What did you do in the reloading room recently?

Tinkermatic said:
Couple of firsts tonight. Things were going well until...
Stuck primer. Went outside and just pushed harder (using a Lee breech lock hand press) and it went in. This may coincide with the polishing of the brass, but it was clean and I did clean the primer pockets individually as well. Wife asked why I was going outside and I told her if she heard a “pop!”not to worry. How loud are primer detonations BTW?
That didn’t receive a great response. 🙄

First bullets I seated were waayyyy to deep. Shooting for 1.090 and got 7 between 1.01 and 1.04. The adjustments aren’t quite as subtle as anticipated. Duly noted. They may be too deep to pull. That a thing? I have a puller and was getting nowhere fast. Also, the repeated smacking was met with a subtle but notable side-eye. I’ll move out of the living room next time ‘round.

All said and done I have 10, yes TEN! .355, 115gr. Hornady XTP JHP projectiles over 4.2 grains of Titegroup. I wanted to do 20 with Titegroup and 20 with PowerPistol. But after my stumbling with bullet seating I decided to quit while I was, even? Certainly not ahead, but I learned a lot today regardless.
View attachment 461775
Click to expand...
Wonder if the case had a crimped primer pocket and that’s why you had a tough time seating the primer? Or just a tight pocket - some brands of brass have tight lockers. S&B comes to mind.

I’ve popped a few primers in my basement. I do wear hearing protection when I do it. Wife and dog usually get pissed at me😂

Interesting you had a tough time with the bullet puller. I guess it depends on the surface you’re smacking it against. For me it only takes 2 maybe 3 firm whacks on my basement floor.

You seating and crimping separately? Just curious.
 
Tinkermatic said:
Cleaning the pockets was in lieu of tumbling as I don’t have a tumbler, yet.
Pistol reloads seem to be far more forgiving than rifle.
This brass got “tumbled” in some tupperware with palmolive and hot water.
Click to expand...
I’ve got 2 of these Berry’s Tumbler kits. $118 shipped ain’t bad for the tumbler, media, polish, and rotary media separator
Been using mine since 2012-13.
www.berrysmfg.com

Brass Tumbler Kit | 5 Gallon Bucket Sifter

Our Media Separator Kits come in two options, one with media separator and one with a 5 gallon bucket and sifter. Both come with 6lbs of corn media and polish.
www.berrysmfg.com www.berrysmfg.com
 
Tinkermatic said:
Couple of firsts tonight. Things were going well until...
Stuck primer. Went outside and just pushed harder (using a Lee breech lock hand press) and it went in. This may coincide with the polishing of the brass, but it was clean and I did clean the primer pockets individually as well. Wife asked why I was going outside and I told her if she heard a “pop!”not to worry. How loud are primer detonations BTW?
That didn’t receive a great response. 🙄
Click to expand...
They are plenty loud - if they aren't going in set the case aside to check for crimp.
Tinkermatic said:
First bullets I seated were waayyyy to deep. Shooting for 1.090 and got 7 between 1.01 and 1.04. The adjustments aren’t quite as subtle as anticipated. Duly noted.
Click to expand...
The adjuster on a Lee die is 20 pitch that means it will move 0.050" per full turn.
Sharpie mark the adjuster, cut a piece of tape to fit the body, measure the tape and divide by to ten to have 0.005" markings.
 
andrew1220 said:
I’ve popped a few primers in my basement. I do wear hearing protection when I do it. Wife and dog usually get pissed at me😂
Click to expand...
Popped my first one a little while ago - family didn't even notice.
I do too much crazy stuff in the basement for them to react anymore.

Some day they are going to find the cat getting fatter off my carcass under a piece of machinery and remember a random bang or crash they ignored.
 
andrew1220 said:
Wonder if the case had a crimped primer pocket and that’s why you had a tough time seating the primer? Or just a tight pocket - some brands of brass have tight lockers. S&B comes to mind.

I’ve popped a few primers in my basement. I do wear hearing protection when I do it. Wife and dog usually get pissed at me😂

Interesting you had a tough time with the bullet puller. I guess it depends on the surface you’re smacking it against. For me it only takes 2 maybe 3 firm whacks on my basement floor.

You seating and crimping separately? Just curious.
Click to expand...
Seating and crimping separately. Just tighter than the rest I think. I’m new to all this so any hiccup is eye-widening.
 
I've never set off a primer. If you're setting off primers you're banging the press to hard. You can mangle a primer in half and not set it off. If you feel one stuck, just slowly force it in over the course of 2-3 secs. It'll go.

Here are (2) .223 cases with primers that snagged and I pressed fully in sideways. You have to push them in to get the case out of the shell holder.

