What did you do in the reloading room today?

[Jal5]

Sized and lubed about 100 boolits for 45acp

[Harter66]

I ordered a new 279-124 NOE yesterday . Today I cast about 100 490 and 454 RB to feed the Hawken-like rifles and the 58 Remmy Labor day weekend. Next up 100 380s for the 36 cal 58 .

[NavyVet1959]

Tried powder coating using HF flat black and ASBBs a full tray of bullets that I had cast from the Lee 358-105-SWC mold. Although it seemed like the clear binder covered the entire bullet, the pigment did not, so after baking, I tried it again for a 2nd coat and it seemed to look a lot better. I was expecting this, but just wanted to try it anyway.

[TXGunNut]

Why do reloaders clean and polish brass before depriming?

If I'm loading on a progressive press (handgun ammo) I don't deprime because that adds an unnecessary step to the process. There is much debate about the need to clean primer pockets for handgun ammo but I don't do it.

[TXGunNut]

New case cleaner is running, mostly just cleaning the media with paper towel pieces at this point. Hard to believe how filthy that media can get. Have a freshly-scrubbed new NOE mould heat cycling on the hotplate. I even dug out some Berry's plated bullets :shock: to do a feed test in a new 45, may actually do a bit of loading today!
Was thinking about wandering down to the Texas Trophy Hunters' show but have plenty to do around here.

[popper]

Though about loading some 40sw but got involved in looking for a new vehicle. Won't get much done next week as I have the GKs and dog while their folks go tech climb to the top of Grand Teton. Hope they bring back some cooler weather.
I did get a few 300BO loaded with several different alloys to try.

[GhostHawk]

Recently bought 1k of .223 brass here, so I have been casting .224 Bator boolits and loading .223 with 4.6 gr of Red Dot under them like a mad man.

[triggerhappy243]

TXGunNut, I do not deprime first just to clean primer pockets, That is a waste of time. I deprime first so I can clean out any media that might get stuck in the flash hole after the brass is tumble cleaned. And I also do not like the powder fouling and other dirt to get impregnated to the outside of the brass case while F/L sizing. Just my way of doing it.

[TXGunNut]

I understand, triggerhappy243. I do that with 45 Colt, a few BP cartridges and all rifle cartridges. Today was the second time in over 10 years that I loaded 45ACP. I don't enjoy loading 45ACP or most common pistol cartridges, I loaded these to test a new carry gun. Nice thing is I keep a Dillon 550 hidden under a cover for days like today, lol. I loaded 100 rounds in about 15-20 minutes and then covered it up again to load 25 45 Colt rounds with BP on my single stage RCBS press. Dawdled and piddled for about an hour loading those 45 Colt rounds, enjoyed every minute of it!
I've loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds on that old 550, it makes word-class ammo that has served me well in matches throughout the Midwest, Texas and New Mexico. It gives me a certain satisfaction to load with my 550 but I truly enjoy pulling out some SPG-lubed boolits and loading them on a single stage press over a case full of FFFg KIK powder. Do what makes you happy, we spend too much of our lives making other people happy.

[Tenbender]

Around 1100 401's.
146776

Yesterday then canned 29 qt's of tomato's. :popcorn:

[NavyVet1959]

Recently bought 1k of .223 brass here, so I have been casting .224 Bator boolits and loading .223 with 4.6 gr of Red Dot under them like a mad man.

Doing that for a single shot / bolt-action or a semi-auto? I've tried reduced .223 loads with Red Dot in my AR, but they were pretty light and would not cycle my action.

[obssd1958]

Cast and water dropped about 250 each, of an NEI 245gr. .377, and an NEI 330gr. .418.
Now I just have to put on the gas checks, lube 'em and size 'em, and box 'em up.

[triggerhappy243]

Not so much "IN" the reloading room, just outside. I started bathing my ingots with a dash of muriatic acid to check and see if there was any zinc. Well just a little. and then it dawned on me...the clips for the clip on wheel weights are........... ZINC COATED.............

[Budzilla 19]

Desperate for rain, I started remelting some free wheel weights, outside!! Well, wouldn't you know ??? Worked like a dream, had to move under side shed of shop to get out of the rain shower! End of day, 95+ lbs of wheel weight ingots! all with 3% SN added to make some fine alloy to cast with! It was a good day,Tater! Hahaha!!(sorry, I couldn't resist that one)!good shooting to you all.

[LabGuy]

Yesterday, I filled 100 Speer 38/357 shotshell capsules with #9 shot.

[Budzilla 19]

Finished off the last of that 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights,(thanks Austin), now have 105 lbs of ww alloyed with 3%SN, and, 35 lbs of pure PB. And yes, I had it XRF gun shot at my job! 99.92. Somebody will need it maybe! Good shooting to all.Hmmmm, what to do with pure lead?

[NavyVet1959]

Killed a couple of mice/ small rats the other day outside my garage with some .357 loaded with spent primers and a wax plug to keep it all together while in the brass. Worked pretty good at about 6 ft... Quiet enough that don't need hearing protection... Shot 4 of them, need to reload some more...

[JeffG]

Installed a Volquartsen Target Trigger Kit in a Ruger 10/22. Sweeeet.

[pertnear]

Seated about 200 lead cores in Eley RF case jackets. Ready to point!

[robertsm53]

disassembled a hundred or so, (3 years worth) of bad loads, duds, wrinkled cases and other oops type loads. As I was just finishing up my inertia hammer flew apart in pieces! The head of the hammer part let loose and the clamp holding the case went one way and the bullet went another. Time for another bullet puller I guess.

[edler7]

Cleaned up after sizing, lubing and loading some .44 mag and some .40 S&W. Sharpened a couple knives. Finished sorting a 5 gal bucket of WW.

[Black Powder Bill]

Sorted cleaned brass,loaded some 223 ,found some lost stuff and threw out a bunch of paperwork.

[Southerngunner]

I made my 16 year old grand daughter a holster for the stainless Ruger Vaquero that I gave her

[Tenbender]

Sized & seated primers in about 1400 , 40 S&W brass. Next rainy day I will load'em up.

[taco650]

Killed a couple of mice/ small rats the other day outside my garage with some .357 loaded with spent primers and a wax plug to keep it all together while in the brass. Worked pretty good at about 6 ft... Quiet enough that don't need hearing protection... Shot 4 of them, need to reload some more...

Now that's novel use for spent primers! Where did you get the idea for it?

[NavyVet1959]

Now that's novel use for spent primers! Where did you get the idea for it?

Let's just say that it involved a few beers...

:)

I think I started with wax bullets and just primer loads for an indoor practice load. I wanted to get a bit more speed out of it, so I decided to try putting a .22LR case full of powder under the wax bullet. That tended to result in just wax powder exiting the barrel and splattering on the target. Since my spent primer jar was starting to get full, I wondered what I could do with them since they weren't taking the time and gas to go recycle. Well, after a couple of beers, I gave that a try. As you can probably guess, the cup shape of the primers does not lend itself to very efficient ballistic flight, but that is actually good since they will be less likely to retain enough energy at distance to do any damage to other objects.

[GhostHawk]

Sorry sir, did not see your question in a timely manner.

I have a Handi rifle with a .223 in a bull barrel. I don't think there is any safe load of Red Dot thqt will cycle a AR's action. But with a singleshot or bolt gun these loads make a good replacement for .22lr. I have been loading these without gas checks and trying to hold speed to below 1400 fps.


Doing that for a single shot / bolt-action or a semi-auto? I've tried reduced .223 loads with Red Dot in my AR, but they were pretty light and would not cycle my action.

[Efin]

Cast and powder coated some 340g, 405g and 500g of .458 for the new socom and some 35 Rem 200's.

[trixter]

I re-organized a bunch of stuff in my tackle box. I'm going fishing in the morning.

[pertnear]

Tumble polished some .270 brass last night. Loaded up my deer ammo today getting ready for the season & going to the range for sight-in.

[mold maker]

Loaded some ladder rounds with 3 boolits for my first 380. Now for some range time with the chronograph.

[JeffG]

Loaded 20 rounds of 8mm Mauser with NOE 326471 bullets and 22 gr H4198.

[SeabeeMan]

Cleaned and organized so I can reset everything to load 223 for a while. While I had the bench cleared I mounted a Bushnell Elite 3600 scope on my Knight Bighorn.

