What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[Sticky]

Loaded up a few handfuls of 9mm 124gr HST with PP to test out. I'll try to get to the range one day this week and see how they fare.

 

[John from MD]

Loaded up a few handfuls of 9mm 124gr HST with PP to test out. I'll try to get to the range one day this week and see how they fare.

I think 5.4 is what I used with PP and a 125 gn bullet. Lately I am loading with WW231 since I have a few pounds to use up.

 

[Russ D]

Loaded up 40 rounds of .308 in various weights to try RL15 with the 155 Nosler CC HPBT.

 

[guzma393]

Printed a 3d printed bullet feeding die. Reloaded 100 rounds of 9mm and broke it in. Works great. Next up, setting up a 3d printed bullet collator on it.

 

[deerassassin22]

Pointed 500 Bullets and Trimmed 500 Melplats

 

[Hoons]

Resized, deprimed and wet tumbled about 650 .223 cases

 

[gungate]

Took my Lee 4000 press off the stand and put my new Lee 6000 press in its place.

 

[Russ D]

Took my Lee 4000 press off the stand and put my new Lee 6000 press in its place.

Still going to use the 4000? It would be nice to have a press set up just for universal de-capping.

 

[trickg]

I did some loading over the last couple of days to prep for the annual winter camping trip where all we do is shoot as much as we can. I loaded up a solid amount of 9mm, basically loading up what was left of the bullets I had, and some remaining plated 45 auto bullets.

171 rounds of 124 gr plated RN
307 rounds of 115 gr plated hollow points
194 rounds of 200 gr plated RN for 45.

I'm not sure why the odd number of rounds for 45 because it should have been an even 200 to finish the box, but I guess I got shorted. That, or at some other point I loaded extra rounds for some other reason - maybe to finish a batch of brass? I suppose the same goes with the 307 rounds of 9mm - that should have been an even 300, so I guess I got some extra there.

 

[Harrys]

Received a call last week from a friend, his cousins dad passed, and his cousin had some 45/70 ammo, some H4895 and some 45/70 cases. I took a trip up to see what he had. The cousin's dad only owned a Marlin 45/70 which the cousin sold to a dealer for 400 bucks. The cousin said he did not like guns, yup one of them. Well, they were all hand loads with Starline brass. What was weird the COL appeared short to me, and the bullets also looked small. He kept a record of his loads and only used H4895. The hand loads were 200gr bullets with 58 grains of H4895 and large rifle primers. He had around 80 cases primed, and a 50 CAL ammo can about half full of hand loads.

The cousin told me no one wanted the hand loads, and he did not know what to do about the powder. His dad apparently started reloading this past year and was in his late 80s. The short of it I took everything free of charge and he was glad to get rid of it all. I also offered to pay for the press and dies he said no just take it.

I spent the better part of last week pulling heads off the hand loads and saving the powder from them. The heads were 200 grain FN I could not determine the make and the COL was way short. The cases were factory all between 2.095-2.102. Once emptied I resized and reloaded a few with HCFN 375 gr bullets and 54 grains of the H4895. They shot great with no issue at all. Saturday, I finished pulling over 200 heads and resizing the cases and ready for future loading.

 

[Mack C-85]

Ran out 4 boxes of 12 ga. for Monday Night Trap tonight at Littlestown Fish and Game.

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

 

[trickg]

I went to change some brass in my RCBS tumbler, and it looks like after nearly 15 years of use, it's finally going up. I think the motor is going out - when I start it, it sounds like it's binding up, and it'll eventually get going again sometimes at a slower speed and sometimes it will eventually get back up to speed. The short of it is that it looks like I'm going to have to replace it. The question now is, what do I replace it with?

I don't feel like doing wet tumbling - that requires a trip up the stairs to the kitchen sink, plus drying. I suppose I could do the oven on a cookie sheet, or I could use a heat gun, but I'd rather just continue to dry tumble.

 

[4g64loser]

I went to change some brass in my RCBS tumbler, and it looks like after nearly 15 years of use, it's finally going up. I think the motor is going out - when I start it, it sounds like it's binding up, and it'll eventually get going again sometimes at a slower speed and sometimes it will eventually get back up to speed. The short of it is that it looks like I'm going to have to replace it. The question now is, what do I replace it with?

I don't feel like doing wet tumbling - that requires a trip up the stairs to the kitchen sink, plus drying. I suppose I could do the oven on a cookie sheet, or I could use a heat gun, but I'd rather just continue to dry tumble.

You've seen my brass. I wet tumble. I don't do the oven or the heat gun. I dump the cases, post rinse, onto a towel, bundle and shake them around, then dump into a tray in front of a box fan. Works fine. No spots. Next day, I can process them if I want or just bag for later.

If you want to stay dry, buy a Dillon tumbler. My friend and I each own one of the big ones for lube removal (and tumbling his .50bmg or larger cases).

