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What did you do in the reloading room recently?

Michael J. Spangler said:
Thats awesome man!
I would take the moulds and scrub them with some hot water and degreaser when you get a chance.
If they're throwing wrinkles its oil or a cold mould. Cast fast until they start to frost then slow down a bit that way you can rule out the oil or burn it off either way.
I would adjust the lead stream to be enough to get a good unbroken stream. Leave a good sprue puddle on top too, that will help with fill out and heat the moulds up quicker.
They will shoot fine no matter how ugly. They'll shoot better just because you made them and thats a better feeling that a fancy tight group from a factory load.

Any pics?
Click to expand...
I will give them a better cleaning. Just kind of swabbed the cavities out with some acetone and a q-tip.
After a bit I was picking up the pace a little. Started off with the .358, trying to get the hang of it. It was hard for me at first to line up the hole in the sprue plate under the valve in the pot for some reason. Got the hang of it and after a while was more comfortable and started going a little quicker. By the time I switched to the .312, I had it pretty much down pat so I was moving along. Between that and the fact that its a 2 cavity mold vs a 6 cavity, the wrinkles went away a lot quicker doing the .312's.
In hindsight, the sprue was pretty small because I had the flow throttled back so much. Ill crank it up a bit to give a bigger puddle. The more I do it the easier it will be. Had fun getting into it today.
Have a pic on my phone which I tried to upload but couldnt get it to work. Phone has been working like shit lately. Tried to attach it to an email so I could open it on the laptop and load it that way but couldnt get that to work either. Ill give it another shot tomorrow.
 
Got a nice chunk of chrono range time yesterday.

Please don't take my word for these recipes....safety first, do the work.

In no particular order:

9MM (Glock 17)
124GR Extreme RN
3.8gr N320
COL = 1.14x
Federal SM Primers
Avg=962.3FPS/Min=921/Max=989/StdDev=18.86/Spread=68

9MM (Glock 17)
125gr Precision Coated RNFP
3.6gr N320
COL = 1.073
Federal SM Primers
Avg=994.75FPS/Min=943/Max=1022/StdDev=19.46/Spread=79

38SPL (S&W 686 - 4 inch)
148gr DEWC
2.7gr Bullseye
Win SM Primers
Avg=705FPS/Min=695/Max=729/StdDev=9.92/Spread=34
 
headednorth said:
I will give them a better cleaning. Just kind of swabbed the cavities out with some acetone and a q-tip.
After a bit I was picking up the pace a little. Started off with the .358, trying to get the hang of it. It was hard for me at first to line up the hole in the sprue plate under the valve in the pot for some reason. Got the hang of it and after a while was more comfortable and started going a little quicker. By the time I switched to the .312, I had it pretty much down pat so I was moving along. Between that and the fact that its a 2 cavity mold vs a 6 cavity, the wrinkles went away a lot quicker doing the .312's.
In hindsight, the sprue was pretty small because I had the flow throttled back so much. Ill crank it up a bit to give a bigger puddle. The more I do it the easier it will be. Had fun getting into it today.
Have a pic on my phone which I tried to upload but couldnt get it to work. Phone has been working like shit lately. Tried to attach it to an email so I could open it on the laptop and load it that way but couldnt get that to work either. Ill give it another shot tomorrow.
Click to expand...
You will find the flow.
My 2 cavity .314" 200 grain flat nose mold (aluminum) I rest the body of the mold on the casting pot as it heats by the time the lead heats up the mold is usually good to go. My 6 banger takes a little working to drop good out of every plug. I have to cast 2 holes at a time until I get good fill out then move to the next 2... .310" 160 grain flatnose ranchdog mold.
I have no problems with my Lee 2c 230grain plugs it just drops good bullets. For cleaning molds I found nothing works better than warm dish soapy water and a good stiff tooth brush.
 
Went to the range today with the 1903A3 and had a blast shooting bowling pins with the Trailboss loads. So much fun. Need to load more of these.

I shot a few rounds of the PPU Garand ammo just to remind me of the huge change in recoil and noise [laugh] The PPU did a number on the bowling pin compared to the Trailboss loads....
 
Off from work today and figured I’d load up more 30-06 while I still have the press setup for it.

I think I like the black bullets better....
3A8556DA-B2E0-4B97-A3FF-C911354A3F0A.png

Loaded the last of the coated 170 gr bullets over Trailboss (150). Then I figured I’d switch and load some true 30-06 rounds with the Nosler 168 gr BTHPs over IMR-4064.
 
andrew1220 said:
Finally getting caught up on brass cleaning. Been tumbling 30 Carbine, 7.5 Swiss, and 30-06 all day.
Click to expand...
I have completely miss placed my reloading room. last time I went to clean brass I spent 2 hours looking for 8mm and 7.5 swiss. only to find it in the tumbler a few days later [slap]
 
Loaded up some 124gr GDHP in .357 SIG with 8.4gr of HS6, gonna see how the pocket rocket G33 likes them. Also loaded up a few .300 Win Mag using new SIG brass and some 150gr Hornady Interlocks to plink with. Should zip along well at 3000fps.
 