[Harter66]

I muddled through with a new NOE 279-124 and managed to get a feel for what this 1 needs the be happy . Tried out the brand new pot thermometer to discover that my best guess for temperature was pretty darn good using the paper strip method from 8th grade metal shop but that the peak was a little higher than it needs to be , about 50 degrees . I also found my hot plate to be about the same cool. As with me and brand new moulds the 1st 50 saved 4 and the next run of 300-350 netted about 225 . I lubed sized and checked those , ran the forgotten lunch box to school and picked up 3 tires for tomorrow's project a steel backed plywood faced BP bullet trap . Late in the day I fix 100 FC 6.8 Rem to load , I hate crimped primers, fortunately I only have to do it once in 10-15 cycles.

[waltherboy4040]

Tried out my old style lee hand primer and primed forty pieces of 223.

[62chevy]

Powder coated some C306-180 that is really 168 grains Signal blue from Smoke. Tomorrow will size to 311 and then load with 10 grains of Unique. That worked great with them lubed and gas checked.

[taco650]

Powder coated some C306-180 that is really 168 grains Signal blue from Smoke. Tomorrow will size to 311 and then load with 10 grains of Unique. That worked great with them lubed and gas checked.

What caliber are you loading them into?

[62chevy]

What caliber are you loading them into?

Oops 308 Win. For a Savage Axis. That rifle is 7 pounds with a scope so I need to use reduced loads to save the shoulder.

The same boolits lubed with 45/45/10 and aluminum GC had a small recoil but still broke the sound barrier but I don't have a crono so can't say how fast.

[taco650]

Oops 308 Win. For a Savage Axis. That rifle is 7 pounds with a scope so I need to use reduced loads to save the shoulder.

The same boolits lubed with 45/45/10 and aluminum GC had a small recoil but still broke the sound barrier but I don't have a crono so can't say how fast.

I hear you on the reduce load thing. First loads I made with the Lee 309-180R (also coming out at 168gr like yours) for my old Ruger tang-safety 30-06 were so nice to shoot. Not very accurate but easy on the shoulder which made it much more fun!

[62chevy]

I hear you on the reduce load thing. First loads I made with the Lee 309-180R (also coming out at 168gr like yours) for my old Ruger tang-safety 30-06 were so nice to shoot. Not very accurate but easy on the shoulder which made it much more fun!

Mine tore the red dot out of the target hope the powder coated ones do the same.

[Ola]

Loaded some slugs (The Lee "drive key" thingy) and, as always, couple of hundred .357 mags.

[EMC45]

I've been unbolting all my presses and powder measures, etc. Moving stinks.

[Ola]

I've been unbolting all my presses and powder measures, etc. Moving stinks.
When I moved the presses were not the stinky part. Moving the lead was.

Never again, if possible..

[lolbell]

Loaded 250 rounds of 327 fed mag. Used a 115 gr cast boolit and AA 9 in 50 rounds and Unique in the other 200

[dragon813gt]

Put the new parts I ordered from Dillon on a 550B. Seems like it will run like a champ when I get around to loading w/ it. Have to remove the graphite from the powder bar. I was hoping it smoothed out the operation but the bar really drags and is jerky. Some carb cleaner will take care if it but it can wait until I'm ready to load some rounds.

Attempted to modify an old Lee Autoprime to fill primer tubes. It works but I didn't have the right epoxy to build up around the tube. Had a few sideways primers when doing it freehand. Just need to build it up under the tube and I should be good to go.

[robertsm53]

Smelted 180 or so lbs of dirty lead into 1 lb ingots, cast 20 of so lbs of that into 400 gr .40 cal rifle bullets, resized and lubed around 100 or so, and loaded them into .40 Shiloh Straight cartridges for my wife to play with in her Rem Rolling Block. a real busy day, now we have to get the time to get ut to the range and shoot - em - up!

[Cowboy_Dan]

Haven't read any of this thread, but yeasterday I set up my Lee Automator and tuned the shellplates I recieved from a member here. Next weekend, I will use it to do some loading and put together the Pro 1000 frames that arrived in box #2 today from the same deal. :happy dance:

[Chris24]

Smelted a couple buckets of WW on a propane fryer. It worked fine, until I got down to the end, and tipped the pot over. Thankfully, I wasn't too close. 12 pounds of molten Pb flowed like a river. It cooled pretty fast, and I peeled it up in one big piece. I had to flux it 4 or 5 times to get all the dirt and grass out. Smelled horrendous, but it made some nice ingots. :mrgreen:

[therealhitman]

Smelled horrendous, but made some nice ingots.

Sounds like a couple of my castin' and shootin' buddies actually.

I finally got a chance to load up a few hundred rounds of a WSF load for my new RCBS 9mm mold. Light loads for Speed Steel matches and practice. Cycles fine in all my nines including the full size 1911s but still soft for recoil in a PM9 or Glock 26.
RCBS 9mm-124-CN over 3.5 gr of WSF with OAL at 1.055".

[toallmy]

Well I started working on 357 load with a new to me seaco 148 button nose wc and red dot going to try all the variables .seating to crimp groove to start with.

[Boolseye]

morning session on Sunday with a 2-cav Lee 148 WC, a single cav HG-68 clone of unknown make and a Lee 6-cav c452-300 RF. Wad- and semi-wadcutters for me, big 300s for dad.

[trixter]

Reloaded 62 rounds of 300 savage with 9 grains Unique under Lee C-309-150 F, gas checked and sized 309. Then took them to my shooting area, and killed an eight and one half by eleven sheet of paper. I am so proud of myself.

[Bohica793]

Reloaded 62 rounds of 300 savage with 9 grains Unique under Lee C-309-150 F, gas checked and sized 309. Then took them to my shooting area, and killed an eight and one half by eleven sheet of paper. I am so proud of myself.

Are you sure you killed it or just wounded it?

[taco650]

Reloaded 62 rounds of 300 savage with 9 grains Unique under Lee C-309-150 F, gas checked and sized 309. Then took them to my shooting area, and killed an eight and one half by eleven sheet of paper. I am so proud of myself.


i want to see pictures!

[EMC45]

Boxed up the gunroom today. Almost completely done. Moving large boxes of cast and j bullets is a job. Also large boxes of brass is serious as well.

[NavyVet1959]

Set up my RCBS Jr3 on a 2x6 piece of lumber so I could swap it from right side up to upside down to see if it really was easier to resize bullets that way.

Seems to work pretty well that way. Might need to come up with a more robust mechanism that allows easy swapping between orientations.

Resized some Lee C312-155-2R to. 309" using the press in this configuration.

[Efin]

Loaded 40 various first test loads, 300g - 500g, my cast, purchase cast and jacked, with W296 and IMR4198, for my new AR in 458 Socom, just waiting for the compensator to take her out now.

[johnc486]

Powder coated and sized 600 158 gr LSWC, future 357 mag loads. Tomorrow will be powder coating and sizing 1000 200 gr lswc boolits to be shot out of my Dan Wesson Valor.

[edler7]

Finished sorting bucket #1 of WW, only had about 10 pounds of zinc,steel,lug nuts and other trash. Started on bucket #2 and found 4 big juicy truck weights right off the bat. This bucket holds lots of big weights so far.

[robertsm53]

cleaned up a bit and actually found the top of the bench! Ain't actually found that is quite a while.

[Bohica793]

Received and installed my Pat Marlin Rock Dock for my Hornady LNL Progressive. This thing is SOLID and I am truly impressed with the product.

[Efin]

Loaded 150+ .40 cal, 2500 more to go...

[Pee Wee]

Cast up 1000 rounds of 44 215 grain. Loaded 500 rounds of 38s made 1000 44 gas checks and started lubeing and sizeing the 44s with checks on my star sizer. Also pin washed 1000 rds of 38 brass then 500 rds of 45 long colt. All in all a good day.

[LAKEMASTER]

YESTERDAY, i finally got to cast with my new noe ranchdog mold... amazing. but i did notice some weird scrapes forming on the top of the mold face,under the sprew plate.

TODAY

i did 2 pound casts today to determine what my rifle barrel is doing.

oh, and bought a single stage press from a fellow member here.

[johnc486]

More powder coating & sizing, 1200 175 gr 401s for my Glocks (22, 23 & 27).

[Pee Wee]

Lakemaster:
try putting a little synthetic oil with q-tip on the sprew plate face while the mold is hot. Very light coat. Worked for me.

[avogunner]

Loaded up 6 boxes of 12ga (7/8oz of #8) for skeet tomorrow.

