My first year of reloading....... a year in review.

[rskent]

9)Date your powder and primers on the container they came in.

Great idea, never thought of that.

 

[Bartojc]

Great post, and great observations. You learned a lot more than I did in your first year .
I've only been loading for 6 or 7 years, and I learn new stuff all the time.

Still waiting for all that extra money that I'll be saving......

-Jeff

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I forgot to mention, I also made a bunch of 45 acp keychains this year on my press. I had several engraved with he initials of a guy who passed away, and I sent them to his family. Even though it occurred for sad reasons, it was a fun project and I thought of him frequently while doing it.

I learned just how hot a case can get when running a drill bit through the flash hole. I toasted my fingers a few times on that one. I also learned that when hot water is mixed with super glue it solidifies instantly into a gummy mess.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/making-bullet-keychains-what-to-coat-them-with.837045/

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Don't own a Dillon so I can't comment on that part but excellent write up.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

I'm guessing my statement is true of the LnL and really any of the high quality progressive presses available.

I'm not a Dillon snob, but I do like mine quite a bit.

7a) Primers are cheap... really cheap... if the case gets scrunched TOSS IT... primer and all. LOL!

LOL! Yeah, the funny thing is that I never even thought about the cost. It was my OCD that got the better of me. I load in lots of 50 at the minimum. If I lose a primer I'll only have 49 rounds.

(Hands start shaking)

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Another addition to my lessons learned.
17) Don't be cheap, buy a press light. It makes a world of difference. The UFO lights are a great option.

IMG_6409

• Zaydok Allen
• Dec 3, 2018

550B

IMG_6408

• Zaydok Allen
• Dec 3, 2018

UFO Light

 

[alfsauve]

7a) Primers are cheap... really cheap... if the case gets scrunched TOSS IT... primer and all. LOL!

I only deprime a live primer in that rare occasion I want to save the case but feel the primer was damaged. I never "reuse" primers. As Mike said they're pretty cheap.

 

[ATLDave]

For those of us who formed a lot of our reloading habits in a panic-stricken, primers-can't-be-found environment, gently removing and re-seating a primer is not an alien experience! I probably would never have done it the first dozen times if I hadn't been keeping one eye on a dwindling pile of primers that I worried I couldn't replace at-will. After those first dozen or so times, you realize that primers require impact to pop, not steady pressure. In fact, I have thorough crushed/mangled a couple of mis-aligned primers in my 650... no bang, though, because I'm not violently slamming the primer in.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

For those of us who formed a lot of our reloading habits in a panic-stricken, primers-can't-be-found environment, gently removing and re-seating a primer is not an alien experience! I probably would never have done it the first dozen times if I hadn't been keeping one eye on a dwindling pile of primers that I worried I couldn't replace at-will. After those first dozen or so times, you realize that primers require impact to pop, not steady pressure. In fact, I have thorough crushed/mangled a couple of mis-aligned primers in my 650... no bang, though, because I'm not violently slamming the primer in.

I find I am very gentle with the lever on my press and use steady pressure as well. The spent primer seems to drop into the chute more consistently and not ricochet out with gentle pressure, and the seating of a new primer just seems a little less worrisome. None the less, we are in a time of plenty so I probably should just tell the OCD side of myself to shut it.

I only deprime a live primer in that rare occasion I want to save the case but feel the primer was damaged. I never "reuse" primers. As Mike said they're pretty cheap.

I guess I mentioned it just because it can be done, but I'm not making a habit of it.

 

[vaalpens]

Congratulations on the 1 year of reloading without any major lessons learned. It seems a common lesson learned by most reloaders is to keep only one powder on the bench. You did not mention it, so I assume you have not had the need to fertilize the lawn yet. I joined this forum in August 2014 when I started reloading, and immediately learned from the forum to keep only one powder container on the bench. So far touch wood, no accidents.

I just checked my records and I have just passed 15k rounds loads with just over 4 years of reloading. Looks like I do about 3,600 per year, in the same ballpark as you.

It is a fun hobby. Keep at it and keep on being safe.

 

[sbwaters]

Only thing I’d add is that, on a progressive, if you get distracted or interrupted, PLEASE empty out all cases that have any powder in them and start fresh with them. Helps avoid a double load or squib.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Congratulations on the 1 year of reloading without any major lessons learned. It seems a common lesson learned by most reloaders is to keep only one powder on the bench. You did not mention it, so I assume you have not had the need to fertilize the lawn yet. I joined this forum in August 2014 when I started reloading, and immediately learned from the forum to keep only one powder container on the bench. So far touch wood, no accidents.

