new most hated reloading task

[Lloyd Smale]

Its SMOKES fault. he got me into trying to cast some 22 bullets and coat them for my ars. I bought a 6 cav lee mold and two thousand gas checks. Got about a thousand bullets casted yesterday. I thought those tiny cavitys would make it a finiky mold but it actually casted pretty good. today I started putting on gas checks and running them through the sizer before they get coated. Well between the gas checks going on real tight and those tiny little bullets I said so select words I wouldn't repeat here. My big club fingers weren't designed for this task. Told the wife if someone invented a gas check installing too with a collator I would probably have mortgaged the house today to buy one! I have to keep telling myself that a 1000 bullets are going for over a 100 bucks and being retired I have nothing else to do in the winter:groner:

[robg]

They are fiddley little devils but trimming brass is the worst job.

[Love Life]

You can get 1,000 55 gr FMJ bullets for a good bit less than $100.00. That's why I have no intentions to ever cast for a 22 caliber rifle.

[308Jeff]

They are fiddley little devils but trimming brass is the worst job.

'specially 30 Carbine. Even with a Giraud.

[.22-10-45]

.22 gas-checks difficult? Try paper-patching .22 slugs!

[472x1B/A]

51 gr. .25 acp can be fun too.

[Lloyd Smale]

id rather go to the dentist!
.22 gas-checks difficult? Try paper-patching .22 slugs!

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess part of my thought processes with this is to make it work then shelf it. the big reason I wanted to cast 22s is the future group buy for the 100 grain 223 bullet so that I can shoot my ars subsonic. Theres a method to my madness with this 55 grain thing. Someday the 223 bulk bullets might dry up or God forbid we get someone like Hillary elected and they put the screws to us handloaders. With that mold, some gas checks (if it got real bad I could even shoot them without) and some of smokes black I could at least keep shooting my ars.
You can get 1,000 55 gr FMJ bullets for a good bit less than $100.00. That's why I have no intentions to ever cast for a 22 caliber rifle.

[dragon813gt]

You can get 1,000 55 gr FMJ bullets for a good bit less than $100.00. That's why I have no intentions to ever cast for a 22 caliber rifle.

I have the molds and have shot plenty of them. But that's out of a bolt action. I have no desire to shoot cast out of an AR. I will pay the price of admission for Sierra Match Kings. All but one of my ARs have 1:7 barrels so trying to shoot cast wouldn't be optimal.

I have smaller hands and find installing gas checks tedious. I get a lot more checks from the same amount of material but that's about the only advantage. Even handling jacketed 22s can be frustrating. Buying a 1050 strictly to load for the ARs has a lot of appeal.

[rancher1913]

this is why I ponied up and bought the dies from btsniper to turn 22lr into ar rounds, I think it will be easier than messing with coating the little buggers.

[richhodg66]

Not shooting in an AR, but cast .22s are fun in the Hornet and .222. Good small game loads too.

[Hick]

Could your method be the problem? I cast lots of 60 grain cast for 223 Remington. I tumble lube the cast bullets (Ben's) and let them dry very little. Next, I spread the checks out on the workbench. I take a lubed bullet, put in on top of a check that is sitting on the bench, push it in a little (it sticks to the lube) then run it through my Lee sizer. Quick and easy-- even for my fat fingers, since I never have to pick up the check.

[marlin39a]

Yeah well, try working with the NOE 225107 bullets.

[dverna]

A few months ago, one of our Vendor Sponsers had 6000 Horandy 55 gr SP bullets for $425 (or thereabouts). Just over $70/1000 delivered. It was a no brainer for me.

I have two new MiHec molds. Lloyd has a point about being prepared. I will likely take the time to develop a cast load that works this year and then put the molds away until the SHTF. As long as jacketed bullets are available at reasonable cost, dealing with cast 22's is not for me.

Don Verna

[garym1a2]

Too hard to handle tiny bullets and gas checks. Thats why I went 300blk.

[Bzcraig]

I use jacketed for my AR but cast for my bolt gun.

[Mk42gunner]

The worst part for me is turning all the teeny tiny gas checks so the open end is up. I wonder if a primer flipper tray would work with gas checks? I don't see any reason it shouldn't, do you guys?