[TexasAggie06]

I casted and sized a lot of boolits and then sent the picture to John Kerry

147695

[leadchucker62]

I just casted 200 from my new lee 358-200 mold.
they are beautiful!!

Z

[62chevy]

I just casted 200 from my new lee 358-200 mold.
they are beautiful!!

Z

I cast up about 100+ Lee 452-200-RF. Didn't count them it was a bit more.

[triggerhappy243]

Tex, I hope you flipped him off too.

[alfloyd]

I fired up the Master Caster and made over a 1000 of 9MM 124 g slugs.
Now to powder coat or Hi-Tek them.

Lafaun

[NavyVet1959]

Powder coated 210 Lee TL452-200 bullets with 2 coats of HF flat black using ASBB and then resized to 0.452" using cable pull lube for sizer lube. Experimented with placing the bullets on stainless steel window screen size wire mesh instead of flattened sheets of beer can aluminum. Did not notice any improvement in appearance or speed of putting the bullets on the wire mesh -- probably because the mesh is too small to allow the BBs to fall through.

Found out that if you let an ASBB get in your oven and under the wire mesh, it melts and makes a circular flat spot that is a bit difficult to get off the wire mesh.

[quickdraw66]

Its a start. :D

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/29/01f5f65459332dd693ac33d066a0c7b9.jpg

[dragon813gt]

YESTERDAY, i finally got to cast with my new noe ranchdog mold... amazing. but i did notice some weird scrapes forming on the top of the mold face,under the sprew plate.

Time to stone the plate. After hearing it suggested by a few members I started to doing it to all my molds. It's part of the initial cleanup and heat treat process. There is almost always a burr on the sprue holes.

[TXGunNut]

I dallied around here until I talked myself into unpacking and then mounting a scope on a rifle just arrived from the Remington repair station. Just recalled I had an extended slide release for my SR1911 so I installed it...after slightly modifying my new fat grips. Sized a few 30-30, 38-55 so my handful of dirty 45 Colt brass would have some company in the case cleaner. Gathered a few guns & ammo for a range trip tomorrow.
I've been "waiting" for my new laptop battery to charge since early this morning, once it "finishes" charging I'll get it set up and maybe get some work done. ;-)

[dragon813gt]

Installed knobs on three Dillon powder measure. Installed the new style fail safes on two of them. Cleaned and lubed all three. Installed a primer track bearing plate. It was really jerky before and this seems to have smoothed it out.

[NavyVet1959]

Drank beer... I think I cast about 10 lbs of lead also, between beers, but mostly just drank beer while convincing myself that the yard didn't need mowing THAT bad... <burp>

[Efin]

Loaded 250+ 40's and then changed the 550 for 223, just got my 224 mold, so I'll be packing the new boolits very soon, just waiting for the sizer to arrive so I can add the checks and load em... Guess I'd best cast them first though...

[robertsm53]

Cast up a couple hundred .40 cal 400 gr slugs. Need to try lubing and loading at as cast dia now. The last batch I sized to .,408 were terrible, going through the target sideways. Older orig barrel slugs at .412

[Efin]

Loaded 300 - 223 for range time.

[avogunner]

First, I cleaned my shotgun from Saturday Skeet league but on the loading bench, yesterday was .38 caliber day. Loaded 250 .38 special, most with 358311 and the rest with the Lee 358-158-RF, but also, 50 .357 Mag. (with 358156).

[taco650]

Sized and trimmed some new-to-me once fired 303 British brass. Now I'm just trying to decide on a load for the 316299's I'm going to put on top.

[Jal5]

Loaded 20 223 rounds for a promising test. Cfe 223 using my cast boolits from the NOE 225-55 mold. Initial test was less than an inch at 100yds from my AR. THAT powder throws very well too. But i trickle it to get the load.

[Black Powder Bill]

Last few days I've been sorting paperwork, SUX!
Ran a bunch of 223 brass , loaded a few with Hor J 55gr. Took the last range target and looked it over made notes.
Got the sewing machine up and running.
It is old and weighs about 80 pounds I had dropped it while doing a balancing act after we moved and bent the stitch adj. knob. It's still bent , but works. Then made a new thread spool stand since the original was broken too.
Packed up a stock to ship.

[robg]

cast 70 158gc +70 158 pb for my .357 & 36 160gc for my .308 lubed & sized etc .got a problem with my shoulder after an hours casting thats the reason for the odd numbers.still a good day

[robertsm53]

Today I rigged both my Dillon 650's with the primer catch tube that actually captures the dead primers and sends them to a closed container to avoid the constant mess of loose primers bouncing out and getting all over the room. That was the biggest pain in the backside about these presses. Once I got them ready to go I de-primed about a thousand .38 special cases. NO primers on the floor. Absolutely NONE!! I should have done this years ago! Now the .38 cases are in the tumbler with a few lbs of steel pins and some scrubbing bubbles. A quick rinse and they will look like new once again.

[Budzilla 19]

Took out the .308's from the polisher, added the 7 mm Rem. Magnums, got them to going, sorted all the nickel plated brass from a recent brass purchase, bagged up some .308' s for sale, just cleaned up the mess from sorting and polishing over 6,000 rounds of rifle brass!!! Long day. Now enjoying a cold Bud Lite Lime! With salt, no less! Hahaha! Have a good Labor Day weekend.( probably something else in there needs doing, you guys know how it is)

[AllanD]

I've been sorting 223 brass all week, still not done.

BUT Today I got to my favorite hardware store and scored
100 virgin primed Winchester 10mm auto cases and a sealed
box of Hornady 30cal gas checks.

Checking my inventory I have determined I have 1700 hornady 170gr bullets for 10mm
so I'm not rushing to get the TC mold I want for .401 just yet...

Tomorrow, I will be trying to turn 20# of pure lead into Lyman's giant
air rifle pellets for my 12ga (Lyman 12ga sabot slugs)

and sometime tomorrow I will wander up to the range (probably more than once)
in the eternal quest for MORE brass.

I live on a road called "Gun Club Road", the name is ENTIRELY
appropriate, and the walk to the benches of the rifle range are about
half the trip to the 100yard target stands...

AD

[Efin]

Had to re-seat some 223s I loaded last week, looks like my setting die moved just after checking the size was right, it's never before, but looks like I'll have to verify more often with this die, only a few thousandth over, but enough to not seat...

[JeffG]

Loaded 100 rounds of 45 Colt on the single stage press.

[starreloader]

cast and sized 1000+ H&G 41-210 SWC boolits, loaded 400 rounds of 44 Mag 200 RFN

[tja6435]

148353Made up a few different batches of .357 target ammo using some trail boss and unique so far. Bullet is 158gr DeCarli wadcutter via Mihec buy, Carnuba red White Label lube, all sized to .358 as my gp100 won't chamber a .359" sized wadcutter set at the crimp groove. Hand primed one at a time on the Rockchucker then powdered/seated/crimped on the Loadmaster.

[Grantb]

Smelted one-half the range lead I mined during my last trip to the handgun range - ended up with 46 pounds of ingots. Had a nap. Then ate a great dinner of fresh salmon and potatoes from the garden. Then went to the tree stand with crossbow in hand and shot a spike just as it was getting dark. It ran about 20 yards before it collapsed. The arrow went through the lungs and when gutting it I noticed the broadhead nicked the heart. It is hard to beat such days.

[Love Life]

I made Colt food.

148372

[3 gun Gus]

Found 240 lbs of lino that I had stashed away 25 years ago!

[triggerhappy243]

every day is like christmas................................

[Big Tom]

Sized, gas check seated and lubed about 250 cast bullets, 440 grain .500 S&W then loaded about 50 of them up...

[NavyVet1959]

Played around with powder coating the Lee 358-105-SWC for 9mm with HF flat black and 2 coats of ASBB tumble coat. Determined that it does not want to feed in my CZ-75B Compact, but it does not have a problem with my Taurus 92.

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-358-105-swc-hf-flat-black-320w.jpg

After powdercoating, I tumbled about 300 of them in a small dollop of cable pull lube and ran them through the 0.356" Lee sizer. Then tumbled them in a towel to dry off any remaining lube and loaded them with 4.0 gr of Alliant Promo.

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/2015-09-06--loaded-pc-bullet-lee-358-105-swc.jpg

[matrixcs]

Nothing! My reloading room has been inaccessible for more than 2 weeks.....my withdrawl symptoms are becoming more painful each day this continues......

