Mandrel or bushing?

[CodyK]

I’m a pretty basic reloader/handloader. I use the typical 2 or 3 die sets off the shelf to resize my brass and seat the bullet. All my dies are RCBS, Lee, or Hornady. I rarely get to a range that’s more than 100 yards, so I’m not sure if buying any better quality dies would even translate at that distance. But, I was talking to a guy at the range yesterday (yeah, I know) and i was taking about group size, ES, and SD, and how my best groups rarely line up with my best numbers. He said he uses expander mandrels, and his ES and SD numbers improved quite a bit. I’m working on loads for a new .308, and I’m thinking of buying some better dies and seeing if I get any better results, but thought before I dump (more) money into this reloading addiction, I’d get some feedback from some more experienced handloaders.


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[robertc1024]

Ai Yi Yi - I ended up buying some expander mandrels & dies from 21st Century & Eric Cortina for my 6.5 gaymoor & .223, moly neck lube, etc. I was pretty particular with my reloading before, but this definitely improved my SD's on the .223's. So far, group size hasn't been that much different at 100 yards but I'm more interested in longer range consistency. I'll have a chance to try that out this weekend.

Honestly, I think it is really what you're looking for. If you look at the ballistics - say for a 55g Vmax zeroed at 100 yards, a 50 fps difference @3000fps makes a 0.1" drop difference at 200. At 400 yards, the difference is 1.3"