20210314_220700.jpg 20210314_220720.jpg
 
xtry51 said:
I've never set off a primer. If you're setting off primers you're banging the press to hard. You can mangle a primer in half and not set it off. If you feel one stuck, just slowly force it in over the course of 2-3 secs. It'll go.

Here are (2) .223 cases with primers that snagged and I pressed fully in sideways. You have to push them in to get the case out of the shell holder.

View attachment 461813View attachment 461814
Click to expand...
Agreed. I should say I intentionally set off primers🤣. Hammer + screwdriver on my basement floor...
After tens upon tens of thousands of rounds loaded, never set one off on the press. Hope to keep it that way 😂
 
xtry51 said:
I've never set off a primer. If you're setting off primers you're banging the press to hard. You can mangle a primer in half and not set it off. If you feel one stuck, just slowly force it in over the course of 2-3 secs. It'll go.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought until I got a case where the primer base popped and left a ring in the pocket. Felt like a tight pocket until it went off and ruined a perfectly good reloading session.
 
andrew1220 said:
Wonder if the case had a crimped primer pocket and that’s why you had a tough time seating the primer? Or just a tight pocket - some brands of brass have tight lockers. S&B comes to mind.

I’ve popped a few primers in my basement. I do wear hearing protection when I do it. Wife and dog usually get pissed at me😂

Interesting you had a tough time with the bullet puller. I guess it depends on the surface you’re smacking it against. For me it only takes 2 maybe 3 firm whacks on my basement floor.

You seating and crimping separately? Just curious.
Click to expand...
If you are setting off primers you are likely operating the press a little too quickly. ( hand priming or press priming )

I've reloaded well over 150,000 rounds of pistol and rifle ammo and set off 1 primer and it was because I was operating the press too quickly rather than smoothly and feeling the primer insert into the pocket. By slowing down a little you may crush a primer but they won't go off.
 
Uzi2 said:
If you are setting off primers you are likely operating the press a little too quickly. ( hand priming or press priming )

I've reloaded well over 150,000 rounds of pistol and rifle ammo and set off 1 primer and it was because I was operating the press too quickly rather than smoothly and feeling the primer insert into the pocket. By slowing down a little you may crush a primer but they won't go off.
Click to expand...
Agreed. See my post above.
 
headednorth said:
Sorted three 1 gallon freezer bags of brass. Couple of random questions for you guys...

- anyone saving alum or steel cases as a last ditch source of cases at some point down the road or am I a nut for even entertaining the thought. Id have thought that steel east euro ammo would be berdan primed but I took a peek inside a 45acp and it was boxer primed. What about 54r, x39, 223?

-Would you guys load pistol but not rifle? Reduced rifle loads? Would it be worth it to get even one reload out of steel cases? I know @navalofficer loaded up some alum 9mm cases multiple times with no ill effects iirc.
Click to expand...
FWIW I reloaded 223, 54r and 8mm steel cased ammo that was boxer primed. 45acp did fine also.
The 223 necks started split on the 3rd reload.
I was saving the steel and aluminum for a while but after i started reloading more i eventually had enough brass.
 
xtry51 said:
I've been slacking. I

No need to clean any primer pockets in any caliber. Maybe if I was shooting at 1000yds I'd try it. There's no measurable diff for me at 300 when I tried it.

For the bullets too deep, just use the hammer to make them too long again, then reseat them. No big deal for plinking rounds. Don't do this for match ammo.
Click to expand...
Whenever I miss at 1000 yards, not once do I say I should have cleaned the primer pocket. Sure, I'll blame my spotter, but not the primer pocket being dirty.
 
headednorth said:
Sorted three 1 gallon freezer bags of brass. Couple of random questions for you guys...

- anyone saving alum or steel cases as a last ditch source of cases at some point down the road or am I a nut for even entertaining the thought. Id have thought that steel east euro ammo would be berdan primed but I took a peek inside a 45acp and it was boxer primed. What about 54r, x39, 223?

-Would you guys load pistol but not rifle? Reduced rifle loads? Would it be worth it to get even one reload out of steel cases? I know @navalofficer loaded up some alum 9mm cases multiple times with no ill effects iirc.
Click to expand...

I always save a portion of any Wolf Poly Performance .223 steel cased that I shoot and all of the Wolf .45, both are boxer primed and make good winter ammo when shooting with snow on the ground and good brass would be lost.

