What did you do in the reloading room recently?

[Mudflap621]

I also pulled the ejector out last night gonna try fireforming a few without it. Seems my chamber is a touch long and I’m not getting the case jam so between pulling extractor and jamming bullets it looks like I got a good squeeze on her.

Watched a good video from Primal Rights the other day about sizing and shoulder bump vs brass life as well as consistency.

He explained the importance of making sure that your fired case has expanded to chamber dimensions before setting your setback. He stated almost no cartridge will be fireformed completely in just one firing most take 3 or 4. I admit I’ve always set set-back after first firing.

He also explained the importance of removing the ejector as it will push the case away from the bf and will allow brass growth in the web area of your case, which will greatly diminish brass life.

This rabbit hole is deeeeep!

 

[Mike 53]

Picked up an 8lb jug of N-135 the other day as part of an estate sale. Also 3 50/ea. boxes of Berger 175VLD's. Not sure what I'll do with those as my shooting is pretty limited to 100 and 200 yards...

 

[Mudflap621]

Forming went great but it was cold! Took it out to 400yrds. Nothing special but was holding 1 MOA all the way out with no load development. It was really nice watching trace through the scope thou.

First 100 peices of brass are in the tumbler and probably load up another 50-100 tonight to form.

Through 100 rounds haven’t noticed barrel speeding up at all yet though.

 

[mac1911]

Oh mac

Ya I’m in agreement on powder prices. They haven’t gone up as much in price as primers have.

Primers I stocked up heavy on

Considering the inflation for primers and other components, $35 to $40 per lb of powder is fine.

Be nice to Mac this week. He's feeling a little down because he hasn't been able to figure out a way to recycle powder. Me too- I was trying to collect used Varget for him.


Must be getting better. Squidway has an entire first row of available primers: 41's, BR4's, 400's, 450's.

bring it on! , thick skin here and Embrace the insulting BS , whooo hooo Merry CHRISTmas

For the record I do recyle powder …..i head over to my friends and snag all the powder his POS Dillon pukes out!

 

[Mountain]

Primers I stocked up heavy on

bring it on! , thick skin here and Embrace the insulting BS , whooo hooo Merry CHRISTmas

For the record I do recyle powder …..i head over to my friends and snag all the powder his POS Dillon pukes out!

LOL all in good fun. Wish I could recycle Varget. Only powder recycling I do is as fertilizer in the yard or garden.

 

[mac1911]

LOL all in good fun. Wish I could recycle Varget. Only powder recycling I do is as fertilizer in the yard or garden.

You wasteful bastard! See what moving to mass has done to you!!!

 

[Mountain]

You wasteful bastard! See what moving to mass has done to you!!!

Usually that would just be some mystery powder that someone gave to me or from pulling old ammo I did not load.

Trust me, I cry every time I spill a grain.

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Unless it's Varget...

 

[Tallahassee]

So, I loaded up some 115 XTP the other day, then my electronic scale shit the bed. Got my new $16 scale in yesterday, and then proceeded to load up some 147 XTP this morning. Figure I will try those out as soon as the sun pops up. Maybe I will just stay with 124gr after this, I don't know.

 

[Tallahassee]

Forming went great but it was cold! Took it out to 400yrds. Nothing special but was holding 1 MOA all the way out with no load development. It was really nice watching trace through the scope thou.

First 100 peices of brass are in the tumbler and probably load up another 50-100 tonight to form.

Through 100 rounds haven’t noticed barrel speeding up at all yet though.

Whose barrel?

 

[mac1911]

Usually that would just be some mystery powder that someone gave to me or from pulling old ammo I did not load.

Trust me, I cry every time I spill a grain.

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Unless it's Varget...

Thats liz warrens real father , another fake indian

 

[Mountain]

Thats liz warrens real father , another fake indian

Mac, you win the internet for today.

And yes, fake Indian.

 

[Mudflap621]

Whose barrel?

PVA chambered rock creek barrel fitted to a Lone Peak Fuzion.

 

[mac1911]

Mac, you win the internet for today.

And yes, fake Indian.

My uncle is/was a real indian
He looked stereotypical of the image minus the feathers and war paint
He was darn near red, straight jet black hair and his voice OMG . Guess who played Tonto when we where kids…lof
He brought us to a few “gathering of the tribes” in central canada. I was 6,8 and 10 and it was nuts to see at that age.
All sorts if “how it was “ going on
From all sorts of shelters, weapons, full dress, drums , song
He was a MicMac out of Canada and his “reservation” was in Nova Scotia .
Completely different place…….

 

[Mountain]

My uncle is/was a real indian
He looked stereotypical of the image minus the feathers and war paint
He was darn near red, straight jet black hair and his voice OMG . Guess who played Tonto when we where kids…lof
He brought us to a few “gathering of the tribes” in central canada. I was 6,8 and 10 and it was nuts to see at that age.
All sorts if “how it was “ going on
From all sorts of shelters, weapons, full dress, drums , song
He was a MicMac out of Canada and his “reservation” was in Nova Scotia .
Completely different place…….

That's awesome- great experiences for a kid.

One of my best friends never registered with the tribe but could have as his grandmother was all Cherokee. He used to joke around if anyone asked him was he really part Indian and he'd show his armpits- "Look, no hair!" Ironically, before he landed a great government job he played for the Redskins for a short while.

I think I'll load some 10mm before we do family stuff today.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I read that IMR4198 is a great powder for the .45/70 so I loaded 20 rounds to try in the trapdoor. No shooting outdoors at Harvard on Christmas so I'll try them on Sunday.

