What did you do in the reloading room today?

Cleaned up the Dillon 550 after loading .223 and swapped over to .38spl. Nothing serious... just a lite paper-puncher using a 148gr HBWC over 2.9gr Bullseye.

80 rounds down... 2000'ish left.
 
I helped my brother set up his press and dies. We've determined his once fired brass haven't fully expanded so the cartridge shoulder meets the chamber shoulder. Maybe the second time will be the charm. We've set up the body die to be just beyond where the shoulders are until we know for sure.

An added bonus, he ordered a set of Competition Shellholders, they sent him two. Look what followed me home, Mom. Can I keep him?

That free $35 set is going to cost me a lot of money.
 
Howland said:
I helped my brother set up his press and dies. We've determined his once fired brass haven't fully expanded so the cartridge shoulder meets the chamber shoulder. Maybe the second time will be the charm. We've set up the body die to be just beyond where the shoulders are until we know for sure.

An added bonus, he ordered a set of Competition Shellholders, they sent him two. Look what followed me home, Mom. Can I keep him?

That free $35 set is going to cost me a lot of money.
Click to expand...
Those competition shellholders are well worth the money, IMHO.
 
Installed a new RCBS rock chucker with a projectile puller.

Long story short, a buddy came over and ran a batch of .223 on my press. He claimed he knew what he was doing. I proved that to be false when he was using pistol powder. o_O:rolleyes:o_O
He had already run around 200pcs. He's lucky I caught it before he blew something/someone up.
 
FedEx delivered my .338LM match grade dies today. Bushings and expander ball mike out exactly as they should. Seating stem is deep enough to take the ELD-M I've chosen to start with but I'm going to get the VLD stem anyway.

Brass and rings are en route just outside Atlanta via UPS.

I've got my work cut out for me.
 
Great information on 6.5 Creedmoor reloading!!!!

In the loading room this morning, going through my gift wrapping procrastination protocol, and checked out Ultimate Reloader just to see what he had posted recently. I found he has posted an outstanding paper written, in conjunction with Starline Brass, on the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Downloading this is a must for anyone loading 6.5 Creedmoor. Excellent information from cartridge development to ballistics, both target and hunting, and great information on barrel length and powder selection. It's a great body of work.

If interested it can be found at the link below.

https://www.starlinebrass.com/artic...r-guide-reloading-65-creedmoor-ballistics.pdf
 
Last edited:
Charlie R said:
Great information on 6.5 Creedmoor reloading!!!!

In the loading room this morning, going through my gift wrapping procrastination protocol, and checked out Ultimate Reloader just to see what he had posted recently. I found he has posted an outstanding paper written, in conjunction with Starline Brass, on the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Downloading this is a must for anyone loading 6.5 Creedmoor. Excellent information from cartridge development to ballistics, both target and hunting, and great information on barrel length and powder selection. It's a great body of work.

If interested it can be found at the link below.

https://www.starlinebrass.com/artic...r-guide-reloading-65-creedmoor-ballistics.pdf
Click to expand...
Excellent find. I picked up some starline brass and some Berger 140 LDT just today for my 6.5cm

Gotta say it's one of my favorite cartridges right now. Love shooting it.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I loaded up some 223 plinking ammo, and some 223 precision ammo, seated to 2.330”, for my 20” AR rifle.

After my experiment last time at the range, with bullets seated longer than mag length, I modified an AR mag so I can use bullets seated to 2.330” OAL. Will try to take it to the range this week to see how it works.

35EB1417-9D03-46C1-97DF-DECC5C69DC45.jpeg
 
Bullseye Baldee said:
...So Saturday I fired up the casting pot and casted 10 lbs lead and made these little guys.
Click to expand...

"little" guys? I'd hate to see what you think a big bullet looks like! :D

Had a wicked case of insomnia after Christmas, so I cranked out 500 rounds of .38spl on the Dillon last night/early this morning. My wife thought the dishwasher was broken as all she heard was ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, so she stumbled downstairs to see what was wrong.

ADDENDUM - While loading 38spl in the wee hours, I had a jam on the Dillon 550 which caused the decapping spindle to get pushed out of position. Upon checking the failure, I ran into this:

rZAPGTS.jpg


fsVV1uv.jpg


What are the odds that a .22LR case got wedged into a .38spl case, mouth up, lined up over the flash hole? Of course, it happens to me! I had to disassemble the sizing die and clamp the decapping spindle into a bench vise to get that rogue case removed.
 
Last edited:
Another 400 rounds of .38SPL loaded tonight on the Dillon 550.

Good news/bad news: While scrounging through the garage, I found another box of .38SPL brass that I had forgotten about, so now I have another 2,000 cases to load! I'm going need to buy some more bullets...
 
Spent an hour of quality reloading time dealing with the aftermath of a primer stuck in the tube of 650. Somehow ran way more 9mm without primers than I should have. (Hey, what is that black stuff under the cartridge plate? - DUH) Glad I had the Hornady bullet pulling dies from a mistake made last year. Took longer to change it over from .40 to 9mm and set it than it tool to pull the bullets. Oh well its done now.

bullet pulling.jpg
 
Ran a few 9 MMs and resized some 45 ACP, 308 and 6.5 CM brass.

I ordered some Small Base dies for the 308 and 223. Midsouth was out of the 6.5 CM. I think that all range pickup for 308 and 6.5 will be run through the SB dies instead of the FL dies. Not sure why I bought the 223 SB dies. Maybe in the future I will have a bolt 223.
 
