What did you do at your reloading bench today?

gungate · Sep 5, 2022

FN509Fan said:
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Those are the cleanest 2x4's I have seen in decades. Is your bench a kit?

Thanks! I picked those out of the home Depot 2x4 pile and made this myself. Only took a couple hours. I have a very specific size I needed for my space.

erwos · Sep 5, 2022

Ordered some more LOS 124s and 230s today from American Reloading. Should be enough to keep me going through the end of the year, or at least close to it.

ETA: also loaded up a few hundred more 9mm, and maybe like 50 more 45 Auto.

guzma393 · Sep 5, 2022

Pulled the trigger on a lee automatic case prime (ACP) press as I needed a universal auto priming system to prime off my lee progressives. The primer tool specific metal bits feel solid and decently machined, but the primer trough feels flimsy and cheap. Despite its sketchy construction, it does work pretty well with LRP.

After setting the shell feeder, I swiftly primed 300+ 30-06 cases with ease, but cautiously monitored the primer trough and kept it full as it will not feed the last 3 primers without manually pushing them with a pick tool. The RCBS hand primer tray fits perfectly, which worked better than the triangular Lee ones. Tolerances seem perfect for LRP, but I haven't tried it with SRP/SPP yet. Hopefully it works just as well.

erwos · Sep 7, 2022

Finished setting up the Lee APP, at least for the moment. Whenever I finally have a decent use case for it, I'll probably buy a Dillon case feeder and hook that up.

Also set up the 45 Auto bullet feeder on 650 #2. The bullet feeder was easy enough (and required almost zero tweaking besides the ramp position and the feeder angle), but the die was a complete pain in the neck. I eventually had to relocate the ball bearings down to the lower position, which I hadn't had to do on either 9mm or 223. I'm happy now, though, it's working great and I can load all the 45 Auto I could ever want. Next stop will be setting up the 308 toolheads for prep and load.

As people can see from the ads lately, I've also been spending some quality time cleaning out old reloading gear I don't need anymore. My reloading space is a total mess, and I need to get rid of things I don't use/need (soon to include a Uniflow and a bench primer).

Rockzilla · Sep 8, 2022

erwos said:
Finished setting up the Lee APP, at least for the moment. Whenever I finally have a decent use case for it, I'll probably buy a Dillon case feeder and hook that up.

Also set up the 45 Auto bullet feeder on 650 #2. The bullet feeder was easy enough (and required almost zero tweaking besides the ramp position and the feeder angle), but the die was a complete pain in the neck. I eventually had to relocate the ball bearings down to the lower position, which I hadn't had to do on either 9mm or 223. I'm happy now, though, it's working great and I can load all the 45 Auto I could ever want. Next stop will be setting up the 308 toolheads for prep and load.

As people can see from the ads lately, I've also been spending some quality time cleaning out old reloading gear I don't need anymore. My reloading space is a total mess, and I need to get rid of things I don't use/need (soon to include a Uniflow and a bench primer).

Picked one up and going through all the mods to make it run smooth, seems to do the job.

-Rock

TheLizardKing · Sep 9, 2022

sized, primed and loaded fifty 7.5x55 rounds last night

ironpony · Sep 9, 2022

Thinking of setting up in my wood shop, may need suppressed 9mm rnds soon. All in boxes due to a move.

4g64loser · Sep 9, 2022

Last night: Tumbled a load of 556. Trimmed 100pcs 260.

IronDuck · Sep 11, 2022

Cast some bullets today! .32 cal and 44 cal round balls that is. LEE 10 lbs smelter. Only kept 30 of each type. But it went well, I did some quick checks with my caliper and they are consistently sized and very uniform surface, all in all look pretty good. Buddy of mine recommended putting them in a leather bag and shaking it for a while to create some dimples. Any thoughts?

guzma393 · Sep 11, 2022

Got the mark 7 trimmer set up on my lee loadmaster. Works great and the cuts are clean. Can't wait to try converting 223 into 300 blackout on it.

Trimmed 200 pieces of 223 brass and it just chugs away. I got about a 5 gallon bucket full of washed 223 brass to process and I believe this will make processing 223 a breeze. I run a resize decap die in station 1, the trimmer on station 3, and a neck expander on station 5 to knock out the internal flashing.

Crimped Primer pockets are swaged on the lee APP, and the brass is SS tumbled to round out any sharp edges left.

