Slipped out to Cabela’s after work.
I was pleased to see they had Lee Factory Crimp dies sold solo (most of the dies Cabela’s sells are die sets and I was afraid I’d have to buy a whole set just to get the crimp die). I picked up the .223 Remington, .308 Winchester, and the .38 Special/.357 Magnum one. Loading Barnes TSX in .308 was my original desire but that got set aside for now. And I was curious to try out the crimp on the .38 Special loads I’m working with the Berry’s bullets since they are plated and have their own crimping issues to deal with. The lone die wasn’t too expensive so hey, why not.
I also picked up a Hornady OAL Gauge and a threaded case insert for .223 Rem and .308 Win. Why? As I’ve been scouring the Internet for information I read that the Barnes TSX’s do well seated at 0.050″ off the lands (tho it can vary from 0.030″ to even 0.100″ according to other things I read in the Barnes newsletter archive). Am I looking for that sort of benchrest accuracy? Not necessarily, but also why not try to get the best performance I can? In a lot of respects, this is just newbie curiosity for me. Found a couple useful articles about the OAL gauge here and here.
Next time I get involved in a hobby, I want it to be something inexpensive and easy to get going with. Martial arts? big investment of time and money. Motorcycle? big investment of time and money. Guns? big investment of time and money. Hunting? big investment of time and money. Reloading? big investment of time and money. Sheesh! 😉
But I think this finally gets me all of the equipment I need. All that’s left is for my orders of primers and powder to arrive. If all goes well that will be next week and I can spend part of my Christmas vacation working up some loads. Can’t wait!
Stuff From Hsoi 
Is the Barnes bullet that much longer that you can’t load to mag length? That kind of sucks if so. (Get the Sinclair follower for your mag if you’re going to go that route.)
I have some 80 grain A-Max bullets I haven’t been able to use because I didn’t realize you couldn’t load them to mag length. My neighbor wants to start loading for his 22-250 so I’ll probably just give them to him.
I haven’t pulled out calipers and measured, but in general Barnes bullets are longer because they’re all copper and thus less dense than lead… so to make the same weight you need more material and consequently the bullets are longer than lead bullets. Or so the theory goes.
I’m not sure how lengths and such will all go. But… what’s the advantage then to loading to mag length? And what’s the scoop on the Sinclair follower?
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