I like what you are doing.......and the fact that ammo is scarce and increasing in price by quite a bit is exactly why I am starting to stock up on reloading equipment. I am just glad I saved all my brass. I also thought about casting into a home made jacket then resizing it after. Just a thought.
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Looking to start reloading for an AR15 platform need advice
- Thread starter Keven
- Start date
I like what you are doing.......and the fact that ammo is scarce and increasing in price by quite a bit is exactly why I am starting to stock up on reloading equipment. I am just glad I saved all my brass. I also thought about casting into a home made jacket then resizing it after. Just a thought.
swaging your own jacketed bullets is another "hobby" all in its self....started down that road but stopped and stayed with casting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN1BrZM-U2Q
Im not sure what these guys are saying but it seems from the presses they are way into makeing bullets.....skip to min 18min 30 sec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NybgJbelPE way beyound what I want to do.......my god i dont have room for more presses!
headednorth
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None of my business, but it might be a good idea to go step by step with a handful of rounds from start to finish. That way, if you made a mistake or two somewhere in the process you only have a few rounds that need to be pulled or tossed rather than all of them. Pick a number that if you had to pull the rounds or throw them away, it wouldnt turn you into a rage monster. If you could re-do or scrap 20 without being totally pissed, do 20. If its 50, then do 50. Make sure youre doing everything right from beginning to end before you do them all.
Just my opinion.
Well I was going to check them in a case gauge next, but I don't have one yet. None came close to sticking in the sizing process or took too much force to do so hope they are still good (well a few were a tad snug). Is it possible to totally ruin the brass in this process?
Yes. It's possible (but unlikely) that you can push the case shoulders back too far.
It's also possible that you didn't push the shoulder back far enough, which will require you so resize your brass again.
Is all of the brass you're using you own from your own rifle, or are there range pick-ups in there too?
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I can tell when there's a odd man out in my brass( I do try to keep my match gun brass seperate from the others) my brass for my match gun resizes effortlessly vs range pick ups or from my Nato chamber rifles.
inerlogic
NES Member
If you want to go really mental, there's a guy on YouTube, I think the name is Ammosmith..... He makes jacketed bullets..... And in one of his videos he uses .22 brass to make .223 jackets
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Good. Then you won't have anything that's way too long to start off with.
There are people here that do that (DukeInMaine/DukeInFlorida is one). It's too much work for me. I'd rather just buy them and spend my time making ammo and shooting it. I hardly even cast any more (except for my .500 - even the lead bullets for that are expensive).
Its all time consuming. In the stage I'm at in life I am home a lot with the kids. So I have a good amount of time in the evening to crank out rounds, cast ectect. Makeing bullets and applying jackets from rim fire takes some dedicated equipment
Getting way ahead....
If you want to jump ahead of the curve start hoarding the hipoint pistols for your zinc bullets when they ban lead skip to 6min for the fast melt down http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=DiwPt-wMfdI
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Well guys I took my digital calipers today and took some measurements off brand new factory rounds, then my sized brass I then looked up some info on the computer. Here is my comparison(see pic), from this I am thinking that my brass is good to go no trimming needed. I drew up this diagram comparing my brass(red text) to actual measure factory ammo(GRN Text) to theoretical dimention(not sure if these are accurate in BLK Text)
http://www.dreamtone.org/reloading/223 specs.bmp
http://www.dreamtone.org/reloading/223 specs.bmp
That was my first press and it cracked after 50 rifle rounds.
Piss $27 away or get a cast iron press.
I am lucky in many ways, I own a TIG welder, so far so good and I kinda like it.
I think this press can survive at least to my break even point, and is a good learning experience.
If you figure the cheap press is a consumable like powder, bullets, and primers then my cost so far is:
If this was the consumables to do 300 rounds:
$ 28.00 = press
$ 30.00 = powder+pimers
$ 30.00 = bullets
total is $88
What is the price for 300 rounds if you have to buy it? $200 at the bulk price if its available??
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inerlogic
NES Member
One thing people forget..... If you work up a load for your rifle and produce quality hand loads.... You're saving the price of "match quality" factory loads which could be $1+/round..... You can still go to a gun show and buy surplus cheaper than you can make it..... But you're not going to get 1moa or better groups from it.....
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You'll likely have to trim next time.
All of the other dimensions you highlighted are automatically set by the die. If the die is in spec, you'll get what you get. You left out the only one that's dependent on you and how you set your die: headspace length.
The case headspace length is going to determine whether or not the rounds will chamber. If you sized the case without touching the shoulder, your headspace length will have increased - possibly to the point where the rounds won't chamber. This is a pretty common beginner error.
A case gage (or RCBS Precision Mic or Hornady headspace comparator) will tell you if the headspace length is right.
Nice score Pat. I've seen some amazing deals on used equipment at KTP. I've also seen some ridiculously priced used crap at KTP. It's as if they use a random number generator to set the prices.
I made out pretty good at KTP on Tuesday:
The Co-Ax press for $50
I traded a case of Portuguese .308 for a MAR177 upper. I bought that case for $169 a few years ago.
I also traded a run-of-the-mill Garand, a Remington 241, and a Savage 170 (I had to throw in another $73 cash) for a Winchester M70 Match rifle complete with Warner sight, Jewell trigger, and fully adjustable stock.
They are hit-and-miss down at KTP, but I think I got them on a good day.
The Co-Ax press for $50
I traded a case of Portuguese .308 for a MAR177 upper. I bought that case for $169 a few years ago.
I also traded a run-of-the-mill Garand, a Remington 241, and a Savage 170 (I had to throw in another $73 cash) for a Winchester M70 Match rifle complete with Warner sight, Jewell trigger, and fully adjustable stock.
They are hit-and-miss down at KTP, but I think I got them on a good day.
DAM!!!!
Update, I got the Dillon case gage in the other day and so far all my brass fits in the case very flush. Hopefully once loaded it will be the same. But right now I been taking my time removing the crimps and hand reaming the pocket and razor first seems to do OK but its a slow process. Borrowed my buddies digital scale and getting ready just to do a few test on the Lee 1.6 cc dipper and how many grains; I also got 500 55g FMJBT bullets for about .104 cents each. I did not tumble the brass just washed them, any opinions on this?
