What did you do in the reloading room recently?

I made 150 300 AAC Blackout brass with [FONT=&quot]the Squirrel Daddy Jig[/FONT]. The Jig worked great!! They still have to be trimmed and deburred, but I don’t think they came out to bad in picture 4 mine is on the right and store bought on the left.

2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg
 
Well, a few weeks ago I loaded up about 15 rounds of 45, 200 gr FMJ over 5.4 gr HP-38. They all went off nicely so i loaded up about 500 more. Went to the range 2 days ago and kept having issues with some that went click instead of bang. Recycle and then bang and some still went click. I was using a G21 & G30 and thought maybe the striker/firing pin spring was too weak as I was using Sellier & Bellot large pistol primers. Well after some closer inspection I found that when swapping my press over from small primer to large primer I needed to tweak it a little as some of the primers were not quite seated all the way. So last night I pulled 330 rounds with the kinetic hammer puller as my penance for not double checking. Now tonight I hope to re-reload those 330 rounds now that I re-adjusted the primer seating issue.
 
EddieCoyle said:
That "insert" you're seeing is the primer pocket crimp. You can swage them or cut them out. I prefer to cut.
Click to expand...

Is there a fast way to cut the primer crimp on 223 brass? I have about 4k rounds and most of them have a crimp. I'm thinking of chucking up the head of a Lyman small primer cutter into the motor I got my the Giraud Tri Way and just going to town.
 
Funny that people prefer to cut the crimp rather than swage. I used to use the Weldon 14(?) for a short time but found that if I just gave it a light touch I still had problems installing the primers. Felt way too tight and a lot of times couldnt get them in at all. If I continued to cut out the crimp until they seated well, it seemed like I was taking away too much material. I was actually making a bevel on the edge of the primer pocket. I switched to swaging because the idea of leaving material there and just moving it out of the way seemed better than removing it. There seems to be a preference for cutting though.
 
Bulk .223 on the XL650.

Loaded about 640 rounds tonight, which combined with some old 75gr and 52gr loads i have lying around should get me to the 1000 rounds i need for a carbine course.


IMG_20160420_223414648.jpg
 
Rim Job said:
Is there a fast way to cut the primer crimp on 223 brass? I have about 4k rounds and most of them have a crimp. I'm thinking of chucking up the head of a Lyman small primer cutter into the motor I got my the Giraud Tri Way and just going to town.
Click to expand...

[video=youtube_share;24QOPAOnHRs]http://youtu.be/24QOPAOnHRs[/video]
 
headednorth said:
Funny that people prefer to cut the crimp rather than swage. I used to use the Weldon 14(?) for a short time but found that if I just gave it a light touch I still had problems installing the primers. Felt way too tight and a lot of times couldnt get them in at all. If I continued to cut out the crimp until they seated well, it seemed like I was taking away too much material. I was actually making a bevel on the edge of the primer pocket. I switched to swaging because the idea of leaving material there and just moving it out of the way seemed better than removing it. There seems to be a preference for cutting though.
Click to expand...

Swag might be ideal ? I was using the RCBS tool that you use in a single stage press for a while. Let's say I just didn't like it. It was ok for HXP 30-06 with the three little tit crimps. On 223 brass I found it didn't really work. Same problem your having with primers.
I'm not even sure what cutter I have it works well and doesn't really bit into the primer pocket wall after it cuts crimp.
The tip might bottom out ? I have a bunch of PPU brass that the crimp seams really deep. I feel a edge grab when I install a primer.
I finally reached a point that I don't think I will need to decrimp any more brass...
 
inerlogic said:
did something stupid...... ran Varget through my Dillon 650.....
i was getting a pretty consistent 24.1gr every now and then it'd throw 24.6 but hey... what's half a grain between friends right?

the manual doesn't recommend stick powder, but i had to see for myself....
Click to expand...

