The bayou bullets or the Zero bullets?
-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS June Giveaway ***Keltec SUB2000***
What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
- Start date
The bayou bullets or the Zero bullets?
A few Tokarev rounds to sample at a later date...
Nice! I got a bunch of those 90 gr XTP's but only tested like 20 or 30 of them late last year. Worked well/very accurate with 7 gr of Power Pistol. But I still have a bunch of tokarev loads using the 86 gr JSPs with 7.5 of Power Pistol to shoot up. You just reminded me the tokarev needs to be taken to the range soon lol.
Lucky you. I never did grab a CZ52 (or a Tokarev) back when they were under $150, but some day...
Have any of you CZ 52 owners tried the 9x19mm or 9x23mm Winchester that apparently is easily used with a drop-in barrel?
Right about only needing to be accurate once! A heavy load in 7mm RM isn't exactly fun to shoot all day long and will eventually turn your shoulder purple if you wear only a t-shirt, assuming no cushy butt pad. However, my best target load wasn't too bad- I would call it annoying to shoot all day, not painful.
I think Dad took elk and caribou ~200-300 yards. Maybe one year caribou was ~350 on relatively open tundra. That year heavy winds blew the top of their tent down so that it was flapping on their faces all night. I remember him laughing about nowhere to take a nice dump in private- miles of flat as a pancake tundra. The Winchester has nice Leupold glass on it, though I'm going to swap over to something with higher magnification for BR this weekend. I can't see the center ring on a BR target at 7X, though I could sight off of the square. We'll see how good I did on the reloading bench- the targets won't lie.
I did work up a load w/ 77 gr Noslers for my varmint AR. Last time to the range worst group I shot with this combo was .33", best was something like .232". I mic'd the Noslers and found them to be much more consistent in length than .224 SMK's. SMK weight was consistent, so there must have been some variation in ogive or something. The 7mm RM seems to really like its SMK's. Anyway in my club's BR this weekend I will skip the heavy class to RSO but have offered my AR as a loaner for any newbs wanting to shoot heavy.
Next chance I have to come to a Garand match I will be burning though some Creedmoor rounds (guess I had extra $) for the Lapua brass to reload. I am a big fan of Lapua brass- hopefully I can get 4 or 5 reloads out of it without any excitement.
Which calibers will you load on the progressive?
Anyone reload 375 H&H? Guy at my club was shooting it on Saturday and gave me 5 pieces of brass after I asked if I could snag one for my brass collection lol. He also let me shoot it, holy hell was that stout. 270 gr bullet. It was some Zastava bolt action rifle. Guy doesn't even hunt he said.
I still don't have a progressive when I do I will load just about everything. Garand and 223 service rifle loads mostly.
I'm shooting Pembroke on the 16th garand and hopefully mauser with cast loads after. No one has,been staying for the sub matches. I might bring the rockola and run it @ 200 yards
I have given up on the varmint/bemch upper until I get a,better scope.
My leupold vxIII 2.5x8x32 with 30/30 duplex just doesn't cut it.
I can get down to just under MOA while trying to "guess" if the cross hair is centered. I have a Hawke I'm going to try. Just can't seem to get the funds up for a,New optic.
Last edited:
Hey, I remember when my kids were younger and the wallet was much tighter. It gets better, though I miss the kids being young.
I have the BR this Saturday, so can't make the Garand match. Probably can make the next one. Any sub matches for general mil rifles? I could bring my mint hex Mosin. Geez, now I'll have to reload for that too.
You can shoot any military rifle at any cmp shoot as long as there is room you just shoot for score only if your shooting something that's out of the "class" shooting a match. Just be sure to have a decent zero. As for reloading for your mosin absolutely if it shoots well. I mustered up a 379 with mine with surplus. Have about a -3moa load then ran out of bullets. I will be running cast in my mosin from this point on.
The next match 9/13 will have a modern military sub match. Sms,AK,AR,FAL,M1a in basic configuration . Just about any rifle that was issued no national match set ups or heavy barrels.
I might bring my SKS or run my standard A2 with my 55gn fmj reloads.
As for the money......it's my pay its not going up anytime soon. Looking all over not finding any more money.... that is why I started my casting plan.
