It's a Perfect Time to Reload! What Are You Working on?

Casting Boolits , got some new moulds last year for my Model 58 S&W in 41 Magnum.

NOE 412 - 237 - SWC ( KEITH) Signature mould , 237 grain SWC , plain base (of course)

NOE 413 - 215 - WC (413432) This design is based on the Lyman 358432 160 gr. wadcutter .
I have some of these cast and sized .412" , even loaded some 41 mag. target loads with Bullseye , HP-38 and Red Dot but haven't got to the range yet to test them .

I have high hopes for the 41 wadcutter , the NOE 360 - 160 - WC , a recreation of Lyman's discontinued # 358432, that Al makes , seems to be more accurate in 38 special and 357 mag revolvers than the boolits I cast from my old used Lyman mould .... in fact , in all the testing I've done the 360-160- WC holds the accuracy record . I have been testing them the last few years in a model 64 S&W set up with a Millet SP-1 Red Dot sight...always trying for that mythical 1 hole group.
Gary

There is something visceral and primal in launching a stabilized "Ash Can" down range.

The WC boolit provides this useful Primordial Chemical Soup Cocktail.

loaded a bunch of 45/70 doing load development. Made a boolit trap to catch those 500 grainers - couldn't fathom throwing away 500 grains of lead per shot.

Man I want to so bad, but we have a three month old so all my time is taken up helping out the wife. The irony kills me hahaha

Loaded these up earlier today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6e8998d804.jpg

I'm still working at least 40 hours a week. I fear that may go up as more of our guys have to be quarantined. If I wind up in quarantine, I have a whole ton of cleaning and organizing to do in my loading area, not to mention loading.

I have been staying home alot more when I'm not on shift, and I have been loading up .45acp and tinkering with the new Lee Automatic Processing Press.

I'm working from home, but doing some cleaning and organizing in the meantime.

Might head to the outdoor range if the weather holds and if it stays open...Otherwise might work on some 45LC and 45-70 loads. We'll see how it goes.

Everybody busy! That's a good thing! Idleness is the devil workshop! Now if you all load everything up, run outa brass, bullets, lead there's always "one more thing" you can do! That is to rebuild your spent primers! Yea, tedious process and I'm still in the learning stages but it can be done! Gonna come a day where no amount of hazmat $ will get you new primers. But of course, this is a last resort.

I'm painstakingly prepping 223 brass on one side of bench and loading on the other. You all be safe.

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Originally Posted by oneofsix

I found out approx a month ago that 650~ rounds of 45acp that I loaded a while back were not taper crimped properly and were causing failures to feed-
So I corrected that over the weekend.
Yesterday I started prepping about 1000 40S&W cases I've had cleaned and waiting for 6 years lol.

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Not trying to tell you what to do but 45 ACP usually doesn't need crimping. I do a very light taper crimp on mine but not a whole lot as the case headspaces in the chamber. But if it fixes your issue go for it! What 45 you got?

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Originally Posted by Dieselhorses

Not trying to tell you what to do but 45 ACP usually doesn't need crimping. I do a very light taper crimp on mine but not a whole lot as the case headspaces in the chamber. But if it fixes your issue go for it! What 45 you got?

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It would be more accurate to say that I didn't remove all of the belling when I first put the cartridges together- I could actually feel it with my finger.
Measured several samples from each box, case mouth was .473-.474.
Lymans 49th shows it should be .473 but comparing to some factory ammo, those were .469
I'm hoping to be able to do a little testing this weekend to confirm if bumping them down to .470 does the trick.

I'm shooting an XD service model (4" barrel, compact grip)

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I've been working up a cast load for my .380acp. Using Brazos Bullets 95gr cast RNBB, Hitek coated. Fuelling it with my stash of W540. Set my target up at 21ft. No chrony, sorry.
Started with 3.3gr and worked up 0.2gr a step. 3.3 was promising, but a little mild. 3.5 and 3.7 really opened up my groups. 3.9 closed it up to about 2" and still mellow recoil, no pressure signs. Next batch will be 3.8gr, 3.9gr and 4.0gr and I'll fine tune it.
Was nice to burn some powder, been too long.

Working on 30-30 loads for silhouette shooting. Trying to find a subsonic load that will reliably shoot well out to 150 yards. Jury's still out. Good way to use some quarantine time.

Between this , Iv’e been doing some paper patching a new dual diameter bullet from a mould from Steve Brooks for a Shiloh Sharps 45-70 it’s nearly a 45-90 with 82 grs of Old Eynesford 1.5 fg room for for more powder if I choose. Will chrono these next time at the range.

PAndy, not to look as if I'm beating my own drum, but a few days ago I posted my results for subsonic 30-30 with red dot. May be of interest to you. I'd be very interested on what else you have come up with!

...Woops...apologies PAndy...you were a contributor on that post! BUT, I'm still interested in any new findings you may discover.

Yesterday I loaded up 300 45 ACP. Today is my 45-70 run. I got 100 brass to load. Have a good self quarantine day.😙😮🤐😫

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Originally Posted by Iron369

Loaded these up earlier today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6e8998d804.jpg

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They look like Easter eggs!

I loaded 500 rds of 380 ACP with Berry's 100 gr flat base FMJ RN bullets I was given for my B-day. I then decided to load 100 rds of 32 ACP with a box of Hornady 60 gr FTX's I found in my "stuff" area. What a PIA. I loaded them on my Rock Chucker as I was only doing 100 rds. Those cases are tiny and of course I managed to "re-size" my left thumb. I think I'll switch to 38/357 today. I have a big ole pile of RCBS 38-150-SWC's. My thumb hurts. :)

In February i loaded 1500 38 specials, filling a 50 cal can. At some point through the loading i read a way to make the lee auto drum not leak ( tighten the screw the holds the whole thing together) everything looked good and comtinued my standard practice of only checking upon stopages (refill primer tray, crushed cases, whatever else) and around the end found out that the super tight adjustment was preventing the drum from getting powder to drop occasionally.
Didnt think it was happening too often and decided to just shoot them up.

Ive shot up about 300, and probably have 50 squibs. This did prompt me to invest in a nice brass rod.

Im still working, but i do know what i have to do if we get shut down.

That's almost too brutal Brutal...gotta be done though. I had a similar problem with a few 380 ACP rounds, until I purchased and installed a Powder Checker die in the Progressive. Now I watch for the tell tale indicator prior to moving to the next step. It is like another pair of "eyes" in the process.

Loaded up some .38 Specials day before Yesterday. Ran out of primers. Hope that's not gonna be a big problem finding more and not finding out that they are twice the price. Lol.