It just sucks Dillon being so great and stick powder being around longer than Dillon they don't have a powder drop that will work well with it.
Maybe mount a lee auto drum on there and send off a picture to Dillon with a WTF?
I was skeptical of the lee auto drum .....I can say it does work and tosses varget at +/- .2 ...that said it's built as well as the price reflects and I see it falling apart sooner than later. I have 1800 30 carbine and 2k 223 500 of those are Varget
Through it now. I'm moving on to 9mm
 
mac1911 said:
It just sucks Dillon being so great and stick powder being around longer than Dillon they don't have a powder drop that will work well with it.
Maybe mount a lee auto drum on there and send off a picture to Dillon with a WTF?
I was skeptical of the lee auto drum .....I can say it does work and tosses varget at +/- .2 ...that said it's built as well as the price reflects and I see it falling apart sooner than later. I have 1800 30 carbine and 2k 223 500 of those are Varget
Through it now. I'm moving on to 9mm
Click to expand...


Blue press, red powder measure. I believe EddieCoyle runs this way:
http://www.hornady.com/store/Case-Activated-Powder-Drop-1-Each/
 
mac1911 said:
It just sucks Dillon being so great and stick powder being around longer than Dillon they don't have a powder drop that will work well with it.
Maybe mount a lee auto drum on there and send off a picture to Dillon with a WTF?
I was skeptical of the lee auto drum .....I can say it does work and tosses varget at +/- .2 ...that said it's built as well as the price reflects and I see it falling apart sooner than later. I have 1800 30 carbine and 2k 223 500 of those are Varget
Through it now. I'm moving on to 9mm
Click to expand...

I've heard of guys having issues with stick powder in the Dillon but I've never run into that. I've loaded thousands of rounds of 308 with my 550 with excellent consistency. Within a tenth of a grain. I was surprised with the results after all of the stories I heard.
 
Loaded 500 rounds of .40 last night. I need to tumble more bass..

I find my 550b has very accurate power drops. I use 4.5gr of Tite Group with 180gr RNFP xtreme projo with winchester small magnum primers. That gets me around 945fps to make major power factor.

I wish I had a 650 or 1050 so I could pump out ammo faster[thinking]
 
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Last edited:
jtnf said:
Blue press, red powder measure. I believe EddieCoyle runs this way:
http://www.hornady.com/store/Case-Activated-Powder-Drop-1-Each/
Click to expand...

Yeah same thing Dillon should be embarrassed that you have to put other than blue on their machines? Any how make it work is the way I do it.....
Im going to buy a Dillon at some point if my shooting increases? Right now I load all I can use on my single stage and my plinking ammo on my pro1000.... of wich I don't have the problems people complain about wit the pro1000....only mod I had to do was increase the height of the case pusher to keep the 30 carbine from tipping over. ohh and the finished cartridge shoot still sucks?
 
Well I have been straightening the workshop/reloading room again!!! I was sorting through and inventorying my brass and just started shaking my head. I was looking at how many Calibers that I reload for. I know there are people out there who reload for more, but I do have a few. Let’s see Pistol .380, 9mm, and 45ACP. For rifle .223/5.56, 30-06, 7.62X54r Rus., 7mmX57, 8mmX57,8X56r Aus.,303 Brit, 7.7X58 and 300 AAC Blackout. I also have Brass that I don’t have the Guns for YET!!! :) 30-30, .308, 7mm Rem. Mag. The picture is just a little. 20160421_124134.jpg
 
xtry51 said:
This.

I run mine in a mini-lathe at about 80rpm. 1-2 revolutions is all it takes to remove the crimp.
Click to expand...
This - I also made a guide that indexes on the bottleneck datum that mounts in the toolpost. Chuck up an endmill and can very quickly trim to length.

Sent from my C6530 using Tapatalk
 
I'm about to load up some 357 mag with 2400 and some 158 JSP.
Anyone have a pet load for this? I picked up 125 of those bullets for $10 so I'm not that worried about getting it perfect. I don't plan on doing load development. Once these are gone it's back to lead.
I was looking in the Lyman manual and they have some stout loads with 2400 highlighted as an accuracy load.
Older manuals show Unique as an accuracy load with jacketed and 2400 with the same weight bullet in cast gas checked.

I'm probably just going to blast these at steel out of my 686 and shoot some at 200 yards with my 1894.

