How Do The Best Shooters Reload? What The Pros Use

That is a part of a sequence of posts that spotlight the gear the 200 top-ranked shooters within the Precision Rifle Collection (PRS) are operating in long-range rifle matches. (Be taught in regards to the Precision Rifle Collection.) This group of opponents represents the most effective precision rifle shooters within the nation.

This text is a part of a mini-series the place I’m sharing the reloading gear and processes these guys use to load their match ammo. This group of shooters is very attention-grabbing in terms of reloading due to the extent of precision required to compete. 66% of those top-ranked shooters reported that the muzzle velocity of their ammo had a regular deviation (SD) of 5 fps or much less, which implies they’re solely getting round 5 inches of vertical dispersion at 1000 yards! (What’s SD?) 60% of this group stated their common 5-shot group was 0.3 MOA or much less! So these guys are handloading actually world-class ammo!

Listed here are hyperlinks to the opposite articles on this sequence, which centered on the gear and instruments these guys use:

Reloading Presses & Dies

Reloading Powder Scales

Reloading Course of & Steps Carried out (this text)

This text will break down the reloading course of and steps that these professional shooters take when loading their match ammo.

The Operations

I surveyed the highest 200 ranked shooters within the PRS and requested which of the operations beneath they did EVERY TIME they did brass prep. Then I requested them which operations they did NOT DO EVERY TIME however did AT LEAST ONCE to a batch of their match brass.

Clear/Tumble

Anneal

Trim

Chamfer & Debur

Full-Size Dimension

Neck-Dimension Solely (don’t contact shoulder or physique)

Run Neck Mandrel to set inside diameter of neck

Flip Necks

Clear Primer Pockets

Uniform Primer Pockets

Type/Cull Brass by Weight

Type/Cull Brass by Quantity

What reloading steps do you do EVERY TIME you do brass prep?

First, let’s take a look at the reloading steps that these prime shooters say they do each time they’re processing brass and doing brass prep:

You possibly can see that round 70% or extra of those shooters do these steps each time:

Clear/tumble their brass

Anneal

Full-Size Dimension

Chamfer & Debur

Full-Size Sizing

It’d shock folks to see precision handloaders saying they full-length dimension their brass each time. Within the Benchrest and F-Class world, it could be extra frequent for shooters to solely neck-size their brass. Neck-sizing means the die doesn’t contact the shoulder or physique of the case in any respect.

Final 12 months, I interviewed PRS Champion and two-time IPRF World Champion Austin Buschman, and he talked about that he full-length resizes and bumps his case shoulder again 0.003” each time. “I shoot a whole lot of dusty, soiled matches in Oklahoma, and if you happen to get somewhat little bit of mud in your chamber and your brass isn’t sized fairly a bit, you simply can’t at all times shut the chamber on it,” Buschman defined. In relation to reloading ammo, his highest precedence is reliability. Nothing will trigger you to drop factors sooner than not having the ability to chamber a spherical. That’s the reason 94% of those guys full-length dimension their brass each time.

Trimming Circumstances

Moreover, 58% of those shooters stated they trim their brass each time. Many would possibly anticipate these guys to trim instances to size each time, however a few of them don’t do it each firing. In truth, Austin Buschman instructed me he solely trims instances after the sixth or seventh firing!

Buschman: “I don’t trim instances as steadily as most individuals. In truth, I can typically do a number of reloadings and perhaps even an entire season with out trimming my instances. That’s simply one other step I don’t wish to should do, so I often don’t trim till I completely should. I’ll typically measure a dozen or so resized instances and attempt to discover the longest one, after which I’ll put that in my rifle and shut the bolt. Then, I’ll run a borescope down the barrel from the muzzle finish and take a look at how a lot of a niche I’ve between the top of the case and the chamber. If it’s not shut, I do know I can go one other firing with out trimming my brass. I sometimes have to trim after 7 firings or one thing like that. I often begin out every year with 1,000 items of latest brass and a whole lot of occasions, I could make it via a whole season with out trimming my brass, which saves me a whole lot of time. I often shoot 6,000 to 7,000 rounds in a season, so if I begin with 1,000 items of brass and may use it 6 or 7 occasions with out trimming – then I didn’t ever have to do this step.”

Austin just isn’t recommending that you just assume you could go 6 or 7 firings earlier than you trim. He explicitly stated, “I’d by no means suggest somebody load instances that exceed the max case size.” You heard him clarify that he’s checking his case size within the chamber of his rifle. Austin’s dies have been arrange in order that he has minimal development by way of case size on every firing. Your rifle’s chamber, and your reloading dies/press are totally different than his. Test your size!

