What have you done in the reloading room today

JmacD said:
I can definitely see that.With its gassy reputation, I’m surprised at the total lack of muzzle flash I had running it in a night class. I took some other for back up just in case, but I had nothing. One lady had some stuff for her 38spec her dad had loaded. WOW. I don’t recall the recipe, but her hubby was apologizing to her all over the place for not getting “her” loads done for her. LOUD and Flashy. Kinda like my great aunt R. 🤣🤣
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Probably W231 or Accurate No.5. I tried the W231 in the Contender and was very pleased with the accuracy but it seemed a little loud and I could see a fireball. By the time I got to the midrange loads in the 4” M82 I knew it was going to be a nogo.

I have those muffs with volume knobs and noise cancellation so I can tune them for testing the noise levels and “crack” of my loads.
 
CQB45ACP said:
Reminds me of my father’s snubby (my grips). He got it as a gift from his “squad“ in the 70s on his 20th or 25th anniversary.

I don’t load for it nor shoot it for that matter. It’s not my cup of tea. And without those Pachmyra (sp?) grips it’s tough to hold on to for me.
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You know, if you ever decide to pass that along to a good home, I know a guy. He just got a clean bill of health after prostate cancer treatment and his dad was also a cop - detective of some kind in Satellite Beach.
 
Wet tumbled 2 more loads of brass today and sorted and stored everything that I tumbled yesterday. One more day of tumbling (maybe) and a few hours sorting and then on to the next project. That will probably involve a lead furnace!
 
Did a small batch of 38-44. Rcbs-358-180-sil with 8.6 grains of blue dot cci 550 at 1.555. The brass was not mine previously so I had to trim chamfer and debur. Skipped trimming flash holes 😱. 143 more added to the reserve. 20240107_185519.jpg
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Tumbling. .38Spl brass from yesterday. Plain corn cob, then decap, then treated walnut, resize and into the bin with the rest of the prepped WIN head stamp .38Spl brass.
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Winchester 38s get 180s with 8.6 blue dot.
Federal 38s get 170swcs with 6.8 Silhouette
I have piles of other 38s just for safe keeping I guess.
 
Dug out yesterday’s empties after lunch and finished before dinner: 1st tumble, decap, resize, inspect, 2nd tumble, bag.
IMG_2278.jpeg
Total time invested about an hour. 188 cases. I know, not “shiny” or “shinny” either but they’re clean and ready for loading. 😁
 
Finished up trimming those 400 6.5ManBun cases, primed up 150 of them. I did order 300 142grn SMK's, and a 50 box of Nosler Accubonds for the 6.5.

Trimmed up about 150 .308 cases I had setting, and deburred them on the Lyman machine.
 
Over the wkend, loaded 75 45 acp. Just started on them.Redding Dies ( first time ever using Redding Dies) with th3 titanium carbide ring. Unique and CCl lpp & spp. Rmr 230 fmj and a few win231 cci lpp wirh sierra 230 fmj. Wife bought me my first 1911 Kimber nightstar lw for Christmas and my birthday (which is this month). Probably should grab some factory ammo and see how it does too. Can't wait to hit the range!
 
Well, the organizing continues… and the rest of the 9mm pile… after I get home from work. I put some more slatwall hooks in and moved some others around. This year’s goal is a progressive press(probably LnL) a Wilson trimmer, and a case prep set up…
Hopefully I might also start on some shelves this evening.
 
Decapped and cleaned the pockets of the 100 pieces of Lapua 7.62x54r that I use as "Match" brass. I need to cast some more projectiles in the next week or so; I haven't enough for the next match.

Also pulled out a batch of 357 brass: 130 pieces of FED headstamp that I want to load up with CBI powder and the Lee tumble-lube 158gr round nose.
The Lee bullet is my standard casual shooting bullet for 38 and 357. Cheap, accurate, and easy to lube and load. I cast them from range lead and shoot 'em as-cast.
And, I have a large supply of CBI powder.

Fortunately for me, the batch of FED brass has already been sized and trimmed: it's the only trimming it gets for the life of the brass. And, since I already did it on some rainy day back in 2022, I don't need to do it now.
 