[NavyVet1959]

Nothing! My reloading room has been inaccessible for more than 2 weeks.....my withdrawl symptoms are becoming more painful each day this continues......

Tropical Storm / Hurricane issues?

[opos]

Been sick in the house for a few days...been using my "indoor" tools (Lee hand press) to prep a couple thousand rounds of 45acp I just got from a guy...nice stuff...all LPP...clean and of the 2000 pieces over 1300 were Winchester which I like and very little "oddball" stuff.

[matrixcs]

Tropical Storm / Hurricane issues?


No..... Family visit....

[NavyVet1959]

No..... Family visit....

Hurricanes / tropical storms are often more enjoyable than family visits. :)

[labradigger1]

Primed and charged 30 25-20SS cases with 8 grains 4227, cast and lubed 86 grain boolits from an ideal number 4 combination tool.
Now just waiting on my new dies from CH4D

[62chevy]

No..... Family visit....

Family and fish start to stink after 3 days.

[michiganmike]

I went to church, spent the day with my wife and three grown sons, all three home at 1X and didn't touch anything related to casting or reloading. It was a great day.:drinks:

[62chevy]

I went to church, spent the day with my wife and three grown sons, all three home at 1X and didn't touch anything related to casting or reloading. It was a great day.:drinks:


Amen Mike the Wife and I went to Church too but took a nap and then went for a tour of some really big hill we hadn't seen yet.

[Efin]

Got a new case gauge for the 35 Rem, going through the "sized" brass for opps and trims.
Sorted some 30cals for the 300B0...

[sparky45]

Changed out the trigger and hammer springs in 2 AR's with JP Enterprises reduced spring tension Kits; deprimed approx 300 pieces of brass so I can SS tumble them tomorrow; used my Wheeler Scope mounting levels to readjust my brothers scope(s); loaded a batch of 5.56 with 62 grain soft points and spent a while target shooting with my brother. Super afternoon (went to Church this morning as well).

[NavyVet1959]

Family and fish start to stink after 3 days.

Visiting family was why they invented sleeper sofas -- they are too uncomfortable to sleep on for any length of time. :)

[jonp]

Cast 175 358140 SWC, sized them .358 and lubed with BLL for my Target Masterpiece. Sorted out a box of stuff I got used. Found a Lee Zip Trim, case guage trimmers for lots I don't have like 6.5x55, 7.62x39, etc., rcbs dial caliper which reads different from my digital caliper so I need a block to check them and see which is right

[flashhole]

Just finished these. I shot up the first batch 3 days ago. My wheel weight lead cast bullet from a Lee 2-cavity mold. Pushed them through a Lee Sizer. Straight Liquid Alox lube, no leading in my Guide Gun and wonderfully accurate.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/GuideGun/45-70_zpshcst2pou.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/GuideGun/media/45-70_zpshcst2pou.jpg.html)

[robertsm53]

de primed, resized, tumbled with SS Pins 60 40/70 SS brass. Its drying now, hope to stuff them full tomorrow for my wife's Rem Rolling Block

[TXGunNut]

Had an awesome day at the range, got a burger on the way home and took a nap after getting things stowed away. Then I put a belt on an old vacuum cleaner and straightened up the loading room. Meanwhile I started the pot and put handles on four new moulds. Read Swede's instructions for RG moulds one more time and decided it was time to give it a try.
Moment of truth: it just wasn't in the cards for me today. I was a bit clumsy, burned myself a time or two and produced no keepers. Tried a conventional mould, no difference. Time to shut it down. Decided pour temp and speed were off but mainly it was just me. Put some cases in the cleaner, turned off the pot and plate and turned off the lights.
Time for a cocktail and dinner. Sometimes you have to know when to walk away and try again another day.

[Budzilla 19]

Started at 6 am, sorted a lot of brass to put up for sale, bagged it, while working on bagging, separated a lot of '06's for bagging to sell also, polisher going all the time! While this is going on inside, outside I remelted some pure lead and poured it into muffin tins. Late now, so polisher has a load of 5.56's going to be turned off in the morning before work time. Life was busy in the ole reloading room today!

[mwells72774]

Did some load development for the 45-70 handi's

350 hornady over 3031. Quite a thumper.

485 cast spire point over 3031, quite accurate and not too bad on the shoulder.

[Schrag4]

Today I loaded a box of 9mm - Lee Tumble 124gr RN powder coated (HF red) over 4.8gr Unique at 1.100 OAL. Then I started tumbling about 500 9mm cases before I mowed the lawn. Showered, watched a movie with my wife, ate dinner with the family - yeah I forgot about the tumbler. 4 hours later and the brass was pretty darn clean!

[robertsm53]

Cleaned guns, cleaned guns, and cleaned guns. Then I finally was able to de-prime / resize some .32 S&W L for my wife's pocket pistol. That little revolver was so gummed up the extractor would not drop back down in the Cyl without some external pressure on it!
It snaps right down in the face of the cylinder not. We've had it for a couple months and finally got around to cleaning it so she can use it for side matches. I'd bet it hasn't been cleaned in 25 years of so. The oil was hardened into a shellac type substance. Not to good for moving pieces!!

[bjlmertens]

Had a look at my 650 again...
2 months left and then i am allowed to buy the reloading components for my 9mm and .357mag which i get also in 2 months After 2,5 years shooting .22lr. (Netherlands)
Time flies but not when you are waiting on gun stuff :-)

[TexasAggie06]

148932

[avogunner]

I've been on light duty for the past few days following ortho on my knee so I've spent quite a bit of time in my "happy place". Let's see, I've reloaded a couple hundred .38 special (358311), 100 5.56, 100 28ga, 100 40S&W, a box of .35Rem (358315), and a handful of .30-06 with a 120gr RN (311576) to test next time at the range. Also prepped a bunch of 9mm, .45 ACP, and .30 Carbine. It's kind of what my life will be when I retire! Dang....it's been a great few days!

[Jal5]

Finished about 300 boolits for .223 GC on lubed sized. Will lube once more using BLL. Almost ready to load. NOE mold.

[Black Powder Bill]

Shot some 45lc 15 gr blue dot and a Hornady ftx j200 gr. Brought home 15 lbs of range lead. Made a few ingots.
I have been saving the jackets from the melts. Took a bag to the scrap yard today, it weighed ten pounds and netted me $1.85 a pound. So I'll start collecting more range scrap now that I have an additional cash cow on jackets.

[Geezer in NH]

Cleaned the last of 10,000+ mil surp 223 cases after de-priming them. Son and I are DONE!!!!! Now to process same.

[mwells72774]

Couple dozen of these http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/19/b976cb3ad90420b52f31c7527aeb21de.jpg

[Efin]

Processed several hundred cheap pulled J-words from my LGS, now I've got lots of food for the 44 and 444 Marlin, plus a glut of 38's, maybe I'll pawn those off for some more big bore food...

[Jal5]

Geezer how long did that take 10k!?$&@

[TXGunNut]

Changed my old 550 over from 45acp to 380acp. New dies for the .380 so had to change over the primer system and set everything up. Been over 12 yrs since I did anything like that so it was a bit tedious. Got brain gas and lost track of which way to turn to adjust the powder measure but I finally got it. After all was set up it only took 20 minutes the load 100 of those tiny 380 rounds. I don't like loading the little buggars but I like buying them even less. May even order a Lee mould but I'd rather spend my casting time making rifle boolits.

[pretzelxx]

Hand primed about 270 brass, 45acp type, on hopes to find a powder measure at the gun show today. No such luck. The one that I have got rusted on the threads so it no longer adjusts. It throws a 1.1 grain charge...

[L Erie Caster]

After a trip to the range yesterday, I spent the rest of the day sorting, depriming, burring case mouths and ss pin tumbling all that brass. It was a lot of mixed brass, couple of thousand, that I picked up off the floor. There were 38spl, 9mm, 40s&w, 380acp, 45acp, and some 38sup.

[taco650]

Couple dozen of these http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/19/b976cb3ad90420b52f31c7527aeb21de.jpg

45-70?

[mwells72774]

Yep! 485 cast over 3031

[GoBig]

Cast up ~400 200 grain swc for the 45, 80 7/8 ounce slugs and then reloaded 50 rounds of jacketed .223 ammo that I've been putting off. And the wife says I wasn't productive. :p

[Black Powder Bill]

Did a box of ought 6 and handful of 45lc 200 gr Hornady J ftx 13gr blue dot.

