How I load my PRS Ammo

[Walkalong]

How I prep brass and load for PRS matches.

Step 1: Tumble

I tumble the fired cases for 30 minutes give or take. Corncob with light polish (Midway/Dillon/etc). No, I don't care if the cases are shiny,
just clean, prior to annealing and sizing.


Step 2: Anneal.

Some folks like to decap first. If so, decap, then just clean primer pockets with a brush etc, or clean/uniform primer pockets with a PP
uniformer. Use a good one and don't scrape the side walls.

I don't think it really matters about annealing with primers in or out, I have tried it both ways, anneal with the primers in, and anneal
with them out. Using the Aztec Mode to analyze cases the AMP gives nearly an identical number for both, with or without. Meh. YMMV


Step 3: Size (And Decap if you didn't between tumbling and annealing).

I use a full length bushing style die. I choose a bushing to get the necks sized down enough my chosen mandrel type expander does just
a little bit of work on each and every case. So I choose a bushing to size the necks down enough for that, and an expander for neck tension.
Case neck thickness/bushing brand will determine what bushing you choose. Remember, we are talking about loading for standard necked
chambers, not tight necked ones!


Step 4: Tumble with dry corn cob (no polish) to remove lube.


Step 5: Trimming Cases

I use a Wilson right now, but am looking hard at a Henderson which would chamfer and deburr at the same time, as well as save reps
on my old hands with a manual trimmer like the Wilson. Great trimmer though.


Step 6: Chamfer & Deburr if your trimmer didn't do it. Clean primer pockets if you didn't do it after decapping prior to annealing.

I do it under power with a little hobby lathe, but any way one chooses is fine. Brush last to smooth the surface the bullet seats in.
If the cases are already deburred and chamfered, as well as primer pockets cleaned, then brushing is still done for the same reason.


Step 7: Tumble again in corn cob with a little bit of polish added.

I use corncob with polish here because I want residual polish on the cases. I also want the tumbler to work on the chamfered surface
where the bullet seats, hopefully smoothing that surface further. That's part of the reason for brushing after chamferring and deburring.

 

[Walkalong]

Step 8: Brush necks again.

I brush necks again here to continue to help smooth the neck entrance where the bullet pushes in, as well as to remove corn cob
dust and get the necks ready/uniform to expand prior to seating bullets.


Step 9: Expand the necks

I use a Brownells nitrided .261 expander mandrel. Others work just as well. (It's in a Sinclair Gen II mandrel holder.)


Step 10: Prime cases

I use a 21st Century hand priming tool which I love, but other methods work just fine. I do use care to uniform the primer pockets, even
on the best brass, and seat the primers to the same depth every time, which means an adjustable primer tool that will do that for you,
as well as careful measurements. My Alpha cases have deeper pockets than my Lapua 6BR fire formed cases. Instead of making my
Lapua pockets deeper, I use two different settings on the priming tool. YMMV


Step 11: Charge cases.

I use a measure to drop a charge 2/3 grains short of the desired charge, and use the FX120i with auto trickler to bring it up to what I want.
Other ways/scales/measures etc will work just as well as long as they end up with accurate charges that give small ES/SD numbers.


Step 12: Seating Bullets

I use a Wilson hand die and Arbor press. I like doing it that way, it makes straight ammo if your cases are straight, but so do other methods.



I mark loaded rounds to identify fired cases on the ground so I can retrieve them, buggers aren't cheap.


Once you have proven each step of your load procedure keeps things straight, you don't need to keep checking every round. One thing
to remember is that if your chamber throws out crooked cases, your dies won't fix it much. Assuming our fired cases are straight, we're
checking each step to make sure we don't introduce runout, and if we find it, we fix it, replace the die, etc, so we make straight ammo.

I like straight ammo, so I make it as straight as I can. I mean why not? Some folks think it doesn't matter.

 

[Buzznrose]

Thanks Brother!

 

[Walkalong]

I posted this in the Long Range Rifle/Scope/PRS Question(s) thread, but also made it a thread here so I could link to it in the
Reloading Library of Wisdom @rbernie created some years ago, which is a great resource.

There are many ways to load ammo for PRS etc, but this is how I do it, and hopefully folks find it interesting and even helpful.
If I find any mistakes, I'll correct them. It was a lot to do all at once.

 

[Mark_Mark]

the looks TEC NI CAL!

reminds me of lab work! I would not me surprise if a Clean Room suit is worn

 

[Soonerpesek]

How I prep brass and load for PRS matches.

I bet you can hit the quarter…..!!!!….

 

[horsemen61]

@Walkalong very informative thank you I like your process

 

[Show Me]

Good teading but Wow, and so neet and tidy. I don't want to skin my ignorance so no questions.

 

[slowr1der]

Great post.

One question I do have is why do you tumble to remove the lube before you trim, chamfer, and deburr, and then tumble again?

For years I've been trimming, chamfering, and deburring right after sizing. Then I once I'm done with all of those steps I toss it in the tumbler to remove the lube. Now you have be overthinking it and feeling like I might be missing out on something.

 

[LiveLife]

Awesome!

NOW you are READY for retirement.

 

[JFrank]

Nicely presented and a nice set up you have there.

 

[jmorris]

Assuming our fired cases are straight, we're
checking each step to make sure we don't introduce runout, and if we find it, we fix it, replace the die, etc, so we make straight ammo.

Worth more than 1 like.

 

[Walkalong]

One question I do have is why do you tumble to remove the lube before you trim, chamfer, and deburr, and then tumble again?

I don’t like playing with cases that have lube on them, plus they tend to attract dirt/hang onto brass chips etc.

reminds me of lab work! I would not me surprise if a Clean Room suit is worn

 

[irishlad]

Do you use any kind of lube when you expand the necks? Any on the necks when you size them? Thanks

 

[Walkalong]

There is a tiny bit of brass polish left over in the necks I assume, as well as a smidge of carbon, and I use a nitrided expander, but no lube per say. It’s doing very little work.

 

[DesertFox]

Great setup and methods! Boss level plus!

 

[Okie_Poke]

Great post. Thank you for putting that together.