My brother worked up his very first set of handloads. He decided to start with .338LM. Pretty ambitious if you ask me. He's been a good student and is developing the OCD traits that will keep him safe and make quality ammo.

Yesterday we went to the range to test them. He had eleven groups to test with different powder charges.

He turned in three successive groups under 0.7 MOA! Not too shabby!

I congratulated him on the accomplishment and he said his goal is to be consistently under 1/2 MOA.

Did I mention he was ambitious?
 
Last edited:
Loaded 3 hundred 9mm, 200 .40 cal., and currently vibrating 100 .243 in preparation for annealing and sizing. Going to be a good day, and starting with good intentions, but I am going to try to talk the wife into letting me skip securing from Christmas so that I can go to the range.

What are the odds????
 
KnotRight said:
my new reloading room computer
Click to expand...

I have been Apple for 7 years now, and cannot deal with Windows anymore (judge me if you wish). Unfortunately. all of the reloading and ballistics programs are Windows based, and the only thing worse than Windows 10 is running Windows in a virtual environment on Apple. I guess I need to just "bite the bullet" (pun intended). I am jealous.
 
I loaded another 400 rounds of 45acp, and cleaned the guns from the trip to the range. Sorted and decapped brass.

Goofyfoot2001 said:
Stuck a camera down my new 300 blk barrel.
Click to expand...
There is a punch line in my mind, but I am just going to leave that one alone. ;)
 
Last edited:
I deprimed about 100 .40 cases, since my bro in law bought a PC Shield and wants me to load up some plinkers for him. I haven't loaded .40 since I traded away my SR40c.
 
nbkky71 said:
"little" guys? I'd hate to see what you think a big bullet looks like! :D

Had a wicked case of insomnia after Christmas, so I cranked out 500 rounds of .38spl on the Dillon last night/early this morning. My wife thought the dishwasher was broken as all she heard was ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, so she stumbled downstairs to see what was wrong.

ADDENDUM - While loading 38spl in the wee hours, I had a jam on the Dillon 550 which caused the decapping spindle to get pushed out of position. Upon checking the failure, I ran into this:

rZAPGTS.jpg


fsVV1uv.jpg


What are the odds that a .22LR case got wedged into a .38spl case, mouth up, lined up over the flash hole? Of course, it happens to me! I had to disassemble the sizing die and clamp the decapping spindle into a bench vise to get that rogue case removed.
Click to expand...

I did the 22lr thing last year! Glad I am not the only one. Think I posted a picture. I will check

EDIT: here is pic
index.php
 
Last edited:
Sometimes you should not reload even if you have not had a drink.

Last night I was going to load around 40 308s with Shooters World Precision Rifle. Primed the brass, filled the powder thrower, got the 150 FMJ bullets and check the website for the load data. They only listed 168 grn bullets. Powder back in the container and to the Hornady manual to check other powders. Thought it said 4198 and loaded the thrower, rechecked the data and I grabbed the wrong powder. Then I decided to use the last of the Varget that I had on hand. Glad I was trickling my loads to make sure I did not screw-up charging the loads.

Please check your data a couple of times before starting to reload.
 
Last edited:
Done the same with some pistol. Loaded a box and then noticed I used the last of the Blue Dot instead of Unique in the similar can. Pulled all those bullets.

CD
 
Jerzsubbie said:
Got my new LNL AP all dialed in for .300BLK. Very happy with it. Still have to tweak my 3D printed case feeder a little bit but it’s fine for now.

I plan to load up a couple hundred this weekend to break her in.
View attachment 96249
Click to expand...
Love my LNL. Spend the $$ and get an ergo handle.

https://inlinefabrication.com/collections/hornady-lock-n-load-ap-ergo-roller-lever

I've bought a slew of extra stuff for mine from inline. Honestly I like my LNL better than my dillion.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Ran a set of 6.5cm for my RPR for some range time (When the sun wakes up).

I like running my rifle loads on a rockchucker with Redding dies. I like feeling the bullet seat better than on an automatic or staged press. 20190104_154303~2.jpeg

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I added the Lyman 55 with Culver conversion that I picked up at the gun show for $40, and loaded 25 rounds of 224 Valkyrie.
 
yesterday I worked up some loads for testing my 32 mini-mag (32 spl?) 32SWL...

Today I found out how snappy 850fps can be in a H&R 732...yeehaw!
 
Day before yesterday I went through my stash of bullets, sorted and organized, and took inventory. Now all my bullets of a given caliber are in one place. Then I made some 30-30 rounds from some of the bullets I wanted to use up, both coated and plated. (They both ended up being very inaccurate @ 50 yards and shot way low of POA.) These will be good only for making noise at the 25 yard indoor range. My Hornady bullets shot slightly high of POA and grouped fairly well.

When I got back from the range yesterday, I had to clean the guns, decap and sort the brass. I had picked up a few 10mm and 450 Bushmaster cases - Whoo Hooo!
 
Toprudder said:
Day before yesterday I went through my stash of bullets, sorted and organized, and took inventory. Now all my bullets of a given caliber are in one place. Then I made some 30-30 rounds from some of the bullets I wanted to use up, both coated and plated. (They both ended up being very inaccurate @ 50 yards and shot way low of POA.) These will be good only for making noise at the 25 yard indoor range. My Hornady bullets shot slightly high of POA and grouped fairly well.

When I got back from the range yesterday, I had to clean the guns, decap and sort the brass. I had picked up a few 10mm and 450 Bushmaster cases - Whoo Hooo!
Click to expand...

What diameter are your .30 WCF projos? Did you sort them by weight also?

CD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom