• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

What did you do in the reloading room recently?

View attachment 310212

Been pecking away at it for the past few days as time allowed and finished about 1200 9mm. Not bad for loading on a single stage press.
Nothing wrong with single stage. I kind of like it.
It makes it so I can always have something to do. I would rather load 100 rounds a night a few times a week than to rip it out all in one sitting and be bored the rest of the week.
 
I shot the 175 grain match king load against the 168 grain match king out of the swiss 1911 rifle and the 168 won. The load was 39 grains of WC844. The load put 6 shots in 4" at 200 yards. That doesn't sound very good but that was with open sights and every round was a hang fire. I attribute that to using a standard primer when I should have used a magnum. I'll try again tomorrow with magnum primers. That gives me a whole day to think up another excuse. I tried again today with magnum primers. They eliminated the hang fires but the group size remained the same.
 
Last edited:
200 rounds of 38 special loaded 158 grain RN with 3.9 grains of HP38 and 50 rounds of 357mag, 158 gr SWC with 14.5 grains of 2400. Needed them for our afternoon pumpkin hunt at the range with our new to us Henry 357 mag lever action rifle. That gun is just stupid fun. Need to head back to the cellar and make up some more ammo for tomorrow. Man, I never realized how much carnage a 357 mag round can do. It is quite impressive. I would trust it with my life :)

20191102_150824.jpg
 
Last edited:
200 rounds of 38 special loaded 158 grain RN with 3.9 grains of HP38 and 50 rounds of 357mag, 158 gr SWC with 14.5 grains of 2400. Needed them for our afternoon pumpkin hunt at the range with our new to us Henry 357 mag lever action rifle. That gun is just stupid fun. Need to had back to the cellar and make up some more ammo for tomorrow. Man, I never realized how much carnage a 357 mag round can do. It is quite impressive. I would trust it with my life :)

View attachment 310498
Love it!
Depending on the load you can get about 400 FPS out of a rifle over a pistol.
if you want some real fun try a cast hollow base wadcutter backwards or load two 75 grain wadcutters back to back or two or three round balls.
These dual and triple loads here are 45/70 just for demonstration purposes. The same can be done on 38/357 though.
47E3D6BD-8930-4D7C-B3FD-2939E52D3994.jpeg F59006FE-B1D8-4AFB-AACD-466EFC8F88DB.jpeg F44369F3-1BF0-4255-BB27-3D7023897E57.jpeg
 
Good luck! Hand loads or factory? Either way what are the specs on the ammo?
I’m using the Buffalo Barnes 200 gr ammo. Chronoed then at 1800 FPS from the Henry. I’ve yet to get a shot at a deer so I’m really curious how they perform. I figured since they’re completely copper I wouldn’t have to worry about fragmentation too much since they’ll be shot from a rifle. Though I’m sure my Zero 240 gr JSP loads would work just not sure how they hold together at rifle velocities on a deer?
I’m a little concerned that the Buffalo Barnes ammo might destroy the meat with that massive hollow point. We shall see.
 
I’m using the Buffalo Barnes 200 gr ammo. Chronoed then at 1800 FPS from the Henry. I’ve yet to get a shot at a deer so I’m really curious how they perform. I figured since they’re completely copper I wouldn’t have to worry about fragmentation too much since they’ll be shot from a rifle. Though I’m sure my Zero 240 gr JSP loads would work just not sure how they hold together at rifle velocities on a deer?
I’m a little concerned that the Buffalo Barnes ammo might destroy the meat with that massive hollow point. We shall see.
I bet you will see some mess with that load. Not any worse than any of the common deer rifles I would imagine. I would imagine a 44 special load out of that rifle with a 240ish bullet would anchor a deer no problem.
check castboolits for some good terminal performance data on pistols and pistol caliber carbines. Lots of old dudes over there knock down deer and similar gam every year with 44 special and 45 colt out of pistols and carbines.
I bet those JSP at 1300 would kill the deer just as dead. Keep us updated.
 
Best guess is that the jacket would separate from the lead core, and the deer wouldn’t make it.
I bet you will see some mess with that load. Not any worse than any of the common deer rifles I would imagine. I would imagine a 44 special load out of that rifle with a 240ish bullet would anchor a deer no problem.
check castboolits for some good terminal performance data on pistols and pistol caliber carbines. Lots of old dudes over there knock down deer and similar gam every year with 44 special and 45 colt out of pistols and carbines.
I bet those JSP at 1300 would kill the deer just as dead. Keep us updated.
Haha yeah I think the Zeros would work well enough. I mean how much expansion do you really need with a 44 cal bullet? Lol. Compared to a 22 or 30 cal bullet. Those 44s are going to punch a good size hole regardless of expansion. Will make for a good blood trail to track the deer if they don’t drop within a few seconds.

I just need to get a deer and then assess if I should switch to my JSP reloads. The deer are relatively scarce where we hunt. About 25 min NW of Farmington.
 
Good Hunting, hope you sight in on one. I came pretty close to snagging one with my 4,000 lb. truck Southbound on Rte. 495in Chelmsford week or so ago @ odark30 All I saw was a smallish rack and a patch of brownish as he leaped across 3 lanes. Scared the bejusus out of me, damn near spilt my coffee! That would have made me chase him down!
 
Loaded some .45 acp, .45 colt, and garand. Switching to neck sizing and loading .303B next.
Just a tid bit on 303 , the chambers tend to be a bit “egg” shaped near the base of the cartridge. I was able to neck size 1 time on the 2nd go round the I had trouble chambering and then a 303 shooter with more experience than me pointed out the “out of round “ chamber issue.
Its not terrible but you can see. It when you mic them.
Ideally you just want to resize the body and neck with out shoving the shoulder back all that much
 
im going to load up some lee 12g 1oz slugs for a quick test in the 870, rifled barrel vs smooth slug barrel vs 28" field barrel with MOD choke, because rifle season is ovah!
 
Today I finished up the last of my jug of Power Pistol powder for a total of 4200 rds of 9mm FMJ in the past couple of weeks......single stage Lee press and powder drop.
The other 700rds were loaded a while ago.
 
Last edited:
Didn’t get a deer but saw a doe on Monday. Unfortunately that doe was not in the district where I got my doe permit.

I did come across the ponch from a buck that somebody got. And wouldn’t you know they used 44 mag as I found the brass laying on top of the leaves.
A6BFD05B-537B-44B3-B64A-0EB019B2534A.jpeg 278D5219-DA79-43D2-855C-341BBD54C919.jpeg
 
Back
Top Bottom