Another short chrono session at the range:

Temp:53

9MM (Glock 17)
Mixed Brass
125GR Precision RNFP
3.7gr N320
COL = 1.07x
Federal SM Primers
Avg=1010.65FPS/Min=989/Max=1039/StdDev=14.64/Spread=50
 
I made 4 .500 S&W loads with 330 grain cast, 335 grain plated amd 350 grain plated. Velocity was 1200 to 1600 fps. The cast bullet at 1200 fps was the most accurate.
 
Cast my first 158 grain .358 a couple weeks ago. Finally had a few minutes to coat them with the Hi-Tek, forest green I think. Coating process went pretty well. Did one small batch of around 250 to get my feet wet. Got a medium sized toaster oven from Goodwill for $6 (score!) which I tested before I started and found I have to set at 300 to maintain an average of 400. Did 2 coats according to instructions. Passed the rub test, but forgot to do the smash test. (guess I can do that anytime)

Used a Lee 6 cavity 158 grain semi wad-cutter mold. Seemed to come out around .360+ and between 162-164 grains. Put them through the Lee push through sizer and a good amount of them was like trying to push a 1" pin through a 3/4" hole. Was seriously thinking I might break the counter top the press is attached to or snap the press handle. Around 30-40 or so of the 250 were like that to differing degrees. Some (maybe 6-8 total) had not only the coating sheared off but also the lube grooves. Did some research later and found a lot of guys lube the bullets before sizing, which I didnt do. Average diameter after sizing was around .357+. (consistently < .358)

Had a tiny amount of Unique left over from another bottle that I wanted to use up so I ended up having enough for around 30 rounds @6 grains. Used that up with some plated 158 grain semi wad-cutters and plan on loading up some test rounds with the coated ones tonight with a new jug. If they shoot ok I'll try another batch with some range scrap and lube before sizing to see if it makes a difference. Might have one of the 6 cavities thats a bit too big also. Ill have to pour one at a time and check.

Baby steps...
 
headednorth said:
Cast my first 158 grain .358 a couple weeks ago. Finally had a few minutes to coat them with the Hi-Tek, forest green I think. Coating process went pretty well. Did one small batch of around 250 to get my feet wet. Got a medium sized toaster oven from Goodwill for $6 (score!) which I tested before I started and found I have to set at 300 to maintain an average of 400. Did 2 coats according to instructions. Passed the rub test, but forgot to do the smash test. (guess I can do that anytime)

Used a Lee 6 cavity 158 grain semi wad-cutter mold. Seemed to come out around .360+ and between 162-164 grains. Put them through the Lee push through sizer and a good amount of them was like trying to push a 1" pin through a 3/4" hole. Was seriously thinking I might break the counter top the press is attached to or snap the press handle. Around 30-40 or so of the 250 were like that to differing degrees. Some (maybe 6-8 total) had not only the coating sheared off but also the lube grooves. Did some research later and found a lot of guys lube the bullets before sizing, which I didnt do. Average diameter after sizing was around .357+. (consistently < .358)

Had a tiny amount of Unique left over from another bottle that I wanted to use up so I ended up having enough for around 30 rounds @6 grains. Used that up with some plated 158 grain semi wad-cutters and plan on loading up some test rounds with the coated ones tonight with a new jug. If they shoot ok I'll try another batch with some range scrap and lube before sizing to see if it makes a difference. Might have one of the 6 cavities thats a bit too big also. Ill have to pour one at a time and check.

Baby steps...
Click to expand...

Awesome man!
What alloy? Maybe use a softer alloy. Closer to pure. It should drop a little smaller.
Yeah I prefer a little Dillon case lube when sizing large bullets.
I can size a .459” to .451” or .453” with no trouble at all with a little lube.

Let us know how they shoot.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Awesome man!
What alloy? Maybe use a softer alloy. Closer to pure. It should drop a little smaller.
Yeah I prefer a little Dillon case lube when sizing large bullets.
I can size a .459” to .451” or .453” with no trouble at all with a little lube.