[RKJ]

I tried out my new Lee 105 SWC 6 banger. It is so much better than the 2 holer I was using. I sized & lubed em at .356. Then went to my dentist (that trip is going to be expensive).

[obssd1958]

So.......
was it the lubing - or the sizing - that precipitated the visit to the dentist???






:kidding:

[labradigger1]

Loaded up 3 boxes of 243 win w/ 100 grn Sierra game kings over 40 grains of IMR 4350 for my dad.

[Efin]

Sized and G checked a few hundred 224s

[DeputyDog25]

I loaded up a bunch of 44 special and 44 mag

[trails4u]

Nothing.....yet. But I did score some Bullseye, Win748, and H4350 at the LGS the other day. That will create some work! Heading back for some 760 today or tomorrow....time to start load development for the new Tikka! :)

Powder situation here is greatly improved. Bullseye, Unique, Blue/Red/Green Dot, 748, 760, 4350, Varget, BLC2....It's all there!!!!!! :) :)

[62chevy]

Cast about 150+ 452-200-RF stopped before it got to hot. Tomorrow morning I'll do it again.

[Dvedw]

Powder coated 150 357swc. Loaded some for my 357 carbine. Cast 100 lee 105swc to be used as some light 38/357 plinking rounds...

[shoot-n-lead]

Loaded one round of .357max...walked out the door and shot it.

[Horseman1]

Loaded up my very first 9mm rounds. CFE Pistol and Berrys .356 115gr rn. Worked up 4.8 - 5.3gr and quit.
5.3 was the business. Once I find more lead, I'll buy a mold for the 45 and cast my first boolit. Looking forward to that.

[jonp]

fed some new 43 spanish a little black powder with the help of nobade to try my new to me remington rolling block tommorow, members on this site are superb

if there is something to do with cast someone on here does not know id like to hear what it is

[Eddie2002]

Finished resizing 50 30-06 Lake City blank brass down to 7.7x58 Jap and loaded them all up with a 100 grain WW plinker over 5.5 grains of Bullseye. Using the Lee 100 grain .311 mould.
Still had some time left so loaded up another 50 of the same load for 30-06. Been raining a lot so got a lot of shop and reloading room time.

[tazman]

Loaded 100 40S&W, 200 38special, and 200 9mm to replace what I shot at the range today.

[jabo52521]

Cleaned and sorted the 400 cases I brought home from the shooting range. Great day.

[JeffG]

Cast 10 lb of 356-120-TC then about 50 NOE 326471, putting checks on them.

[bullet maker 57]

Cleaned up the mess from construction. Glad thats done.

[dragon813gt]

Assembled a new Remington 870 20 Gauge. Won it at a gun raffle last Sunday and picked it up yesterday. Less than a week to receive the certificate and collect the firearm is some real service :)

Now I just need to purchase a Magpul stock for it.

[porthos]

I had bought 100 lapua 30-06 brass to use in my pre 64 mod 70 bull bbl. today I ran them thru a neck sizer and trimmed them all to same length

[guncheese]

casting yesterday
coating,baking ,sizing today
https://goo.gl/sB8NGs

[Recruit]

First time casting today. 54 cal round ball.
149899

[flashhole]

guncheese - what kind of oven do you use? Looks like some nice work.

Recruit - welcome to the addiction.

[Good Cheer]

Started trying to rearrange four sets of shelves to organize stuff that has gotten jumbled up. Emptied the brass tumbler from mags the better 2/3's burned through on Saturday. Got lost day dreaming about a paper patch cartridge (9.5x60R dies using belted cases instead of "A" base brass) that I don't have an action for (yet). And then thought gee maybe FFg in a 375H&H could be OK too. Found some .515-450's I poured five years ago that I need for the .52 bore Renegade. Placed an inquiry about a .519" push through sizer for when I patch them. Then realized that (duh) I may as well get the .576" I need at the same time. Printed out a new copy of some dis-assembly instructions that have gone bye-bye. Unpacked the .40 rifle molds.
Time for me to go to bed.
G'nite.

[1989toddm]

Was making a batch of apple wood charcoal in my weber grill and thought "I ought to put all that heat to use! "So I loaded up my smelting pot and set it on the fire - It melted almost as quickly as on my little coleman stove, and was free heat!

[str8shot426]

Put together some hunting ammo for my boys. Youth hunt in WI is next Saturday and Sunday. They should only need two of these. Right!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/29/77a95d095cc76c27bbff1fd46e3fce80.jpg
30/06 hornady brass. Lee 170fn -50/50 alloy over the top of 35 gr. of 3031.
Should do the job!

[taco650]

Put together some hunting ammo for my boys. Youth hunt in WI is next Saturday and Sunday. They should only need two of these. Right!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/29/77a95d095cc76c27bbff1fd46e3fce80.jpg
30/06 hornady brass. Lee 170fn -50/50 alloy over the top of 35 gr. of 3031.
Should do the job!

Why certainly!!

Question: why did you load them so long?

[str8shot426]

That is where the driving bands engage the rifling.

[Maximumbob54]

I will take a guess that that length gets them to touch the rifling. I look at the crimp groove on rifle bullets as a suggestion to not seat deeper than but seat them out as far as I can.

EDIT: too slow...

[Juan Jose]

Sectioned nearly four boxes of old .410 shells that were giving me fits with pierced primers.
I recycled the powder as fertilizer. Put the wadding in the recycle can, killed the faulty primers with oil, and salvaged the shot (6 pounds) for casting as I had mix of #6, 7-1/2 & 8-1/2s. Pure lead, so I'll use them for BP projectiles.

[NavyVet1959]

Loaded up 300 rounds of 9mm on Monday and on Tuesday got my pickup inspected and registration renewed and then loaded up another 100 rounds of 9mm and then switched over to 10mm and started loading some of them. Discovered that I had a lot of .45 ACP bullets already cast and ready for loading, but not that many 10mm ones for some reason. I thought I had cast quite a few 10mm bullets, but I guess I must be shooting that caliber more than the others.

[therealhitman]

I finally gave in, set up my new wet tumbler, and started re-tumbling all my dry tumbled brass. Should take weeks to make them all shiny like new. Dang peer-pressure.

[labradigger1]

Adding 4000 pounds of lead to it

[1989toddm]

Adding 4000 pounds of lead to it

[emoji15][emoji15][emoji15][emoji15] NICE!

[guncheese]

what kind of oven do you use?

ummmm a big one.........
in a abandoned kitchen far in the woods... yeah thats it!

ive been doing the coating thing for a year and half or so and they look as good now as when i started
https://goo.gl/MYdfTT

i maybe should put a heap of them in a google collection

[aspangler]

Loaded about a box and a half of 45-70 with 405 hollow points.

[brassrat]

loaded 20 .303 with TB and some sweet, $13/ 100 GC .314s. and used dacron for 1st time. I have an unusual, plastic stocked, beauty with a Williams hacked-in rear, peep sight and a glowsight up front. I bang the steel at 50yds, every shot which isn't much unless you know the past problems, including bullets that rolled up/ down..up/down..up/ down. I think todays were best ever.

[NavyVet1959]

Loaded 100 rounds of 10mm... Drank 4 beers in the process... I probably should factor in the cost of beer when calculating my true reloading costs... :)

[waltherboy4040]

Sized, swaged, and trimmed 300 223 cases

[taco650]

Loaded up 13 rounds of 30-06 to finish off a box of 20. 6 were with Lee 309-180R (that only weigh 168!) and 16 grain of Longshot, the rest were HDY 150SP's over 48grs of IMR4320.

[FISH4BUGS]

Started sorting a 5 gallon pail of range brass.

[tygar]

Just to complain - I've been prepping brass for numerous calibers for weeks, interspaced with loading up various 223 & 5.56 for different rifles, 308, 375, 416, 450 Marlin, 458, 458 Lott & 450 Watts. I HATE prepping brass!!!! Especially trimming 223s, but trimming all really sucks! One reason I have such large quantities of brass is so I can shoot a lot without prepping.\

Also, it's been either to hot, to windy or now it's pouring rain with lots more to come & maybe a hurricane, to shoot a round.

[coxa2]

Sized a couple hundred 125gr hollow points to .358. Then used them to load up some 38 special plinking rounds.

