Getting started with reloading for my S&W Model 10-5?

I’m not sure what you mean by “loaner brass” but if you’re talking about the brass I sent you, it has been sized already and those are live primers, so just start by expanding them, then charging and finally seating and crimping the bullet.

The hammer style puller is loud. Using towels to dampen the noise also dampens the impact, so it doesn’t work as well. I’d go outside and bang it on some fairly smooth concrete. A short firm smack is better than a big windup.

If I plan to try to reuse pulled bullets I drop a bit of foam or a wad of paper towels inside the hammer to cushion the bullet when it comes flying out.

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Originally Posted by JimB..

The hammer style puller is loud. Using towels to dampen the noise also dampens the impact, so it doesn’t work as well. I’d go outside and bang it on some fairly smooth concrete. A short firm smack is better than a big windup.

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I didn't mean anything of it calling it "Loaner Brass". just that it came from another source than my own inventory of brass. I was talking about the miscellaneous brass that was left unprimed but clean and ready to use. I don't want to test my seating procedure on brass that has the only primers in my inventory, that's all. I may try the concrete outside my door while no one's looking. That, and more confidently slamming the puller into my less fortunate furniture. There is a cube of foam inside the bullet puller that cushions the bullet once it is separated. I'm pretty much sacrificing these 2-3 bullets for seating tests.

On another note, I also figured out how to calibrate my scales, both the Lee Precision Scale and the Electronic Scale I picked up. Thankfully that one has a calibrated weight to set it with. I have NOT opened up my 1lb bottle of Win 231 just yet, and I'd rather not until I'm absolutely certain I can do the job right. Those 100 primers are all I have and I want to do my absolute best job to make them count.

Stick with cast boolits and Bullseye and Unique are your friend

The best surface to use your bullet puller on is hard concrete. I have tried softer surfaces like wood floor or table and it just doesn’t work good. On over all leingth don’t worry about it much. In a revolver as long as it fits and dosent stick out of the cylinder it’s fine. Don’t worry if your leingth is plus’s or minus .005 or less

Thank you for the tips! Here's the four unprimed but seated cartridges that I can't seem to pull without either causing too much noise or just not enough gutso.
I'm going to try to use Imgur to post some more high resolution files.

All Four Seated Brass + Bullets. All four brass cases are from four different brands/lengths.
https://imgur.com/rrVup56
https://imgur.com/GpGflMB
https://imgur.com/xRsmlrP
https://imgur.com/3SrOW7o

How do these look? Are they crimped too hard? I'm a little scared to take them down into my cylinder to be honest. Perhaps one of those reference chamber things would be best...

I wasn’t offended by the term “loaner brass” I just didn’t understand.

Can you post a picture of the bullet you’re loading, I’d like to know if it has a crimp groove.

Hopefully you’ve read about seating and crimping. You have a seating die that will also crimp, and then you have the factory crimp die. Set the factory crimp die aside and learn to adjust the seating and crimping die so that the crimp rolls into the crimp groove on the bullet. Some folks like the factory crimp die, but learn the old way first so you can make an informed decision.

FWIW, hit the hammer solidly on the concrete, swing from the elbow and flick the wrist at the end, the hammer is not going to break.

Glad that you got the scales figured out. There is nothing magic about opening the powder bottle, I have some partial containers that were opened more than a decade ago and the powder is fine.

If you’re willing to waste a little powder, put a little on a piece of paper and set it on fire (outside). You’ll be surprised at how it burns, it’s really nothing exciting and certainly nothing like the movies, it’ll burn but it won’t go bang unless it’s contained. I commonly dump powder from questionable sources out on the front lawn, it’s a good fertilizer.

One more thing, drop those test cartridges into the cylinder, if they don’t fit you can easily push them back out with the ejector...that’s what it’s for.

Two bullet choices for a S&W Model 10. 148 grain dewc or 158 grain swc. Of the two I'd start off with the 158 swc as it's more likely to shoot to the sights and save the wadcutters when you get more comfortable with your revolver. Me I like big bores,44 special and 45 acp. Don't have a suitable mold for the 44 special but plenty of hard cast to play with and the 45 acp will be getting a mold for the 230 grain RN standard Gov't profile. That bullet has never failed to give good accuracy in any 45 its been shot in. Frank

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Originally Posted by JimB..

I wasn’t offended by the term “loaner brass” I just didn’t understand.

Can you post a picture of the bullet you’re loading, I’d like to know if it has a crimp groove.

Hopefully you’ve read about seating and crimping. You have a seating die that will also crimp, and then you have the factory crimp die. Set the factory crimp die aside and learn to adjust the seating and crimping die so that the crimp rolls into the crimp groove on the bullet. Some folks like the factory crimp die, but learn the old way first so you can make an informed decision.

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I had purchased this set of SWC .38 bullets from Hoosier Bullets: https://hoosierbullets.com/38-calibe...i-tech-coated/

I'm fairly certain I'm using the seating/crimping die, but as far as I can tell since every case is a little different depending on the manufacturer, the crimp is being applied to around the same place but often not exactly on the ring that it's meant for.

