Reloading Blues

[CapLock80]

Just started to cast my own bullets about a month ago for my 44 mag. Ordered the Lee 310 GC and the 240 gc. All is great and well with the casting end of it. Last night I started to load up a box of the 240's and going from the 310s that I had loaded to the 240's I though nothing of it adjusting the die to seat the different bullet. After about 25 rounds of seating bullets over 11 grains of Unique I noticed something. The primed cases I was using were 44 special brass! Damn no wonder I had to adjust the crimp as well. DUH!!

I've used my bullet puller to pull two rounds apart. Seems like the bullet lube sticks half the powder charge to it. Smears the lube out of the grooves when I try and wipe it off. This is a dang mess on my hands. At least it was only half a box of ammo.

Now I'm looking for info out there on 44 special loads, before I pull the rest of them. Anyone out there have a Ruger Blackhawk in 44 special that is running higher than normal pressure. Anyone know what Elmer was shooting before I was born and what pressures those were running. I'm betting I have to pull them apart toss the powder and relube the bullets. Grrr

[CapLock80]

Well 11 grains is max load for Unique/250 cast in my speer manual for 44 magnum. Maybe if it were life and death I'd try it. Seeing how this is just steel, fingers, and eyeballs on the line I'm going to pull it and load it into mag brass.

Even still I'd like to know what pressure it would run taking away 1/10 of an inch. [smilie=1:

[canyon-ghost]

44 special gets hot at 7.5 grains of Unique, tops at somewhere around 8.0 grains.

[canyon-ghost]

You can send me all that horrible 44 Special brass that is in your way! lol

[Tom W.]

Remember, Elmer blew up a few revolvers, too...

[onondaga]

If you have that much powder sticking to your lube that is as big of a problem as the others you mention.

If you are tumble lubing, you used way too much and it didn't dry; that will happen every time you over apply TL.

If you are pressure lubing, you need a different lube and a more careful application.

Powder contaminated with lube burns irregularly and your velocity spread will be all over the place.

Consider studying up and asking a lot more questions before you start again. Not a good start for you so far. Those are very serious errors you have made and it sounds like you need experienced adult supervision or you are going to get hurt.

Gary

[canyon-ghost]

I'm betting I have to pull them apart toss the powder and relube the bullets. Grrr

Welcome to the club, I had to pull a bunch of 9mm one time. Got them a tad too hot.

Ron

[leadman]

From what I have read here you should rethink some of what you are doing. My Lyman manual show max of 11.7grs of Unique with a 265gr Saeco cast boolit.
It does not show Unique with the Lee 310gr boolit. Where did you get this load data?
The Alliant pamplet I have shows max of 7.2grs of Unique with a 310gr LSWC.
Unique is not a good powder for use with heavy bullets like this. Think 2400, 296/110, etc.

The advice on lubing technique would be helpful to you also.

Elmer used 2400 for his hot 44 Special loads with a 245 to 250gr boolit. His loads are considered kinda hot by todays standards. He did have a friend that was a welder that would weld the top-strap back on his guns.
I use 8 grs of Unique with a copy of his boolit that weighs 250grs in the 44 magnum. Much more powder and leading sets in.

[CapLock80]

Well lets start off with saying that the bullet is getting covered with powder because it gets submerged in flake powder after being pulled by a inertia hammer style bullet puller. I make sure the GC is cleaned and seat my bullet so no powder is being contaminated while the lubed part of the bullet is securely wrapped in brass.
Right now I'm using 50% alox and 50% beeswax. What do you suggest? I've read most all of the lube forum and seems like everyone has their own favorite for slow pistol, magnum pistol, rifle, and black powder. This is my first go at casting and though it would be a good lube for Magnum pistol loads.

My Lyman manual show max of 11.7grs of Unique with a 265gr Saeco cast boolit. I'm defiantly going to write this one down just in case I ever load up some 265's.
My Speer manual says 11 grains of Unique is max under a 250 gr cast and has been safe in my Super Red Hawk.

I didn't give out any load info for the 310 gr lee bullet. Never have loaded one using Unique either.

These are my first gas checked bullets I've ever loaded. Before I shot commercial cast 240's that were not gas checked and bevel based to boot. Never really have had a problem with my Ruger leading up. Ususally don't shoot more than 100 rounds in a session so maybe just never shot it enough to get it to that point. Not shot a lot of these new gc bullets but they seem fine. No leading.

Welded the top strap back onto his gun. And I thought the stories of him shooting animals at 600 yards were hard to swallow. I'm thinking this guy was a bigger than life "character". I'll take what I hear about him with a grain of salt. He did die with all his digits right? I mean how many guns can you blow up in your face?

Other than mistakenly loading into a 44 special brass what exactly did I do wrong here? Where are the other mistakes?

Sold my 44 special to a friend who is also a reloader a few years ago. I'm going to give him the brass. Otherwise it would have been yours.

Hey Gary not blown up a gun in going in 16 years of reloading. Got my RCBS kit for my 15th birthday. Do they even let you people still own guns in NY...I thought your local government no longer trusted you people with firearms.:popcorn:

[canyon-ghost]

On pulling bullets: The guys here told me that you can use a pair of vice grip pliers and run the press ram to the top of the stroke, grab bullet, pull down. Bullet removed. Since I had some needle-nose vice grips, it sped things up. The inertial bullet puller is a slow little whacker. The only drawback with the vice grips is getting shaved lead in the threads of the press. I have to clean the threads with oil pretty good before putting a die back into it.

I also bought a tubing cutter for copper tubing. That, I use to cut brass in half because I can't throw loaded rounds in the dumpster (city has a new trash truck). A lot of the time I can only salvage the lead.

Ron

[CapLock80]

I actually went to the garage to get channel locks. Couldn't get to the short 44 special round through the die holes of my rock chucker. Then thought of buggering up the threads and decided not to try. I just went ahead pulled the 25 bullets with the hammer. I'm just glad I caught it when I did. It's a lot more fun putting them together than taking them apart.

[CapLock80]

Another thing I notice when pulling the bullets. The gas check was clean of powder because I wiped every one to ensure it was clean. The sides of the bullets were covered with powder in the lube grooves after swimming in it inside the hammer. Three of the bullets pulled and actually left the GC in the brass which in turn sealed the powder in the case. These bullets as I would have expected didn't have a flake of powder on them. I do store my loaded ammo in ammo boxes that hold the bullet down. Do I really have to worry that if they were stored with the bullets pointed up that the Alox and beeswax might penetrate to the powder? Would this stuff act like penetrating oil such as Kroil or WD40? I don't understand why I need to find a different lube unless this were the reason. Confused:veryconfu

[buck1]

Its all in how you look at it. Since you cought it before you shot them , you didnt blow up your gun or yourself!

[canyon-ghost]

Don't worry about the 50/50 lube contaminating powder. It might take 15 years for the ammunition to change. For the most part, there's probably not enough of it to do much, unless you store your ammo in 100 degree temperatures.

I have some 22 hornets stored much as you describe however, they are indoors, in the house. They are alox lube and some moly lube.

One of the older men (great grandfather) shot an intruder with a 22, the ammunition was so old it had lost potentcy (18 year old ammo). His friends at the gun club had a 'Roast' in his honor- then made him buy new ammunition! Eighteen years is a long time.

Ron

[canyon-ghost]

There isn't one thing wrong with 50/50, it's been the NRA standard lube for decades.