What is your Winter Reloading Project this year?

[MakeMineA10mm]

O.K., I'm cheating a little, because I actually started in September/October, but after shooting my home-cast boolits in pistols for 25+ years, I decided I needed to try casting for rifles.

My first project is a 30-06 load for my '03 Springfields. I've come quite a-ways with the help of some really good and smart guys in the Miltary Rifles w/ Cast forum here. Read the Harris article, and I've got my "light load" (with pistol powder and only with power of a pistol -- mainly used for extreme short-range target and small game) about dialed-in.

Next step is the 200-yd "Mattern Load" as Harris calls it. Last night, I sorted through my stashes of 30-06 cases, and combined the fired ones along with the ones I fired from my test loads this fall and got them in the tumbler, resized, and re-primed. Then, I got out my weight-segregated Saeco 315s I cast up last fall and got the gas checks glued on with Super Glue. (Another little gem of an idea I found here at Cast Boolits.) I'm leaving them unsized and will be hand-lubing them before seating them. I also lined up the advice I got from the guys in the Miliary Rifles with Cast forum and have several powders to load and test out. Might get to that later this afternoon.

Once that is all taken care of, I've got a new 30-40 Krag (Model 1896 Rifle) which I bought in a face-to-face with a fellow member from cast boolits here. (Terry -- who is SUPER nice, as is his wife Brenda. Great people!) Already had cases and dies for it, which I've bought off people from.......... yes, you guessed it, Cast Boolits!

This is one great place, isn't it??

[DeanWinchester]

My Ruger .308 is getting a J-bullet enema. I am developing what I hope to be a very accurate CB load using a 200g Lee. It's been a lot of work, but a heck of a lot of fun so far!
If this works out well, all my J/loads will go into deep storage for use during zombie apocalypse scenario or just to collect dust.

[Wayne Smith]

Should get the first stage of my benches done today! Second stage will be the finish frontal pieces - and then the shelving. Not exactly a "reloading" project, but one that will make my reloading much easier and available - and allow me to teach as well.

[deltaenterprizes]

I have started on a LEE style .410 shotshell reloading set up. I have the sizer, ejector/priming rod and decapping/ wad inserter rod complete. I now need to work on the crimp started and crimp parts.

[Hip's Ax]

As usual I do a lot of reloading in the winter. Been sick lately and stuck in the house so I got a LOT of reloading work done in the last week or two. Finished prepping brass and loading 100 .223 600 yard loads for my AR match rifle (service rifle class) and about 200 rounds of 303 British for the rifle I use for mil surp bolt rifles matches. I was about to start playing with loading up some cast loads for various rifles but I have to go back to work Monday.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a couple of .38-55 Highwalls to get loads up for. One is fairly original, with a somewhat scuzzy bore and a headspace problem hopefully fixed by a breechblock bushing, the other is a marriage of a rebored original barrel, a bushed musket action and an as-yet unfinished stock. The last mentioned seems very promising -- 1 to 1-1/2" groups with the Ideal 375248 at 100 yards with 15 gr 4759 and 22 gr 4198, respectively. I'm using a Lyman Jr. Targetspot 8x for load development, but hope to switch to a Winchester A5 once things settle in. I'm also hoping the rifle's performance will inspire me to finish the thing, a project which has been stalled for at least 10 years.

Unfortunately, after that promising start, there has been nothing but wind, rain and cold (and all permutations of each) here in sunny southern California on every free day I've had available for shooting. Currently it doesn't get above freezing until ten in the morning, whereupon the wind picks up. I'm no longer the tough frostbitten Northerner who came out of the Michigan blizzards 40 years ago; I've mostly been shivering around my casting furnace running up stocks of 375248, 375166 and 375300 for future applications when this Ice Age is over down here.

[Doc Highwall]

My project is to design a set of floating expander's that will work in both my 30-30 Win and my 308 Win to control bullet seating tension.

[elk hunter]

I hope to host another casting/reloading day for friends. I generally make up a big pot of chili and a pan of cornbread for lunch and put on the twenty cup coffee pot. It's amazing how many bullets get cast and rounds loaded considering how much BULL gets tossed about by four to eight guys.

Other than the above, no gun building or reloading/casting this winter, as I'm busy building a motor for one of my old trucks.

