Plus you won't get cell service or WiFi while in there, so you can ignore everyone and enjoy the peace and quiet
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What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
- Start date
Plus you won't get cell service or WiFi while in there, so you can ignore everyone and enjoy the peace and quiet
pastera
NES Member
My brother dropped off two boxes of brass so it was sorting time - all once fired
10 lbs 9mm
1000 +/- rnds 223
30 lbs 308
plus a handful of 45 and even some evil 40
About 4.5 lbs of the 308 is Aguila 7.62 15 headstamp that is crimped - Is it even worth processing given the 25.5 lbs of easily processed stuff is around 1000 rounds?
10 lbs 9mm
1000 +/- rnds 223
30 lbs 308
plus a handful of 45 and even some evil 40
About 4.5 lbs of the 308 is Aguila 7.62 15 headstamp that is crimped - Is it even worth processing given the 25.5 lbs of easily processed stuff is around 1000 rounds?
84ta406
NES Member
Plus you won't get cell service or WiFi while in there, so you can ignore everyone and enjoy the peace and quiet
The entire house is wired with Ethernet cables anyways. So I'll still have a connection in there for wifi and such. As for cell service, I dont use it anyways when reloading, throws off my Hornady scale lol
That's your call entirely. Once processed it's going to be just fine, I'd think (can't say I've used much Aquila 7.62...).
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Messing with a new Lee 358-158RF
Hi Tek black gold 1035.
This bullet has a super wide meplat. The don’t like single feeding in the 1873 (pushing them down on the elevator for a quick single reload)
but they feed like water from the mag in either 38 or 357 brass.
Hi Tek black gold 1035.
This bullet has a super wide meplat. The don’t like single feeding in the 1873 (pushing them down on the elevator for a quick single reload)
but they feed like water from the mag in either 38 or 357 brass.
Attachments
Been cold and snowy here, so sitting at the press doing berdan primed .308. Loaded 350rds (single stage process) in the past two days adding to the total of 2000 that need reloading.
Loading 1919a4 fodder at starting loads of 40.5gr of WC846 under a 147gr FMJ.
Loading 1919a4 fodder at starting loads of 40.5gr of WC846 under a 147gr FMJ.
Finally had a chance today to load up these bullets over Trailboss. I noticed that since these bullets don’t have a boat tail, they were harder to seat which then caused the seating plug/stem to cut into the coating. I’m sure they’re safe to shoot but I now run the risk of the coating coming off
After loading a few it dawned on me that I need to chamfer the casemouths (more than I normally do for jacketed BTHPs) and reverse the seating stem/plug so it’s flat and not the concave end.
This helped but now it slightly scrapes some of the coating on the very tip of the bullet. This shouldn’t be an issue since it’s not contacting the barrel?
headednorth
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No need to bell the case mouth when loading a lead bullet into a bottleneck case?
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
I would use a Lyman M die or look into the Lee universal case expander. It bells the case mouth nicely and you won’t run into shaving issues.
As far is the nose you can pull the seating plug and make sure it’s free of sharp edges and burrs and that should solve that issues.
The coating won’t come off once it’s on. Unless it’s physically scraped off. Your bore won’t do that unless you’re pushing the velocity too fast for the alloy.
If you did shave off coating all the way around then you could have issues with leading due to the fact all the coating is gone.
Fire a few and see how it goes.
Do I need to then crimp the cases if I use the Lyman M die or Lee expander die?
It seems if I chamfer the cases generously, the bullets go in without shaving.
I feel like I bought the Lee expander die when I was reloading 7.62x25. Been so long I’ll have to look through my reloading bench and drawers...
Edit: looked at my Amazon order history and I did buy the Lee universal expanding die in November 2014. Now I just need to find it....
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38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Just crimp enough to remove the flare. Just like a taper crimp on rimless pistol cartridge.
Awesome. You’re all set then.
I use the Lee die for loading my 300 blackout with cast and it does a great job.
Sounds good. Thanks!
Pulled a couple of the bullets to see if I shaved off the coating. It shaved just a tiny tiny amount on the cases that I didn’t generously chamfer.
But the cases that I did chamfer, the coating was flawless:
BUT the gas checks are stuck in the cases
Guess I’ll just have to shoot them out...
I’ll probably just poke them so they turn sideways then I can use needlenose plyers to yank em out.
But the cases that I did chamfer, the coating was flawless:
BUT the gas checks are stuck in the cases
Guess I’ll just have to shoot them out...
I’ll probably just poke them so they turn sideways then I can use needlenose plyers to yank em out.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Pulled a couple of the bullets to see if I shaved off the coating. It shaved just a tiny tiny amount on the cases that I didn’t generously chamfer.
But the cases that I did chamfer, the coating was flawless:
View attachment 218347
BUT the gas checks are stuck in the cases
View attachment 218346
Guess I’ll just have to shoot them out...
I’ll probably just poke them so they turn sideways then I can use needlenose plyers to yank em out.