[robertsm53]

Received 200 pieces of 38/55 new Starline brass, received a set of cowboy dies also in 38/55 and a mold also in 38/55. Got real busy then, casting a few hundred bullets, pan lubing them and finished by loading up 109 rounds ready to go for my wife's new Sharps replica rifle. Saturday will be a fun day!!

[guncheese]

i went goofy
got a new 6 hole Lee tool in ( i love how good those 6 holers work!)
so i cast,coated,sized about 900 200gr SWC
and around 200 148gr WC
https://goo.gl/XoySGl

[Black Powder Bill]

Cleaned the shop then tried to load some 12 ga on my MEC 9000h. Rio Hulls didn't want to drop into the size'r. By the time I noticed this I have hundreds of pellets on the floor. Deprimed and tumbled some 06AI,223,45lc,380,9m,38s,357.
Tried to get all the odd cases cleaned up. AND then melted 25lb or range scrap into sparkling wrinkly little bars.

[Seeker]

First day of archery season here. I got up at 5:00am and it was starting to rain. Getting everything around to load up some 255 rf in Colt cases with Bullseye. Good day to spend some quality time in the reloading room. You all have a good one.

[Dave C.]

Observed a moment of silence after finding a piece of 45 ACP brass from 1942 that was only loaded 50+ times cracked unexpectently.
It was a WCC 42. It will be sadly missed.

Dave C.

[triggerhappy243]

Dave, I think that piece of brass should be enshrined in liquid lexan.

[62chevy]

Observed a moment of silence after finding a piece of 45 ACP brass from 1942 that was only loaded 50+ times cracked unexpectently.
It was a WCC 42. It will be sadly missed.

Dave C.

I feel your pain Dave but he is in a better place now.

[Black Powder Bill]

Set up to load my first run of .380.......augh they are small! Ran off six 45lc 230 J hp for a test shoot.

[NavyVet1959]

Dave, I think that piece of brass should be enshrined in liquid lexan.

When I first read this, I thought it said "liquid Texan"... And I'm thinking, "How well does beer preserve brass?"

Ooops... Never mind...

[NavyVet1959]

Decided to search my reloading room for some more 10mm bullets (Lee TL401-175-SWC) to reload. It appeared that I was on my last container of them, but I was thinking that that there should be some around there *somewhere*. If I couldn't find them, then I was planning on casting a pot of them. While searching for them, I came across a set of Forstner bits that I had bought from Harbor Freight about a year or two ago and had never used, so I tried one out in a scrap piece of lumber with a hand drill. I liked the clean cut and nearly smooth bottom of the cut, so I decided to build some reloading blocks. I decided that I had gone long enough without a drill press and after looking at the bench top models that Lowes, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight offered, I started driving towards Lowes to examine their choices. Passed by a Sears Hardware store on the way there and decided to stop and see what choices they had. Decided that it was good enough for my use and bought it. Spent awhile putting it together without bothering to read the manual. After I finished, I grabbed a beer and then read the manual to see if I had done it right. The only thing I had done wrong was not removing the shipping lubricant / protectant from the chuck before hammering it on. I'll wait for it to come loose before correcting that.

So, I grabbed a scrap piece of 2x6 that was square (i.e. 5.5x5.5), marked out a 1/2" gridwork, and started drilling after having set the depth stop. Sure is nice being able to drill straight holes to a repeatable depth without the drill bit wandering.

I foresee it also being used for rough trimming .223 brass for conversion to .300 AAC and .30-06 brass for conversion to 7.7x58.

Now, I wonder how many reloading blocks I need to build to pay for the cost of the drill press.... :)

[scaevola]

Enjoy the new drill press.

This goes through my mind every time I buy a tool of some kind.

...
Now, I wonder how many reloading blocks I need to build to pay for the cost of the drill press.... :)

[NavyVet1959]

Enjoy the new drill press.

This goes through my mind every time I buy a tool of some kind.

Well, the plastic ones from Frankford Arsenal are currently $5 each at Midway, so I'm probably looking at drilling a LOT of holes before this would pay for itself. :)

Hmmm... Let's see...
2x6x8 currently going for $3.53 at Lowes. Can probably make about 17 of them from one 8 ft 2x6, so that means that each costs about $0.21. That means that I would save $4.79 on each block. The drill press was about $150, so that means I need to make about 32 blocks for it to pay for itself. That's only 1600 holes I need to drill.

Of course, that begs the question -- Do I really NEED 32 reloading blocks? :)

Interestingly, it is cheaper for me to make these reloading blocks that it would be to buy the cardboard and styrofoam ammunition boxes from Midway. Those are around $0.45 each in quantities of 100 over there.

[Harter66]

I gave up on beer and tool cost for loading tools for total cost .

You'll get to making neck expander pins soon enough too.

I dismantled an AR looking for why the accuracy had disintegrated after having closed groups to almost everything I needed and to replace the M2 fore end and gas block for a free float .
Why do I need 2.5 ft rail on a 16" bbl ? It all just unscrewed leaving just the last foot of top rail permanently fixed . I guess the gasified lead was impacting on the shoulder of the 30 cal flash hider and sticking to it and the threads and the 27 cal muzzle crown . I got the crown cleaned up and the knocked the nominal fouling out of the bbl with just a couple of wet brushes and a few patches . A quick range trip showed that that was a cure as the jackets immediately grouped 1.6 " . In spite of the optics and the whole rifle having being scattered all over the bench .

Off to the bench to load a few more jackets to take as a backup for the deer hunt next weekend .

[NavyVet1959]

I gave up on beer and tool cost for loading tools for total cost .

You'll get to making neck expander pins soon enough too.

I had already considered that. I figured that I would buy the Lee Powder Through Expander die inserts for calibers slightly larger that I'm needing, chuck them in the drill press, and then take a file or emory cloth to get them down to the size that I needed.

[Love Life]

Swaging rails, peening a grip safety, cutting lugs, and listening to classical music.

[robertsm53]

Cast up 15 lbs of 500 gr .45 slugs, a few hundred .38 cal 195 gr slugs for her 38-55 and a couple hundred .32 cal slugs for her break top revolver and a derringer.

[NavyVet1959]

Made some more reloading blocks and then reloaded some 10mm.

After I created the template for marking the holes, it turns out that it takes me 16 minutes to center punch the holes, drill out the holes with the Forstner bit, and vacuum up the mess.

Of course, it would take a bit less time if I had the drill press in my garage since I could just use the leaf blower to blow all the mess out the garage door. :)

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/drill-press-loading-blocks-320w.jpg

So, I have 4 of them now... That should be enough for awhile...

[tygar]

Been taking a break from prepping that dam brass so cast about 30+ #s of .452,3 230grers 20# yesterday, 10 today. Noe FP, Hiha HP & good old Lee RN TL. Sized yesterdays + about 200 Lee RNs from previous casting & TL all the Lees. At least its not brass prep.

Want to say I sure get nice bullets from the NOE 230FP. Its harder work with the MIHA HP. The HP has a tendency for the HP edge to not be uniform with a fair size dip in the edge. Probably on around 25% of them. The Lee actually does drop fairly nice uniform bullets.

The rain is finally stopping so I plan to shoot up a bunch of different 45-500 pistols & ARs, M14s & 40-45 cal rifles. Finally get to play.

[Budzilla 19]

Cast up 263 150 grain .30 caliber RNFP boolits after receiving some great advice from the posters on this forum! Just refined my technique some more and voila' we started to get sharp edges, and great fill out on bands and bases! Going to HiTek coat these and off to the range! To everyone who has helped me, I greatly appreciate it!

[taco650]

Cast up 263 150 grain .30 caliber RNFP boolits after receiving some great advice from the posters on this forum! Just refined my technique some more and voila' we started to get sharp edges, and great fill out on bands and bases! Going to HiTek coat these and off to the range! To everyone who has helped me, I greatly appreciate it!

Exactly why I spend so much time reading on here! Saves me grief in the long run.

[whisler]

Exactly why I spend so much time reading on here! Saves me grief in the long run.
Amen to that.

[NavyVet1959]

Drove down by the river to the old sand pit where I used to shoot and discovered that the city was building roads through there and the pit itself was full of water. Looks like I'm going to have to actually go to a commercial gun range from now on. :(

Finished up loading for 10mm and switched the press over to .45ACP and started rebuilding my stock of it for next trip to the range.