Last edited:
I just made my first rounds of 45-70, to work up a load. I've liked using the RCBS seating/crimp dies, had good luck with 9mm and 44mag, this one is a bit odd vs the others, I believe I have it adjusted properly now, but they don't give you any room to work with for crimping on this die. I had to reduce the roll crimp to medium, had 2 of my first 4 rounds crush, which could have been the amount of crimp or the shell holder hitting the die. A dollar bill clears the dies and shell holder, I set-up my sizing dies to this clearance, never had a crimping die this close before. Yes, I know I can seat and crimp in 2 separate steps, that is not the point... Just seeing if anyone else has experienced this.
Thanks
View attachment 143852
Thanks
View attachment 143852
I started hoarding my HP-38 powder next to the SR7625 & unicorn powder. WTF
Which die set ? I have rcbs for 30 carbine ,9mm and 30/30 they don't seem to set up any different.
Than my other dies?
Raise seating stem high in the die. Adjust die down into press ram at its highest point of travel.
Some presses came over and the highest point of travel for the ram is reached before the handle reaches its full travel. ( My hornady 007 for ex.) I personally just kiss the shell holder with the die body.
Then you adjust your seating stem until you reach your desired OAL. I then back of the stem 2+ turns . Unlock the lock ring and adjust my die until it's a dead stop against the case while the ram is in its full upward position. I lower the ram. Turn the body another 1/8 or so until I see the crimp I want.
Then raise the ram to its highest point again with now crimp case in shell holder re adjust the seating stem till it stops on bullet. Run a fresh round through and make sure crimp and aol are ok. Lock ring
I found that some dies are more picky about case length. My rcbs I used for 38spl was touchy with case length. I found I had to separate odd head stamps from my lot of 38 brass I had been using.
Wait until they ban all import of powder for retail use.....then we are ducked.
The plants producing powder in the US are on government owned property and equipment.
Why has there not been a new powder manufacture opened in the USA?
Thanks
Above is what I usually encounter, but I normally have alot of room left between the shell holder and the bottom of the die, as in the pic, only few thousands. Not sure what length RCBS was looking for, these are at min trim.
A Burgess? Is it a Cimarron, Uberti, or Colt?
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Messages
- 1,299
- Likes
- 1,347
Made a tool to drill the Berdan hole in some brass.
I used 5/16" drill rod. Center drilled and turned to fit primer pocket.
Heated to cherry red then quenched in oil to harden. It's about 5/8" or so long.
I hold with a small pair of pliers to drill. Works great and drills a nicely centered hole.
Drilled about 70 cases.
I used 5/16" drill rod. Center drilled and turned to fit primer pocket.
Heated to cherry red then quenched in oil to harden. It's about 5/8" or so long.
I hold with a small pair of pliers to drill. Works great and drills a nicely centered hole.
Drilled about 70 cases.
Last edited:
Yesterday, I used up the last of the H4895 and Varget I had laying around for my Garand loads- trying to clear some space in the reloading/ammo cabinet lol. I was using the Hornady 168 gr BTHPs with ~45.3 gr H4895 and ~46.2 gr of Varget @ 3.30". I made about 125 rounds or so.
All I have left for my Garand loads is IMR-4064 which seemed to shoot the best when I did some basic testing last year. Got about 5-6 pounds of that left which is plenty since I still have a ton of PPU and HXP on stripper clips from cheaperthandirt.
I'll shoot the rest of the factory ammo before I start shooting my reloads. My tri way trimmer will be here this week so I can prep the bags of brass I have laying around.
Also continued making more IDPA loads with N320 and Zero 125 gr JHP bullets.
I ordered more bullets but I think I should have enough components to last the next 1.5 years or so. Trying to get stocked up before next November lol.
All I have left for my Garand loads is IMR-4064 which seemed to shoot the best when I did some basic testing last year. Got about 5-6 pounds of that left which is plenty since I still have a ton of PPU and HXP on stripper clips from cheaperthandirt.
I'll shoot the rest of the factory ammo before I start shooting my reloads. My tri way trimmer will be here this week so I can prep the bags of brass I have laying around.
Also continued making more IDPA loads with N320 and Zero 125 gr JHP bullets.
