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What did you do in the reloading room recently?

Loaded up 300 rounds of 180 grain LRNFP .357 magnum yesterday. Changed my mind about the N340 I had left and decided to use it up with another 300 rounds of 9mm. Guess I'll load up those Hornady .44 magnum 180 grain XTPs over something else if and when they come. Been watching ammo availability online and can't believe how sold out ammo is. Was watching a gun store vlog the other day where the guy surmised that manufacturers were tending to play the long game and were probably not going to try to increase capacity to to chase demand right now, on the expectation that demand just falls back to normal by January of 2021. I think he was talking mainly about guns, but it probably works the same for ammo, primers, and powder.
 
jek said:
Geez, between you and @andrew1220 you guys are throwing away headstamps that I use for some calibers. So far the S&B works fine in loading 9mm.
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised. I am negative on S&B brass in general and have had terrible experiences with their .357M and .44M brass, but as far as I can tell the 9mm S&B brass is quite good brass. I've probably loaded at least a couple of thousand different cartridge cases of once-fired S&B 9mm brass, and I have had zero problems with it. Primes easily, and the primer pockets are just right. Sadly, that's very specific to caliber.
 
Mudflap621 said:
Anyone have any issues with depriming S&B 308 brass? It doesnt look to be crimped and looking inside the case only a single flashhole but they keep pushing back my decap pin on my lee universal. My other brass seems to be depriming fine just the S&B.

I also just ordered a set of redding 223 dies and some shellholders. What a rabbit hole i went down when started this damn reloading thing.
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Sometimes you have to use a little speed on the handle when slow and easy doesn't do it.
 
meh said:
Loaded up 300 rounds of 180 grain LRNFP .357 magnum yesterday. Changed my mind about the N340 I had left and decided to use it up with another 300 rounds of 9mm. Guess I'll load up those Hornady .44 magnum 180 grain XTPs over something else if and when they come. Been watching ammo availability online and can't believe how sold out ammo is. Was watching a gun store vlog the other day where the guy surmised that manufacturers were tending to play the long game and were probably not going to try to increase capacity to to chase demand right now, on the expectation that demand just falls back to normal by January of 2021. I think he was talking mainly about guns, but it probably works the same for ammo, primers, and powder.
Click to expand...
Stupid move. If Uncle Joe wins then there will be a mad rush like never before for ammo and guns.
If Trump wins then expect riots and looting to hit an all time high which will cause a mad rush for more first time buyers and long time gun owners alike.
Just my 2 cents.
 
meh said:
I'm not surprised. I am negative on S&B brass in general and have had terrible experiences with their .357M and .44M brass, but as far as I can tell the 9mm S&B brass is quite good brass. I've probably loaded at least a couple of thousand different cartridge cases of once-fired S&B 9mm brass, and I have had zero problems with it. Primes easily, and the primer pockets are just right. Sadly, that's very specific to caliber.
Click to expand...

I've not used much of any other caliber of S&B brass other than .223 and 9mm and find the primer pockets on both to be annoyingly tight, using Winchester SP or SR primers. Maybe they've changed their pocket sizing on their newer ammo but the older stuff was always somewhat of a pain to prime.
 
Uzi2 said:
I've not used much of any other caliber of S&B brass other than .223 and 9mm and find the primer pockets on both to be annoyingly tight, using Winchester SP or SR primers. Maybe they've changed their pocket sizing on their newer ammo but the older stuff was always somewhat of a pain to prime.
Click to expand...

Bit of a mystery there, I guess, because I don't think the ones I've been picking up lately are different in this respect from the ones I picked up a few years back. I have used WSP, never WSR. Lately it's been CCI and Federal. Guess it's just one of those YMMV things. Maybe they are a little tighter, but as long as the primers go in without a hitch and bottom out without needing too much pressure, I'm a happy camper. I probably get more hitches related to centering and/or the edges of the primer pockets being unforgiving with the cheap Federal stuff (FC, Blazer, Speer), but the Frankford Arsenal hand primer seems to handle things pretty well. Now that I think of it, it didn't seem to like the CBC brass I loaded recently--lots of hitches getting them started, though they all went in. Not sure what the problem was. Kind of looks the same as the FC and Blazer cases.

I suspect one of the differences from one priming tool to the next is how the cases are centered. My guess is that the more tight and precise the centering of the case in the shell holder, the more imperfections in the brass are going to cause problems. The FA hand primer uses those special-use shell holders, sometimes shared between calibers that couldn't share the same shell holder on the press. Maybe the lack of precision in that context works out to be a virtue when the case can slide slightly in one direction or the other as the primer goes in.
 
I started reloading for the 45/70 revolver.

I thought I had to cast, but I found a coffee can full of 500g bullets I cast a while back using 1:20.

I also have some 535grain and I bought a 405grain mold that I will cast next week.