Yeah I’ve tried some aluminum gas checks and never felt they held on as well as the Hornady copper.
I’m sure if you got the right ones they would work well. Or if the bullet was sized down sufficiently. Who knows.
I honestly don’t even need gas checks since these are light Trailboss loads. Should have told the seller I don’t need em. Oh well. Can always remove them if I’m feeling ambitious....
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Good point.
Look into “the load”
I think it’s 13 grains of red dot. Will probable get you similar results. Maybe a little faster.
Very inexpensive powder though. Though I’m sure just about any pistol powder will work.
Lever Gun Performance Studies
headednorth
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Sorry for butting in, but curious what effect it has, if any, on the ballistics if you leave off a gas check on a bullet that was designed to have one. Reason I ask is I recall hearing that defects on the base of the bullet have more of a detrimental effect on the flight of the bullet than defects on the nose. Does a bullet molded for a gas check that is missing one fly the same as a gc bullet with the gc applied?
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
They tend to be less accurate due to reasons you stated.
Also if not coated and just lubed they can have issues with gas cutting resulting in leading.
Also if not coated and just lubed they can have issues with gas cutting resulting in leading.
headednorth
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Ahh hadn’t thought of that! I’m pretty new to gas checked bullets as you can see lol. I’m not using these for match grade accuracy but still want them to be decent. I’m too lazy to tip off 200 gas checks anyway. Thanks for the info guys!
I had good results with 2400 and TB under the Nosler 168’s. Though the TB loads were just too damn fun to shoot. 2400 loads still had some kick but not awful.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
I doubt it would matter if you’re plinking at some steel at 100.
I shoot a gas check mould without gas check in my 38/357 marlin 1894.
I don’t have any issues with hitting the 18” steel at 200 all the time.
I’m sure groups suck but for listening to some steel ring it gets the job done.
My experience with Norm's bullets is that the coating remains intact even when pushed through the barrel (based on recovered bullets). I wouldn't worry about slight cuts from the top punch. His bullets with the home-made(?) aluminum gas checks tend to drop off about 3-5 yards from the muzzle; the gas check, that is. If you pull the bullets, you'll get that result every time.
Good to know. Thanks!
Where did you get those green bullets? I'm looking to load some .308 lead over trailboss
PM inbound
Had a chance after work to try the coated 30-06 loads in the A3. Accuracy at 50 yards off a rest wasn’t great. I think/hope the accuracy will improve once I use the Lee expanding die to ensure the bullets aren’t getting crammed into the cases and scraping off the coating....
Also not sure if the OAL will greatly improve the accuracy with Trailboss. I wasn’t sure of an ideal OAL to use aside from comparing the 160 and 170 gr bullets in my Lyman manual. These are much shorter than the Nosler 168 gr BTHPs I normally use.
Looks very similar to the 160 gr bullet. I went with 3.1” for an OAL and 15 gr of TB. Of course recoil was negligible - very pleasant.
Quick 3-shot group with my Trailboss loads using Nosler 168 gr BTHPs. Much better accuracy:
Then again I didn’t buy these for match grade accuracy so I need to be realistic with my expectations.
Also not sure if the OAL will greatly improve the accuracy with Trailboss. I wasn’t sure of an ideal OAL to use aside from comparing the 160 and 170 gr bullets in my Lyman manual. These are much shorter than the Nosler 168 gr BTHPs I normally use.
Looks very similar to the 160 gr bullet. I went with 3.1” for an OAL and 15 gr of TB. Of course recoil was negligible - very pleasant.
Quick 3-shot group with my Trailboss loads using Nosler 168 gr BTHPs. Much better accuracy:
Then again I didn’t buy these for match grade accuracy so I need to be realistic with my expectations.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Someone on another forum claimed to have some hand in developing the data for the levergun performance link I posted earlier.
He said that some of the loads were barely supersonic at the chrono and they tended to have larger group at 50 due to going transonic at that point and that they tended to have pretty decent groupings at 100 with the same loads.
So basically stay subsonic or if you’re going supersonic to make sure it stays that way all the way to the target.
Something long range shooters think about but you don’t always consider when plinking at 50 with reduced loads.
That being said the lower BC bullets handle the super to sub sonic transition much better than the high BC bullets.
Don’t remember why or remember what you can expect from the bullet once it goes super to subsonic.
Guess it’s time to break out the applied ballistics for long range shooting and read it again.
Great book if you haven’t read it.
Bought a Lee Hand Press to try some reloading. I was going hog hunting and couldn't find any .30-06 rounds I like as far as accuracy in my rifle. I loaded up 20 rounds using 165 gr Nosler Partitions with 49 gr of IMR 4064. got my hog with one shot. Here is what the bullet looked like when it was recovered from the animal.
Looks like another convert. You can load plenty good ammo with your hand press. I reloaded with one for the first few years and rolled thousands of pistol and rifle rounds. Good for you!