Robert

[flyingmonkey35]

The worst part for me is turning all the teeny tiny gas checks so the open end is up. I wonder if a primer flipper tray would work with gas checks? I don't see any reason it shouldn't, do you guys?

Robert
I use a lee flipper it works for me.

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[psweigle]

'specially 30 Carbine. Even with a Giraud.


Amen to that!!!!!

[Lloyd Smale]

I just dump 500 on the table and use the ones that are flipped right and when there all gone scoop them up and drop them back on the table and repeat until there gone.
The worst part for me is turning all the teeny tiny gas checks so the open end is up. I wonder if a primer flipper tray would work with gas checks? I don't see any reason it shouldn't, do you guys?

Robert

[buckwheatpaul]

I hate changing sizing dies in a STARR and setting them up for the next bullet style.....plus Dillon 450 reset is not an easy task....but all are worth it......

[OS OK]

Lloyd...get yourself a set of 'fingertip extensions'. They slip over your fingers and turn those 'meat hooks' into a pair of surgeons hands with all the dexterity you could dream of having...:bigsmyl2: ... they even improve your eyesight!

[marshall623]

Getting tumbler media out of 22cal. Cases

[GhostHawk]

I don't cast for an AR, my .223 is a single shot. So I just slowed it down until it got below that 1400 fps mark. No chrony so I am guessing but 4.6 grains of Red Dot is not too hot.

Still makes good replacement for .22lr rifle. No rabbit or squirrel inside of 50 yards is safe, and I suspect with practice, out to 100.

Best part, no fiddling with gas checks. Shoot them as cast lubed with Ben's Liquid Lube over Red Dot. Nice cheap inexpensive easy to make non fiddly critter killer.

Perhaps not as long range accurate as factory loads, but still minute of squirrel head.

[Geezer in NH]

They are fiddley little devils but trimming brass is the worst job.Obviously no Dillon Trimmer there!!! :bigsmyl2:

[mozeppa]

i have a new 22-TCM 1911 ...........40 grain bullet in .22 size.

itty bitty boogers!

[RogerDat]

Well I need heavy bullets for .223 so I'm saving more with my cast 70 grain version but compared to trimming and prepping the brass I'm not going to complain about putting on the gas checks.

I'm doing these on a slow and steady pace. Accumulate them over time, a couple hundred at a time works well.

[Lloyd Smale]

done it so many times in the last 40 years that I can about look at a die and get it adjusted right or at least within a couple test bullets of having it right.
I hate changing sizing dies in a STARR and setting them up for the next bullet style.....plus Dillon 450 reset is not an easy task....but all are worth it......

[Lloyd Smale]

yup a Dillon trimmer makes trimming 223 as easy as walking into the loading room. I do hate trimming brass for some others though. Only dillion trim dies I have are for the 223 and 308. The rest I do on a rcbs power trimmer. Not bad but not near as bad as any other method. Good thing is that those rounds don't get trimmed every firing
Obviously no Dillon Trimmer there!!! :bigsmyl2:

[Lloyd Smale]

I use walnut shell and don't have a problem. Have used corn cob and know where your coming from! One trick that works pretty well if you have media stuck in them is to put them back in the tumbler with no media and let it run a 1/2 hour. Usually gets it out unless your using damp corncob.
Getting tumbler media out of 22cal. Cases

[Lloyd Smale]

tried to recruit the wife but she only laughed!
Lloyd...get yourself a set of 'fingertip extensions'. They slip over your fingers and turn those 'meat hooks' into a pair of surgeons hands with all the dexterity you could dream of having...:bigsmyl2: ... they even improve your eyesight!

[Kent Fowler]

Hate dealing with unprocessed 5.56 cases

[Kestrel4k]

Primer crimps. Have enough milsurp to justify keeping & reloading the brass, but not enough to justify a great setup to easily get rid of the crimps.

[Smoke4320]

Lloyd
on 223 cast bullets I am shake and bake , separating using the paper bowls with holes punched in them (actually doing this with all rds now as it seems to even the coat out real well and removes the excess) then pouring the 223 bullets on pan with non stick foil.
the contact area of the 223 bullets is so small it does not seem to affect them at all .. let cool completely and they just pour right into a container

[robg]

Obviously no Dillon Trimmer there!!! :bigsmyl2:
No just he Lee jobby in a drill .ish I could afford better but prices here are crazy.

