What did you do in the reloading room today?

[lightman]

Thanks Bookworm! I'll probably never run out, but lead is getting harder to find and more expensive. I'm just thinking???

[Jal5]

Used BLL on about 500 358125 RF for my 9mm. I have used up a bunch of those this summer. Time to reload

[Greg S]

Finished breaking in a new Mihec 360429 mold with 20 lbs laddled out of a Lee 20 lb pot.

[warpspeed]

Got a new press mounted to the bench - Dillon Super1050

[Soundguy]

I couldn't tell you off hand. It's about 15lb lead and 1/16th lb tin

assuming you had the mold clean and the lead to temp, a hair more tin won't hurt, but you don't want to harden the lead much past 6 BHN IMHO.. Not for revolvers anyway.

Somehow this got mixed up with a black powder pistol thread I was reading.

10-12 is fine for most non magnum smokless revolver bullets.

It's black powder revolver balls that you want ultra soft for.

Had to edit this to clarify.

[mwells72774]

assuming you had the mold clean and the lead to temp, a hair more tin won't hurt, but you don't want to harden the lead much past 6 BHN IMHO.. Not for revolvers anyway.

I'll try that. This pot is a harder mix for rifle calibers.

[JBinMN]

I'll try that. This pot is a harder mix for rifle calibers.

If ya haven't yet, this might be a good article to read(lots of references & articles there too):
http://www.lasc.us/FryxellCommentsCBAlloys.htm

Here is a couple quotes from that article that could be helpful:

What does this mean in terms of alloys? For general all-round revolver shooting, I find it hard to beat 10 lbs of wheel weight alloy with a couple ounces of added tin. This comes out to roughly 4% antimony, 2% tin (similar to the old electrotype alloy). This makes excellent bullet metal, it casts well and is hard enough for almost all handgun applications (BHN of about 12).

So, for routine sixgunning applications what do we want from our cast bullet alloy? In the 800-1000 fps range we should probably keep the alloy at a BHN of 12 or below. From 1000-1400 fps, 12 to 16 is a very useful range of hardness. For velocities of 1400 to 1700 fps, this window slides up to 14 to 20. Above 1700, linotype at a BHN of 22 is an excellent choice.

G'Luck!

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As far as the reloading room today...

Went to the scrap yard yesterday & turned in 8 lbs of aluminum for $2.80, added up to $5 & brought home a few chalices & a pot made of pewter for the tin. 1.5 pounds or so I am thinking.

Today is is melt it into ingots day & then this afternoon when it gets hot. Reload some cast boolits in .380, 38Sp. & 357.. Still using up that Red Dot.... In experimenting, I found that a used .22 cartridge volume of Red Dot holds on ave 2.1 grns. of Red Dot, & the .380 max in some load data is 2.1, so I am going to grind the top of the cartridge down, add a handle & have a little scoop for doing the .380 rounds. I will put it in the powder measure box for storage & to remind me to use it.

[bjordan]

Yesterday I bolted a new-to-me Dillon Square Deal next to my other SD. Now I can leave one set up for small primers, the other for large.

I am still tweaking the Lube Master. Man, these things are a PIA the first time. And, I have a Star already, so I know *something* about how to adjust them.

[rmark]

Resized 45-70 brass and found the little window air conditioner isn't cooling well. It's 95 degrees outside, not much less inside.

[montanamike]

Fully prep'd 1500 pieces of lc 556 and stainless tumbled 6000 223/556 mixed headstamp. And just worked on organizing the gun room in general.

[RED333]

Today is is melt it into ingots day & then this afternoon when it gets hot. Reload some cast boolits in .380, 38Sp. & 357.. Still using up that Red Dot.... In experimenting, I found that a used .22 cartridge volume of Red Dot holds on ave 2.1 grns. of Red Dot, & the .380 max in some load data is 2.1, so I am going to grind the top of the cartridge down, add a handle & have a little scoop for doing the .380 rounds. I will put it in the powder measure box for storage & to remind me to use it.

Here are 2 I made, the top one is .5 grans of titegroup for 25ACP, left is 1.3 grans of green dot, 25ACP as well. Right was a test.

[Soundguy]

Here are 2 I made, the top one is .5 grans of titegroup for 25ACP, left is 1.3 grans of green dot, 25ACP as well. Right was a test.

Nice.. I make those too. I have one for my 45-70 rounds that especially saves me time.

[MOA]

Finally got around to getting out the new brass I bought months ago and got it all deburred and sized. Ran it through the SS pins and got all the water based lube off of the cases and will dry overnight and put away until I am ready to load when I will round out the mouths from the dents they seem to get at the factory and shipping with the M die from Lyman. 150 forty five seventy, fifty thirty thirty, and fifty three seventy five Winchester and one hundred forty four mag cases.

[EMC45]

Filled my Marsh ink brush

[Harter66]

What do ya use it for ?

[Bookworm]

Cast a bit over 25 lbs of boolits. Used 50/50 CWW/Pb (pure), with 1% Sn added.

The weight is split about even, betwixt a LEE TL358-158-2R six cavity ; man that thing produces quickly,
and a new NOE TL358-175-RF 4 cavity.
That NOE mold is a joy to use. My first "nice" aluminum mold. Such a pleasure. Just a shake, and the boolits fall out.

Emptied the pot twice, that's enough at one sitting.

[mold maker]

Just finished citric acid cleaning over a K of really dirty mixed brass and sorted the military from the commercial. It rained on the brass before it dried and I let it sit over night on the screen to dry in today's sun. It started to darken before it dried so a CC and NuFinish tumble are in order.
What happened to the passivation that citric acid was supposed to impart?
Is acid rain possibly involved? The brass was brighter than new after citric acid-cleaning.

[Bookworm]

It's not acid rain, it's global warming. I mean climate change.

It's (we're) at fault for everything.

[62chevy]

Made 50 rounds of reduced loads for my 308 Savage Axis using 10 grains of Unique and a lead 170 grain powder coated bullet. This is a great plinking round with a mild recoil.

[Jal5]

125 rounds of 223 rem reloaded. Learned to better ream those primer pockets. Gave me problems on the lee loadmaster.