• 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 420264
.50bmg AP........feels like working on a truck all day.

Anyone who has reloaded .50bmg can attest to the effort required to prep the brass and load this caliber. It's done on a single stage press, having to resize, manually trim and inspect each casing, measure powder, seat the bullet and crimp. Yes, the same procedures used for other calibers with about 10x the effort.
Makes my 300 WinMag look like a rimfire! I don't think I could make it to the top off the barn with a 50 though. Between my fat ass and the ammo, the weight limit on the ladder would be well over max.
 
View attachment 420264
.50bmg AP........feels like working on a truck all day.

Anyone who has reloaded .50bmg can attest to the effort required to prep the brass and load this caliber. It's done on a single stage press, having to resize, manually trim and inspect each casing, measure powder, seat the bullet and crimp. Yes, the same procedures used for other calibers with about 10x the effort.
I like writing on my test loads with a Sharpie. It even works on .223"s.
 
I like writing on my test loads with a Sharpie. It even works on .223"s.
I color code my load workups by shading the base of each powder load with a diff color sharpie. Helps keep the brass sorted for examining the progression of primer flattening.

Ya, the .50bmg is big enough you could write a novel on it. [smile]
 
I've been working on 9mm. In the past month or so, I have doubled the number of loaded rounds I have on hand. Various loads of 115, 124 and 147g. I still have 7k 124g bullets under the bench, but I think I should conserve my primers for other calibers.View attachment 420630
Looks like your dog wants you to stop reloading and start playing fetch. He’s giving you the hairy eyeball 😂
 
I'm holding off reloading any more 9mm and .45 for the time being, in the last week or ten days I've loaded enough for many range trips. I think I'll wait out the shortages till I get low on stuff I haven't shot yet. I don't want to run out of anything and be in a position that I'm scrambling looking for primers or powder and have less than several thousand of each caliber on hand of range fodder. Defensive ammo I'm well stocked up on. This appears to be a prolonged drought . I still have plenty of lead ( for casting)and preprimed cases.
 
Last edited:
Picked up 500 185gr FMJ at the posst office last night @ 7:30pm. As of ten minutes ago they are loaded and in a can.

Went to bed at 8:30pm last night and up at 0130 to stoke the woodstove and sat down at the press......finished off 350 by 0530. Did the rest this afternoon.

Took a ride over to my local gunshop this morning and scoped up a midlength carbine with a Swift 3x9x40 scope. Pic later today......time for my OPN. ( Old People's Nap ).....go ahead laugh......you'll get there and enjoy the hell out of it. [laugh]
 
Picked up 500 185gr FMJ at the posst office last night @ 7:30pm. As of ten minutes ago they are loaded and in a can.

Went to bed at 8:30pm last night and up at 0130 to stoke the woodstove and sat down at the press......finished off 350 by 0530. Did the rest this afternoon.

Took a ride over to my local gunshop this morning and scoped up a midlength carbine with a Swift 3x9x40 scope. Pic later today......time for my OPN. ( Old People's Nap ).....go ahead laugh......you'll get there and enjoy the hell out of it. [laugh]
Though it sounds like a good excuse to reload I sure as hell wouldn’t want to wake up and stoke the stove every morning.
Get yourself a coal stove! I add coal twice a day. Shake down once. Empty ashes every other day.
$320 a ton bagged and delivered.
29 million BTUs for a ton of coal vs 20 million for a cord of wood.
Great job reloading though!
 
View attachment 420264
.50bmg AP........feels like working on a truck all day.

Anyone who has reloaded .50bmg can attest to the effort required to prep the brass and load this caliber. It's done on a single stage press, having to resize, manually trim and inspect each casing, measure powder, seat the bullet and crimp. Yes, the same procedures used for other calibers with about 10x the effort.
Wow. I picture someone using a bathroom scale to measure powder for those! Looks like a can of fun right there.
 
Though it sounds like a good excuse to reload I sure as hell wouldn’t want to wake up and stoke the stove every morning.
Get yourself a coal stove! I add coal twice a day. Shake down once. Empty ashes every other day.
$320 a ton bagged and delivered.
29 million BTUs for a ton of coal vs 20 million for a cord of wood.
Great job reloading though!