I just checked my records and I have just passed 15k rounds loads with just over 4 years of reloading. Looks like I do about 3,600 per year, in the same ballpark as you.

It is a fun hobby. Keep at it and keep on being safe.

Yep, I keep my powder in a lockable chest. The only powder than visits the bench is the one I'm using for that loading session. If I change cartridges I've made it a habit to put powder and primers away first. Then change toolheads. THEN I get out the new powder and primers I'll be using.

Only thing I’d add is that, on a progressive, if you get distracted or interrupted, PLEASE empty out all cases that have any powder in them and start fresh with them. Helps avoid a double load or squib.

Agreed. It's a good habit.

 

[ATLDave]

Since I leave my 650 up and mid-load at all times, I don't empty out cases. I leave the press fully up, with each case in the die. Since the indexing takes place on the downstroke, there's no way to somehow forget... I just raise the handle/lower the ram and put the next bullet on top of the powder.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Since I leave my 650 up and mid-load at all times, I don't empty out cases. I leave the press fully up, with each case in the die. Since the indexing takes place on the downstroke, there's no way to somehow forget... I just raise the handle/lower the ram and put the next bullet on top of the powder.

The 650 auto indexes right?

 

[ATLDave]

Yep. But I think I'd take the same approach even with a non-auto-index press. With the rounds up in the dies, you know what the status of each one is. The one at the crimped station is now crimped. The one at the seating station now has a bullet seated over powder. The one at the powder-drop station is expanded and has powder. The one in the sizing die is sized and de-primed. The only way this can be wrong is if you screwed something up before you raised the ram. If everything was right when you raised the ram, that's the condition of everything in the dies. When you lower the ram, that's the condition everything will be in. If you have to advance the holder, then advance the holder. But there's no memory required about where you were. And there's also no way for a bug to crawl into a case or a drop of oil/grease to contaminate an open case filled with powder.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Yep. But I think I'd take the same approach even with a non-auto-index press. With the rounds up in the dies, you know what the status of each one is. The one at the crimped station is now crimped. The one at the seating station now has a bullet seated over powder. The one at the powder-drop station is expanded and has powder. The one in the sizing die is sized and de-primed. The only way this can be wrong is if you screwed something up before you raised the ram. If everything was right when you raised the ram, that's the condition of everything in the dies. When you lower the ram, that's the condition everything will be in. If you have to advance the holder, then advance the holder. But there's no memory required about where you were. And there's also no way for a bug to crawl into a case or a drop of oil/grease to contaminate an open case filled with powder.

True. I have had distractions occur and as you said if you leave the ram up an fully engaged you know everything is safe and sound. This has become my practice also.

I guess I'm in the habit of pulling all cases if something goes wrong prior and it's noticed mid or post stroke. I'm noticing the biggest foul up I repeat is stopping after a complete cycle to check a charge. I tend to check every 15 or 20 cases. Once verified I put the powder back in the case, replace the case, index and continue. But what'd I forget? I often forget to replace the locator pin. So when I index and work the lever the newly primed case is slightly out of place and gets mangled by the powder funnel.

When that occurs, I tend to pull it all and reset to a full and proper cycle. Like you said though, my mistake was made prior to working the lever. And it's a newbie mistake. But I am a newbie to loading so that's ok.

 

[ATLDave]

I don't do nearly as much check-weighing on my 650 as I do on my LCT. Because the powder hopper/dropper isn't swinging around on a turret, I'm less worried about it getting bumped in some way. I might check-weigh one in every 200 charges these days, if that. Not counting setup, of course.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Makes sense. I'm still pretty cautious, and I'm still working up loads, so my throw gets adjusted a lot. If it's a repetitive load I don't check it a lot.

I'm also still figuring out what meters well in my press. Accurate powders are super consistent and easy to work with.

Unique will drive me to drink. But variations in Unique don't seem to mean a lot to performance.

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, my 650 is set up for a USPSA load I haven't tweaked in the last 4k rounds or so!

 

[kmw1954]

I don't do nearly as much check-weighing on my 650 as I do on my LCT. Because the powder hopper/dropper isn't swinging around on a turret, I'm less worried about it getting bumped in some way. I might check-weigh one in every 200 charges these days, if that. Not counting setup, of course.

I'm just the opposite as I know I weigh check far more frequently than I really need to. Honestly I check about every tenth one no matter which press I'm using. That's my OCD. Funny how it never changes.