Next to 9mm.

20200727_133832.jpg

@Michael J. Spangler I think I will load some those rounds using the 3 lead balls. Are those 45cal balls (.440?) that we cast during the last seminar?
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I started reloading for the 45/70 revolver.

I thought I had to cast, but I found a coffee can full of 500g bullets I cast a while back using 1:20.

I also have some 535grain and I bought a 405grain mold that I will cast next week.

Next to 9mm.

View attachment 375981

@Michael J. Spangler I think I will load some those rounds using the 3 lead balls. Are those 45cal balls (.440?) that we cast during the last seminar?
Click to expand...
Very cool! Did you get one of those BFR revolvers??
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I started reloading for the 45/70 revolver.

I thought I had to cast, but I found a coffee can full of 500g bullets I cast a while back using 1:20.

I also have some 535grain and I bought a 405grain mold that I will cast next week.

Next to 9mm.

View attachment 375981

@Michael J. Spangler I think I will load some those rounds using the 3 lead balls. Are those 45cal balls (.440?) that we cast during the last seminar?
Click to expand...
Dude that’s awesome!
You want to use the .458” diameter balls. Or there abouts. .457”-.460” is fine.
I just realized I had my 45/70 load notebook in my lap to Insulated from my laptop.
So the load data.
3 of them stacked on top of 9 grains of unique. Top ball seated just below the equator with a moderate roll crimp.
This shot 890-911 FPS per the Labradar and patterned about 3” at 25 yards from the 1895.
Super fun in the BFR too!
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Dude that’s awesome!
You want to use the .458” diameter balls. Or there abouts. .457”-.460” is fine.
I just realized I had my 45/70 load notebook in my lap to Insulated from my laptop.
So the load data.
3 of them stacked on top of 9 grains of unique. Top ball seated just below the equator with a moderate roll crimp.
This shot 890-911 FPS per the Labradar and patterned about 3” at 25 yards from the 1895.
Super fun in the BFR too!
Click to expand...
I will screenshot that.

9 grains gave you almost 1K for, that is impressive.

There must have been a lot of empty space, did you use a filler?
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I will screenshot that.

9 grains gave you almost 1K for, that is impressive.

There must have been a lot of empty space, did you use a filler?
Click to expand...
No need. There isn’t much considering how deep the balls seat. Unique is fluffy too.
For comparison when I was done loading 12 grains to unique with a 405 Bullet I switched to H4198.
The same volume on the powder measure resulted in 31 grains of H4198.

07B7D824-FE3F-4E08-97F9-7640C67CA76D.jpeg
 
coupla covid cowboys ovah heah!

man, you guys are into some odd-ball shit [rofl]

Michael J. Spangler said:
No need. There isn’t much considering how deep the balls seat. Unique is fluffy too.
For comparison when I was done loading 12 grains to unique with a 405 Bullet I switched to H4198.
The same volume on the powder measure resulted in 31 grains of H4198.
Click to expand...

This just LOOKS dangerous.
 
andrew1220 said:
That is badass! I cringe at the thought of shooting 45-70 hunting/defensive ammo through that but it sure is purty. But maybe it's not horrible since it's so massive? Lookin forward to a range report on that bad boy.
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Some ammo is more powerful than a 500 SW.
But I won't touch that. Maybe once. [laugh]

Once I reload with the 535, 500, 405 bullets and a couple of powders, I will start a thread with the report.

I read that 300 grain bullets shoot great out of this gun. I will buy a mold if the 3 mentioned above don't work.
 
andrew1220 said:
That is badass! I cringe at the thought of shooting 45-70 hunting/defensive ammo through that but it sure is purty. But maybe it's not horrible since it's so massive? Lookin forward to a range report on that bad boy.
Click to expand...
I would shoot that over the X Frame 500 any day. I find the BFR is much more comfortable to shoot with comparable loads. The gun rolls back in your hand.
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I started reloading for the 45/70 revolver.

I thought I had to cast, but I found a coffee can full of 500g bullets I cast a while back using 1:20.

I also have some 535grain and I bought a 405grain mold that I will cast next week.

Next to 9mm.

View attachment 375981

@Michael J. Spangler I think I will load some those rounds using the 3 lead balls. Are those 45cal balls (.440?) that we cast during the last seminar?
Click to expand...
Looks like a frigging artillery shell!
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I started reloading for the 45/70 revolver.

I thought I had to cast, but I found a coffee can full of 500g bullets I cast a while back using 1:20.

I also have some 535grain and I bought a 405grain mold that I will cast next week.

Next to 9mm.

View attachment 375981

@Michael J. Spangler I think I will load some those rounds using the 3 lead balls. Are those 45cal balls (.440?) that we cast during the last seminar?
Click to expand...
The tin to lead alloys cast such nice bullets.
 

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