[MikeG]

ID, you read my mind!

Check out the photo that I posted near the end of this thread:

http://www.shootersforum.com/showthread.php?threadid=993

If that doesn't come up as a link, it's in the thread titled "Lee Loader" in the Handloading Equipment topic, same as this thread, down near the end on the second page.

Suffice to say that the VERY best dies I have, as far as perfectly concentric reloads every time, I purchased for the princely sum of $10, on closeout. And I'm not going to tell you which brand or caliber, it is just chance.

Until or unless you get a concentricity gage, you'll just never know. You can tell if you are getting straight ammo if you roll loaded rounds across the tabletop and look for the bullet tips to wobble, but it's harder to 'debug' the loading process and figure out which step is causing problems without the gage.

I will toss out that most trouble seems to come from dragging the expander ball back through the neck of a bottleneck cartridge. This can be solved largely by using Lyman "M" dies for neck expansion, although they can't perform miracles.

Well, let's hear what the rest of you have to say!

 

[MikeG]

The RCBS Case Master is available from all of the usual reloading suppliers, if you can't find one locally then look at Midway, Lock Stock & Barrel, etc.

Yes you can see the wobble on bad ammo. Just roll it across a smooth surface and watch the tip. I suspect that a lot of 'inaccurate' guns are being fed ammo from bad dies.

Somebody else makes a concentricity tool also, very similar, I think it is CH4D but am not sure.

Gage is simple, you have a pair of 'V' blocks that the shell rests in, then a dial indicator touches the bullet. When you rotate the cartridge on the 'V' blocks the tip will wiggle a bit and the dial indicator tells you how much.

 

[MikeG]

Hick, you are right, it is Sinclair not CH4D that made the other concentricity gage. Not sure how that got into my head. Thanks for the update.