 

[DW357]

So I have to ask this even though I’ve been reloading 357 mag since 2013…

For some reason I noticed a ton of unburnt powder when I shot my newly acquired DW 15-2.

Using 14.5 gr of 2400 under a Zero 158 gr JHP. I’ve always had some unburnt powder when shooting these loads in my other DW revolver but for some reason it was a lot more in this gun. No idea how a gun could make a difference.

Anyway, I’m starting to wonder after all these years if I haven’t been crimping enough.

This is a closeup of the crimp. I’m using a progressive press and mixed brass so you can see the OAL’s vary a bit. Ideally I know you don’t want a lot of the cannelure exposed so the casemouth/crimp rolls into the cannelure.
View attachment 554976

And this is a closeup of the even firmer roll crimp I applied after readjusting my Lee FCD. This seems kinda excessive? The case is really flattened into the cannelure. Can’t imagine I’d get much case life from these?
What say you @Michael J. Spangler @meh View attachment 554981

So I shot these today in my newer DW revolver and did notice any change in cleanliness or recoil.

I’m still waiting on my 15" barrel to ship from DW to see how it functions in that gun.

 

[Mountain]

I read that IMR4198 is a great powder for the .45/70 so I loaded 20 rounds to try in the trapdoor. No shooting outdoors at Harvard on Christmas so I'll try them on Sunday.

I use it exclusively for my .458 SOCOM with great results. Even more juice with the .45/70. Hodgdon Reloading Center data looks good.

Your trapdoor is a modern one?

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I read that IMR4198 is a great powder for the .45/70 so I loaded 20 rounds to try in the trapdoor. No shooting outdoors at Harvard on Christmas so I'll try them on Sunday.

I use H4198. Seemed like it had great range from trapdoor up to Ruger #1 loads.
I think 31 grains was max with a 405 in a trapdoor.

Let me know how the IMR is. I see it around more than the H

 

[RankAmateur]

Running low on H4198 and Bib bullets, so looking for alternatives for .30BR. Fireforming 50 more newly made up cases. Trying LT-30 powder and using some Nosler 110gr Varmageddon bullets. Hope to take these to the range late Christmas morning.


Did another set of 30 this morning using Sierra 110gr Varminter bullets. I'm still amazed at how well this rifle performs. 30 round group at 100 yds (sand bag rest), and these were loaded just to fireform the cases with varmint bullets!

 

[RankAmateur]

I use H4198. Seemed like it had great range from trapdoor up to Ruger #1 loads.
I think 31 grains was max with a 405 in a trapdoor.

Let me know how the IMR is. I see it around more than the H

Michael, any leads on H4198 you could turn me on to? I understand it is THE go-to powder for 30BR. I have about 5000 grains left and have not found any available commercially for quite a while. Thanks!

 

[DW357]

Running low on H4198 and Bib bullets, so looking for alternatives for .30BR. Fireforming 50 more newly made up cases. Trying LT-30 powder and using some Nosler 110gr Varmageddon bullets. Hope to take these to the range late Christmas morning.
View attachment 556107

Did another set of 30 this morning using Sierra 110gr Varminter bullets. I'm still amazed at how well this rifle performs. 30 round group at 100 yds (sand bag rest), and these were loaded just to fireform the cases with varmint bullets!

View attachment 556111

Holy f***

 

[RankAmateur]

Holy f***

I've read the stories of really good shooters picking off flies with their benchrest rifles, and I always thought "luck" or "yeah, maybe once in a dozen tries with a good rifle". But, nope, I'm a believer now.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Michael, any leads on H4198 you could turn me on to? I understand it is THE go-to powder for 30BR. I have about 5000 grains left and have not found any available commercially for quite a while. Thanks!

I haven’t picked any up in a while but if I find some I’ll let you know.

 

[xtry51]

Finally sat back at the press after a long hiatus as you can see from the date on the sticky note. But we got the can filled with 9mm and I've got another 1k bullets to do right behind it.

 

[Uzi2]

My uncle is/was a real indian
He looked stereotypical of the image minus the feathers and war paint
He was darn near red, straight jet black hair and his voice OMG . Guess who played Tonto when we where kids…lof
He brought us to a few “gathering of the tribes” in central canada. I was 6,8 and 10 and it was nuts to see at that age.
All sorts if “how it was “ going on
From all sorts of shelters, weapons, full dress, drums , song
He was a MicMac out of Canada and his “reservation” was in Nova Scotia .
Completely different place…….

Had a friend in the army whose dad looked like he was the one who posed for the Indianhead nickel. He was Chickasaw.

 

[76Too]

Made some ‘clone’ loads today of M72 and M852 respectively.

Gonna send ‘em down range tomorrow.



ETA: And I literally just noticed the Christmas colors, lol.

This has been the least Christmasy Christmas in my life besides the year I had the house fire total loss in 2007 (N Brookfield, MA), but I guess I’m going out with a bang.

 

[Tallahassee]

PVA chambered rock creek barrel fitted to a Lone Peak Fuzion.

Pretty sweet. I notice around the 120ish round mark, that's when it will speed up usually. Why? I have no clue.

I have a load for a 110gr bullet for my win mag, I used to love watching the trace on that as well. Very cool.

 

[nstassel]

Figured out why my primers were binding on my SDB. Put in a spare and away we go.

 

[Uzi2]

Assembled my last AR lower yesterday, minus the A2 stock which will be here Wednesday.

Have the Dillon 2000 tumbler running full of 9mm brass.

 

[allen-1]

Helped my son install the SB Tactical A3 brace that I gave him for Christmas onto his AR pistol.