davsco
Active Member
received and bolted down the dillon 600 primer pocket swager and swaged maybe 50 .223 rounds and then pushed in primers. zero issues vs where i previously had issues with primer seating.
What did you do at your reloading bench today?
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Leper Messiah
Member
- Aug 18, 2014
- 570
Are you doing the rubber band self eject hack?
davsco
Active Member
i saw that, looks pretty neat. but no, not yet, was just giving it a test run.
gwfrench
Member
Finished up the last batch of 350 30-06, once fired brass from the CMP. Finally got them all cleaned, sized, primer pocket swaged and trimmed.
Ready to load whenever I need them. Got 6 bags of 250 brass from the CMP 2 years ago for $25/bag. Now I have 4 containers of 350 each, all set to be loaded.
Just a small batch of about 100 left to give the treatment to.
Ready to load whenever I need them. Got 6 bags of 250 brass from the CMP 2 years ago for $25/bag. Now I have 4 containers of 350 each, all set to be loaded.
Just a small batch of about 100 left to give the treatment to.
Wahama90
Member
Squaregrouper
6.5 Man Bun
Sized and primed ~350 pieces of 6.5 Grendel. I will load them tomorrow.
My Lee Auto Breach Lock press sold for $305.00 + $47 shipping on eBay. I think I only paid about $165. for it new. I threw in a case collator with it that probably cost me about $25.00. Glad to be rid of that thing.
Lee 9mm die sets are going for $150-200. It's crazy.
Wahama90
Member
Powder Valley had it last week.
)
davsco
Active Member
yesterday finally shot the test .223 rounds i loaded a while back (my first handloads). still have all my fingers and toes! happy that one of the recipes came real close to matching the black hills 69 smk load i was trying to mimic, in terms of velocity and sd/es with a half inch 5 shot group. so i loaded up 150 of those today. should last me for a couple of 2/3 gun long range stages...
davsco
Active Member
got my first stuck case yesterday, .223 in the sizing die. put it in the ultrasonic cleaner for like 10 minutes then just let it soak in there overnite. then i cut off the "L" on a hex wrench and used it as a punch. blue taped the die and put it in the vise and banged on it and the case came out. now that i think of it, think i lost/trashed the collet that holds the decapping pin.
300 rounds of 45 ACP - 5.1 gr W231 under a 200 gr Xtreme plated Round Nose.
It should - I use a Lee FCD on every handgun round I load for and all of them pass the plunk test.
Yeah I’ve been having issues getting coated lead sized right for my Colt OP. Chambers are tight. Finally got a Lee FCD and it was like a F-ing revelation. About 3 minutes messing with it to get the crimp just right and every single round just plunks in the chambers. No having to push them in.
With 32acp the issue I have I think is more ogive shape and throat. On my model 70, if I run to minimum COAL, then the bullets are running in to the rifling. So I have to set it back about .030” under minimum COAL (yes I am reducing the charge). This is with Berry’s plated.
Regular FMJ has a noticeably pointer ogive and doesn’t have issue.
It shoots fine in the model 70.
But in my Cz50, the shorter rounds are coming out of the magazine at a bad angle and jamming up on the feed ramp, denting the bullets and in some cases causing set back. It is only happening the first 2-3 rounds out of the magazine. Once magazine spring pressure drops they strip and chamber fine.
I need to try loading with a longer COAL to see if that solves it. I am also hoping using a lee FCD might help. I am wondering if some of the issue is that with a taper crimp it’s a bit too fat and it is preventing it from properly chambering in the model 70 loaded to normal lengths more than it is that it is hitting the rifling. At normal COALs it is absolutely hitting the rifling (marking the bullet), but I have to set it back even further than where it stops hitting the rifling before it properly chambers doing plunk tests with the barrel.
Something to play with anyway.
My Inline Fab QD flush mount (w/ spacer) FINALLY came in, so I got it mounted to my bench inside the house. Then I brought in my single stage press and resized a whole bunch of 223 and 300AAC. Did a little trimming this morning with the Giraud. Pretty happy with the new setup. Not going to swage for the moment, I'd like to have some unswaged brass for testing the Mark7 Evo out when it eventually comes (in a couple weeks?).
Over the weekend I molded up several hundred 45 swc, 357 swc, and 160gr 311 bullets using the new Lee 6 cavity molds. I'm liking the 6 cavity molds much better. Faster progress and clean cuts with the beefy sprue plates compare to the 2 cavity molds.
I used to dip & cast/reject the mold to get it up to temp but now I'm using my hot plate and a thermocouple probe that I sandwich into the mold to heat it up to 350-375 prior to start molding.
I also have my PID temp controller for my hard lead and start up time to good bullets is so much more consistent as well as the molding. I did find that with the lighter bullets being so light, I have to heat the lead up a tad hotter to get good results or the mold temp does not stay where it needs to be.
I also have a 45-70 Lee mold (single cavity) and I molded up 100 of those to start load dev on my Sharps.
I used to dip & cast/reject the mold to get it up to temp but now I'm using my hot plate and a thermocouple probe that I sandwich into the mold to heat it up to 350-375 prior to start molding.
I also have my PID temp controller for my hard lead and start up time to good bullets is so much more consistent as well as the molding. I did find that with the lighter bullets being so light, I have to heat the lead up a tad hotter to get good results or the mold temp does not stay where it needs to be.
I also have a 45-70 Lee mold (single cavity) and I molded up 100 of those to start load dev on my Sharps.
GuitarmanNick
Active Member
Converting some 9mm cases to Makarov and prepping some brass from Sunday's trip to Cindy's.
Finally did a spreadsheet last week to track all of my ammo and supplies so, I will probably spend some time entering data this evening. This is something that I have been meaning to do for years, and finally got it done. A few odds and ends to count up and enter, and it will be up to date.
Now I just have to develop the discipline to maintain it!
Finally did a spreadsheet last week to track all of my ammo and supplies so, I will probably spend some time entering data this evening. This is something that I have been meaning to do for years, and finally got it done. A few odds and ends to count up and enter, and it will be up to date.
Now I just have to develop the discipline to maintain it!