 

[FROGO207]

The important thing to take away is to have a repeatable procedure and follow it every time. If I come to the time to make a change in that procedure for whatever reason I write the steps down and read through them each session as needed until I am comfortable that it is now memorized and second nature. We all do change our procedure used over time due to safety concerns or streamlining the process among other things. Stay safe!

 

[Eddietruett]

One thing I learned this summer that the OP pointed out is do not force! You would think after 40 years of loading I would know this, but the case alignment got off on my Dillon 650 and every so often I was having to force a primer to seat. I had bought a bunch o off brandf once fired brass at a gun show and I just figured some of the holes were slightly smaller and was I wrong. I forced the lever up and it set off a chain reaction that fired close to 100 primers at once! It was quite an explosion. It blew out the aluminum primer tube and everything on top along with damaging the primer feed system. Thankfully the steel sleeve around the primer tube protected me. Dillon was kind enough to replace everything under warranty but I didn't care. I was so glad they built in the safety of the steel sleeve around the primer tube I would have gladly paid for all the parts. When I was replacing the parts is when I realized the alignment guide was out of line and a 10 second adjustment was all it took. By the way, I do wear safety glasses when loading no matter how dorky it looks and when I had the explosion, there was 2 burn marks on the lens that could have meant eye damage. Maybe, maybe not, but when you have an explosion and parts are flying all over the room, it gets your attention in a big way.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

One thing I learned this summer that the OP pointed out is do not force! You would think after 40 years of loading I would know this, but the case alignment got off on my Dillon 650 and every so often I was having to force a primer to seat. I had bought a bunch o off brandf once fired brass at a gun show and I just figured some of the holes were slightly smaller and was I wrong. I forced the lever up and it set off a chain reaction that fired close to 100 primers at once! It was quite an explosion. It blew out the aluminum primer tube and everything on top along with damaging the primer feed system. Thankfully the steel sleeve around the primer tube protected me. Dillon was kind enough to replace everything under warranty but I didn't care. I was so glad they built in the safety of the steel sleeve around the primer tube I would have gladly paid for all the parts. When I was replacing the parts is when I realized the alignment guide was out of line and a 10 second adjustment was all it took. By the way, I do wear safety glasses when loading no matter how dorky it looks and when I had the explosion, there was 2 burn marks on the lens that could have meant eye damage. Maybe, maybe not, but when you have an explosion and parts are flying all over the room, it gets your attention in a big way.

That's scary stuff. Glad you weren't injured in a serious way.

 

[buck460XVR]

Don't make more than you can shoot. Unless you keep a detailed log book of your loads you'll forget what you have loaded.

^^^This.
While I too keep a detailed log, and put details of type/quantity of the components used and assign reference numbers on every box of ammo I make, I prefer to keep components loose as opposed to loading them all up at once. While I generally keep several hundred loaded rounds for every caliber I shoot on hand at any given time, I also have found over the years that even while I may have found what I believe is my my "go to" load, it might not be exactly what I want all the time. Iffiin I find a better price on Brand X 158 gr JHPs, that the Brand Ys I have, I don't have to shoot the Brand Ys up to get empty cases to try the Brand Xs. Iffin my grand-kids or DILs want to shoot my .44s, I can make something other than the full power hunting load I generally shoot in them. Doesn't take long with experience to make up enough range fodder for a day of shooting. Iffin I die tomorrow, for the most part, I'd rather my son's inherit the components, as opposed to loaded ammo that has been tailored for my guns(even tho they will inherit those too). Then there's those times when you discover something after you load a thousand rounds of magnum revolver ammo, that makes you either pull the bullets or let the loaded ammo sit on the shelf(such as the use of Lil' Gun and it's known issues with excessive and premature forcing cone erosion). Been there done that.

 

[hdbiker]

Best advice I can add is keep good detailed records, and legible labels on loaded stored loads. Memory fades as you age !!! hdbiker

 

[Eddietruett]

That's scary stuff. Glad you weren't injured in a serious way.

Thanks. One of those things that may have been a blessing. After 40 years you tend to get complacent with things you do and I'll be the first to admit that I probably have not been the most safety oriented person lately, so it was a wake up call. It got my attention. The explosion was so loud my girlfriend came running. She heard it in the house 30-40 yards away and said it sounded louder than any gun she has ever heard and she shoots a .357 magnum. Won't tell you if I was able to save my pants or not!!

 

[lightman]

It sounds like you are finishing out the year with a really good understanding of the processes and a good set of rules. May next year be equally productive for you.