Finished my first batch today!

erwos · Feb 22, 2015

147gn .355 Black and Blue coated bullets, 2.5gn TG, 1.160 OAL. Admittedly, this is a pretty tame load, but I wanted to start with something easy before I get to messing with the 160gn 9mm stuff. Definitely a learning experience, especially with learning what's a normal variance with OAL... I was being perhaps a little too picky about being within a thousandth of the desired OAL.

Mooseman · Feb 22, 2015

It's a good feeling, isn't it?

amoebicmagician · Feb 22, 2015

are those liquid epoxy or powder coated?

The liquid epoxy seem to hold up almost just like a jacket.

Marauder · Feb 22, 2015

Congrats! Are you nerves? I was with my first batch, man that was 20 years ago. Still have all my fingers...

Good luck at the range.

TrappedinMD · Feb 22, 2015

Congrats! It is a great hobby

erwos · Feb 23, 2015

Marauder said:
Congrats! Are you nerves? I was with my first batch, man that was 20 years ago. Still have all my fingers... Good luck at the range.

A little, but not overly so. I know there are no double or zero charges, there's a ton of upwards room in the loading in real life, and I bought nice enough tools that I feel confident they didn't lie to me. If anything, I'm probably a little more concerned that I left a little too much OAL and they won't cycle as well as they should, but I guess that's why you work up, right?

Sticky · Feb 23, 2015

Boolits vary a little, FMJ's are more consistent, but when you coat them you lost some of that length consistency, so give or take a couple thousandths won't usually matter for a pistol as long as you are averaging the right length.

Tip.. load a dummy round, no powder or primer and cycle it through your pistol. It will point out any glaring issues immediately. BEFORE you load up a bunch..

I load a dummy round for setting up the seating die with every different round I load... take the dummy, stick it in the press, adjust the seater to the boolit and you are setup for that round again. Quick and easy..

CONGRATS!!

edit... you can always make em shorter, but... with coated boolits that may be an issue, as they have been crimped, but you can set em up and bump em down a bit if need be with your seating die

shaddydan · Feb 23, 2015

Congrats! They sure are purdy!

Mike3888 · Feb 23, 2015

Congrats, another reloading junky is born..

erwos · Feb 23, 2015

Sticky said:
Tip.. load a dummy round, no powder or primer and cycle it through your pistol. It will point out any glaring issues immediately. BEFORE you load up a bunch..

I used the Lyman 9mm max gauge for some checking, and it did save me from a mistake with too-long bullet seating (before I crimped, thankfully). Handy little device to have on hand, and not too expensive, either.

I was skeptical of going single stage up front, but I'm kinda glad I did now. Forcing me to go slow made it much harder to make mistakes because I was always inspecting my work in the tray.

It was also a little funny how the part of the process I was most worried about - powder charging - was really the smoothest part of the whole endeavor. I tuned my RCBS Uniflow (had to swap to the small cylinder), got my (high quality) digital scale calibrated and zeroed correctly, and things were just boring reliable, even with frequent checking.

Sticky · Feb 23, 2015

erwos said:
I used the Lyman 9mm max gauge for some checking, and it did save me from a mistake with too-long bullet seating (before I crimped, thankfully). Handy little device to have on hand, and not too expensive, either.

I was skeptical of going single stage up front, but I'm kinda glad I did now. Forcing me to go slow made it much harder to make mistakes because I was always inspecting my work in the tray.

It was also a little funny how the part of the process I was most worried about - powder charging - was really the smoothest part of the whole endeavor. I tuned my RCBS Uniflow (had to swap to the small cylinder), got my (high quality) digital scale calibrated and zeroed correctly, and things were just boring reliable, even with frequent checking.

Yes, case gauges and cartridge gauges are invaluable and I agree... It is simple to start off with a single stage press and learn... I still load on the same press I started with 35yrs ago. I have seen no need to change, don't burn THAT much ammo and I load for precision, not quantity. Single staging it gives you many opportunities to inspect, find defects, etc as you load.

jasonk1229 · Feb 24, 2015

Fresh out of the oven mmm smells good

DocAitch · Feb 24, 2015

Congrats erwos!
I use a Wilson case gauge on occasion, but don't find any out of spec since I use the Lee FCD (after the seating die is set). Occasionally, an AMERC case finds its way into the queue and those things hardly ever conform.
I am curious about those 160 gr. bullets you mentioned. I have been told that some hand guns don't stabilize larger bullets well. Do you have a particular reason for such a weight/size?
I used to load 147 grainers for pin shooting and never cared about how they did beyond 25 ft., but now use 115s exclusively (mainly for cost).
DocAitch

Traveler · Feb 24, 2015

The LEE FCD and universal deprimer are two LEE products I can recommend. I just throw AMERC brass in the recycling bucket.

erwos · Feb 25, 2015

DocAitch said:
Congrats erwos!
I am curious about those 160 gr. bullets you mentioned. I have been told that some hand guns don't stabilize larger bullets well. Do you have a particular reason for such a weight/size?

I use pistol caliber carbines extensively, and I think they'd make a nice load for such guns. I also just like the concept of ultra-heavy bullets in general, and want to try something a bit off the beaten path. The guys at the Enos forums make extensive use of the 158gr/160gr bullets, so there's a fair bit of resources for trying to load them.

BUFF7MM · Feb 25, 2015

Looks good, standing by for a range report.

ironpony · Feb 25, 2015

Congrats, I'm curious about the heavy bullets now.

mtlcafan79 · Feb 25, 2015

I've shot some of the Xtreme 9mm 165's over 2.4gr of Solo 1000. They are super soft shooting and really quiet through a can.

erwos · Feb 25, 2015

mtlcafan79 said:
I've shot some of the Xtreme 9mm 165's over 2.4gr of Solo 1000. They are super soft shooting and really quiet through a can.

If I had been able to hunt up some Solo 1000 at the Chantilly show, I probably would be using that loading... it seems very popular.

Still haven't found a good time to get out to the range and try them - maybe Sunday afternoon this week.

mtlcafan79 · Feb 25, 2015

Solo 1000 is totally MIA. The bottle I was loading from has a '99 date on it. I think you'd have a better chance with the VV powders for single based cleaner options. N320 is on my list of things to try with subsonic 9.

Finished my first batch today!

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