Preparing brass for competition shooting

-preparing brass for competition shooting
First we need to address the type of shooting we will be doing to select the brass.
Tactical, this sport you will lose brass, and tiny groups are not what we are after so I would stick with good ol Winchester brass, it's cheap enough you won't cry when you lose a few pieces in the field.
Bench shooting, we want small, tiny groups for this Lapua is the only way to go.
Let's talk about the process, we will break it down into steps for connivence sake. Also if you're on a budget and can't afford Lapua winchester is still good, you just need to be a little more thorough that's all.
1. Full length size your brass, we want them as uniformed as possible to start with.
2.  Trim your cases so they are all the same length, you will want an adjustable trimmer, not a one size trimmer like Lee makes.
3. You will notice the case mouths are rough from the trimming so chamfer then to remove burrs.
4. Turn the case necks, uniforming them, there are several companies making tools that do this just pick one. I magic marker the necks prior to turning when all the marker is gone, your good, now turn all the necks to this depth. Also lube the mandrel on the tool for smoother operation. (If you had a gunsmith chamber your barrel barrel with a tight neck reamer, you will need to remove more brass, consult your gunsmith or reamer manufacturer for specs) also some people expand the neck before turning, your choice.
(Steps 5&6 the order does not matter)(with Lapua the primer pocket and flash hole are usually good but lightly touch them to uniform)
5. Ream primer pocket, for this I marker the pocket, turn till most the marker is gone, the marker around the flash hole will most likely not be removed, but a good amount around the outer edge will be gone, use this depth setting to do all the pockets.
6. Ream the flash hole, don't enlarge the hole, just clean it up, again with Lapua brass this really isn't an issue, but I touch them anyway.

Now we move onto weighing the cases, again Lapua is usually pretty close, Winchester usually has a larger weight spread.
Group cases by one grain increments. Ex. 96.2/96.9/96.6/96.4, all go into one lot, for that example 96.0-96.9 all goes into one lot then 97.0-97.9 another lot. Or however you want to arrange it, just keep the groups within one grain increments.

Let me also add I prefer the lee collet die for seating the bullets, this die will not cause the dreaded doughnut that we all hate so much.

Discussion on bullet selection will be coming soon, stay tuned.