I'll reload them once then discard them. Just don't tumble them too long, just enough to clean off the grit.
 
andrew1220 said:
Agreed. I should say I intentionally set off primers🤣. Hammer + screwdriver on my basement floor...
After tens upon tens of thousands of rounds loaded, never set one off on the press. Hope to keep it that way 😂
Click to expand...
I popped off a 209 shotgun primer through my muzzle loader in the basement one time. I was getting the muzzle loader ready for an afternoon sit for deer. I always set off a primer (through an uncharged gun of course) to ensure the flash hole is clear. Always did that outside but this one time I got a case of the stupids.....and said meh.....its just a primer I'll do it here in the basement then charge the rifle and case it up. Wow that was loud as hell indoors! Wife came down over the basement stairs yelling what happened did you shoot down there?!?!?! I was laughing my balls off and my ears were ringing a little had to tell her it was just a primer to clear the flash hole......won't ever do that again 😂
 
Shot my new lever gun today in the wind with my reloads.

I couldn't tell any difference between my .45 colt loads with minimum and maximum charge of W572. Both shot in the exact same spot on the target, with the gun locked in on a tripod. Standing, off hand, both felt like the same negligible recoil. Minimum charge clocked an average of 1,001 fps and maximum at 1,108 fps. Surprised the max charge gained about 200 fps over a 7" pistol.

My confidence was getting too high, so I tried a maximum charge of Longshot pushing a 250 gr at 1,500 fps and it really let's you know you're shooting a 45 caliber rifle.

Couldn't find half of my brass and it turns out the top eject sent them directly up and into the hood of my jacket. Found that out when one particularly hot case fell onto my neck.
 
Klal said:
Shot my new lever gun today in the wind with my reloads.

I couldn't tell any difference between my .45 colt loads with minimum and maximum charge of W572. Both shot in the exact same spot on the target, with the gun locked in on a tripod. Standing, off hand, both felt like the same negligible recoil. Minimum charge clocked an average of 1,001 fps and maximum at 1,108 fps. Surprised the max charge gained about 200 fps over a 7" pistol.

My confidence was getting too high, so I tried a maximum charge of Longshot pushing a 250 gr at 1,500 fps and it really let's you know you're shooting a 45 caliber rifle.

Couldn't find half of my brass and it turns out the top eject sent them directly up and into the hood of my jacket. Found that out when one particularly hot case fell onto my neck.
Click to expand...
That’s awesome!
yeah you don’t notice much difference in drop considering both loads were subsonic or just barely above.
If they start out slow they don’t lose much speed at all.
Check a 300 BO subsonic be supersonic and see what the % velocity loss is comparing the two. Eye opening.
What rifle are you shooting them from?
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
That’s awesome!
yeah you don’t notice much difference in drop considering both loads were subsonic or just barely above.
If they start out slow they don’t lose much speed at all.
Check a 300 BO subsonic be supersonic and see what the % velocity loss is comparing the two. Eye opening.
What rifle are you shooting them from?
Click to expand...
I just took a look at 300 blackout subsonic charts. Interesting stuff for sure.

I am using a Rossi R92 with a 16" barrel. Icwas surprised at how smooth the action was right out of the box. Good little shooter for short money too.
 
whacko said:
I popped off a 209 shotgun primer through my muzzle loader in the basement one time. I was getting the muzzle loader ready for an afternoon sit for deer. I always set off a primer (through an uncharged gun of course) to ensure the flash hole is clear. Always did that outside but this one time I got a case of the stupids.....and said meh.....its just a primer I'll do it here in the basement then charge the rifle and case it up. Wow that was loud as hell indoors! Wife came down over the basement stairs yelling what happened did you shoot down there?!?!?! I was laughing my balls off and my ears were ringing a little had to tell her it was just a primer to clear the flash hole......won't ever do that again 😂
Click to expand...
i do this every year also, sometimes i send a good wad of TP down range foe fun.
i wonder if a primer is enough to launch a small wax slug ?
 
Klal said:
I just took a look at 300 blackout subsonic charts. Interesting stuff for sure.

I am using a Rossi R92 with a 16" barrel. Icwas surprised at how smooth the action was right out of the box. Good little shooter for short money too.
Click to expand...
Yeah for sure. Good read here

Handloading, Bench Testing & History Of J.D. Jones incredible 300 Whisper

From the pages of The IHMSA News, Shooting sports, hand gun, ammo, cartridges, xp 100, reloading, firearm, cast bullet, bullet casting and more information articles
www.lasc.us


That’s good to hear. I like the idea of a 92 but really prefer the look of the 73 or even the Marlin 94 action.
That being said I would buy a Rossi too.
 
Loaded up ten 115gr 9mm rounds using the new BR-5 powder I picked up last week. Started mid range on the 115gr data @ 5gr......NO GO. Wouldn't cycle my test pistol (Ruger P89 ) reliably......but man that stuff burns clean.

Going to up the charge to 5.3 and see how that works. Then going to try 124gr bullets and do a dozen of them and test.

