When I'm out there at Dillon in a few weeks, I'll ask them about it.
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What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
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When I'm out there at Dillon in a few weeks, I'll ask them about it.
Eric H
NES Member
Loaded 400 rounds of .45 Auto, then while decapping some brass cases I didn't have bullets for I ended up breaking a decapping pin on my Hornady Resizing/Decapping die, my first pin broken since I started reloading, 6000 rounds ago. I was going kind of fast, the spring shellplate case retainer has gotten sloppy, and I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have because I was "just resizing/depriming." Lesson learned.
I ended up having to put the die body in a padded vice and take some vice grips to get the decapping pin retainer off, it seemed like it was dried blue threadlocker in place on the zip-spindle where the retainer threads on. I didn't think they would be threadlocked from the factory, that was a pain in the rear and decided to call it a night there once I replaced the decapping pin.
I ended up having to put the die body in a padded vice and take some vice grips to get the decapping pin retainer off, it seemed like it was dried blue threadlocker in place on the zip-spindle where the retainer threads on. I didn't think they would be threadlocked from the factory, that was a pain in the rear and decided to call it a night there once I replaced the decapping pin.
Dillon tends to make stuff that works, no matter what. Due to tolerances to include in and out of and # of manufacturers, 9MM brass varies more than most.
30+ years ago when I first started loading 9MM, I bought a used carbide set made by RCBS. There was one batch of brass, I don't remember the brand, where I could push the bullet in with mild finger pressure. So I bought a new set of carbide dies. That solved the problem. Since RCBS makes more dies than anyone else, they have more faulty product than anyone else. Dillon prefers to avoid that by going with minimum tolerances. I bought the first RT 1200 I saw. This sized and trimmed .223 or .308 brass in one stroke. The .223 in particular sized the neck so much that it wouldn't accept any bullet without a Boat Tail. Of course that was only discovered after many many thousands of loaded rounds. I had the die honed and miracle of miracles the 550 worked so much easier.
30+ years ago when I first started loading 9MM, I bought a used carbide set made by RCBS. There was one batch of brass, I don't remember the brand, where I could push the bullet in with mild finger pressure. So I bought a new set of carbide dies. That solved the problem. Since RCBS makes more dies than anyone else, they have more faulty product than anyone else. Dillon prefers to avoid that by going with minimum tolerances. I bought the first RT 1200 I saw. This sized and trimmed .223 or .308 brass in one stroke. The .223 in particular sized the neck so much that it wouldn't accept any bullet without a Boat Tail. Of course that was only discovered after many many thousands of loaded rounds. I had the die honed and miracle of miracles the 550 worked so much easier.
Finished my first 16 rounds of 30-06 last night. Used 40gr of IMR 4895 under a 168gr. Nosler Custom Competition bullet.
Going to load two en blocs with them for this weekend, and then the rest of my en blocs with surplus HXP. I used the Winchester brass for the reloads so there will be no mistaking which cases are from the reloads.
If things go well I will charge and seat the other 62 prepped cases. This stuff's already getting addicting.
Going to load two en blocs with them for this weekend, and then the rest of my en blocs with surplus HXP. I used the Winchester brass for the reloads so there will be no mistaking which cases are from the reloads.
If things go well I will charge and seat the other 62 prepped cases. This stuff's already getting addicting.
It gets that way, yes.
Check your PMs...
Check your PMs...
peterk123
NES Member
I loaded my first small bunch of ammo ever. 38 special to be exact. Made 20 rounds, went to the range and they all went boom 
I used 3.2 grains of HP38 with 158 grain SWC coated bullets.
I am simply amazed by the ingenuity of the Lee Turret design. Just wow.
I have a small issue with the crimp die though. Probably nothing, but it appears to be catching on the bullet on the way in and out. Crimps fine, but it just bothers me. Can't figure out the culprit yet.
I used 3.2 grains of HP38 with 158 grain SWC coated bullets.
I am simply amazed by the ingenuity of the Lee Turret design. Just wow.
I have a small issue with the crimp die though. Probably nothing, but it appears to be catching on the bullet on the way in and out. Crimps fine, but it just bothers me. Can't figure out the culprit yet.
slap shot
NES Member
I loaded my first small bunch of ammo ever. 38 special to be exact. Made 20 rounds, went to the range and they all went boom
I used 3.2 grains of HP38 with 158 grain SWC coated bullets.
I am simply amazed by the ingenuity of the Lee Turret design. Just wow.