Built another reloading block and while cleaning up, I accidentally vacuumed up the battery cover of my digital caliper, so I had to go through a shop vac that was nearly full of sawdust one handfull at a time to try to find that very small cover. :(

[therealhitman]

Topped off my .45 Colt inventory by loading up the remainder of my empty brass with 452664's and 700X. That's when I realized that I actually have just a few less than 400 of the old cases in my possession. I shoot up three or four cylinders worth every week (I mostly practice for matches with .45acp and 9's in 1911's, the wheelguns come out at the end for fun) and have never had all my brass out and clean at one time before. I am officially throwing my hat in the .45 Colt brass buying race.

[1989toddm]

NavyVet

Sorry for your troubles but I had to laugh here. Sounds just like something that I do on a regular basis! [emoji23]

[Maven]

Loaded 60 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm with a 160gr. [C.E. Harris designed] NOE CB. 30 with 17gr. IMR 4198 + 30 with 22.8gr. IMR 7383 +
WLR mag. primers. As powder is hard to find locally, I've been using what I have in stock, which is why I've turned to 7383. Also, I was hoping to find a powder charge which would operate the action of my Type 56 SKS: 22.0 - 23.0gr. 7383 will, but I may have to go to 18.0gr. 4198 to get reliable ejection. Btw, although a trifle dirty, 7383 is satisfyingly accurate in my SKS with the NOE gc'd SP CB.

[mwells72774]

Cast up a few test boolits from the new mold. Looks to be old but it's a Lee 457-405 HP150608

[NavyVet1959]

Loaded up some more .45ACP... Shot some .460 Rowland loads using .45ACP brass in my converted G21. No brass blowouts.

Drank a lot of beer and complained about Lake City crimped .45 brass... :(

[David2011]

Loaded some LSWC GC .357 Mags to take hunting. Loaded short ladders of H4350 and Win 760 for 6.5mm Hornady 129 Interlocks. Chucked up a few flat nosed .45s (RCBS 45-250-FN) in the lathe and hollow pointed them with a center drill. Haven't shot them yet but they all came out within 1/2 grain. CLEANED THE WHOLE RELOADING ROOM! Loaded a ladder of Hornady HP XTPs and some BNH12 429421s for the Super 14" Contender to try on feral pigs. Refreshed the 30+ year old trigger job on the Ruger BH .45 Colt. Enjoyed the aroma of the Frog Lube.

David

[robertsm53]

Resized and primed 250 .32 Win Spec cases, reloaded 10 of them with IMR 4198 at .5 grs below the max, to try out today. Then I lubed another couple hundred of the 38-55 slugs for wife's new Sharps clone.

[opos]

Began to prep 1000 "once fired" (we all know what that means)..45 acp brass...decent stuff..had been tumbled so fairly clean..and was all "large pistol primer" brass.."sure it was". Been picking small primer brass out of the lot...not much of it but enough to be a real problem when I'm loading...so music on the radio and sort, sort, sort. Then as I got enough it got deprimed and took a swim in some citric acid soup for a few minutes..rinsed it off ...it's drying in the sun now..cleaned up the primer pockets and the insides of the brass. Back to sort, sort, sort...looks like I'll end up with about 100 small primer stuff which I'll give my buddy that loads that when he can...I should know..once fired is "whatever it was when I picked it up" and "all Large Pistol Primers means that's what most of it looked like".

[aspangler]

Loaded 20 (4 groups of 5) 223 with Alliant Varmint. @ 24-24.2-24.4-24.6 gr. 24.7 max for 55 gr condoms. Will watch for signs of pressure as I work up. I'll let you know how it works out.

[Jal5]

Primed about 250 45 auto while watching TV and tumbled another 200 pieces of .223

[goryshaw]

Loaded 20 (4 groups of 5) 223 with Alliant Varmint. @ 24-24.2-24.4-24.6 gr. 24.7 max for 55 gr condoms. Will watch for signs of pressure as I work up. I'll let you know how it works out.

I've been using 24.0 or 25.0 gr with any 50-55 gr jacketed, with very good results. Rock River NM A2 AR-15 with 20+ yr old Speer 52 gr BTHP, Hornady 53 gr Vmax, Nosler 55 gr Varmageddon and currently Nosler 52 gr Custom Competition HP. 24.0 with the Speer and Hornady, 25.0 with either of the Noslers. All of them will clean an SR-1 from prone, and any out of the X ring with the Custom Comps are my fault, not the gun or the ammunition.

[taco650]

Cast these up on Tuesday.

Lee 358-158 swc/gc on the left, Lee 429-240 swc/gs on the right. These were the keepers. Both were from two cavity molds. The 429 mold dropped the casts with gravity, the 358 had to be smoked and the handles hit several times to get them to drop from the left half. Guess some "Leementing" is in order for it. :-(
150707

[Vegas Vince]

sized, cleaned, trimmed & polished 60 rounds of 50 cal brass. ready to load.

[Efin]

Yesterday 500ish 223, sized and primer pocket swaged, 500ish more today, then trim, clean and load.... Have a bunch of the cast 224's to try in this batch too.

[bedbugbilly]

Cast up just over 500 Lyman 358-242 121 gr boolits. Perfect sunny cool fall day to cast. Hopefully tomorrow I can knock out the sam amount from my Lyman 458-311 mold. I plan on casting most of the week during the afternoons. Then spend some time tumble lubing them all!

[Schrag4]

Cast about 850 9mm from a Lee 6-cav 124RN tumble variety. I would have kept going but the spout on my Lee 10lb pot was going slower and slower. I wasn't sure what to do, so I gave up. I'm sure this has been asked and answered a million times on this site so right now I'm in research mode.

[MaLar]

I couldn't find my 30 cal gas checks so started cleaning.
Placed all my Bees wax in a container.
Organised the primers. Found some brass I forgot about.
Found them now I wonder what else I can find.

[shoot-n-lead]

Loaded 40rds of 44 special.

[Wild Bill 7]

Had the last couple of days off, loaded 971 45 acp's and 100 9mm. Odd number is I only had 471 230 moly coated bullets and the rest were 230 fmj's. A friend of mine gave me almost 2000 230's because he didn't want to load anymore 45's. Took some of his favorite brew over to him. 9's were 125 rn powder coated.

[JeffG]

Loaded 50 rounds 9mm, cleaned a 22 rifle and scored 2 five gallon buckets of wheel weights.

[TXGunNut]

Took a bag of fresh-fired shotgun hulls in there earlier today. Been back in there twice just to take a whiff, lol. Toted four cases of 12ga shotgun shells in there, need a case or two to take to Raton pretty soon. Dunno what I'm going to do with all those hulls, will figure that out when that beautiful aroma is gone, lol.
Casting furnace is full of 50/50, moulds need breaking in, even have a few hundred pieces of brass cleaned and ready to go. Gotta fire up the tractor tomorrow (after a few rounds of trap while the dew dries) so casting and loading will have to wait awhile. :-(

[jonp]

Loaded and shot some more Vectan GM3 in my Target Masterpiece. Installed another gun safe. Tumbled some brass

[Mauser48]

Lets see, I walked out there decided it was way too hot then went back inside.

[Kevinakaq]

Loaded up my first ever black powder catridges. Recently acquired an EMF 1875 in 44-40 and decided to go the holy black route (as if there was another logical choice...lol). Loaded with some German 2F, some lee bullets at around 10 bhn sized to .428 in some once fired winchester brass i picked up along the way. As a long time muzzle loader shooter I am very much looking forward to seeing the white smoke roll....

[slim1836]

Yesterday I loaded some .308 powder coated LEE 160TL boolits.

Today I cast a couple hundred .308 x 54R 314299 boolits.

Slim

[62chevy]

Saturday and Sunday nothing but Monday is a casting day. I'll be casting the LeeTL314-90-SWC for cat sneeze loads in my 308 Win.

[jonp]

Loaded up my first ever black powder catridges. Recently acquired an EMF 1875 in 44-40 and decided to go the holy black route (as if there was another logical choice...lol). Loaded with some German 2F, some lee bullets at around 10 bhn sized to .428 in some once fired winchester brass i picked up along the way. As a long time muzzle loader shooter I am very much looking forward to seeing the white smoke roll....

I'm waiting for my mold to arrive so I can load up some black in the 43 Spanish I acquired and can't wait. Yesterday as I was loading the 38sp I sure was eyeing the 2lbs of Goex I bought and the 45LC brass.

