What did you do in the reloading room recently?

Scored a pound of imr4227 up at shooters today as well as a box of 265 grain Hornady interlock jsp for 44mag.

Will be running my first batch of 44 mag for testing tonight. With the 265 grain jsp I'll run 5 of each starting at 18.5 grains of imr4427 and going up by .5 grain increments up to near max.

Wish me luck.

If you get to it, try some 4227 for your .357 levergun loads.
Its like that barrel is made for that burn rate.
 
Received my backordered new 44 magnum brass, 1000 pieces. Ordered them in December when they were allowing backorders of this caliber. Now you can't. I guess I'll deburr the flash holes...maybe. I usually don't bother, but sometimes I do in 44 Magnum and 45 Colt. Thing is, I hardly need to load anything after all the reloading I did last year. Deburring the flash holes would at least be something to do.
Did you buy those direct from the
manufacturer (⭐️-)?
 
Got the dies set up. Made 5 rounds at 18.5 grains 4227. I'll make a few more of 5 of each charge weight tomorrow. Took awhile to get the dies set up. 3 die set. Is this crimp good for 44 mag? Every time I moved the crimp down even the slightest bit more than this the case started to bulge. 20210217_194945.jpg20210217_194945.jpg20210217_194941.jpg20210217_194945.jpg20210217_194924.jpg
 
Got the dies set up. Made 5 rounds at 18.5 grains 4227. I'll make a few more of 5 of each charge weight tomorrow. Took awhile to get the dies set up. 3 die set. Is this crimp good for 44 mag? Every time I moved the crimp down even the slightest bit more than this the case started to bulge. View attachment 451550View attachment 451550View attachment 451551View attachment 451550View attachment 451552
Are you seating and crimping at the same time?
If you seat and crimp separately you should be able to get more crimp without bulging.
 
My buddy down the street has a 1050 set up for 9mm, and a 650 set up for .223/5.56. The 1050's impressive. I've seen the literature for a Mk7, haven't actually seen one. The 650's good for me, I think my buddy's machine is overkill for him - he has money and likes toys. (who me? Jealous?)
I'll be honest the Mk7 is overkill for me me but I wanted to get the extra stations like the 1050 but not deal with the 1050 shortcomings. Truth be told I'm a total gear geek....actually my wife calls me a tool whore! I worked my way up to the Evo my buying and selling a bunch of stuff and I made out on the guns I took when I traded my 650.
 
Can't find any 30-30 ammo so ordered a Lee die set. Already cast for .308, Lee C309-170-F, and have about 1k in a bucket. Searched and searched online for brass and finally found a seller of mixed range pick-up brass. $20 for 50, free shipping. Now to decide on Unique or H335 as I have both.
 
Got the dies set up. Made 5 rounds at 18.5 grains 4227. I'll make a few more of 5 of each charge weight tomorrow. Took awhile to get the dies set up. 3 die set. Is this crimp good for 44 mag? Every time I moved the crimp down even the slightest bit more than this the case started to bulge.

When roll crimping, you must have consistent lengths on your brass. Also, do as suggested and seat your bullets and then crimp separately. If necessary, use that neglected single-stage for this dedicated function. If you attempt to go too hard with your roll crimp, you will start crushing the cases, as the die will force the case down as you try to bring the ram higher into the die body.
Unlike cast bullets with a defined crimp groove, cannelured bullets don't offer much room to roll the mouth, so the crimp will appear to be somewhat minimal.
Unless you're making "whacker" loads, I doubt you'll have many issues with bullet creep (in or out) with your .44 Magnum hand loads. Try a cylinder full in your revolver and check the COL on the last round after firing the first four or five. I doubt you'll detect any movement in the bullet assuming you sized the brass adequately.
 
When roll crimping, you must have consistent lengths on your brass. Also, do as suggested and seat your bullets and then crimp separately. If necessary, use that neglected single-stage for this dedicated function. If you attempt to go too hard with your roll crimp, you will start crushing the cases, as the die will force the case down as you try to bring the ram higher into the die body.
Unlike cast bullets with a defined crimp groove, cannelured bullets don't offer much room to roll the mouth, so the crimp will appear to be somewhat minimal.
Unless you're making "whacker" loads, I doubt you'll have many issues with bullet creep (in or out) with your .44 Magnum hand loads. Try a cylinder full in your revolver and check the COL on the last round after firing the first four or five. I doubt you'll detect any movement in the bullet assuming you sized the brass adequately.
This brass is all brand new star line so they should be all the same length.....considering what I paid for it....it better be. 😂

Fwiw these will be used in an old ruger 44 carbine not a revolver.
 
@whacko You can always add more crimp to those after the fact by screwing that die in another 1/4 turn or so and cranking the seating plug way up so it doesn't push the bullet any deeper.
Yeah I've done that with 357 mag I needed to crimp more.

I think the crimp is good on these just figured I'd ask. There is a visible roll.....and like I said any more and the cases bulge out. Going to be used in a ruger 44 carbine not a revolver
 
This brass is all brand new star line so they should be all the same length.....considering what I paid for it....it better be. 😂

Fwiw these will be used in an old ruger 44 carbine not a revolver.
I see. You can still fire a few rounds and check the COL on a couple ejected, unfired rounds.
New brass isn't guaranteed to be consistent and bullets can also have varying cannelure placement. Not usually a big problem, but this can throw you off when encountered.
For instance, I have two 30 caliber dies of the same mold number/bullet and they are dissimilar with regard to the crimp groove, so they in essence become two different bullets.
 