I have a small issue with the crimp die though. Probably nothing, but it appears to be catching on the bullet on the way in and out. Crimps fine, but it just bothers me. Can't figure out the culprit yet.
congrats on popping that cherry
headednorth
NES Member
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I loaded my first small bunch of ammo ever. 38 special to be exact. Made 20 rounds, went to the range and they all went boom
I used 3.2 grains of HP38 with 158 grain SWC coated bullets.
I am simply amazed by the ingenuity of the Lee Turret design. Just wow.
I have a small issue with the crimp die though. Probably nothing, but it appears to be catching on the bullet on the way in and out. Crimps fine, but it just bothers me. Can't figure out the culprit yet.
If youre using the Lee factory crimp die, it sizes the completed round as it crimps. I think that may be what youre referring to. Feels like its scraping the round on the way in and out.
http://leeprecision.com/reloading-dies/hand-gun-dies/lee-carbide-factory-crimp-die/
peterk123
NES Member
That is exactly how it feels.
eboos
NES Member
Turned my fingers blue loading 300 rounds of 200 grain SWC over 5.0 grains of 231. Mistakenly only tested a handful before loading the rest and found that they would not chamber during the first stage of Sunday's match. Will thoroughly test them after reseating to 1.235". 1.260 was too long.
Learned the following:
1)cleaning my brass with water isn't worth it
2) the tiniest bit of damp HP-38 is useless
3) the recoil difference was noticable for me, but I worry anyone else I would shoot with may not have noticed
4) hammering out a jacketed squib that was only 5/8 inch into the barrel was a lot harder than I ever expected
Do I pull the other 85 rounds I have from that reloading session or, just cycle through them one at a time keeping careful watch on holes in the target?
I'm inclined to just shoot them slowly (the 15 or so I shot were my most accurate batch yet)
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1)cleaning my brass with water isn't worth it
2) the tiniest bit of damp HP-38 is useless
3) the recoil difference was noticable for me, but I worry anyone else I would shoot with may not have noticed
4) hammering out a jacketed squib that was only 5/8 inch into the barrel was a lot harder than I ever expected
Do I pull the other 85 rounds I have from that reloading session or, just cycle through them one at a time keeping careful watch on holes in the target?
I'm inclined to just shoot them slowly (the 15 or so I shot were my most accurate batch yet)
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Realized I only had 50 rounds of 9mm, and need a least 150 for action shooting practice Tuesday, so did 300 rounds last night.
Just got a chronograph, so want to do multiple loads and check them, rather than make a big batch based on some previous subjective accuracy testing I did, for my previous (and first) big batch.
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Just got a chronograph, so want to do multiple loads and check them, rather than make a big batch based on some previous subjective accuracy testing I did, for my previous (and first) big batch.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Did you oil the barrel on either side of the bullet? Makes a big difference.
If if you have the Hornady cam lock bullet puller it makes it easier to salvage the powder.
I did actually add some oil on both sides - it probably helped but still pretty brutal.
If I pull what's left, and I suppose I should, even though I thought the cases were dry and the rest are probably fine, I would probably toss the powder.
I suppose if I'd toss the powder, the primers are possibly suspect too?
Another option is to just dump the batch I guess
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peterk123
NES Member
Narrowing in on the sweetspot for my 38sp loads. 4.9grains of hp38. Just banged out another 100 rounds. Lots of fun. Tine to pull the trigger on the 9mm dies.
PL-52
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Bought the Hornady cam lock bullet puller and mounted it on a new turret, Makes breaking down cartridges a breeze . I really like it. Also bought 3 ball end decapping pins for the Lee sizing and decapping dye, They seem to find the hole better if it's just a scoosh off centered in the shell holder.
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Made a mess.....
To those that can try like hell to have a dedicated room for reloading. Multi use rooms suck.
I had to move everything to get at some tools...ended up knocking over my bins of brass and a few other things. ****!!
To those that can try like hell to have a dedicated room for reloading. Multi use rooms suck.
I had to move everything to get at some tools...ended up knocking over my bins of brass and a few other things. ****!!
With The Ten Commandments on in the background I finished prepping the first of my .223 cases. Prepped and primed the rest of my available 30-06 cases.
A package with more bullets of various sizes/weights should arrive Tue/Wed so I can finish the .223 rounds and others.
I also went through all my old invoices and created a spreadsheet to track amortization of equipment costs vs. price per round savings and total rounds loaded per caliber. I just love spreadsheets, I make them for everything. At current rates I am projecting about 11 months to recoup the costs, but I don't know if I'll maintain this pace.
A package with more bullets of various sizes/weights should arrive Tue/Wed so I can finish the .223 rounds and others.
