I am pretty new to rifle reloading. Trying to decide on a bullet comparator for rifle reloading. Currently only for 30-06 and 300 Win Mag, primarily for hunting. I recently picked up some Redding Type S dies, but neglected to get a comparator. Sub 300 yards.

Trying to decide between the Sinclair, Hornaday and Redding. Sinclair and Hornaday are the caliper clamp on style, and the Redding is the dial indicator and die setup. I know the Redding is more expensive, but price isn't a real big concern.

I also realize the Redding will measure more/different measurements than the other 2.

ETA: Added Other selection.

Question:
Which comparator do you like, excluding price.

Choices:
Sinclair
Hornaday
Redding
Other

 

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 1967Goat,

I have the Hornady. I find it difficult to get reproducible readings with it. Maybe its me, maybe not.

RMD

I have the same issue with my Hornady. Don't know whether it's the tool or the bullets or me.

I have a Hornady, a Sinclair and a Redding. Not familiar with Hornaday.

I have used all three but especially the Sinclair to measure bullets. Or rather, bullet samples. After several sample runs, I am very confident in my JLKs and all I do is point them slightly. I seldom use the comparators anymore. It's good to have when I thread on a new barrel or get a new shipment of JLKs. Then I put the stuff back on the shelf, alongside my Sinclair runout device, also very unused.

Nikon-
Hmmm, maybe I asked the wrong question.

As I said, I am completely new to rifle reloading, with the exception being 5.56 which I have been doing on my Dillon 550B. I've read your handloading thread more than once, as well as other sources. In your thread you had mentioned, "I use Imperial wax as the lubricant and my die has been carefully adjusted to push back the shoulder of the fired case by about .001 to .002".

I guess I assumed (bad idea on my part!) you were measuring this using a comparator, or by some other means?

I don't want to buy any unnecessary gadgets, but I am confused on this part. How do I know I am bumping the shoulder back .002, or .020? Should I not be concerned with this?

You were totally correct. I used the Hornady comparator with the insert that sits on the shoulder.

Now, you have to be careful here and I'm doing this from memory. The real place for measuring this is the datum line that sits somewhere on the shoulder, about halfway up to the neck. You need to have the proper diameter insert to measure and that is the A insert in the Hornady kit, the .330 diameter for the 5.56/.223 datum line.

On the .308, you use .400 as the diameter for the datum line, the D insert in the Hornady kit.

I thought we were talking BULLET comparator. That is my mistake.

Measure several cases in the same state (fired or resized or new.) Get the average and adjust accordingly.