Necessary Data on Right Case Size from Berger’s Reloading Guide: “Every time you fireplace a bit of brass and resize it, it grows in size. Ultimately, the case turns into too lengthy to slot in the chamber. When this occurs, the top of the case neck has nowhere to go once you chamber a spherical, and it really crimps into the bullet itself thereby creating an excessively tight seal. This case may cause fuel pressures to skyrocket to harmful ranges, and severe harm or demise may outcome.“ – Bryan Litz, Berger Reloading Guide

I don’t wish to overstate Buschman’s place because the “norm” for the remainder of these shooters. 58% of those professional shooters stated they trim instances to size each time, which is almost all. I’d suspect most different shooters trim instances each 2nd or third firing. However Buschman’s course of at the very least helps you perceive why many shooters could not trim to size each time they course of brass. (Examine Buschman’s full reloading course of.)

Operating A Neck Mandrel

Then somewhat over half of them run a neck mandrel via it after sizing, which can set the within diameter of their case neck. A neck mandrel helps be certain that the neck diameter and rigidity are constant throughout all instances, which ought to assist cut back variation in bullet launch and decrease deviations in velocity. Full-length dies will dimension down the neck of the case by squeezing down the surface of the neck. That makes the surface diameter of the case constant – however not essentially the within diameter. If the case neck wall thickness isn’t completely uniform between each case (and it not often is), then the quantity of neck rigidity from one case to a different can fluctuate. The query we’re left asking is: Does it matter?

We have now a big pattern dimension of knowledgeable shooters, the place roughly half ran their brass via a neck mandrel, and half didn’t – so we will really achieve some distinctive perception into that query! I requested every of those shooters what the usual deviation (SD) of their muzzle velocity was, which implies we will analyze these numbers to see if those that used a neck mandrel each time ended up with decrease SDs than those that didn’t.

And positive sufficient, there seems to be a distinction! Right here’s the information:

The 81 reloaders who used a neck mandrel each time had a mean SD of 4.9, whereas the 94 reloaders who didn’t use a neck mandrel had a mean SD of 6.0! Whereas 1.1 fps would possibly sound small, that’s an 18% enchancment!

Utilizing a neck mandrel would theoretically present an even bigger profit when brass neck thickness assorted extra from one piece to a different, so I assumed it will be attention-grabbing to see how a lot enchancment you noticed for various manufacturers of brass. You possibly can see these variations within the desk above. Alpha confirmed the least enchancment, which may level to it having the least variation in neck thickness, adopted by Lapua, then Peterson, then Hornady. Now, we’re inferring lots there, however it’s at the very least an attention-grabbing pattern within the knowledge. Additionally it is attention-grabbing to see {that a} neck mandrel lowered the variation you noticed in muzzle velocity for each model.

Now we come again to the query: However does it matter? Ha! Does a 1.1 fps enchancment in muzzle velocity SD imply you must add yet one more step to your brass prep? Nicely, that comes all the way down to a person choice and the way a lot you worth your time! We’ve taken the information so far as it could to present us perception into the extent of enchancment we’d anticipate, and now it’s left to us to determine.

One other perception from the unique chart above was that 15% of those shooters clear their primer pockets each time. Actually, I used to be somewhat stunned to see that proportion as excessive because it was, so it was value noting.

What reloading steps do you do AT LEAST ONCE per batch of brass?

Now let’s take a look at what this group of elite marksmen stated they don’t do each time however do at the very least as soon as per batch of brass. To be clear, I didn’t ask how typically they do these operations. It was merely framed as, “What operations do you NOT do each time however do at the very least as soon as per batch of brass?” So they might do a few of these issues solely as soon as per batch, or they may do it as steadily as each different time.

Listed here are the outcomes:

You possibly can see that many of those folks solely anneal, trim, or chamfer and debur often.

In truth, there have been at the very least a couple of shooters who stated they did every of the operations I had listed at the very least as soon as on a batch of brass. That included turning necks, uniforming primer pockets, and sorting/culling brass by each weight and quantity. Nonetheless, these issues had been solely accomplished by a small minority of those shooters.

Nonetheless, none of those “at the very least as soon as” steps had been represented by the vast majority of these prime shooters. The entire percentages had been properly beneath 50%, which is an attention-grabbing word. I imagine which means that almost all of those shooters do the identical reloading course of and steps of their brass prep each time they reload.

