What have you done in the reloading room today
- Thread starter horsemen61
- Start date
Charlie98
Member
...which is why I'll very likely never cast my own. In the finite world of Time, I'll continue to have someone else make my little lumps of lead, and I'll spend my precious few minutes at the handloading bench doing things only I can do for myself. Make no mistake, however, casting is an art, no doubt! ...and my hats off to those of you who do it.
After working through the current thread on neck brushing, I decided to give it a try.... so the Lyman machine has a new appendage...
I went ahead and trimmed 100 .308 cases last night, then prepped them on the Lyman... incorporating the new step. Truthfully, I didn't get a lot of junk out of the necks, but I'm assuming much of the benefit is unseen. I went ahead and reprocessed about 400 other cases... just hitting the case mouth with the deburr tool... and brushing the necks. I now expect all my SD's to be single-digit, and my groups to tighten up to ragged cloverleaves.
Hooda Thunkit
Member
Like magic!
As I've stated before - if you think it helps, it does.I now expect all my SD's to be single-digit, and my groups to tighten up to ragged cloverleaves.
Or, in the words of the immortal Yogi Berra - 90% of this game is half mental.
Exactly. My best casting time is when I'm waiting for the dew to dry . Some people won't even make their own BBQ. Some people don't partisapate in this fad of long range shooting....which is why I'll very likely never cast my own. In the finite world of Time, I'll continue to have someone else make my little lumps of lead, and I'll spend my precious few minutes at the handloading bench doing things only I can do for myself. Make no mistake, however, casting is an art, no doubt! ...and my hats off to those of you who do it.
After working through the current thread on neck brushing, I decided to give it a try.... so the Lyman machine has a new appendage...
I went ahead and trimmed 100 .308 cases last night, then prepped them on the Lyman... incorporating the new step. Truthfully, I didn't get a lot of junk out of the necks, but I'm assuming much of the benefit is unseen. I went ahead and reprocessed about 400 other cases... just hitting the case mouth with the deburr tool... and brushing the necks. I now expect all my SD's to be single-digit, and my groups to tighten up to ragged cloverleaves.
Makes more time for casting.
Bearded Phil
Member
Ain't that the truth.
Checking those 1k 30-30 casts before I can coat them is not something I'm super looking forward to, in that it's just very tedious. But it will get done, still punching out those checks here and there...
The real fun will be later when everything is coated, by my estimate I'm going to be running around 7,500 bullets through sizers before it's time to count and bag. I'll try to get a picture of all the filled cans of coated bullets, I've been thinking of something @AJC1 said a bit a go, something about "he with the biggest pile wins"?
AJC1
Member
I could only hope to win if I stopped throwing it all down range.... me mining the burm at the local range is a form of recycling my own components at this point....Ain't that the truth.
Checking those 1k 30-30 casts before I can coat them is not something I'm super looking forward to, in that it's just very tedious. But it will get done, still punching out those checks here and there...
The real fun will be later when everything is coated, by my estimate I'm going to be running around 7,500 bullets through sizers before it's time to count and bag. I'll try to get a picture of all the filled cans of coated bullets, I've been thinking of something @AJC1 said a bit a go, something about "he with the biggest pile wins"?
45/30-06OKIE
Member
So I'm sorting these primed R-P 300 Win Mag brass cases and the necks/case mouths are jacked up from shipping so I'm using a full sizing doe with the expanded stem pulled way up to just barely inside the bottom of the die. Seems to work OK. And since it's just barely shaping the mouth of the cases they don't stick in the die. And I would use the neck die but it's a LEE collet die and the die doesn't work unless the expander stem is in it and the top part is screwed on tight. Sigh.... idk why they can't make just neck only dies. I guess that's what a bushing die is??
Before (I had a few that looked even worse than this and still turned out like the After Pic)
After
Edit, ended up with 199 cases! Was probably supposed to be 200 but oh well. Dad probably sniped these on gun broker for cheap as heck so no big deal.
Before (I had a few that looked even worse than this and still turned out like the After Pic)
After
Edit, ended up with 199 cases! Was probably supposed to be 200 but oh well. Dad probably sniped these on gun broker for cheap as heck so no big deal.
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45/30-06OKIE
Member
So we have an ancient box of 300WM ammo we got from a guy that was selling old stuff from a closed down gunshop and this stuff didn't look tampered with as in the brass is all uniform color wise, bullets are seated the exact same, primers are all the same color and depth. Same headstamp as the box.
We tried shooting these in dad's Remington 700 magpul edition (really nice gun and he got it pre covid so it was Cheap) and they just barely wouldn't let the bolt close so I compared them to some new Winchester ammo and the old box has the bullets seated a little bit further out so I got the seating due out and set it up with the new ammo and then out the old stuff in the die and it seems to have made a difference. We'll try to test these again.
Left is New Winchester ammo, Middle is Old Winchester, Right is Old Winchester but with the bullet seated just a little but further in with the die set up for the new Winchester ammo.
The brass does look slightly different but idk. I think we have a case gauge I can try to fit these in.
