What did you do at your reloading bench today?

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  • lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    I was showing my daughter's boyfriend (they are both adults) some things in the reloading room tonight, and talking him through some things gun-related. Having been around guns literally all my life, sometimes I'm surprised at the lack of knowledge non-gun people have. He was blown away by my Lee APP and the ability to decap brass as quickly as it's capable. Then I showed him the ins and outs of military brass, how to swage a primer pocket and use a primer pocket go/no-go gauge. When discussing things like rifling - lands, grooves, twist rate...he had no idea. I was telling him about a cool video I saw from Erik Cortina that talked about why you shouldn't chase the lands/try to measure the lands, and why it's more important to know jam, touch, jump, and how to use those to find your accuracy nodes. I think it became a bit overwhelming for him.

    Are we just weird that we understand things like trajectory, ballistic coefficient, bullet drop compensation, bullet types, sizing, powder types, burn rates, crimp, crimp grooves, cannelures, grains, etc?

    No. Most people who are deeply in to a hobby or profession understand a huge amount about that hobby or profession. If some audiophile started talking at length I am sure they'd pretty quickly lose me even if all of the words were English.
     

    Harrys

    Short Round
    Jul 12, 2014
    3,362
    SOMD
    Today, polishing 45/70 cases along with trying at my hand in making cast 300 grain .458 heads. Have to make them in my garage along with wearing a proper respirator and gloves . Even the raw lead suppliers are unable to keep up with demand. I bought 20 pounds in 1 pound bars specifically designed for casting bullets. The molds for both my 50 caliber S&W magnum and 45/70 took 8 weeks to get. 1 pound of lead will make 23- 300 grain 45/70 or 50 caliber. Not counting the equipment costs the 300 grain casts now cost me about .23 each instead of .76 to 1.26 each. https://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/ great site if you want to learn.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,598
    Glen Burnie
    No. Most people who are deeply in to a hobby or profession understand a huge amount about that hobby or profession. If some audiophile started talking at length I am sure they'd pretty quickly lose me even if all of the words were English.
    I suppose there's the real truth of it. I think that if the American public knew more about guns in general, they probably wouldn't be so afraid of them, but unfortunately most people take what they see on the screen as fact, which is quite often completely incorrect.
     

    Harrys

    Short Round
    Jul 12, 2014
    3,362
    SOMD
    First Time Casting 45/70 300gr

    Yesterday, I casted 40 - 300 gr 45/70 lead bullets. Only burned my fingers ones. I used lube that I had purchased and a lot easier all around than I thought the process would be.

    I did a weight check and they weighed 299.4 to 299.8 gr before lube was installed. I purchased a 5 head bronze mold which took a long time to get. Also purchased a 350 gr 5 head bronze mold for the 50 cal. S&W.

    Going to load them with H4985 at 46 gr, Winchester large rifle primers and case COL 2.050. Also I always make a dummy round for the drop test and use them to set up my dies and crimp.
     

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    Rockzilla

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2010
    4,516
    55.751244 / 37.618423
    No. Most people who are deeply in to a hobby or profession understand a huge amount about that hobby or profession. If some audiophile started talking at length I am sure they'd pretty quickly lose me even if all of the words were English.

    Not reloading but will be my next door room when we move..
    Reloading Room / Chillaxing Room
    Did I hear correctly????
    Hmmm....another bad hobby... Years ago
    Let's see here..
    Nak Dragon, Nak 680ZX
    Revox B77 ..1/2 track HS
    Teac 3300, 3440
    Tascam 44
    Soundcraftmen EQ
    Micro Seiki DD40 w/ MA 2002E
    DBX patch bay
    Now to the goodies
    Infinity Ref 5 / Ref 6
    JBL L212's, S23's, L300's
    Denon Ref CD player
    Imported vinyl, MFSL vinyl, DBX encoded Vinyl, etc..
    Cables, power amps, a tube amp here n there..

    Sorry guys I know its not reloading...but another hobby I kept
    going back to..Friend owned an audio store in downtown Frederick
    decades ago...
    Whats funny is I can get a ton of money for this stuff
    Especially the Tape Decks and the Carver Amp...

    -Rock
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Cranked out another 30-40 223 on my Evo. I'm ALMOST there in terms of setup. I adjusted my Lee expander die with the NOE expander, and the bullet feeder is about 95% now in terms of getting firm positioning in the case. When this thing is operating, man, you know exactly where all that money went. It cranks 223 out effortlessly.

    I am running into an issue where maybe 1/50 cases don't get primed. Jury's out on the cause. Unlike the Dillon 650, the Evo's priming is a black box, so it's hard to visualize where things are going wrong for me (at least right now). In most ways it's awesome (if no case, it behaves nicely and the primer just sits there), but sometimes I want to punch it (if anything goes badly enough, your press locks up). Curious to see what the upgraded Revo/Apex system does when I buy a Primer Xpress later this year.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Cranked out a hundred more 5.56x45 on my Evo. The bullet feeder is close to 100% now that I've further adjusted my M-style die to get a bit more case mouth opening. (These dies are magic. The bullets go in, and then basically stop where neck tension picks back up. Pretty impressive.)