Is There A Distinction In The Reloading Course of For The High 25?

I used to be curious if the fellows on the very pinnacle of the PRS might need a barely totally different reloading course of. In 2024, there have been 41 common season PRS Professional Collection matches (these are the national-level, two-day PRS matches), and the winner of 51% of these was determined by 2 factors or much less! In truth, 39% had been decided by 1 level or much less! 7 had been ties that needed to go the time on the talents stage because the tiebreaker to find out the match winner!

So, for these guys on the very prime, discovering a solution to get 1 extra influence may actually be the distinction between a win or a loss! Does that imply they do a couple of additional issues of their reloading course of to achieve even a slight aggressive benefit?

Nicely, let’s look! The info beneath is similar to what I introduced above, besides I added the orange bars for comparability, which symbolize the share of shooters within the prime 25 who stated they did every step. This primary chart is expounded to the reloading steps they stated they carried out each time they did brass prep.

Very attention-grabbing! It’s not that the shooters on the very prime do extra steps of their reloading course of – they really do barely much less throughout the board! It’s exactly the other of what many individuals would possibly anticipate!

In truth, take a look at trimming: 58% of the highest 200 shooters stated they trimmed each time, however solely 44% of the highest 25 stated they trim each time.

Have a look at the neck mandrel! 54% of the highest 200 stated they used a neck mandrel, however solely 44% of the highest 25 stated they run their brass via a neck mandrel! It’s that attention-grabbing?!

Whereas that isn’t an enormous distinction, it truly is throughout the board. Might or not it’s that the fellows on the very pinnacle of the PRS have been doing it lengthy sufficient to know these OCD steps within the reloading course of don’t really add to your rating?

However, perhaps the highest 25 don’t do a few of the steps each time – however their proportion of steps they do often has to go up, proper? Nicely, right here is that chart:

Probably not! Whereas there are slight variations, for essentially the most half, the highest 25 merely do fewer steps than the remainder of the fellows.

Final 12 months, I additionally interviewed two-time PRS Champion Austin Orgain and requested about his reloading course of. You possibly can learn his full course of at that hyperlink, however at one level, I requested Orgain, “So that you don’t run your instances via a neck mandrel to set your case’s inside neck diameter?” He stated, “Nope. I don’t run a mandrel in any respect. … I don’t know that it actually issues, and for me, it looks as if it’s most likely previous the purpose of diminishing returns and never even value doing. To me, it’s undoubtedly not value doing if it’s important to add an entire further step to your loading course of to run your instances via mandrel. In the event you had a Dillon progressive loading setup the place you could possibly simply add a mandrel die into your rotation, and it wouldn’t require a bunch of additional time or effort – perhaps. However I’m not going to run all my brass via a mandrel if I’m doing it on a single-stage press.”

Subsequent, I requested Orgain: “Do you ever neck flip your brass, uniform your primer pockets, or clear your primer pockets?” I bear in mind Austin laughing, after which he stated, “If I needed to neck flip my brass, I’d stop! No, I don’t ever do any of that stuff!”

Now, that may sound flippant or like these guys merely aren’t precision reloaders. However, if you’re pondering that, I do know that you just’ve by no means seen Austin Orgain shoot. It’s unbelievable what that man can do with a rifle!

Bear in mind, 66% of those top-ranked shooters reported that their ammo had an SD of 5 fps or much less, which implies they’re solely getting round 5 inches of vertical dispersion at 1000 yards! 60% stated their common 5-shot group was 0.3 MOA or much less! So, the vast majority of these guys are producing actually world-class ammo!

Austin Orgain and Austin Buschman have mixed to win 3 golden bullets, which is the trophy awarded to the PRS shooter with the very best total rating on the finish of the season. It could shock a couple of folks to listen to these two and the opposite prime 25 do fewer reloading steps than different shooters, however perhaps that’s as a result of a lot of them have actually fired 50,000+ rounds and have discovered a few of these issues are “previous the purpose of diminishing returns and never even value doing,” as Orgain defined.

I hope this helps you shooters who’re attempting to determine what issues when reloading ammo for long-range taking pictures and what doesn’t! Perhaps we should always all spend rather less time on the reloading bench and somewhat extra time behind the rifle! 😉

Coming Up Subsequent

In the event you loved this content material, I’ve already pushed dozens of articles identical to it! Take a look at the opposite “What The Professionals Use” articles which have already been printed this 12 months.

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