I just emptied the first tumbler load of brass for today and it wasn't as shiny as normal so I put the media back in the tumbler with some Dawn and set it for 2 hours. This dull brass thing happens occasionally and when it does I tumble the media and run the dull batch again. Oh well, I'm retired! Whats time to a Hog!!! I'll start sorting yesterdays brass and get it put away.
 
lightman said:
I just emptied the first tumbler load of brass for today and it wasn't as shiny as normal so I put the media back in the tumbler with some Dawn and set it for 2 hours. This dull brass thing happens occasionally and when it does I tumble the media and run the dull batch again. Oh well, I'm retired! Whats time to a Hog!!! I'll start sorting yesterdays brass and get it put away.
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If your just starting out 1 thing to remember is if you have black residue on everything you did not use enough soap. I prefer the ArmorAll W&W since it leaves a protective coating behind. Also try different amounts of LimeShine/citric acid. When I switched over to county water I had to double the amount I was adding to get the brass clean. Water pH plays an important part in the chemical make up.
 
lightman said:
I just emptied the first tumbler load of brass for today and it wasn't as shiny as normal so I put the media back in the tumbler with some Dawn and set it for 2 hours. This dull brass thing happens occasionally and when it does I tumble the media and run the dull batch again. Oh well, I'm retired! Whats time to a Hog!!! I'll start sorting yesterdays brass and get it put away.
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I also encounter this from time to time

So running in just dawn gets them shiny after being clean but dull?
 
Blue68f100 said:
If your just starting out 1 thing to remember is if you have black residue on everything you did not use enough soap. I prefer the ArmorAll W&W since it leaves a protective coating behind. Also try different amounts of LimeShine/citric acid. When I switched over to county water I had to double the amount I was adding to get the brass clean. Water pH plays an important part in the chemical make up.
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I’m wondering if my county water doesn’t change ph on occasion because I’ll do everything the same as usual but the results are very different.
 
Blue68f100 said:
Water pH plays an important part in the chemical make up.
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Correct... pH, among other things.

CQB45ACP said:
I’m wondering if my county water doesn’t change ph on occasion because I’ll do everything the same as usual but the results are very different.
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The other issue can be the other things in the water, namely, chlorine or chloramines, and phosphates... added to treat the water.

Not to go off on a tangent, but you would not believe what's in your tap water.
 
Went ahead and loaded up 150 6.5CM cartridges... a 3 charge ladder with H4350 and the Hornady 140grn ELD-M, and a single starting load with H4350 and the last 29 142grn SMK's I had. I've not got good results with the ELD-M, not when compared to the SMK, so I ostensibly loaded those to 1) get rid of them, and 2) for my brother's future hunting rifle in 6.5CM. He's still waiting on it, but I thought the Hornadys would be a good enough bullet for him to get some trigger time behind it, and get his scope dialed in. And, you never know, his rifle might like them... I have 100 left.
 
Charlie98 said:
Correct... pH, among other things.



The other issue can be the other things in the water, namely, chlorine or chloramines, and phosphates... added to treat the water.

Not to go off on a tangent, but you would not believe what's in your tap water.
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That’s why I don’t drink it. I drink bottled spring water which of course could be dipped from a collection pond at a PA strip mine.
 
Blue68f100 said:
If your just starting out 1 thing to remember is if you have black residue on everything you did not use enough soap. I prefer the ArmorAll W&W since it leaves a protective coating behind. Also try different amounts of LimeShine/citric acid. When I switched over to county water I had to double the amount I was adding to get the brass clean. Water pH plays an important part in the chemical make up.
Click to expand...

CQB45ACP said:
I also encounter this from time to time

So running in just dawn gets them shiny after being clean but dull?
Click to expand...

CQB45ACP said:
I’m wondering if my county water doesn’t change ph on occasion because I’ll do everything the same as usual but the results are very different.
Click to expand...

Charlie98 said:
Correct... pH, among other things.



The other issue can be the other things in the water, namely, chlorine or chloramines, and phosphates... added to treat the water.

Not to go off on a tangent, but you would not believe what's in your tap water.
Click to expand...

CQB45ACP said:
That’s why I don’t drink it. I drink bottled spring water which of course could be dipped from a collection pond at a PA strip mine.
Click to expand...
The water treatment guy wants to tell everyone they need a softener and a reverse osmosis. It will make your brass cleaning so much simpler, and you will use a lot less soap and cleaning solution. But that’s an entirely different subject :). very possible you’re dealing with something a whole lot more than just the pH. Hardness means you have dissolved rocks in your water. Chlorine and chloramines(Ammonia with it to stabilize it) is really harsh stuff. Takes a TON of detergent to suspend what shouldn’t take 1/4 of that. It’s a big tangent I shall leave alone. lol. 😂


I got home early thanks to a snowstorm. So the kiddo is back home and we’re in the reloading room.
 
Going to load up some .38 spl with Unique[100] and Red Dot[50] under Missouri coated 158gr rnfp.
Desert trip looming. May as well take the .45 acp along.
 
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