What did you do in the reloading room today?

[MDC]

So far, wet tumbled, sized and trimmed 200 357 brass, lube sized and seated gas checks on about 250 358156 boolits. Gonna start loading them after dinner.

[JBinMN]

Not so much reloading , but casting...

I have been casting outside & doing so as per the weather... Things have changed now...


Installed some ducting & a fan to make an "inside the garage" casting area. I have been putting this off for 2 Winters.

It is now done.

Supposed to rain now for the next 3 days. I think I am going to "test" the system I put in.

[tazman]

Putting together some full wadcutter rounds for my next range session with my revolvers. Lyman 358091 over 3.1 of WST. This one works as well as anything does for me and is cleaner than some powders.

Before you panic, these will be fired in 357 mag revolvers.

[JM7.7x58]

I have over the last few weeks been converting two hundred military 30-06 brass into 7.7x58mm Japanese. Well last night I finished forming and trimming the last of them. I seated and then unseated a few primers to make sure the crimps had been removed completely. Then they all got a soapy bath to remove the pneumatic tool oil I have been using as case lube. Up next will be annealing by hand.

While those were drying, I loaded up 99 38 special. I have been dipping and weighing and then pouring through a funnel. It is time consuming. I had been working this way because I was carefully working up a load ladder. One of the dippers gives me a 4.3 grain charge of AA no.2, this falls right in the middle of the load ladder that I worked up. I did not notice much difference in accuracy I decided to go the easy route and just use the 4.3 grain charge.

I tried the dip and scrape off with a business card method, this works but involves picking up the card, picking up the funnel, pouring the powder. I realized that I could turn over the case, use the mouth to scrape the charge flush, seat the case mouth over the dippers bevel and then flip over the entire assembly. Using this method is much faster, it is also impossible to double charge a case using this method, because the case must always be turned over to transfer the powder. A double charge with AA no.2 is possible with the other method.

[sigep1764]

I also loaded 200 38 special with a dipper, but 3 grains of Red Dot and the Lee 356 95 RF. It's a nice easy on the gun load. Also 200 rounds of 270Win with 10 grains of Red Dot with the Lee 277 135RF and 200 rounds of 223 with 15 grains of W748 and MP 227 75 NATO. Nice relaxing day at the bench. I ran out of the Lee boolit and my Elco boolit. Vacation starts on Friday, lots of casting gonna be happening.

[Dieselhorses]

Not so much reloading , but casting...

I have been casting outside & doing so as per the weather... Things have changed now...


Installed some ducting & a fan to make an "inside the garage" casting area. I have been putting this off for 2 Winters.

It is now done.

Supposed to rain now for the next 3 days. I think I am going to "test" the system I put in.

It's a good feeling finally getting something done you been putting off!

[Dieselhorses]

Cleaned brass, then more brass....and even more.

Loaded a couple hundred purple pills in 45 auto.

Then worked up some big dogs with some Unique (5 w/IMR4227).

[Michael J. Spangler]

I realized that my LEE 300 Blackout die doesn’t quiet size the brass down enough. Seems to be a common problem with their dies in this cartridge.
So after a run through the RCBS small base 223 die they are spot on.
So I order an RCBS 300 blackout small base die. This should solve my issue with random cartridges not chambering and being a bear to extract when it happens.

Also ran my Giraud 300 blackout tri way trimmer for its first real run. Heck of a tool and well worth the $

[44Blam]

Picked up all the brass at my local range and sifted through for 40 S&W and put all the 9mm aside. Later overheard a guy saying "I think I'm going to start reloading for 9mm." So I walked over with a bucket of probably 500 cases of 9mm and said "Here is your starter kit."

I also shot my newest steel target. It held up to full house 44 magnum at 20 yards, but you can see where those hit as opposed to 40 and 9mm. I should take a pic...

