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Boerrancher
07-11-2008, 02:55 PM
I have for a while now been shooting the Lee 429-200-RF out of my 44-40 Mod 1866 Win, unsized, with no issues. I was using only win brass. I have been collecting for some time brass for this rifle, and have never bothered to use it. As I would collect it I was tossing all of the once fired stuff in a box never worrying about separating by head stamp.

Brass seems to last a long time in that rifle, as a matter of fact I have some that have been shot, reloaded, and annealed so many times you can barely read the head stamp anymore. This morning while loading up a box of my empty brass I found a few that had cracked necks so I tossed them in the scrap box, and dragged out the same number of my once fired not paying attention to the head stamps. I loaded a few and wanted to make sure that they chambered properly as my 3 y/o got his hands on my seating die and made some unwanted adjustments to it.

I quickly discovered that my Star Line and Remington brass wouldn't chamber, and the Winchester brass chambered right up. I dug through and pulled out the number of winchester pieces of brass that I needed to fill my box, and a five more pieces of Remington brass. I sized 5 of the 429-200-RF boolits and loaded them. They chambered up just fine. I didn't realize that there was that much difference in brass.

I maybe tossing up some New and once fired Remington and Star Line brass to trade for New and once fired Winchester brass once I see if the sized boolits shoot well in both my rifle and pistols. I am sure that the heavier brass is better, I just don't want to have to mess with sorting head stamps and sizing my boolits, as they shoot great out of both my rifle and pistol as well as my 44 mag pistol.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

Boz330
07-11-2008, 04:01 PM
Yep the Remington is thicker and Starline as well from what I understand. I have a buddy that uses Remington when he is trying to reduce a BP load in his 45-70. It makes that much difference.

Bob

runfiverun
07-11-2008, 08:29 PM
wait till you find out your bbl is 430 and your sizer die wont let you use boolits any larger than
428.
that got a 2 thumbs up in the loading room.
and a one didgit phone dial.

Boerrancher
07-12-2008, 11:13 AM
wait till you find out your bbl is 430 and your sizer die wont let you use boolits any larger than
428.
that got a 2 thumbs up in the loading room.
and a one didgit phone dial.

That is nearly the case with my Mod 94 30-30. The bore is 309 and so is my sizer. No wonder I could never get the Winchester factory loads to shoot out of it, as they were all loaded with 307 dia bullets, which happens to be my land dia.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

Dale53
07-12-2008, 12:04 PM
Joe;
You have now moved to the next level in reloading. I would guess that there are 4, 992 levels, more or less...[smilie=1:

I have been loading for nearly 60 (yeah, SIXTY) years and I am still learning. I am a "Certified Old Fart" and recently learned (more and more each day:???:) that trying to rely on memory may not be the best thing to do (keep detailed notes of all operations and you won't have to learn this yourself).

However, it is still MUCH fun.

Dale53

Boerrancher
07-12-2008, 04:23 PM
Joe;
You have now moved to the next level in reloading. I would guess that there are 4, 992 levels, more or less...[smilie=1:



Dale, I finally broke down and slugged all of my 44 cal firearms. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of them had a bore dia of 0.427. Even my Ruger Redhawk that I have heard so many people on the boards complain about was about as perfect as you can get, with each chamber throat measuring 0.4295, and the bore sitting at 0.427. Now I know why I paid the extra money to send it through the Ruger Custom shop years ago when I bought it. The Store owner I was working for told me to send it off before I ever put a round in it. I thought I had just paid a lot of money for a trigger job. I guess not.

I have been loading and casting for half the time that you have, and I never fail to learn something new every day that I sit down to the reloading bench or the shooting bench. I just wish I had more time to do it. I was really glad though to know that I can size all of my 44 boolits to 0.429 and they should shoot just fine. Which means I shouldn't have to sell off all of my Remington and Star Line 44-40 brass, which is good as I just bought another new 100 pcs of Remington the other day before I realized that they wouldn't work in my rifle with out sizing the boolit.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

Dale53
07-12-2008, 06:27 PM
One of the things that enable me to pick up rather quickly on a solution when a problem arises, is that I was trained as a machinist. I then spent several years repairing automatic laundry equipment. I was not just a parts changer but a trouble shooter. Then, I went into the Insurance business as a Claims Representative eventually handling several million dollars worth of business - half was personal type and the other half was industrial accounts. Again, because of my early beginnings I was able to make use of that experience in a VERY positive way.

I shot at a high level of competition in a variety of disciplines (all required reloading and casting of bullets). I also cast bullets commercially (low profit, high labor requirements but rather satisfying). I kept track of my shooting for five years (my IPSC years). I cast bullets, reloaded and shot 75,000 rounds of .45 ACP during that five year period (shot three times a week without fail). This did not count my commercial efforts. It also did not count the several other calibers that I reloaded for. I did this while in the insurance business (thirty years) all the while supporting a family- needless to say, I was a busy lad.

I've always kind of considered myself rather a lazy feller, but lookin' back, I wonder[smilie=1:.

The point of this ramble is that in spite of all of that "hands on" experience, I am still learning. I guess I'll stop learning when they plant me and "I'll go with a smile on my face!":mrgreen:

Dale53

runfiverun
07-12-2008, 07:17 PM
notes.... i write em, then forget where i put them, or stuff them in the note book and drop them all on the floor.
so each caliber has 2" of 1"x3" torn pieces of paper, and one load on each page.......
i really need a secretary.
but i usually do an inventory of the loaded ammo once a year and catch it all up.
the kids call it the day of pain, in the gun room..

Boerrancher
07-12-2008, 10:17 PM
i usually do an inventory of the loaded ammo once a year and catch it all up.
the kids call it the day of pain, in the gun room..

I don't inventory what I have in the gun/reloading room. All of my professional career, be it in the Army or in the private sector it would seem that all I have done is inventories, managed materials, or handled supply chain logistics. Having to be super organized and know what, where, and how much of anything is available, has dampened my spirits some what of keeping detailed inventories of my reloading supplies. I just know that when I get down to 3k primers of any kind or 2 lbs of any of the powders that I use it is time to buy more. I keep things organized enough to be able to tell this at a glance. When I can see the bottom layer of any one of my 3lb coffee cans, I know it is time to cast more boolits. I make sure that I always have at least 200/2 boxes of the 6mm, and 308 dia bullets for my High speed, long range loads. It doesn't take long to look on the shelf and see how many boxes are there.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe