We asked a few reloaders: “What is your favorite ‘don’t know how you ever lived without it’ piece of reloading equipment?” Check out their answers below. We would love to hear from you too, please share your response in the comments below.
Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Philip Mahin answered “A comparator gauge to measure from the base of a case to the ogive of the bullet. This bypasses the tip of the bullet, so I can repeat the same seating depth the next time I visit a specific combination.”
Bill Marr of www.rifleshooter.com answered “I have so many favorite reloading tools, it’s hard to pick one. But if I had too it would be my Forster Co-Ax press. I like the ease you can change dies and that it doesn’t require traditional shell holders. If you load a lot of rifle, it’s a great tool to have!”
Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Duane Siercks answered “I don’t know that you would actually call this equipment, but the item that comes to mind would be my reloading room. I had always had to squeeze everything into a corner or even an unheated shed. After we bought our current house, I built a garage and placed it so that I had a window looking down a 250 yard range. I built a dedicated room with heat and A/C. It contains my reloading bench and a shooting bench. The shooting bench lets me slide open the window and shoot down the range. It is very handy to not have to load everything up to go to the range. It also makes load development a lot simpler and efficient. I don’t know how I ever got along without it.
I also wonder what I did before I acquired the Lyman 1200 DPS Powder Dispenser. This has made the process so much simpler and much easier. I also have a Lee Precison Universal Decapping Die that I would gladly spend the money on again. This may be a small thing, but it certainly is handy. The Lee would accommodate some very large cases that some of the others were too small for.”
Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Carroll Pilant answered “Dillon 550 and 650 presses.”
Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Paul Box answered “The Lee Precison hand priming tool.”
Sierra Bullets Chief Ballistician Tommy Todd answered “A brass annealing machine and a RCBS Chargemaster complimented with a Sartorious scale.”
Sierra Bullets Ballistician Gary Prisendorf answered “RCBS Rock Chucker Press, it’s built like a tank, and it will last me a lifetime.”
Sierra Bullets Production Manager Chris Hatfield answered “RCBS Rock Chucker single stage reloading press.”
Team Area 419 is a PRS shooting team with members from Wyoming to West Virginia. They send a lot of rounds down-range, and need them to be both consistent and precise. Here are a handful of the indispensable tools in their reloading rooms:
Jon Addis answered – “Putting an A&D FX-120i scale with Auto-Trickler and Auto-Throw on the bench has changed the way I reload. It’s kernel accurate in about 15 seconds. Saves time and reduces a variable. And of course, the system is made better by the Area 419 Billet Adjustable base for the trickler and Billet Powder Cup.”
Jeremy Kisner answered – “My Giraud trimmer has taken 3 steps and combined them into one easy task. I can now size my brass and then sit down and trim, chamfer and debur to a 0.001″ tolerance in one motion.”
Craig Arnzen answered – “My Annealeez is one of the best tools in my reloading room. Neck tension is SO important, and annealing every firing really helps with that. This is an inexpensive tool that can anneal a lot of cases at once, and help me produce more consistent ammo.”
Trevor Aldinger answered – “Area 419 Master Funnel Kit. In the past I’ve used plastic funnels and even other metal ones. This system fits case necks and flows much better than any others I’ve used, and there is no static since it’s metal. We spend a lot of time and money to get precise charges, I don’t want to lose or miss a kernel because of a cheap funnel.”
Tyler Riley answered – “My RCBS bench primer. It has a lot more leverage than a hand primer and still has a good feel to how tight primer pockets are. Makes it much easier on my hands to prime large runs, especially new brass with tight pockets.”
Dan Blake answered – “My Annealing Made Perfect (AMP) annealer. With consistent neck tension being one of the largest contributions to small Extreme Spread on muzzle velocities, I believe this induction annealer is truly the best on the market.”
Josh Temmen answered – “Time is critical for me so my RCBS Chargemasters are indispensable (pun intended.) They cut down on time at my reloading bench while maintaining the weight tolerances required for long range shooting.”
Josh Bartlett answered – “I have my Dillon 650 set up with Whidden floating tool heads to do decapping and sizing on my match ammo. The case feeder and progressive function of the press save me a TON of time when doing lots of several hundred rounds.”
Ryan Brandt answered – “I don’t do anything without a quality set of calipers. My reloading room is full of very nice equipment but little does more to satisfy my perfectionism than a good check with the calipers.”
