What have you done in the reloading room today

Captain*kirk said:
When your piggyback overcharged...were you using a lockout or powder checker die?
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Good question. That was probably 1998 ish. I am uncertain as it was too long ago to recall clearly. I have a powder checker die, but I can not say for certain I had it on the turret of the Piggyback. I would think I did, but I can't guarantee that. I was using a Uniflow powder drop with micrometer adjustment accessory (an upgrade to the Uniflow back then), so it is very odd that it happened. I ran thousands of cartridges through that Piggyback, Captain, mostly 9mil and 380 with some 38 spl/357 and 44 spl/44 mag, and the only one that overcharged was a lone 357 mag.

The only thing I can think of is that I somehow jerked or paused and reset the reloading lever in a funky manner one time and that somehow gave me more powder than the Uniflow micrometer was set for. LIke I somehow went half way, the powder dropped partially, I stopped and put the lever back to rest and started again dropping even more powder. I'm totally guessing here, and it seems ridiculous that I would have done this, but who knows. Regardless, with uniform press rhythm, that should not have happened. At least, to my thinking anyway.
 
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I have the micrometer setting on my Uniflow as well. More than once the barrel of the Mic has worked loose allowing the whole assembly to back out. I only noticed because I weigh every 10th charge on my scale and noticed the charge weight increasing. This isn't the Mic thimble, but rather the whole barrel assembly. Kinda scary if you think about running 2-300 cartridges without checking. Especially when loading something like .380 when you only have about a .5gr tolerance between min and max...
 
Captain*kirk said:
I have the micrometer setting on my Uniflow as well. More than once the barrel of the Mic has worked loose allowing the whole assembly to back out. I only noticed because I weigh every 10th charge on my scale and noticed the charge weight increasing. This isn't the Mic thimble, but rather the whole barrel assembly. Kinda scary if you think about running 2-300 cartridges without checking. Especially when loading something like .380 when you only have about a .5gr tolerance between min and max...
Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks for letting me know. Mine is solid. It does not seem like it could come loose on its own, but obviously, it can. Since it only dropped one overcharge, I would doubt that it was a loose Mic barrel that caused the problem, or I would have had more than one overcharge. But I am glad you told me. From now on, I am going to check that before every hand load session. I do visully check every load in the loading blocks now that I am single stage loading, and I have pulled various cartridges to weigh them on my digital scale, but your message gives me pause to really be on my toes from now on. Much appreciated.
 
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3sport said:
Thanks for the tip! Are you talking Marion County north of Ocala? That's about 90 minutes from my place in Florida, so no problem driving that. I will need to buy more large pistol primers regardless of what I can find in my supplies. I seem to recall that I only have about 200 left.... if I can find them.
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Yup. A place called Harry Beckwith’s in Micanopy. I think technically it might be in Alachua Cty but it’s right near the line. Right off 75 and while you’re in the area check out Paines Prairie and Bolen Bluff. Might as well make a day of it, right? 😋
 
3sport said:
Interesting. Thanks for letting me know. Mine is solid. It does not seem like it could come loose on its own, but obviously, it can. Since it only dropped one overcharge, I would doubt that it was a loose Mic barrel that caused the problem, or I would have had more than one overcharge. But I am glad you told me. From now on, I am going to check that before every hand load session. I do visully check every load in the loading blocks now that I am single stage loading, and I have pulled various cartridges to weigh them on my digital scale, but your message gives me pause to really be on my toes from now on. Much appreciated.
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I'm actually considering using blue LocTite on the barrel threads. I know that will become a PITA if I need to remove it, but better than blowing myself up.
 
Built myself a set of plastic jaws for the Wilton and then immediately used them to clean the 6x45. I'm sure they will have more broad use but I couldn't use the Tipton gun vise for cleaning ars so this was my solution. I may take them back off and make the faces very slight v blocks....

20240405_184240.jpg
 
Sometimes nothing else will do for the offender but a few moments alone the corner of my garage with a heavy vise and large hammer. Whatever I took it for there certainly deserved the trip and it's survival no longer a concern to me.

6lATQZLl.jpg
 
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Loaded some really light .357 Magnum rounds with Acme 158-grain SWCs and Universal, a dozen each at 4.0, 4.3 and 4.6 grains of powder. Just curious to see how they'll shoot in my Model 19.

Also wet tumbled some 9mm brass. Normally I use the Lyman 600 buzz bin for pistol brass, but these were range pick ups that had been in the dirt.
 
I'm still loading that 300 rounds of 38 special.
100 left to do.

I have also been busy taking care of the "Strange Range" and its abundant amount of spent cases, which is weeks early for here up North.

I thought this was odd.........

1712368334686.jpeg

Could this have been manufactured this year?
Many found.
Odd for making it to the "End of the Road"!

Hey!
Use care out there!
B.L.
 
Mounted the vise I bought today. I like that it swivels on both axis, seems pretty solidly built! I measured the jaws out for making a set of soft jaws, and I may make a blank set for the "bottom jaws" as well. Should do well for all of my reloading and hobby stuff!

20240405_210428.jpg
20240405_210445.jpg
 
1976B.L.Johns. said:
I'm still loading that 300 rounds of 38 special.
100 left to do.

I have also been busy taking care of the "Strange Range" and its abundant amount of spent cases, which is weeks early for here up North.

I thought this was odd.........

View attachment 1203436

Could this have been manufactured this year?
Many found.
Odd for making it to the "End of the Road"!

Hey!
Use care out there!
B.L.
Click to expand...
Good guess on date—someone here will know

I have many of the 20, 21, 22 vintage (if it is a vintage). Maybe others.

Edit: but I obviously can't take a decent picture

IMG_4620.jpeg
 
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Been too long, but work should lighten up a bit come the end of the month. Did make time today to finish processing 100 pieces of once-fired Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass. They were previously deprimed, wet tumbled, and annealed. Today I sized, expanded, trimmed to length, deburred, and chamfered them. All set to prime.

65GrendelBrass.JPG
 
Treated myself to a new bench top. This is the first money I have spent on the bench itself, as it was originally built with pallets and scrap lumber. The toolbox was unnecessary after changing jobs, and the refrigerator was a broken one replaced at the shop I was working at, so I didn't feel too bad upgrading the top from a formica pantry door over hardwood scraps.
17124392906475410913479104414373.jpg
 
IMG_4095.jpeg
Part of the reason reloading has been very slow the past few days is I am “puppy sitting” for my ex/my daughter’s dog. It’s really not much of a bother; he’s a nice little bugger 😁. I plan on having a pup of my own around pretty quick. He was not with me today, and my daughter is with mom this weekend, so I did get a few things done. IMG_4104.jpeg
I finally got these things primed that have been staring at me for like three weeks! Still takes forever when you’re working with one arm!
IMG_4106.jpeg

I took my time, and did some pretty serious cleanup in and around the reloading room. The bench is looking a little better than it has in a while. It is a little difficult when you aren’t supposed to lift anything whatsoever with one hand…
 
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Dry cycled some Lee 95gr FP .380 bullets compared to the Lee 102gr RN. The 95gr FN got pretty battered after one cycle and also telescoped into the case by 10+ thousand. I’m gonna stick with the RN for defense ammo and the FN for range days.
 
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