 

[trickg]

You've seen my brass. I wet tumble. I don't do the oven or the heat gun. I dump the cases, post rinse, onto a towel, bundle and shake them around, then dump into a tray in front of a box fan. Works fine. No spots. Next day, I can process them if I want or just bag for later.

If you want to stay dry, buy a Dillon tumbler. My friend and I each own one of the big ones for lube removal (and tumbling his .50bmg or larger cases).

I've been leaning towards the Dillon 750 tumbler - I don't feel like I need the larger capacity of the 2001. I just don't shoot enough or process enough brass to warrant it. I think the 750 would be a nice addition to my reloading room, especially since I'm sucking up plenty of blue Kool-Aid as it is.

I can't quite seem to pull the trigger on wet tumbling - it seems like more additional steps than I want to mess with, although the results are pretty spectacular. I'm ok with dry tumbling - it does a reasonably good job in a decent amount of time.

 

[4g64loser]

I especially like the wet tumbler for scuzzy pistol brass. I shoot outdoors exclusively and cases get sand, leaves, and other junk in them all the time. A rinse in a colander submerged in a plastic tote to remove the sand and large debris, then decap. Once decapped, I wet tumble. No primer pocket follow up required unless they are crimped and most pistol brass isn't.

 

[Sticky]

I agree with 4g, wet tumble the nasty or range pickups with dirt/sand etc and I dry tumble the stuff that I pick up off the concrete deck (mostly my own) and for lubed cases that need to be cleaned. Wet makes em new, dry gets the job done if they aren't bad. I have a Berrys vibratory that works fine, mostly run corn cob lately, though I ran walnut in my RCBS sidewinder for years (still have it, tried to wet tumble with it but the drum can't handle it). I have a Lyman drum wet tumbler that works great and wasn't really very costly.

I don't 'dry' them either, I do as 4g, just dump it on a big towel (the dog's towel on a rainy day) and shake them around real good, lay them out either in the sun on a warm day or in the winter I'll dump them on a baking tray and set them by the warm fireplace to dry, then bag them up the next day.

 

[Sticky]

Took some test loads of 124gr HST 9mm to the range yesterday morning, and it was a bit too snappy for my liking, so... I ran about 3rds, packed the rest up, came home, pulled and reloaded them about .2gr lower, should be more like 15% below peak pressure according to grt. 17rds ready to test, maybe on the way home tomorrow if I get lucky and get out early from work.

Loaded up 100 Xtreme 124gr hp to test out with their 3.7gr titegroup load data, we'll see how they fare.

 

[trickg]

I thought I'd update on the saga of my burnt-out RCBS tumbler. I've ordered a replacement, and it is blue, but it's not a Dillon.

I ordered the Berry's QD-500 with the quick detach bowl from Midway. It's a newer model, but I really like the idea of the quick detach bowl. I always took the bowl off of my RCBS to dump it, and never considered that some models don't allow for that at all. Apparently with the Dillon you have to pick up the whole danged unit and upend it to dump it - I'm not a fan of that idea.

The best part? Less than $90 shipped - considerably less expensive than the Dillon. Supposedly the Berry's is made in the US, but I have no illusions that it will be better or last longer than the Dillon.

I'll post a review of it once I've had it for a bit and have put it through its paces.

In the meantime I'm going to contact RCBS to see if they'll send me a new motor, or at least sell me a new motor for cheap - I'm not above repairing it to have it on standby for if/when the Berry's craps out. That, or I can sell it cheap to someone in need...or perhaps do a karma thing. We'll see what shakes out.

 

[Ponder_MD]

Reloading is an area where I am sorely lacking. I simply do not have the space right now. My home is small, by intent. I never expected to get into all of this. I can make the space but it'll be in my garage where reloading during the winter will be an uncomfortable exercise. I think the answer to this is to install a used pellet stove or an old wood stove in the garage...which takes up more space.

I've done 100 rounds of M2 ball formula .30-06 with a good friend. I'm going to another friend's house to make some more in a few days. In 20 years of service, I never gave a single thought about what it takes to make a cartridge. It's a fascinating experience.

 

[Harrys]

I went to change some brass in my RCBS tumbler, and it looks like after nearly 15 years of use, it's finally going up. I think the motor is going out - when I start it, it sounds like it's binding up, and it'll eventually get going again sometimes at a slower speed and sometimes it will eventually get back up to speed. The short of it is that it looks like I'm going to have to replace it. The question now is, what do I replace it with?

I don't feel like doing wet tumbling - that requires a trip up the stairs to the kitchen sink, plus drying. I suppose I could do the oven on a cookie sheet, or I could use a heat gun, but I'd rather just continue to dry tumble.

My shaker crapped out this past winter. I purchased both a new shaker and ultrasonic cleaner. Luckily, I have a slop sink in my basement mechanical room. I also bought a cheap toaster over works great for drying cases.