Regarding powder, I'd assume that it's OK to put unused powder back into its original container as long as it was dry? I'm thinking of having only a dixie cup sized portion (2oz) of powder on the table at a time when I'm charging my cartridges, with the main supply of powder far away. I've also got a normal sized fire extinguisher in my apartment that i'd rather never put to use but it's there for the dire situations that require it.

Powder doesn't ignite unless you have a flame right on it. No reason to dump powder in a container and move the pound container elsewhere. Dump some in your cup, I use an aluminum measuring cup, and recap your container. When you're done, dump it back into the container. In fact it is foolish to move the original container away if you have more than one powder. Likewise never have more than one kind of powder out at once. If you're interrupted you may accidentally pour it back into the wrong container. If you have open powder and need to take a short break, say for the bathroom or a coke, that's totally fine.

It's cool to play with your dies and stuff now, but you should read the Lyman manual before making live cartridges. In fact it's imperative that you read the manual sections on powder, primers, cases, and handgun loading. Did I see you have a Lyman 46th? If so read pages 170-202. It only takes an hour.

If you're not willing to set down and read about loading, you'll not be a safe loader. Reloading is not something you can jump into and learn as you go, you learn first, then learn more as you go. The only safe way to learn without a mentor is to study the manuals, and not the load data.

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Originally Posted by Bazoo

It's cool to play with your dies and stuff now, but you should read the Lyman manual before making live cartridges. In fact it's imperative that you read the manual sections on powder, primers, cases, and handgun loading. Did I see you have a Lyman 46th? If so read pages 170-202. It only takes an hour.

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I have read that portion of the book regarding handgun cartridges. It gives some good tips and procedures on all this. I'll probably go over it again before I truly begin. Right now I'm still a little worried that I may be crimping too hard. Can you tell if there's anything wrong with the seated brass and bullets?

Those crimps look good enough. Having different case lengths affects the crimp, some people trim to get to the same length, some sort by length, some sort by headstamp. I generally don’t do any of that because I’m not a good enough shot for it to matter.

If it concerns you just sort them by length and set the dies for whatever you have the most of.

The crimp looks okay to me. If they chamber, it should be just fine. If you have too much crimp the longer cases will buckle. I trim for consistent crimp, but I also have done both loading by headstamp and loading by case longest length.

Read those other parts too.

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Originally Posted by Bazoo

The crimp looks okay to me. If they chamber, it should be just fine. If you have too much crimp the longer cases will buckle. I trim for consistent crimp, but I also have done both loading by headstamp and loading by case longest length.

Read those other parts too.

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https://imgur.com/3SrOW7o
I'm not entirely sure if it's just me, but I think that the case to the left is a little on the snug side in terms of diameter. I think I can see the area where the bullet sits in the case bulged out by a tiny bit.

If it was loaded and fired, would something like that work with no problem? Just trying to dot all of my I's on this one.

Also, would putting Hoppe's gun lubricant into the hand press shaft work? I can see the factory lube in there but it's something I will have to worry about in the future.

Too much crimp will bulge the case at the top, but as long as you can get it chambered it will be safe to fire. I've fired some that I had to push into the chambers. Just back off the crimp a smidge. Another thing you can do, is bump that round into the sizing die with the decapping assembly removed. Bump in just a 1/16" and don't run it the while way into it, otherwise it will swage your bullet down. It's a quick and dirty way of making that odd round that won't chamber, chamber without having to break the round down. Try it with your dummy, but it is fine for a live round.

Never ever go back and reseat a primer in a love round. By the way.

Hoppes gun oil is fine for the hand press. It needn't be wet with lube. I like hoppes oil personally, but bout anything will suffice.

By the way, everyone makes dummy rounds to assist in setting up the seat crimp die when changing bullets. Once you get it where you want it, make a dummy and then you use that in the die so you can bring the adjustment right in to where you want it with minimal tweaking.

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Originally Posted by Bazoo

Another thing you can do, is bump that round into the sizing die with the decapping assembly removed.

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I believe I'm using the standard Bullet Seating Die for the seating and crimping, with the post-seating die's crimp tools empty. I'll send it through the post-crimp and see how it looks.

I think I will be sizing, setting, and seating another four sacrificial bullets/brass in short time, and closely analyze the results.

My favorite surface for impact bullet pullers is a piece of end grain wood. A piece of log at least 5” or 6” in diameter and 15”-20” long works great. I believe it’s easier on the puller than unyielding surfaces like concrete or metal.

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Originally Posted by David2011

My favorite surface for impact bullet pullers is a piece of end grain wood. A piece of log at least 5” or 6” in diameter and 15”-20” long works great. I believe it’s easier on the puller than unyielding surfaces like concrete or metal.

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I'm looking for a surface that would not cause too much racket and should not resonate too much. That's why I was thinking of a hard rubber mallet like the kind that you use to un-dent a piece of car body. I'm just hoping that the action of hitting it against the mallet would be overall quieter than my current strategy of smacking the puller against particle board furniture.

A short length of 4x4 would be about perfect for an apartment dweller. Also be handy for other things occasionally.

Probably get by with flipping over a chair or table and hitting it against the end grain of the leg.

Maybe a brick would suffice?

If you have a rubber mallet, don't ask us, tell us... whether or not it worked