And I thought I was the last one in the state burning coal! [cheers]
 
And I thought I was the last one in the state burning coal! [cheers]
Nice! My coal guy lives 1/4 mile away too. Family has been buying from him since before I was born.
I just got a ton delivered Sunday. I drove by his business on the way home for much more day and stopped him to say “There’s nothing like waking up to a coal fire!”
 
I get it from Tractor Supply, $300/ton.
Delivered? How is the quality? I picked up 2 tons of stuff that came from either TSC or Ace and it was ok but lots of small stuff. I was told the bags get moved around a lot in transit and can have a higher amount of broken smaller pieces in it.
Either way it still burned ok. Needed a little more air but it was fine. Especially for the price. It was like $200 IIRC
 
Though it sounds like a good excuse to reload I sure as hell wouldn’t want to wake up and stoke the stove every morning.
Get yourself a coal stove! I add coal twice a day. Shake down once. Empty ashes every other day.
$320 a ton bagged and delivered.
29 million BTUs for a ton of coal vs 20 million for a cord of wood.
Great job reloading though!

Ya,I understand the draw to coal, but my stove was a gift twenty years ago and has heated my place for the past 8 years. It is a steel stove made for burning wood only, no ash shaker or cleanout.
My wood is free......80 acres of woods here and other available from neighbors for the labor of cutting and splitting.
I've not paid for cordwood in 23 years, other than a couple of gallons of gas and a few chainsaw chains.

My normal sleep schedule accomodates stoking the stove in the early morning hours, I'm retired! [cheers] [laugh]
 
Ya,I understand the draw to coal, but my stove was a gift twenty years ago and has heated my place for the past 8 years. It is a steel stove made for burning wood only, no ash shaker or cleanout.
My wood is free......80 acres of woods here and other available from neighbors for the labor of cutting and splitting.
I've not paid for cordwood in 23 years, other than a couple of gallons of gas and a few chainsaw chains.

My normal sleep schedule accomodates stoking the stove in the early morning hours, I'm retired! [cheers] [laugh]
Nice! Yeah you can’t beat that. I don’t always have the source for wood and it always feast or famine. My FIL scored 15 cord for himself this year. Probably 1.5 for my father and 1.5 for me. The 1.5 will last me a year and a half or more.
Some day 30 years from now I’ll be retired and happy to wake up at 1:30 to stoke up the stove and reload a little.


Spent some time tonight sorting out a bunch of brass. I had recently picked up about a gallon of 45/70 and a ton of 44 special and 45 Colt.
That was all piled on top of my mixed range stuff.
Quick sort and put a batch of 38 special on to tumble.
 
Mike,
I’d love to see your brass sorting operation. I have a few 5 gallon buckets with this set of screens: Shell Sorter Brass Sorter 9mm Luger 40 S&W 45 ACP 3 Bowl Set
and


I sort brass w a respirator on. I believe you are the one that told me at your awesome bullet casting seminar that sorting casings is one of the more hazardous activities in reloading for your lungs. BTW, I hope you can announce next seminar soon so I can start talking it up and getting a full house (or garage would be more accurate).

So, I made a 18lb bag of 9mm 125gr projectiles this week. Cast, coated, sized and now on the shelf to age harden.
584E2F31-0B92-4CE1-B9D9-E4D388CDDF8D.jpeg
CB3DAE54-B7C2-49B7-951E-EFBC52EFF8C0.jpeg
BAD4FDE7-46B4-4F86-B565-EAC0189504BC.jpeg
I also ordered a few canvas bags (coin bags). I use them for transporting quarters already and I plan on using them to store ready to load projectiles. Plastic bin are great and all but they don’t shrink as they are emptying and take up a lot of space when empty. I will continue to keep casings (more fragile) in plastic bins so the necks don’t get crushed or deformed.
Here are the bags (I think this is the one I ordered): Heavyweight Cotton Duck Cloth Coin Bag, 10oz Canvas, 12 x 19, White Amazon product ASIN B002XK5ZLYView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XK5ZLY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_i_ulK0FbGYGTCA5
 
Mike,
I’d love to see your brass sorting operation. I have a few 5 gallon buckets with this set of screens: Shell Sorter Brass Sorter 9mm Luger 40 S&W 45 ACP 3 Bowl Set
and


I sort brass w a respirator on. I believe you are the one that told me at your awesome bullet casting seminar that sorting casings is one of the more hazardous activities in reloading for your lungs. BTW, I hope you can announce next seminar soon so I can start talking it up and getting a full house (or garage would be more accurate).