This afternoon, I cast 10# of 40 cal boolits. These are the NOE 402-HTC-188 and with the cup point they end up weighing about 172 grain. I think I need to do a solid 20-30# session soon. The mold is a two banger, but they just cast perfect with a nice slow cadence that kind of clears the mind. I did 10# in about 2 hours... So, maybe next weekend I'll do a mega cast with that same mold...
Attachment 240228

[mattw]

I cast 22 caliber bullets for the first time in 30'ish years. They are not to bad to cast, had a low cull rate and ended up with a few. I also cast a handful of Saeco 412's, 185 grain 41 mags. My daughter powder coated them and sized them for me. The color was her idea, she likes to make new colors. It came out looking like very light purple robin egg shell. They shot well also. The 22's are from an old unvented Ideal 225438 and come in at 44 grains and change. The mould is a double cavity, thank God! They are so small, I have a hard time sorting them with my old hands. I am not looking forward to adding checks and sizing them.

Now I need to get gaschecks and a .225 size die. They will be powder coated and run thru the 22 TCM 1911.

[Tom W.]

Cast, lubed and sized 400 boolits for my oldest son. He just got a Ruger LCR..I have the Lee .358-158 rf six cavity mold but sold the .357 I had......I'm hoping to get the Lee .358-125 and see how it does in my 9mm pistols. It looks like it might be a bit difficult to seat and crimp unless I seat it deep enough that I cover the top driving band.

[lightman]

I have some major cleaning to do. We just finished a major kitchen remodel and my loading room caught some of the overflow. I was sorting and sizing my way through two 20mm ammo cans of 9mm's when we started the kitchen remodel so I'll get back on that in a few days. I also have a tub of range brass to sort through.

[JBinMN]

Not reloading but casting...

Went out to the garage to try casting some boolits & test out the fan exhaust system I put in.

It failed. I need to do something that makes the fan do a better job. I will dink around with it over the next couple days. Started up my squirrel cage fan from a furnace that sits in the rafters & pushes air out the big garge door to get by for today.

So, I did do up about 200-300 Lee 356-124 & 356-120gr TCs , both TL & reg. lube groove though, in a little over an hour or so. I will sort them a bit tomorrow & cull them out, then pan lube the 120s.

So, tomorrow or the next day when it stops raining I am going to go shooting and then start reloading what I shot.

I do have a new mold for .223/5/56 I want to try, but I am going to wait until I rig up the fan better first, before doing that...

[sigep1764]

What new 223 mold did you get and what are you gonna shoot it in?

[JBinMN]

What new 223 mold did you get and what are you gonna shoot it in?

Lee C225-55-RF(GC) & a DPMS 5.56 Oracle I bought a year ago in Feb.18 , right after Parkland, that I have not shot yet. I got the mold in Feb. 2019. So, I thought I would finally take it out, sight it in & start shooting it. It is still NIB. I was in no hurry.

[sigep1764]

Let me know if you want some heavies to try! Its amazing how fast the ammo goes in these AR's. It is one of my favorite range guns since I started casting and loading for it!

[JBinMN]

Let me know if you want some heavies to try! Its amazing how fast the ammo goes in these AR's. It is one of my favorite range guns since I started casting and loading for it!

Great! Thanks! I think we can come up with some sort of a trade.

[Hickory]

I made about 100 of these yesterday for testing.
56 gr. .224 caliber, 22 long rifle brass for jackets.

[15meter]

Loaded 30 38 Special wad cutters to try in a buddies old officer's target match, think that is the official name, it has not liked any RN/truncated cone cast bullet so far. My old Military and Police model eats up anything that I put in it. Same rounds chamber occasionally in the Officers model. Hope to find out tomorrow if they work.

Used a Lyman 35887 4 cavity I bought a couple of years ago for $20 with handles. I think I was the first to cast with this mold. Crazy people, buy a very nice mold and never use it. I also bought a never used 452460 4 cavity with handles for $20 from the same guy. Only draw back they were the old clam type handles.

[Tom W.]

I made about 100 of these yesterday for testing.
56 gr. .224 caliber, 22 long rifle brass for jackets.

Those are beautiful.

I finally got an aluminum Pepsi can so I re-taught myself how to use my Free Chex II. It's a .45 cal check maker but I have used the checks on my Lee 310 .44 cal boolits with great success, unlike trying to wrap one around a .30 cal boolit....