I ordered more bullets but I think I should have enough components to last the next 1.5 years or so. Trying to get stocked up before next November lol.
Last edited:
I know we've covered this before, but for most berdan-primed GP-11, 8mm, 7.62 NATO, 6.5 Swede, 7.62x39, 7.65 Arg., 6.5/7.35 Carcano and some select .303 British and 7.62x54R, you can simply use the KV762N or KV24N berdan primers (only two primers I've seen available in the US). Some are a bit tough to decap with water, such as the Yugo 8mm surplus and French .30-06, but as long as you have the .217" diameter primer pockets, you'll be golden.
http://www.mpzflame.ru/production/primers/
The Albanian (3/86) 54R appears to take the .217" primer, so that's a reusable case, albeit somewhat crude-looking around the flash holes and such.
Yes, I realize many want to convert, just to see what results you will get.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Messages
- 1,299
- Likes
- 1,347
Yes it was was a fair amount of work to accomplish. However, I think it was worth it. I made a new tool that makes drilling the primer hole real easy and pretty much foolproof. If you have some odd cartridge or you don't want the hassle of the Berdan primers then converting is a great option.
Just got 2500 pieces of once fired lake city in the mail, on about the 30th one stuck a case in my resizing die... RCBS stuck case kit has been ordered. Luckily I have a few hundred already sized so the reloading can continue.
ouch only 30 into it. I bought a 1/4 20 tap set and use a 3/8 socket and a screw to replicate the kit. although since I now have the "kit" on hand I have not had a case stuck since.
Yeah it was pretty lame, I should have known I had insufficient lubrication since the cases were kind of making the whole press vibrate, oh well live and learn.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
I coated about 15 pounds of bullets with hi-tek today. Also cast another 6 or so pounds while I had a little free time.
I hate stuck cases. I did that with a 308 once. I just ordered new dies and tossed the lee in the cabinet. 5 years later I removed the de capping pin retaining collet and beat the de capping pin until the stuck case came out with it.
Needless to say the decapping pin was a little beat up. Oh well
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hate stuck cases. I did that with a 308 once. I just ordered new dies and tossed the lee in the cabinet. 5 years later I removed the de capping pin retaining collet and beat the de capping pin until the stuck case came out with it.
Needless to say the decapping pin was a little beat up. Oh well
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Haha I already tried that, all I did was strip all the threads where the decapping pin connects to the inside neck resizer thing, and then peen the top of the pin to where the threads were too screwed to get the washer and other thing off... Luckily I have a couple spare pins on hand.
84ta406
NES Member
Had some time today so I loaded up some .44 MAG 300gr XTP bullets with 18.8gr of H110, hoping to work up to 19.5gr on the next batch.
Nice! I worked up to the max (19.8 according to the Hodgdon site) with no issues. Lot of lead lol.
84ta406
NES Member
Yep was looking for a stout load for when I go up to my buddys cabin in the white mountains. Not exactly a bear load but it will be good for my use. Hope the old DW stays up for the task.
84ta406
NES Member
Andrew: have you tried loading anything past max like a +p?
Not really. I have some 345-350 gr cast lead gas checked bullets I loaded with 20 gr of H110 which I worked up to without severely flattened primers or sticking cases. I kinda guesstimated the charge based on load data for 340 lead bullets. I should mention these bullets were fired through a super redhawk that has a longer cylinder than other revolvers.
Left to right is 240 gr JSP, 300 gr XTP, ~345 gr hard cast, and a buffalo bore 340 gr +p+ The crimp on the buffalo bore loads looks VERY firm to say the least lol.
View attachment 144228
Last edited:
84ta406
NES Member
I have some of the BB 340 +P+ it is one hell of a crimp. I doubt my bullet puller would be able to yank one. I was hoping to try some more 300+gr hard cast bullets that werent as stout at the BB but still stout enough to bust open a bear or even a moose if needed up there. Im using a Dan Wesson 44vh with a 6" barrel. I wanted to make the swap from the XTPs but I got a great deal on 200 pieces of the 300s.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
I have a bunch of 310 grain WFN gas check base bullets from a lee mould. I have them coated 3X with the Hi Tek coating. Can't wait to see how they shoot.