So, I made a 18lb bag of 9mm 125gr projectiles this week. Cast, coated, sized and now on the shelf to age harden.
View attachment 421112
View attachment 421113
View attachment 421114
I also ordered a few canvas bags (coin bags). I use them for transporting quarters already and I plan on using them to store ready to load projectiles. Plastic bin are great and all but they don’t shrink as they are emptying and take up a lot of space when empty. I will continue to keep casings (more fragile) in plastic bins so the necks don’t get crushed or deformed.
Here are the bags (I think this is the one I ordered): Heavyweight Cotton Duck Cloth Coin Bag, 10oz Canvas, 12 x 19, White Amazon product ASIN B002XK5ZLYView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XK5ZLY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_i_ulK0FbGYGTCA5
My sorting operation looks like this.
3FA6051A-02D8-463D-8D31-11EA5F9511D0.gif

Nice work with the casting.
Is that price per bag?!! That seems high. BPI sells shot bags for around $11 per 5 pack.
I prefer my Akro bins for storing bullets. They stack nicely and work with Z clip which I have mounted to spots around my bench.
 
Met some shady guy in a shady parking lot.
Traded steel for lead.
I think he was A.T.F. or some other alphabet agent.

Knew a guy who was involved in the Irish Republican movement. He told me when he knew he was being watched, he would just walk backwards when he left the house to really confuse them 😂.
 
Your sorting operation looks arthritis inducing. I figured you’d had some sort of gravity system that runs around your basement like a Rube Goldberg machine: 1607651571441.jpeg

Or at the very least, I thought it would involve child labor lol

Bags I got were $20 for 5
This is the actual link to the ones I got. They are considerably larger dimensions than than ones @Michael J. Spangler is suggesting. Amazon product ASIN B07DFKRMF4View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFKRMF4/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glc_i_6AA0FbGZ2VE20?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


these are the ones you are recommending, they are smaller and considerably more affordable (1$) and 100% synthetic :

My sorting operation looks like this.
View attachment 421138

Nice work with the casting.
Is that price per bag?!! That seems high. BPI sells shot bags for around $11 per 5 pack.
I prefer my Akro bins for storing bullets. They stack nicely and work with Z clip which I have mounted to spots around my bench.
 
Met some shady guy in a shady parking lot.
Traded steel for lead.
I think he was A.T.F. or some other alphabet agent.

You really shouldn’t be meeting up with weird people in parking lots. Probably a sting. I would sell your house and move out of state fast


Your sorting operation looks arthritis inducing. I figured you’d had some sort of gravity system that runs around your basement like a Rube Goldberg machine:View attachment 421351

Or at the very least, I thought it would involve child labor lol

Bags I got were $20 for 5
This is the actual link to the ones I got. They are considerably larger dimensions than than ones @Michael J. Spangler is suggesting. Amazon product ASIN B07DFKRMF4View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFKRMF4/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glc_i_6AA0FbGZ2VE20?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


these are the ones you are recommending, they are smaller and considerably more affordable (1$) and 100% synthetic :

I’m not above the child labor thing.

I try to only shoot 38 special and 45-70 because they’re the only cartridges that matter. So sorting is pretty easy.

You need up your brass game. I buy the 8 quart Lexan food storage containers for brass. 2 quart for the stuff I don’t shoot a lot of.
 
All you highfalutin folks with your purpose bought "look at my shiny ammo" boxes.
This is the right way to store your ammo for the common folk who don't go around thinking too much of themselves
spin_prod_ec_768023801.jpg

Part of a coffee club at work so I just use the empty containers - they work great for storage, painting, parts cleaning, etc.
 
All you highfalutin folks with your purpose bought "look at my shiny ammo" boxes.
This is the right way to store your ammo for the common folk who don't go around thinking too much of themselves
View attachment 421494

Part of a coffee club at work so I just use the empty containers - they work great for storage, painting, parts cleaning, etc.
But round is such an inefficient shape for storage. I know you’re frugal but I bet somewhere deep inside the engineer in you is thinking of 3D printing triangular storage bins to fit in between the radius of the coffee cans 😂
 
Back
Top Bottom