrets would work well, the Lee classic turret and 4 hole auto indexing turret not so much. Of course you can still make great ammo with all of them.

I use my T7 over my LNL classic for my precision ammo. I use the instant indicator die along with the micrometer seater to seat the bullet a precise amount from the bore. I'm talking about every single individual bullet is seated down to the 0.0005" precision from the bore. That process is infinitely faster with a turret press.

Play is not always a terrible thing. The Forster coax has play built into the design to reduce runout. Dillon tool heads are also floating tool heads. I consistently see less than 0.002" runout in all the ammo I make, anything over 0.003" I reserve for sighters/warmup based on popnfresh's research on runouts impact on accuracy.

The T7 is an awesome press and awesome for making precision ammo faster than a single stage.

If your runout is less than 0.002" and your seating depth is perfect down to the 0.0005", what better could you do with another press (unless you're spending $2k on an area 419 press with 0.0001" tolerances)?

Attached File

What luck. I actually live a few minutes from Rocky Mount, but unfortunately, I'm on a year-long assignment out-of-state. Really appreciate the offer though and may take you up on it one day if the offer is still open

Cool. I'm on the west side of Rocky Mount. Hit me up when you get back into town and we'll meet up.

I'll add that you've got some good advice above by trollslayer. I  would focus on a good single stage press (Redding, Forster, LNL Classic, rcbs, etc), some good FL sizing dies for a single caliber (preferably your best bolt gun, I prefer Hornady dies as a great starter set), the Hornady comparators and headspace gauges, as good of a balance as you can afford (FX-120i is the best, Hornady gs scale is the worst), and a good trimmer (I recommend the Wilson trimmer for a buy once cry once option, but you can get by just fine with any lathe style trimmer).

Read the ABCs of reloading cover to cover, paying special attention to the sections with pictures that walk you through the reloading process.

Focus on the major things for now, don't go down the rabbit hole of bushing dies, neck turners, annealing, etc yet until you have some experience reloading and shooting.

I once did an entire design of experiment trying to determine if the seating depth, primer brand, or neck turning made the biggest difference in my shooting and my ultimate conclusion at the end of the study was that my shooting was so bad none of those factors made any statistically significant impact on the accuracy. Start making good ammo first, then you can fine tune it once your at a point where that fine tuning is not drowned out by your course shooting!

KISS

Get a good press IE Redding T7, Forster Co-Ax, RCBS Rebel
You will always need a good mechanical scale to back up electronic ones. IE best value right now Dillon (Ohaus guts on Dillon Blue base).
The best value for the money with some upgrade Redding Master Hunter (Regular FL die with carbide expander ball and Competition Seater Die) or if you think you need to Crimp then the Redding National Match Set is the same but adds a taper crimp die. Otherwise a Redding FL die set works just fine.

Do not go off the ranch with some of the toys people have mentioned till you prove that what you have is not working.
Trust me there are plenty of reloaders out there with regular die sets that load Sub MOA ammo.  DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP in all the do dads!  You must understand the help a tool might give you.
The one do dad I agree on is get the Hornady Headspace kit.  And, get an idea of why you are aiming to Full Length Size your brass but only pushing the shoulder back 0.002-0.003".  

With magazine fed guns there is no need to think you need to chase the lands.. Load to the spec of the OEM manual ie as suggested use Sierra bullets and Sierra manual.

Above all else....you are the biggest part of the equation...keep things simple and be consistent and I assure you will be smiling from ear lobe to ear lobe!

Decap with decapping die
Wet tumble
Dry in brass drier
Anneal with Anealeaze (best value automated annealer)
Lube with Dillon case lube
Size body with body die
Size neck with neck die (to reduce run out)
Clean case lube off
Trim, debur, chamfer on Giraud (seriously dont buy anything but this... biggest time saver ever)
Hand prime
Measure powder on Charge Master and drop powder manually (then I remeasure EVERY load by hand again to ensure ALL loads are to same 0.1 grain)
Seat bullet with micrometer seating die

I use a Forester Co-Ax. With that said, beyond the Giraud trimmer, my number one suggestion would be to go progressive, not single stage. Its not going to make for that different accuracy, but single stage is agonizingly slow. Seriously, dont go single stage. Get a Dillon 750.

OP, some great info in here for you to digest, I will add a bit more that some seem to be missing...since you want to load precision LR ammo for all the way up to 338LM, you need to make sure the press you buy will do that, including using Forrester or Redding dies with a case sleeve that hangs out of the die and holds the case square to the bullet while its being seated while seating very long bullets.....My bullets are just short go 4" OAL, soon to be going out past 4.1" when I start loading the new 245 Bergers sitting on the shelf...
Most single stages cannot do that, I doubt many progressives can either...If I was to go buy a new press today, it would be a K&M arbor press from Wilson and I would be using his dies in it...neck tension and getting it consistent from case to case is all part of that LR accuracy and consistency thing...
Next everything you do for true long range precision ammo is about consistency..everything is about consistency..its not about speed, its not about ease of doing it, its not about whipping out 100 rounds in one evening... its about consistency..hence we use lathe style trimmers instead of giraurds and little crow and such..why because they are much much more consistent from case to case...they space off the case head not off the shoulder which can be different on every case depending on how good your sizing skills are and what state the brass is in...It is why we anneal cases every time we reload, again, we want the neck tension consistent from case to case, you can feel it in the press handle when you get things right, you can see it on the pressure gauge on a K&M press... I am sure there is a few other things, but this will give you enough to think about for a while...

In my opinion, the Hornady gages are just this side of required equipment - one of the best reloading tools to buy.

No matter which dies you buy, get the Hornady gage set.

Yup! And just because some ppl do something a particular way doesn’t mean that is the only way to do it. Some ppl have lots of time and they perform things because that’s what they think they need to do...not necessarily what had to be done to give them the results that they needed/wanted. I’m often curious if ppl have done testing to determine what real gains were made.

I’m still using my RCBS rockchucker I bought when I started reloading 8yrs ago. I use a chargemaster for dispensing powder, which isn’t the most precise system compared to what is available currently. I use only basic RCBS full length or Hornady dies. The cheap stuff!  I don’t weigh my bullets, weigh brass or measure case volume. I’m not measuring concentricity or runout nor the force required to seat a bullet other than by feel.

Even with my primitive setup, I’m still able to get ammo that is under half moa capable with std. dev. numbers that are single digit across numerous rifles in various cartridges. Everyone finds what works for them, but you don’t have to go overboard to make quality ammo. If you’re going for F class or benchrest you’ll be targeting sub 1/4moa precision and may need additional tools to get that consistently.

I'll agree with trollslayer. The linked thread with AKSnowRider's process is definitely not where you want to start.  It's akin to running a marathon when you're still learning to walk.

Learn to load decent ammo and get consistently under 1 MOA, then chase the smaller groups by adding more steps to the process.  Chasing smaller groups may have you upgrading your rifle as well to take advantage of your more consistent ammo.

For 5.56 and .300 Blk, I'd just wet tumble, full length size, trim, then load. Follow the published loads, do your ladders and find what groups well in your rifle.  As your confidence in the basics grow, then expand to more/better equipment and processes.