Let us know how they shoot.
Click to expand...
Alloy was wheel weights. Next round will be range scrap which should be softer I would think. Plan on doing my first round of smelting tomorrow.
Dont know why it didnt cross my mind to use some lube after the first few tough ones. (thats what she said[laugh]) Mic'd a few random ones and they were around .360 so I was a little surprised I had such a hard time with some of them. A lot of them felt like they were barely touching as they went through. (also what she said)
Good to hear that I can size down so much with lubed bullets.
 
headednorth said:
Alloy was wheel weights. Next round will be range scrap which should be softer I would think. Plan on doing my first round of smelting tomorrow.
Dont know why it didnt cross my mind to use some lube after the first few tough ones. (thats what she said[laugh]) Mic'd a few random ones and they were around .360 so I was a little surprised I had such a hard time with some of them. A lot of them felt like they were barely touching as they went through. (also what she said)
Good to hear that I can size down so much with lubed bullets.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha.

I think sometimes the dies being fresh and clean and dry size really hard. VS using a lube sizer that has had some lube through the die prior.

I was discussing with 1919FAN the possibility of doing a more in depth cast bullet seminar in the spring. I was thinking more hands on and more to do from casting to loading. Stay away from the smelting. Just let people do an hour or two of casting then get all into sizing, lubing, slugging, coating, techniques and special dies etc to aid in loading. It would probably apply to a lot of people that load and want to try commercial lead bullets too. There are some pitfalls in working with cast that can turn people off right away.
I'm hoping we could teach people the right way to do things so they can even buy cast or coated and get good results. The in turn they can save some serious dough VS plated or jacked and no really sacrifice an performance.
 
I'd be interested in that. I know when I first started loading I got some lubed lead bullets due to the lower price per round but got turned off by the mess and Ive been using plated and fmj ever since, until just recently trying some commercial coated and now coating some myself.
 
headednorth said:
I'd be interested in that. I know when I first started loading I got some lubed lead bullets due to the lower price per round but got turned off by the mess and Ive been using plated and fmj ever since, until just recently trying some commercial coated and now coating some myself.
Click to expand...
If your running your bullets through a Lee sizer you can use a very light coat of Lee tumble lube on your bullets before sizing them. I dont know if the Lee tumble lube will affect the coating process? If you need to wash off the lube I found some water based lube at home depot like this
https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-31-378...1519041483&sr=8-1&keywords=cable+pulling+lube
 
I know what the lube is for, but I recall Hi-tek saying lube is not needed with their product and I have resized without it with no problems.

Here it is right from their page.

11. HI-TEK-LUBE coated bullets, most should be sized without further lubrication. Some harder alloys, or drastic size reduction requirements, additional lubes such as Hi-Tek 500 or Hi-Tek 5000 lubes can be used to reduce loads on sizing equipment.
 
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Hey headednorth tell her that the organ may be small but it was never meant to be played in a cathedral. The less you have to size the better. In theory, the more you reduce the size of the bullet the more you distort it. I don't know if you'll see a practical difference in accuracy.
 
gerrycaruso said:
Hey headednorth tell her that the organ may be small but it was never meant to be played in a cathedral. The less you have to size the better. In theory, the more you reduce the size of the bullet the more you distort it. I don't know if you'll see a practical difference in accuracy.
Click to expand...
We'll have to see. Iirc the handful I mic'd before I started were averaging .360. Coming out of the die they were below .358. (Its a .358 die) They were like .3574, .3575, .3572, etc. Only did two coats of the coating which came out smooth, so I dont think it really added anything to the diameter. So I bought a .358 mold and a .358 sizing die, figured I'd be all set. Also fwiw it was only around 30 or so out of around 250 that were the ball breakers and of those only 6-8 had the coating and the lube grooves sheared off. Most went through with little to no effort.
I was thinking maybe one of the cavities is over sized a bit. Is that a possibility? Maybe I could do some pours one cavity at a time and check the diameters.
 
Probably one oversized cavity.

Also look into temp of alloy and mould vs as dropped diameter. It makes a difference I just don’t remember which way moves which.

The coating adds a little bit so if you added .001” and sized down .0035 on a hard alloy with no lube that makes sense.

Did you size right away or did you want a week before you sized?
Wheel weight alloy with age harden and if you size a week later it can be a bear. Try to size the day you coat.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Probably one oversized cavity.

Also look into temp of alloy and mould vs as dropped diameter. It makes a difference I just don’t remember which way moves which.

The coating adds a little bit so if you added .001” and sized down .0035 on a hard alloy with no lube that makes sense.

Did you size right away or did you want a week before you sized?
Wheel weight alloy with age harden and if you size a week later it can be a bear. Try to size the day you coat.
Click to expand...
I did wait. It was at least a week iirc. I did take some measurements of the alloy as I was going along. Iirc it was around 700. Didnt measure the temp of the mold though. Dont know if you remember but I had a ton of wrinkles and was going pretty slow so figured the mold wasnt up to temp.
 
Waiting will do it.
I’ve had stuff sit for a couple weeks and get super hard.
I’ve actually gone back and coated again and after baking they’re soft.
Size and be done
 

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