Just loaded my first 20 rounds

[Bowfishrp]

Guys I have been a member for a while but just started reloading...308 is not getting cheaper. I found the ABC's of Reloading at the local store and read most of it, there is a lot of useless info in there but it did help a little. Then ordered a Lee single stage kit which comes with a much better book.

Spent a couple evenings setting everything up and slowly ran through the process. I bought 20 new Norma 308 cases and 100 168gr Hor HPBT bullets and was able to get all 20 loaded with no problems. The biggest problem I had was with the powder. I bought some Accurate 2520 powder from Gander, because that was all they had for my caliber. Well this 2520 is a very fine round powder. I did the math from the Lee dispenser paper but it was pretty short drops...guess that's better than too much. It took me about 15 rounds to get it adjusted to throw close to the 41grs I was shooting for. The lee scale is very sensitive and I feel very confident that the loads are right at 41gr. I can definitely see the speed advantage to an electronic scale. I am also VERY glad I didn't get a faster progressive as my first press. I needed it to be slow so I could learn more. I would like to know if the other powders are this small and difficult to work with. Seemed like most drops some granules jumped out of the hopper.

The whole process was much faster than I expected. I would say with setup it took me a total of about 3 hours to get these 20...again going very slow to make sure I did everything correctly. I like my hands and eyes and dont want my AR-10 to blow up. I will be testing these rounds this weekend. Anyway just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posts because you helped just in your normal every day posts. Thanks.
Robert

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

good luck!!! and like you said, when starting (and even when you've been doing it a while) go slow and make sure everything is safe.

 

[langenc]

Go shoot it and come home and reload it. While at the range check for more brass.

 

[RustyFN]

Welcome. It doesn't sound like you started slow to me, it sounds like you started smart. If you are like most of us you will enjoy reloading as much as shooting. I have found the Lee scale to be very accurate but hard to use. Have fun shooting those. There is nothing like the feeling of shooting your own reloads for the first time.
Rusty

 

[nitesite]

Welcome, Bowfishrp!

Originally posted by Bowfishrp
I would like to know if the other powders are this small and difficult to work with.

Here are some macro photos I recently took of some rifle powders I have. I hope it helps you a little.

 

[.41 magnum man]

I'm new to reloading also. Been doing it a couple months maybe. I am close to reloading my 300th case. I use the Lee scales also, and I personally weight each shot of powder right on the money. It is a lot of fun for me, and I hope you get a lot of enjoyment from it.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Congrats...I've been pistol loading for a year, but I'm only now getting into rifle loads. I have to re-mount my Lee single stage next to my progressive, somewhere.

Yes, be sure to do your part for the environment and pick up the evil brass all of those lazy slobs leave around.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Bowfishrp,
Welcome to the forum and to reloading. I'm fairly new to reloading too but have learned a lot on this forum which helped me do a good job as well as a safe one.

I'm not sure which powder measure you got from Lee but if you have the Auto-Disk Powder Measure or Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure you can buy the Lee Double Disk Kit which will make large charges (like for heavy rifle cases) easier. The single disk setup that comes with the Powder Measure is fine for pistol rounds but rifles are much larger. (as you already know) It's item #90195 on this page: http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1188536586.1097=/html/catalog/powhan1.html

 

[Bowfishrp]

Thanks guys. Nitesite, that is perfect. I will try to find the larger powder around here.

My powder measure is the cheap one that comes with the anniversary kit and it gets close but I would not want to trust it. The Lee scale is hard to use but since it is accurate then it will work for now. I think I will get a powder trickler to help this problem.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Bowfishrp, the trick with the Lee safety scale is to not track the load with the slider, i.e. put in some powder and move the scale slider to find where you're at. Zero it out with the pan in place, then set the bearing and the slider to the weight you want and lock it in. Then scoop (you have a Lee dipper, right? You can't avoid these things!!!) some into the pan. With a little practice, you can estimate how man scoops get close to where you want to be, then trickle up to your load. I've found that holding the scoop above the pan at an angle with a very small amount of pwder in it, and lightly tapping it, is the most accurate way to trickle with the dippers.

The Perfect Powder Measure is anything but, but with practice it can be very accurate, or at least consistant. It works best with spherical powders, is okay with flake, and supposedly does the worst with extruded. With your powder in, raise the lever to fill the cavity. Tap the black housing twice with a firm tap, like you're tapping someone on the shoulder cause you're PO'd. Lower the lever and tap once. This method gives much better consistancy with flake powders as it settles it. For pistol loads, close is usually good enouigh, but with rifle loads, you'll probably have to trickle a bit to get right on target.

 

[fireflyfather]

Funny, I just loaded my first 20 last night. Took about 45 minutes, but I was using a lee loader with scoops & scale (weighed each charge). Fortunately, no trimming needed, and once-fired brass from factory ammo. I'm reloading 7.62x54R, so a similar cartridge.

Ironically, I think it was probably that powder handling equipment that slowed you down. Take your time and be safe! I'm sure we'll both be loading plenty more in the future.

 

[Bowfishrp]

I wonder if everyone is this concerned with their first loads. I was not worried because I checked myself many times but still there is always that thought. At any rate everything went off without a hitch and I am pumped!

Could not wait last week and loaded 50 more and fired off all 70 rounds Sat. They flew true and cycled my DPMS AR-10 with no problems. My Dad was impressed enough to give me all his old brass he had been saving for years....most of it is boxer primed too. Definitely need more bullets and powder!

I started with 20 new Norma cases and 50 new Winchester cases. After their first fire all the norma brass is still fine and not stretched. All but maybe 5 Winchesters needed slight trimming. I didnt think the norma was that much more money but will have to look again. Will have to get more dies now that I have all this extra brass to clean up and load!

 

[BigSoundRacing]

I think it took me about 20 hours to load my first 100 rounds of .308 - research and collecting stuff. I was not too nervous because I knew they would on the lighter side. Found what the rifle liked and continued on. Addicted now.

Be safe, check drop weigh often, BSR

 

[FieroCDSP]

Personally, I'm always a bit nervous doing work-ups, but I've never been as nervous as that first reload shot. It is addicting, though, aint it?

 

[Bowfishrp]

You aren't kidding. I fired off 20 manf rounds just to make sure everything was working properly. Loaded a mag with my rounds and said a little prayer and let fly. It was exciting!!!

 

[fireflyfather]

Good on you. I had a squib in my first 20 rounds, but caught it, since I knew what to look for. Thank god I have been reading THR and my loading manual.

 

[Starter52]

Sounds like you're on the right track.

FYI - each time you resize bottlenecked brass you "stretch" it a bit. You'll only get about three resizings from your .308 brass before you'll either have to trim it or toss it.

.308 brass is fairly cheap and you may not want to invest in a trimmer right now. If you don't have a gauge, you'll know your brass are getting overlong when the action of your rifle gets hard to close.