Next cycling test is in the Uzi subgun. Years of past experience has shown that if the ammo will cycle the Ruger P89 reliably, it will cycle the Uzi reliably.

I'm so glad I got in on this powder before it was all gone. It meters consistently in my Lee powder measure. Though there is a little "crunching" when dropping the charge, the charge weights do hold true. Measuring on a Dillon electronic scale, properly calibrated each loading session.

Now I wish I had another 10k pistol primers.......I'll wait patiently.......it's not like I don't have enough ammo to shoot up.
 
I shot a few black powder rounds out of the .43 Spanish rolling block today and things are looking better but I still have a ways to go. The first loads at 50 yards looked more like a buckshot pattern than a group. About 8". That was with AA5744. The black powder group was about 2 1/2". Why you ask? The Goose knows the answer. The black powder bumped up the undersized bullets. Many years ago when I was studying for the Lieutenants exam, one of the many boring things I had to learn was the difference between deflagration and detonation. Little did I know that that boring shit would one day help me understand why black powder can bump up an undersized bullet while much more powerful smokeless powder can not. I'm shooting bullets that are .004 undersized because that's the biggest diameter that the chamber will allow. I know you guys who cast and size your own bullets are cringing at the thought of shooting bullets that are even .001 undersized, let alone .004. Read up on soft bullets and black powder. You'll be amazed at the old technology.
 
I had to look it up since I've never heard the term deflagration before so I'll share with the rest of the class:
Deflagration and detonation are two ways energy may be released. If the combustion process propagates outward at subsonic speeds (slower than the speed of sound), it's a deflagration. If the explosion moves outward at supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound), it's a detonation.
 
jpm said:
I had to look it up since I've never heard the term deflagration before so I'll share with the rest of the class:
Deflagration and detonation are two ways energy may be released. If the combustion process propagates outward at subsonic speeds (slower than the speed of sound), it's a deflagration. If the explosion moves outward at supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound), it's a detonation.
Click to expand...
👍
Here you go. I almost posted this earlier in the week elsewhere when someone said "dropped bullets won't explode". Matt

www.thoughtco.com

If Your Engine Is Knocking It's Probably Detonation

Detonation is the tendency for the fuel to pre-ignite or auto-ignite in an engine's combustion chamber and typically caused by low octane fuel use.
www.thoughtco.com www.thoughtco.com

More at the link.

Deflagration​

The definition of deflagration, according to the "Collins English Dictionary" is "a fire in which a flame travels rapidly, but at subsonic speed, through a gas. Deflagration is an explosion in which the speed of burning is lower than the speed of sound in the surroundings."

Everyday fire and most controlled explosions are examples of deflagration. The flame propagation velocity is less than 100 meters per second (usually much lower), and the overpressure is less than 0.5 bar. Because it is controllable, deflagration can be harnessed to do work. Examples of deflagrations include:
  • internal combustion engine (used in any vehicle that uses fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, or diesel fuel)
  • gas stove (fueled with natural gas)
  • fireworks and other pyrotechnics
  • gunpowder in a firearm
Deflagration burns outward radially and requires fuel to spread. Thus, for example, a wildfire starts with a single spark and then expands in a circular pattern if there is fuel available. If there is no fuel, the fire simply burns out. The speed at which deflagration moves depends upon the quality of the available fuel.

Detonation​

The word "detonation" means "to thunder down," or explode. When a decomposition reaction or combination reaction releases a lot of energy in a very short span of time, an explosion may occur. A detonation is a dramatic, often destructive, form of an explosion. It is characterized by a supersonic exothermic front (in excess of 100 m/s up to 2000 m/s) and significant overpressure (up to 20 bars). The front drives a shockwave ahead of it.

Although technically a form of oxidation reaction, a detonation doesn't require combination with oxygen. Unstable molecules release considerable energy when they split and recombine into new forms. Examples of chemicals that produce detonations include any high explosives, such as:
  • TNT (trinitrotoluene)
  • nitroglycerine
  • dynamite
  • picric acid
  • C4
Detonations, of course, can be used in explosive weapons such as nuclear bombs. They are also (in a much more controlled manner) used in mining, road construction, and the destruction of buildings or structures.
 
My Frankford works fine. Corncob. I run for 2 hours or so with older dirty media, then switch to cleaner media with splash of polish. Run another hour or two. Works for me. Everyone has their own special recipe of course.
 
Klal said:
My diy brass tumbler exploded. Long story short, don't tape down the trigger on a $20 ryobi and try to run it off a car battery with a 5 gallon jug of cracked corn on the end.

What do you all use for a cheaper brass tumbler? Those Frankford ones work well?
Click to expand...
I used to let a 3 gallon bucket roll around in the bed of the truck.
 

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