MAKING MICRO ADJUSTMENTS

Here's how to fine-tune your reloading ...and your accuracy.

- PHIL MASSARO

Sometimes, an innovator will get a product right the first time—and I’d cite the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, the Fender Telecaster guitar and Mauser’s Model 98 bolt-action rifle. Other times, the tools and gear we use have evolved to the point that you might often look back and wonder how we used such archaic gear with any success at all.

Riflescopes are a great example of this: I looked through one of my father’s ¾-inch tube rimfire scopes the other day and felt like my vision was plagued by cataracts. I can only imagine the difficulty picking out a squirrel’s head in the top of an oak tree, especially in comparison to the 1-4x20mm that rides atop my Ruger 77/22 today.

I feel that reloading gear sits in between those two extremes. In some aspects, the gear of the 1970s and 1980s is completely unchanged and still in good working order. I have a RCBS single-stage press that might be as old as I am, and it still makes great ammo—though in all fairness it’s a simple machine.

But, when it comes to the fine-tuning, I think our reloading gear has evolved into a different set of tools altogether. I have die sets from 1960s that still work fine, but when I compare them to the modern dies, replete with micrometer adjustment dials and bushings to help preserve brass, it’s no wonder why today’s ammunition is so much more consistent.