Sent from my SM-A136U1 using Tapatalk

Sticky · Sep 11, 2022

Still tweaking the Dillon, added a mini bullet feeder and man, is that the shizzle! Larry also sent me a 100rd ammo checker for 9mm so I can now 100% inspect the ammo that is coming off of this automated process. It's a huge step from single stage loading that I have done for decades and this gives me that one inspection step to catch any issues and ensures that every round will chamber. It also gives me a round counter, as this automated process makes that a little harder to keep track of!

Setup the casting pot to run some 147gr RN's as I will quickly run short of plated bullets at this rate..

gungate · Sep 12, 2022

I did the first seating-depth test putting an actual bullet in a case. Case was empty and clean (no primer or powder) but I wanted to test bullet seating depth. It was exactly 100% spot on the first time exact measurement (using calipers) as my factory ammo. Then I used my bullet extraction hammer and got to see how that worked. Took more force than I anticipated but I was able to slam the bullet out after around 10 raps.

I also put 4 cases in, ran the ram to the top, and loosened all 3 carriage locking screws trying to get my bullets to line up better with the dies. That doesn't seem to have done much good I still have to guide the bullets into several of the dies. I hope this will work itself out when I do an actual run. Next up is check the powder charge.

Question: My bullets have a wax ring around them. Putting one bullet in and removing it I can still use that bullet again right?

85MikeTPI · Sep 13, 2022

Finally got my used MEC 716r grabber rebuilt and dialed in.
My first batch of 00buck from my Lee mold
and a 800x load to test next time out.

shiza · Sep 13, 2022

Made 150 rounds of 9mm on my turret press, think it's time for a progressive setup

Squaregrouper · Sep 13, 2022

I counted (by weight) 9mm projectiles. Miller High Life + internet + credit card + RMR bullets = why didn't I do this with primers pre-2020?
(I have a Dillon XL750 I was loaned and have been loading a lot of 9mm)

Sticky · Sep 13, 2022

Good day.. went to the range, rezero'd the wsm with hunting ammo, had some 15-20 gusts from 9:00, good read on the wind at 100. Sent a bunch of handloads through the Sig P228 and processed the brass to be reloaded. Finally got a break in the humidity and made some 'merican looking 147gr 9mm boolits.

4g64loser · Sep 13, 2022

Sticky said:
Good day.. went to the range, rezero'd the wsm with hunting ammo, had some 15-20 gusts from 9:00, good read on the wind at 100. Sent a bunch of handloads through the Sig P228 and processed the brass to be reloaded. Finally got a break in the humidity and made some 'merican looking 147gr 9mm boolits.

View attachment 380129

View attachment 380131

View attachment 380132

View attachment 380133

'Murica!

Good looking pills, sticky!

All I got done was decapping a couple hundred 45acp.

lazarus · Sep 14, 2022

gungate said:
I did the first seating-depth test putting an actual bullet in a case. Case was empty and clean (no primer or powder) but I wanted to test bullet seating depth. It was exactly 100% spot on the first time exact measurement (using calipers) as my factory ammo. Then I used my bullet extraction hammer and got to see how that worked. Took more force than I anticipated but I was able to slam the bullet out after around 10 raps.

I also put 4 cases in, ran the ram to the top, and loosened all 3 carriage locking screws trying to get my bullets to line up better with the dies. That doesn't seem to have done much good I still have to guide the bullets into several of the dies. I hope this will work itself out when I do an actual run. Next up is check the powder charge.

Question: My bullets have a wax ring around them. Putting one bullet in and removing it I can still use that bullet again right?

Yes you can still use the bullet in that case.

If it took 10 taps to get the bullet loose you aren’t doing it right :-)

Grab a piece of wood and you slam the hammer down on it. With a nice hard smack (treat it like hammering a nail) the bullet should come loose in 1-3 strikes depending on any crimping. They are called an inertial hammer for a reason.

lazarus · Sep 14, 2022

I finally loaded the tray of 9mm cases that’s been taking up space at my reloading station. 83.

Now I can use the tray for holding other cases. I’ve been lazy and I didn’t want to dump them back in my tumbler brass bag of 9mm cases.

Not sure if tomorrow I will load some more .223 62gr loads or work up 7.62x39 or .30-06. Those two are the last two calibers I don’t have loads for. I might do 7.62x39 first because it’s been a long time since I’ve had my SKS out.

steves1911 · Sep 15, 2022

Finished off another bottle of rl26. I have one 5lb keg left of this magical pixie dust and that doesn't last very long in the cartridges I use it for.

What did you do at your reloading bench today?

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