    The only remaining problem is priming. Priming is not QUITE where I want it. I get some primers that don't quite seem to get in correctly. I THINK I need to adjust the swage rod to be slightly more aggressive, but I need to cut a case in half to see exactly where it's going right now. It's not a huge issue, but having to break down rounds because a primer didn't quite make it in is pretty annoying.
     

    guzma393

    Active Member
    Jan 15, 2020
    736
    Severn, MD
    Casted, powder coated, gas checked, and sized a bunch of 312/160/2R bullets two days ago. L1A1 food was running low, so I loaded up 100 rounds of 308 using the same bullet with h335 today.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    And all I did was prep 22 cases of UMC 223 a couple days ago to load them up with some more 62gr loads soon. But then my wife went and got all the baseboard trim for our basement (all 368 linear feet of it, plus trim for the doors) and that's what I've been spending my free time on when not working for $. Maybe this weekend I'll get to loading up the cases and then switching over to setup my lee App again and run it for 223/5.56 for sizing and then swage all of the pockets. I plan to run maybe 200 cases +/-. Then sort head stamps to load up some 69gr RMR and work up a load for it to test in my 16" and 20" ARs (so I'll need at least 30, 40 cases for it, probably use federal cases, not sure if I'll do 223 or 5.56). Hopefully I get to all of that this weekend.

    I need to get my lazy butt to the range and test my shotgun with turkey loads and chokes to see what works best and get out hunting before the season closes! And I'd really like to also be able to test a 69gr load finally.
     

    steves1911

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 2, 2011
    3,026
    On a hill in Wv
    Been working on load development in a new rifle. Weatherby vanguard 257 weatherby. Currently running a 117gr Hornady sst with 72grains of reloader 26 for 3386fps. Messed around with the 100gr ttsx as well with Rl26 and as it stands 73.5 grains gets me 3586 fps. May try some 4955 with the 100gt ttsx as I think the Rl26 is a little slow for that weight.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Went to the range and test-fired my first 5.56x45 from the Evo! Went fine. Even loaded hot, no pressure signs. Need to haul out the Magnetospeed and get some velocities next time, now that I know my gun isn't going to explode. :)

    The 200gr 300AAC subs didn't cycle my 8.5" AR-15, even though they did eject. Suspect 8.2gr Lil' Gun just doesn't have the right pressure profile; will gin up a new batch tonight using 11gr of CFE BLK to see how those work out. They did stabilize, so that's quite an improvement over my earlier attempts with a 240gr bullet.
     

    Speed3

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    7,816
    MD
    Loaded up another 79 rounds of 6x47L for my dad to shoot at the match this weekend. I had about 7 rounds that fell out of the 4psi range as the rest. Those will be blow offs or sighters on the clean bore.

    Fingers crossed on weather and gas being available lol
     

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,221
    Laurel
    Loaded up 10, Hornady 55gr. spire points in front of some CFEBLK for a ladder test in my 10.5" pistol.

    Also put together 100, 124 grain JHP 9mm rounds.

    Still waiting on some cast bullets so I can load some test rounds for my SKS, and M-44.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,598
    Glen Burnie
    If I could find some primers, I'd get cracking on some more reloading. I counted the other night and this is what I have left:

    750ish Large Pistol - CCI
    460 Small pistol - CCI

    That's it. Unless I can find a way to bump my stock back up, once those are gone, I'm dead in the water for actually producing reloads.
     

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,221
    Laurel
    CFEBLK in 223/5.56 !! Is that correct ?

    Yes. According to GRT it should work pretty well for 55 grain bullets in the shorter barrel.

    Still need to make it to the range to test, but based on other results from GRT, I am hopeful for a successful ladder test.

    I am trying to work up a round that will run the action, have enough energy to expand on impact, and not produce a huge fireball when fired.
     

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,221
    Laurel
    If I could find some primers, I'd get cracking on some more reloading. I counted the other night and this is what I have left:

    750ish Large Pistol - CCI
    460 Small pistol - CCI

    That's it. Unless I can find a way to bump my stock back up, once those are gone, I'm dead in the water for actually producing reloads.

    There is a Discord reloading channel that may be helpful in securing some primers. Just started looking at it a few days ago. Some SPP dropped yesterday, and a few people were able to score some before they ran out.

    I am set up to be notified of any LRPs on my PC. Need to set up my phone to use it, too.
     

    shocker998md

    Ultimate Member
    May 29, 2009
    1,357
    Snow Hill MD
    Jamming my way through depriming bulk 308 so I can clean a large batch.
    Loading wise I think some basic 38s are up next to work up a load with green dot, I was given a good few lbs of it.
     

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