[82nd airborne]

Am I the only one that loads and casts all year?

[Eutectic]

I load, test and shoot all year... Almost daily in fact... We have REAL winter here in the northern Rockies, so I cast only when really necessary (like a new mold) Keeping temps where you want them are tough as I don't cast confined.

I shot some cast boolit tests this morning in fact... It was minus 15F. It amazes me how you can take a 60F gun from the basement out to shoot on a morning like this morning and have heat waves in your sight picture before firing a shot!

Eutectic

[mooman76]

I'm falling behind on mine but that's nothing new. I mostly have a few rifle calibers to load for and try. A new 7mm boolit to try out in a couple tempermental 7mm mausers. I still want to work out which one of my rifles to load and shoot that will shoot well as a primary rifle to shoot. If I get one of my 7mm rifles to shoot well that would solve that. I had trouble with my M1 carbine. Mostlt I just picked the wrong boolit and I need to find one that shoots well enough for regular plinking. I'm sure I have one just need to load some up and try them. I haven't really shoot allot of cast in rifle so really I just need to get going on that. I need to replenish allot of my pistol loads that I depleted and I'm still working on getting my nagant pistol to shoot better. I also want to tear down my Nagant pistol and work it so the action isn't a 200# trigger. Some of it will be worked this weekend.

[btroj]

My goal Is to get 3000 or more rou da of handgun loaded. And to cast another 2000 or so handgun bullets. The rifles are easy to keep up with the those dang handguns sure go thru a heap of lead.

[oldhickory]

Just one project? I have several lined up. First I need to trim and prep about 3,000 .30/06 casings, (yeah, I really like my 06's!). Then I can start in on the .223 and .45 auto. I need to re-arainge the place and buils shelves...Just got the old summer kitchen re-wired today!

[btroj]

I am only allowed one self determined project at a time. Seems my other half spend most of her time coming up with plenty of others for me!
I am sure most of you understand.

[MakeMineA10mm]

My project is to design a set of floating expander's that will work in both my 30-30 Win and my 308 Win to control bullet seating tension.

Doc! When you get this figured out, please make at least two, because I'll buy one from you!! I've been struggling with this the most in my cast loading of 30-cal rifles, and if you can make a workable solution, I'd be indebted to you!!

[Doc Highwall]

I have a workable solution that I made for my 308Win now I am going to make it slightly longer to accommodate the longer neck of the 30-30Win and make them .309", .3095" and .310" diameters to allow different neck tensions. These I am going to make out of steel and have them titanium nitride coated instead of solid carbide. This will go with my .310" .3105" and .311" sizing dies to see how it affects accuracy. Now when I want to see how a bullet .0005" larger affects accuracy I will be able to keep the same neck tension or keep the same bullet diameter and just change neck tension. This testing will also be done with pressure test/strain gage at the same time.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Nice!

Are you using a bushing-style sizer die, like the Redding, to adjust your neck size diameter?

I'm thinking I can just use my regular sizer and if I had a set of elliptical expander balls, like your talking about, in a separate die body, I could adjust the neck that way. It would definitely work the brass more than your method though, because all mine would be sized down to the smallest size, and the worked back up to whatever expander ball would be desired... Still, it would work, I'd think.

What die body are you using? (I'm presuming your doing this in a separate step, rather than in the sizer, but these could be assembled on the decapping pin replacing the neck expander ball, couldn't they?)

I'm loading for 30-40 Krag, 30-06, and 30-30 for now. Oh, and 303 Brit. I also have 7.7 Jap and 7.5 Swiss, but I've just played very little with them so far.

I hope you start a thread when you get these done and include some pics!!

[troy_mclure]

im planning on working up a cast load for the 5.7x28mm, but got to wait till spring when the mould is done for that.

also working up a load for my ar15, but again waiting to get enough interest in the ar boolit for that.

my noe .401-200gr mould should be doen in a month, so i can start working up a load for my 10mm.

[1Shirt]

Guess the goal would be to load every empty case that I have by spring. Have a large number sized and primed, and need to get them finished. However, have probably 4-5 times that number ready to be sized, deprimed and primed. Just don't believe you can ever have to much brass even if you don't have it all loaded.
1Shirt!

[Tazman1602]

Nope.

Am I the only one that loads and casts all year?