Man the old manuals have some hot loads. Some obscure stuff too. Love the round ball pistol loads in the old Speer manuals.


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Michael J. Spangler said:
I'm about to load up some 357 mag with 2400 and some 158 JSP.
Anyone have a pet load for this? I picked up 125 of those bullets for $10 so I'm not that worried about getting it perfect. I don't plan on doing load development. Once these are gone it's back to lead.
I was looking in the Lyman manual and they have some stout loads with 2400 highlighted as an accuracy load.
Older manuals show Unique as an accuracy load with jacketed and 2400 with the same weight bullet in cast gas checked.

I'm probably just going to blast these at steel out of my 686 and shoot some at 200 yards with my 1894.

Man the old manuals have some hot loads. Some obscure stuff too. Love the round ball pistol loads in the old Speer manuals.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

14.7 gr is my go to 2400 load with 158 JHP/JSP.
 
Well I didn't do a whole lot in the reloading room recently other than add some goodies underneath the bench, courtesy of my trip up to Riley's on a whim this morning.

RCBS Full Length .308 Dies (I should have gotten the small base die as I currently only have a bolt action .308, now I got more motivation towards an AR-10)
RCBS Pro Trim-2 Case Trimmer
(2) Hornady LnL Die Bushings
1 lb. jug of Varget
1 lb. jug of Power Pistol

By the way, Riley's had quite a variety of powder in stock, mostly 1 lb jugs, but had several 4 pounders of Power Pistol, Blue Dot, Green Dot, HP-38 and several others, Clay Dot? included (I think).

Any who, I'm getting the equipment/materials needed to start reloading .308 Winchester, All I need now are Large Rifle Primers, bullets, and the Shell Plate for my LnL AP. I'm going to start keeping my eyes open for a used single-stage press too, at this rate I'm going to have to build a longer reloading bench.
 
Loaded 130 of the 357/158 JSP
I think I said speer before but they're sierra brand.

I sorted some 38/357 brass I had tumbled a few weeks back. There was probably 100 357 mixed into 2 gallons of 38 brass. I just grab a handful, stand them up on the bench and look for the taller ones. Anyone have a better method for sorting your 357 out of your 38 brass? I know I should just keep them separate in the range bag but it seems some 357 always finds it way in.
A little bit of me dies every time I send a 357 into the expander set up for 38 special.

I had loaded some 357 with coasted cast a couple months back. When I shot them I ended up getting some decent leading. I had about 150 left and upon examination of the loaded rounds and the coated bullets on the bench I realized that instead of coated the cast 3 times I must have only coated twice because they were pretty spotty. Talk about a disappointment.
I'm going to fire a bunch of the lead and then chase them with a few of the JSP and back to the lead until they're all gone.

Did I mention I hate pulling bullets?
 
Eric H said:
Well I didn't do a whole lot in the reloading room recently other than add some goodies underneath the bench, courtesy of my trip up to Riley's on a whim this morning.

RCBS Full Length .308 Dies (I should have gotten the small base die as I currently only have a bolt action .308, now I got more motivation towards an AR-10)
RCBS Pro Trim-2 Case Trimmer
(2) Hornady LnL Die Bushings
1 lb. jug of Varget
1 lb. jug of Power Pistol

By the way, Riley's had quite a variety of powder in stock, mostly 1 lb jugs, but had several 4 pounders of Power Pistol, Blue Dot, Green Dot, HP-38 and several others, Clay Dot? included (I think).

Any who, I'm getting the equipment/materials needed to start reloading .308 Winchester, All I need now are Large Rifle Primers, bullets, and the Shell Plate for my LnL AP. I'm going to start keeping my eyes open for a used single-stage press too, at this rate I'm going to have to build a longer reloading bench.
Click to expand...

Why would you want a small based die for a bolt action?
 
josh2600 said:
Why would you want a small based die for a bolt action?
Click to expand...

Oops, I really meant to say neck-size die. I was thinking neck-size but wrote small based by mistake, when I first started learning about reloading I thought small-based die was the same thing as a neck size die, I guess I'm still trying to get rid of that habit. Thanks for the catch!
 

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