I also went through all my old invoices and created a spreadsheet to track amortization of equipment costs vs. price per round savings and total rounds loaded per caliber. I just love spreadsheets, I make them for everything. At current rates I am projecting about 11 months to recoup the costs, but I don't know if I'll maintain this pace.
I choose to not keep track of anything so I can just continue to blow all my disposable income at will without too much thought. lol
I got into reloading for 3 reasons:
1. to (eventually) produce match(ish) quality ammunition on the regular for all my firearms/calibers.
2. to avoid ammunition panic buy prices
3. to be able to reload for odd calibers so I can own all the ridiculous milsurps I want and actually be able to shoot them whenever/as often as I wish.
note that saving money isn't on my list...goes to show everyone does things for different reasons. plus, having ammo for something when no one else can get it is pretty much as good as it gets, so adding a variable to your spreadsheet for how much the ammo goes up in price during a panic buy might help your 'recouping' costs even out a little quicker. the ranges were so quiet a few years ago when no one could find their favourite calibers.
like, the actual ten commandments...or are there 10 commandments of reloading i'm not aware of?
God has no place in my gun room, but power to you if you can justify tools of death with your religion.
I got into reloading for 3 reasons:
1. to (eventually) produce match(ish) quality ammunition on the regular for all my firearms/calibers.
2. to avoid ammunition panic buy prices
3. to be able to reload for odd calibers so I can own all the ridiculous milsurps I want and actually be able to shoot them whenever/as often as I wish.
note that saving money isn't on my list...goes to show everyone does things for different reasons. plus, having ammo for something when no one else can get it is pretty much as good as it gets, so adding a variable to your spreadsheet for how much the ammo goes up in price during a panic buy might help your 'recouping' costs even out a little quicker. the ranges were so quiet a few years ago when no one could find their favourite calibers.
like, the actual ten commandments...or are there 10 commandments of reloading i'm not aware of?
God has no place in my gun room, but power to you if you can justify tools of death with your religion.
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i recently pulled 400 9mm du to a possible powder drop issue.
oof...don't you measure every few rounds for consitency? i typically do every 10 or so for pistol...every 5 for rifle or if i'm working up loads on something.
seems like it would be a LOT of work to pull 400 bullets! i'd be cursing the entire time, i'm sure of it.
in other news...how do the collet type pullers compare to the hammer style pullers? i have a hammer type, but it doesn't always work.
pastera
NES Member
not knocking religion, ftr...or claiming that my beliefs (or lack thereof) are any better.
You do you. i was just wondering if there were ten reloading commandments, lol. i like those kinda things because they keep me from making stupid mistakes! ;D
You do you. i was just wondering if there were ten reloading commandments, lol. i like those kinda things because they keep me from making stupid mistakes! ;D
The Ten Commandments movie, from 1956 with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses. My wife watched most of it too even though she is non-religious just because it's a good movie. There's plenty of plaguing and firstborn killing going on.
I got into reloading mostly for # 3, with # 1 also a consideration. I started because I wanted to shoot my M1(s) on a regular basis, and to be able to shoot ammo more consistent than HXP, which will also eventually run out. I also have seen Mosin surplus dry up, so I started 7.62x54R, etc. I do want to get an Arisaka and an SMLE some day and the ammo for those isn't abundant either. Currently I am just enjoying it for its own sake, nearly every night I am doing something now even if it's only for 30 minutes.
I am not out to save money per se but when I am reloading at a good deal cheaper than commercial ammo, I like to keep track of it just because I like the data. It's not hard to do a simple Excel formula tracking the difference per round * # of rounds and then sum them. It literally took me around 30 seconds to setup the sheet. Then you just paste in your expenses and get a difference of the two cells.
I track everything, the round count per firearm I own, last date I fired it, how many rounds between cleanings, the rounds I have on hand per caliber per type, etc. I kid you not--I track the shirts I wear to work to make sure I rotate them (go ahead and mock me on that one, I probably deserve it). There's also plenty of stuff I don't care about or pay attention to, either. It's all up to the individual.
I take no offense at your beliefs or lack thereof and I support your right to say whatever please regarding the matter, be it positive neutral, or negative. Matthew 10:34: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
2) thou shalt not over taste the the nectar of adult beverages whilst charging any case.
I think I'll rename the file tonightSPREADSHIRTS!!!
Another relevant quote from Jefferson: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."
3.) Honor thy Equipment and thy Components
I try to look in every case. I noticed one had no powder and I wasn't going to take the chance. I did them 100 or so at a time with a hammer puller. Wasn't awful but it wasn't fun either