Can't find any 30-30 ammo so ordered a Lee die set. Already cast for .308, Lee C309-170-F, and have about 1k in a bucket. Searched and searched online for brass and finally found a seller of mixed range pick-up brass. $20 for 50, free shipping. Now to decide on Unique or H335 as I have both.
You’re going to love Unique in the 30-30. You can get pretty respectable velocities 8 grains giving 1150 FPS or so and 11 grains giving about 1600 FPS.
 
You’re going to love Unique in the 30-30. You can get pretty respectable velocities 8 grains giving 1150 FPS or so and 11 grains giving about 1600 FPS.
I've got a new love affair with unique for 357 mag. Only 9.6 grains under a 125 grain jsp produces a respectable velocity and very economical....and the groups I am getting are amazing. I had the highest slow fire score at bullseye league last week using that load and it was my first time ever shooting bullseye league. Yes.....an actual 357 mag load for bullseye shooting. The groups were just too good so I had to try them for league night.
 
The more I read, it sounds like Dillon is the way to go when I graduate from my single stage Lee. No rush though, I'm still learning and not minding the single stage yet!
Been saying that for years, im not shooting high volume in any one call, few thousand spread out between 6 pistol cals, 8-10 rifles cal

So every time i get some cash saved to buy a better progressive than my lee pro 1000 i seem to buy more , bullets,powder,primers or guns.
 
I've got a new love affair with unique for 357 mag. Only 9.6 grains under a 125 grain jsp produces a respectable velocity and very economical....and the groups I am getting are amazing. I had the highest slow fire score at bullseye league last week using that load and it was my first time ever shooting bullseye league. Yes.....an actual 357 mag load for bullseye shooting. The groups were just too good so I had to try them for league night.
That’s awesome. Wait till you try it in more cartridges. Reduced rifle loads and such.
It really is an awesome powder.
 
That’s awesome. Wait till you try it in more cartridges. Reduced rifle loads and such.
It really is an awesome powder.
That's funny. I was getting frustrated with how with Unique runs through the Dillon powder measure (not awful, but not like smaller grained stuff) and not awesome standard deviations, and was stoked when I was finally down to the bottom half of my last pound of it. I'll probably come full circle back to it at some point when I get tired of having 12 different powders.
 
Virtually any pistol power will run reduced rifle loads, generally for cast bullets, but for the time being stick with published data. You may find more load data in the Lyman handbooks versus other bullet manufacturer's guides. I believe Lyman still publishes a Cast Bullet Handbook.
There's always "The Load"... "The Load" Is 13 grains of Red Dot
 

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That's funny. I was getting frustrated with how with Unique runs through the Dillon powder measure (not awful, but not like smaller grained stuff) and not awesome standard deviations, and was stoked when I was finally down to the bottom half of my last pound of it. I'll probably come full circle back to it at some point when I get tired of having 12 different powders.
I will admit it doesn't meter well. I'm getting 9.4 to 9.9 through my Lee powder measure. I do have to weight each charge and adjust quite a bit. But I've determined that for me the economical charges and the great accuracy I'm getting are worth the extra time.
 
I will admit it doesn't meter well. I'm getting 9.4 to 9.9 through my Lee powder measure. I do have to weight each charge and adjust quite a bit. But I've determined that for me the economical charges and the great accuracy I'm getting are worth the extra time.
Oh no, I get it. I've hand weighed Green Dot for 38 loads just to see what happens, which may as well be potato chips compared to something like Power Pistol.
 
Oh no, I get it. I've hand weighed Green Dot for 38 loads just to see what happens, which may as well be potato chips compared to something like Power Pistol.
Best metering powder I use is bullseye. Set it at 4.6 for 45acp loads and I weight every 10th just cuz. I consistently get 4.5 to 4.6 on every throw with bullseye.

Worst I've used is 700x. Holy crap that shit has big flakes.
 
That's funny. I was getting frustrated with how with Unique runs through the Dillon powder measure (not awful, but not like smaller grained stuff) and not awesome standard deviations, and was stoked when I was finally down to the bottom half of my last pound of it. I'll probably come full circle back to it at some point when I get tired of having 12 different powders.
I don’t use it in my Dillon too much. It’s usually running through one of my old Lyman 55s.
I have run into that issue with Universal Clays though. I found if I tapped my knuckles on the side of the powder measure a couple dozen times after I filled it that it would settle in and give me 1/10th of a grain results.
If I didn’t do that it was all over the board and kept creeping up till it finally settled.

It might be worth trying that with the Unique.
 
I wonder how the Lee perfect powder measure works with Unique? I use it for coarse stick powders like 4064 and for fluffy powder like Trail Boss. Works fairly well.
 
I wonder how the Lee perfect powder measure works with Unique? I use it for coarse stick powders like 4064 and for fluffy powder like Trail Boss. Works fairly well.
Thats what I'm using with unique. The Lee perfect powder measure. My goal is 9.6 grains best I can get is 9.4 to 9.9. So a .5 swing. Not good enough for bullseye loads.....definitely not good enough when loading near the top of published data. I check each charge woth unique and that measure.

Unique is flakey.
 
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