[NavyVet1959]

Tried using a phillips bit in a drill press to press some cross type "hollow points" in some bullets. Worked better than when I tried it with an arbor press, but the bit tends to stick in the bullet.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8A9o0AImjXHRXBHNEx5ckloY0U

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/phillips-hollow-point-320w.jpg

[jonp]

that's pretty interesting how do they expand?

if they're sticking in the lead have you tried spraying the bits with mold release agent

[NavyVet1959]

that's pretty interesting how do they expand?

if they're sticking in the lead have you tried spraying the bits with mold release agent

I have no idea how they expand or whether they just fragment. My bullet trap slows the bullets gradually enough that they tend not to expand.

Haven't tried anything else. I just recently bought the drill press and tried this on impulse last night to see if it worked better than when I tried something similar with an arbor press. The arbor press did not work very well since there was nothing holding the drill bit and thus it was easy to not be aligned and go in at an angle. I tried it a couple of times on the arbor press and then gave up. The drill press was a lot easier though. You can get pretty close just eyeballing it without some sort of centering jig or vise. I was originally thinking of a 3-jaw lathe chuck mounted in the drill press bed in order to act as a self-centering vise to drill holes, but my local Harbor Freight did not carry their lathe chuck in stock. I had drove by there yesterday to see if they had it.

[rmark]

Checked some ingots I smelted last week for hardness, battery terminals came out 8 bhn, range lead 10 bhn, clip on wheel weights 14 bhn.

[Jal5]

Loaded 100 rounds of 45 acp to build my stock back up. Xtreme 230 RN OVER suitable amount of Bullseye. Got a lot more to do.

[NavyVet1959]

Decided to do some casting tonight. Cast some 300gr for my Ruger .45LC Bisley Blackhawk, some 210gr .410 to resize to .401 for my 10mm guns, and some. 128gr .440 round ball for my Rossi .44 mag rifle and Redhawk .44mag. Powder coating everything except the round balls via ASBB method with HF Flat Black with a dash of HF Red, 2 coats.

And, of course, drinking beer... :)

[1989toddm]

Decided to do some casting tonight. Cast some 300gr for my Ruger .45LC Bisley Blackhawk, some 210gr .410 to resize to .401 for my 10mm guns, and some. 128gr .440 round ball for my Rossi .44 mag rifle and Redhawk .44mag. Powder coating everything except the round balls via ASBB method with HF Flat Black with a dash of HF Red, 2 coats.

And, of course, drinking beer... :)

Can I ask what your load is for the round balls in 44mag? My FIL always tells me how much fun round balls are in 45colt, I feel like I'm missing something!

[NavyVet1959]

Can I ask what your load is for the round balls in 44mag? My FIL always tells me how much fun round balls are in 45colt, I feel like I'm missing something!

Advantages of Round Balls:


Since they are not high pressure loads, so you can play around with a lot of powders to see what works for you.
They are pretty efficient on your use of lead though.
Doesn't really matter if they tumble since THEY ARE ROUND.
Makes for great "plinker" loads for introducing new shooters.


A 0.440" round ball weighs about 128 gr. In determining a load, I just looked at load data for other calibers. I figured that as long as the other caliber has less case capacity than the .44 mag, then the pressure would be less. I also figured that if the other caliber load data was for a heavier bullet than the .440" round ball, then the pressure would be less. If you put too much powder for a round ball, the worse that might happen is that that you get some blow-by and end up leading your barrel. I've used as low as 3.0 gr of Red Dot, IIRC, but I did get the occasional grain of powder leaving the barrel still burning.

[taco650]

Lee-mented my first mold. Used Crest toothpaste. Haven't cast with it yet but unsized bullets I cast with it the other day come out easy.

[TXGunNut]

Went in there on a recon mission, was planning on loading some BP 45-90's tomorrow night. Only had ten boolits and according to my scale they were mostly culls. Bummer. Furnace full of 50/50, not 20/1. Nuther bummer.
Maybe another time. Need to block out a weekend for nothing but smelting and casting sometime soon.

[RED333]

Oiled a few firearms.

[labradigger1]

Removed a bunch of stuff and 2 presses, setting up at the local gun show tomorrow

[tward]

Cast a bunch of Boolits , 358429, 358311, Lee 105SWC, Cramer 24d, 430421, Lee 451 200 gr RNFP, Lee 44 255 gr SWC, lubed some and dug out my old RCBS JR2. Tim

[avogunner]

Loaded 50 .46 Colt and then planned my reloading room renovation.

[62chevy]

Nothing this week end but Monday it is the beginning of powder coating the 4000 boolits I cast this last month.

[Schrag4]

Today I was sizing some 9mm boolits that I powder coated earlier. My 7yo was very curious, so I let her place a few while I worked the press. Then I let her work the press while I placed a few. She then had the bright idea that I would powder coat and when they came out of the oven then she would size them. It was her idea, I swear! She's in there right now finishing up a batch, and she couldn't be happier.

[farmerjim]

Hi teked 2k 9mm boolits.

[dougader]

Loaded 50 rounds for the new 480 SBH Bisley. A 370 grain rnfp over 14 grains Hercules Blue Dot.

[NavyVet1959]

Loaded up some heavy 10mm loads. 8.4 gr of Longshot, 1.2660" OAL, used Lee TL410-210-SWC resized to 0.401", supposedly 1237 fps / 747 ft-lbs in a G20 barrel. I test fired one in a G29 barrel (without a mag inserted, just in case if blew up). Felt a bit snappier than my normal load. :)

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-tl410-210-swc-resized-10mm-loaded.jpg
https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-tl410-210-swc-resized-10mm-loaded-320w.jpg
They average 216 gr each.

Yeah, I use .40SW brass for my 10mm loads...

Also powdercoated some Lee C452-300-RF.
https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-c452-300-rf-powder-coated-320w.jpg
https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-c452-300-rf-powder-coated.jpg

The funky color is a flat black layer and then a dash of yellow added to it in another coat.

[ubetcha]

Same thing I always do when I go in there. Look at the mess and say" WHERE IN THE HE DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS DO I START TO CLEAN THIS PLACE"

[berksglh]

Played with colors. Mixed some of Smoke's colors with different brass..
Brass, magnetic brass ;-) and nickel.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/24ad589c1e658706e1fdda64ae03bc57.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/78189f801077622037d9798ccf303bdb.jpg

[RogerDat]

Put a thermometer in the counter top oven I picked up at thrift store. Found the point on the dial that holds temp just under 400* or where to set for just above 350*. Preparing to give ASBBT powder coat a try. Cast a couple dozen .452 RFN for the 45 as a test batch for PC while trying out my new Lee GC .312 160 gr. mold, did about 100 of those. Some may end up getting a shot at being PC'd.

I figure the 45 should be an easy to stand without falling over PC candidate. The 30's I will have to consider how to "rack" them and do a few experiments to figure out what works for tall skinny boolits. Daughter coming over later, she and I may load some 45 colt since the brass is ready and the press is set up.

[NavyVet1959]

Same thing I always do when I go in there. Look at the mess and say" WHERE IN THE HE DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS DO I START TO CLEAN THIS PLACE"

Oh, that's easy... The first step is popping the top on a beer... Then you stare at the table while drinking the beer... Then you get another beer... Repeat until the table doesn't look all that messy anymore...

[ubetcha]

Oh, that's easy... The first step is popping the top on a beer... Then you stare at the table while drinking the beer... Then you get another beer... Repeat until the table doesn't look all that messy anymore...

Thank You NV1959. That's pretty much what I do and it's still not getting cleaned.:oops:. As I say every year, it will get cleaned during the winter when it's to cold out to do anything. Ya right. My garage is the same way. When I do attempt to clean, all I wind up doing is move the junk from one spot to another and vice versa then next time I attempt. Back and forth,back and forth.:veryconfu

[NavyVet1959]

Tried that 747 ft-lb 216 gr cast lead load in the 10mm again today in my garage, except out of a RIA 10mm instead of the Glock 29. Definitely feels like a milder round out of the RIA than the Glock. More weight, longer grip area, less sharp corners on the grip. or whatever -- it just felt completely different.

Had one of neighbors who is a retired NYC LEO stand on the sidewalk to see how loud it was and whether it sounded like a gunshot while I shot it in my garage. He said that it sounded more like someone dropping a 2x4 on the concrete very hard. Then again, he wears a hearing aid, so maybe I should take that with a grain of salt? :)

He showed me his reloading press in his garage -- a "Spartan"... Just looked it up and it was made by Lyman.