Edit,
The Lyman Case Gauge shows both the OG round and the Re-seated OG round fitting just fine so I guess dad's Remington has a relatively short throat? Which makes sense if it was to be used as a police sniper style rifle which is how he has it set up actually lol. He put a Millet tactical Scope on it.
We tried shooting these in dad's Remington 700 magpul edition (really nice gun and he got it pre covid so it was Cheap) and they just barely wouldn't let the bolt close so I compared them to some new Winchester ammo and the old box has the bullets seated a little bit further out so I got the seating due out and set it up with the new ammo and then out the old stuff in the die and it seems to have made a difference. We'll try to test these again.
Left is New Winchester ammo, Middle is Old Winchester, Right is Old Winchester but with the bullet seated just a little but further in with the die set up for the new Winchester ammo.
The brass does look slightly different but idk. I think we have a case gauge I can try to fit these in.
Edit,
The Lyman Case Gauge shows both the OG round and the Re-seated OG round fitting just fine so I guess dad's Remington has a relatively short throat? Which makes sense if it was to be used as a police sniper style rifle which is how he has it set up actually lol. He put a Millet tactical Scope on it.
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allisd17
Member
The 03A3s have been begging to go out, so I made them up a little food:
allisd17
Member
Whoops. That's MINE. This is theirs
GeoDudeFlorida
Member
- Joined
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Bella! Fantastico! Buon appetito.
45/30-06OKIE
Member
What happened the 6 rounds with the extra open open tips?Whoops. That's MINE. This is theirs
I moved the now mostly painted dresser to some sawhorses off of the one table in the reloading room.
Added some more primers to the shelf.
Gonna run these in 357/38.
And compare these against the 110gr Vmax. Chamfered 18 new starline brass(308). Fiddled with my 9mm sizing die. My polishing wheel(for my dremel) is to big, so I tried making one… didn’t work. Might take scissors to the other one.
Added some more primers to the shelf.
Gonna run these in 357/38.
And compare these against the 110gr Vmax. Chamfered 18 new starline brass(308). Fiddled with my 9mm sizing die. My polishing wheel(for my dremel) is to big, so I tried making one… didn’t work. Might take scissors to the other one.
allisd17
Member
Those are 168g Speers. The other OTMs are Sierras
Began sorting the "helping the heirs" stuff. Wow! Three high end shots he'll presses, one Horns day 366, two Fondness Warrens. A Hornaday 007 press, two measures, pullers, priming tool, eight sets of "Custom Grade" Hornaday dies, and bullets. Lots of bullets. And brass, unfortunately lots "ready to load" meaning tumbled, sized, trimmed, and primed. I got rid of a pickup load of shot shell hulls last weekend at the club. AA, Rem, premium hulls, all once fired. "Take what you want, make a donation to the high school trap team". Hundred plus bucks.
Hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew.
Plan: pics of the loaders at the big trap and skeet club, list dies here, brass???
Hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew.
Plan: pics of the loaders at the big trap and skeet club, list dies here, brass???
lightman
Member
There is a slight learning curve with these but I love mine!If you want to speed up the sizing and lubing process, buy get one of these bad boys-
I can size and lube PB bullets at the rate of about 30 per minute although gas-checking is definitely slower. The real upside however is push-through sizers produce more concentric bullets.
35W
lightman
Member
When I was separating those 32 auto cases that I recently tumbled from the stainless media I noticed a few that had a pin stuck crossways in the mouth of the case. So I went through all of them (a few thousand) this morning for a look. I found about a half dozen total. This is one of the arguments that those against wet tumbling use but this is the first time that I have had this happen.
Had it happen once. Also a 32 case
AJC1
Member
I learned how to lace a flat belt today so I could fire up the metal printer and make a part for a die up until yesterday I never
new I needed. This was project 5 and I used a boring bar for the first time. This metal printer is super useful for reloading stuff...
new I needed. This was project 5 and I used a boring bar for the first time. This metal printer is super useful for reloading stuff...
Bearded Phil
Member
I could only hope to win if I stopped throwing it all down range.... me mining the burm at the local range is a form of recycling my own components at this point....
Haha, yea it might not be an equal comparison when you're shooting stuff you just cast and I'm working on a stash for a calendar year (in theory) that will probably last longer in actuality.
I'll need to get some of these 357 mag bullets sized up soon though, I only have 100 left of the 158gr HP that I've been using for silhouette and those are going to get loaded next week for the March match.
With the new alloy I'm using the recent casts are 146gr instead of 148gr with that deep hollow point so I'll need to confirm my best load is still good or tweak it before I take them into a match.
Unless I missed something the acquired ammo could have been neck sized for a different rifle. Sorry if I'm captian obvious.
45/30-06OKIE
Member
I don't think this stuff (seems like its just New Old Stock) has been tampered with based on everything being the same... so idk.
stonebuster
Member
Loaded 300 158 38spl using Servicios & Aventura SPP to see if I could get my first FTF using them. Shot @1000 without a failure so far. Interestingly, others have not had these results.
JFrank
Member
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