ET,
This has been a great discussion, and I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I don't think that "complexity" is necessarily associated with competitive shooting. Actually, your paper patching routine with wet wrapping plus lube is more complicated than most target shooters use. Those that I'm aware of don't lube their patches, but you make a good case for it for hunting loads. Target shooters don't use lube cookies either. So, in some cases loading for competition is less complicated. Not sizing cases at all comes to mind, just slip fitting the bullet in a fired case.
Perhaps what you refer to as complexity comes down to attention to detail, but that can be seen as quality control. Weighing and sorting bullets is probably unnecessary assuming careful casting, There probably isn't enough variance to make it worthwhile. Ditto weighing and sorting cases, which I've never done, although some do. Primer choice doesn't seem to make that much difference, unless you're down to fine tuning a load. Having clean brass, inside the neck in particular, can affect stretching and even case separation, so that's a detail that would apply to hunting ammo as well as target loads. Attention to details like case length can help avoid problems, excess fouling and leading in particular.
It seems to me that the main point of complexity comes in loading powder. We know that compression is very important. I weigh, and use my vibrating setup for long range competitive loads, but for buffalo silhouette loads I mount my powder measure on top of my drop tube and let 'er rip. You can see in my pics that the vibrating setup comes off, and I can mount the measure bracket with a couple of wing nuts. Very fast case charging. Another detail that can probably be bypassed is a paper wad over the primer, although some claim to get better groups with it. Crimping enough to remove the case mouth bell is another option. Some rifles shoot better with the bell and others without. As long as you can chamber a round, it isn't essential.
In my case much of the "complexity" comes from carefully designing and assembling my loading setup to make the actual loading process easier while maintaining precision. Back to my drop tube setup, some of the effort in building it pays off in terms of less effort in loading, so there's a trade-off. Note that the aluminum funnels are bigger than most. This means a quicker dump, because there is less chance of missing and spilling. The vibrator makes it unnecessary to time the pour. Just position the case, dump the charge, and hit the toggle switch. My tube also includes a "no spill" feature at the bottom of the tube, another detail that saves time and avoids mess.
Paul