[castalott]

Hmmm.... Surely there is a pretty little college girl you could pay (for her eyesight and manual dexterity) to get those checks turned right side up..... I suspect the quality control would suffer on everything you did while she was there......

Dale

[MaryB]

Trimming is super easy with one of these chucked in the drill https://littlecrowgunworks.com/product/worlds-finest-trimmer-wft/?v=7516fd43adaa I did 500 cases in an hour without even trying hard.

[Lloyd Smale]

gave it a try yesterday smoke. DId about 500 just doing a short tumbling so not to get it on to thick and dumped them on non stick Reynolds wrap and baked them. Then I cooled them and did it again. After the second baking I water dropped them. Have to say they turned out as good as my best batches of single coating bullets stood up on the pan. thanks again for your help


Lloyd
on 223 cast bullets I am shake and bake , separating using the paper bowls with holes punched in them (actually doing this with all rds now as it seems to even the coat out real well and removes the excess) then pouring the 223 bullets on pan with non stick foil.
the contact area of the 223 bullets is so small it does not seem to affect them at all .. let cool completely and they just pour right into a container

[Smoke4320]

gave it a try yesterday smoke. DId about 500 just doing a short tumbling so not to get it on to thick and dumped them on non stick Reynolds wrap and baked them. Then I cooled them and did it again. After the second baking I water dropped them. Have to say they turned out as good as my best batches of single coating bullets stood up on the pan. thanks again for your help

your welcome .. enjoy .. not sure that technique (dump and bake) would work as well on large contact surface bullets IE 45 300-500 Gr and such
too much to stick to pan and leave flat surfaces on the bullets but might be fixed in sizing .. something I have to try soon

[lightman]

I've never gotten interested in casting for most of my rifles, the 30 caliber's and the 45-70 being exceptions. I also don't reload for any cartridge that is shorter than the width of my fingers, except for the 380 acp. I hear you about being prepared and having a backup plan but I'm thinking more about getting set up to swage 22's from 22 rimfire cases.

[Minerat]

Trying to get 25 cal gas checks to fit a NOE 225-48 Sp. Yes I ordered they at the same time trying to be smart, no I don't shoot 25 cal.[smilie=b:

[Lloyd Smale]

then you have to find cheap 22 shells to shoot to get the cases. That's tougher then finding 223 ball bullets today.
I've never gotten interested in casting for most of my rifles, the 30 caliber's and the 45-70 being exceptions. I also don't reload for any cartridge that is shorter than the width of my fingers, except for the 380 acp. I hear you about being prepared and having a backup plan but I'm thinking more about getting set up to swage 22's from 22 rimfire cases.

[DougGuy]

Too bad there isn't a Lee "Auto Gas Check Installer" made like an Ergo Prime, then you guys could bash Lee some for installing checks upside down or sideways, you know, a healthy place to vent.. :kidding:

Has to be that long dark cold Michigan winter that makes a fella want to put gas checks on .22 caliber boolits.. :shock:

[Lloyd Smale]

that's about it. We had a warm up yesterday and I didn't even bother going to the reloading room. Ive got one last batch casted that need to next have checks installed and I just couldn't bring myself to do it yesterday.
Too bad there isn't a Lee "Auto Gas Check Installer" made like an Ergo Prime, then you guys could bash Lee some for installing checks upside down or sideways, you know, a healthy place to vent.. :kidding:

Has to be that long dark cold Michigan winter that makes a fella want to put gas checks on .22 caliber boolits.. :shock:

[Smoke4320]

Just finished gas checking about 800 227-65
Did it over 3 days just taking my time. About 3 or 4 a minute
spent maybe a hr or so each day. That way was not bad at all.
Next week PC and final resizing

[Iowa Fox]

Keep us updated on your project Lloyd. I have resisted the powder coating craze since I have been casting and lube sizing for a long time. The AR has me on the edge of caving. Got plenty of 22 molds so all I would need is a oven from good will and some of that powder. The 22 rimfire thing still has me PO'd, that is why I'm thing about this.

[Sur-shot]

I used to hate trimming brass then I went crazy and bought a motorized RCBS Trim Pro with all the 3 way cutters I need. It is actually fun, well now, let's not get too excited, try tolerable, to trim a load of fire formed and processed brass now.
Ed