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Thread: A new "what are you doing in the loading room today" thread

  1. #141
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    I got tired of fighting the case feeder on my loadmaster (I had it running smooth for about 20 minutes) so I decided to modify it so that it’s somewhat manual.

    I put in a small stop to keep the case slider from coming completely off the end, used a rubber band for an automatic retractor (I’ll likely swap in a spring later). And now I just tap the case slider forward when the handle is fully upward and the next case is ready to go.

    No permanent modifications to the press, so I can revert to the finicky case feeder whenever I want to.

    I deprimed a few hundred cases after the modification and it went much quicker than it did beforehand.

  2. #142
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    I drove out to a public range that I have not been to in several years. I bought a year-long pass for it yesterday and wanted to make sure I remembered how to get there. Also, it was an opportunity to drive my son around (which usually puts him to sleep and this time was no exception) and give my wife some time by herself. I easily found my way and while I was there I noticed some .30 Carbine and .300 Blackout brass on the ground. I forgot my brass bucket but picked them up anyway. I didn't quite get through before the baby woke up and, I think since he didn't see me close by, started crying. I hot-footed it to the truck to check on him, thus ending my little excursion. Nevertheless, I ended up with 16 FC .300 Blackout and 10 Aguila .30 Carbine.

  3. #143
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    I still have not done much of anything lately. I was busy planting Sunflowers for a Dove hunt that I host every year. After that I've been helping a buddy work at a Duck club. That Duck Club does have a private range and I picked up some brass at it the other day. I may get around to washing and sorting it today.

  4. #144
    Brass Trader curt48mauser's Avatar
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    Had my neighbor over to get him some experience on how to do some .223 reloading. Got through about 100 rounds. We had visited 9mm reloading about a month ago.
    Last edited by curt48mauser; 07-20-2019 at 07:00 PM. Reason: Gammer

  5. #145
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    I hand primed 1000 pieces of 40s&w brass the other day. My hand is still sore from that...

  6. #146
    Brass Trader SafetyJoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mbaker78 View Post
    I hand primed 1000 pieces of 40s&w brass the other day. My hand is still sore from that...
    The new lee bench primer works good.

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    Last edited by SafetyJoe; 07-22-2019 at 06:16 PM.

  7. #147
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    I have the same Lee Bench Primer....actually I have just about every hand primer you can name...but personally I think if you seat the primer with two fingers on the end of the lever...you can really feel the primer sliding in....I find I can use feel for the consistency AND I can also prime relatively fast. I use the progressive for pistol...but the Lee for most rifle.

  8. #148
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    I just started sorting, counting and bagging up that lot of 9mm brass that I deprimed and tumbled last spring. I bagged up 5500 cases with 500 to a bag this morning. Thats about 25% of them. Some will be added to my trades and some will be listed for sale elsewhere. It just ain't worth much right now and I'm loath to scrap it.

  9. #149
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    I really like the APS strips, so I might look into the APS bench priming tool, but it doesn’t have the universal shellholder that the hand tool does.

  10. #150
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mbaker78 View Post
    I really like the APS strips, so I might look into the APS bench priming tool, but it doesn’t have the universal shellholder that the hand tool does.
    I agree, love it too

  11. #151
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    I started counting and bagging some of those pesky 9mm's that I deprimed, tumbled and sorted last winter. I estimate that I did about 20,000 of them! I wish they were worth something above scrap.

  12. #152
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    I finally decided to try casting, made up about 50 each 40 175gr TC, 45 230gr TC, and 308 230gr.

    Once I got the hang of it they went pretty quickly. I still have yet to get the stuff I need to powder coat though, so I’ll have to wait to try that out.

  13. #153
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    Nothing yet for today. Yesterday I resized about 700 9mm's and I drug out all of my bullet molds and updated my master list. I also oiled them before storing them away.

  14. #154
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    I decided to try to tumble lube 50 each of the bullets I casted up, which turned out to be well over 300 of each over a few days. If the tumble lube goes well I might just stick with that as it’s pretty easy. I have a tentative load figured out for each, just have to actually test them out.

  15. #155
    Administrator DukeInFlorida's Avatar
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    I have been one of the honchos (mold group buys) for CastBoolits for a while now. When any of those custom mold deals finally ships, the honch gets a free mold, for having kept the books straight, and promoting the mold for the months that each one seems to take.

    Today, I have two of the molds arriving, via DHL Express ship. One is a pointy .500 S&W Magnum mold, and the other is a hollow point 165 grain .40 mold with three different HP inserts, plus the ability to make a solid nose.

    With this cancer thing happening, and the resultant chemo treatments, I haven't got the energy to do any casting, or even any reloading. SIGH. So, the brand new molds will just sit here, patiently waiting for the cancer to go away again. I've actually got a total of four new custom molds that have not been tried yet. Still in the box. Plus these two newest ones. I got a lot of catching up to do at some point.

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  16. #156
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    I fiddled with my Redding T-7 turret press, which I have yet to use. I ran through the primer seater plug replacement process. I also had to remove a little surface rust, which surprised me, since it has been sitting in the garage, which gets pretty hot in the Summer and cooks off any moisture in there, or so I thought.

  17. #157
    Administrator DukeInFlorida's Avatar
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    Talk about nostalgia.....

    Had a fellow from a few towns south of me walk into one of the local reloading supply shops, and ask about if they knew anyone who could help him with some display brass. He is a wheelchair bound vet, and has great family pride in his entire family's involvement with the military. His grandfather was a paratrooper, and was dropped behind German lines in some small French village while D-Day was happening in Normandy.

    He had arranged a trip with a tour group to Normandy, and while on the beach there, happened to see a vintage 50 BMG case in the sand. He picked it up, and the head stamp is '42! So, it was fired/dropped while the troops were attacking the Germans. He quickly found another, and brought them home. He's hoping to make a couple of display cases, featuring the cases, one for his uncle, and one for his own wall. He wants the cartridges intact, including re-placing the original primers. The cases are crimped in the 120 degree pattern, which will be tricky also.


    He needed someone to resize the brass, and insert vintage bullets, to make dummy rounds. Word got back to me, and I'm delighted to assist. I have a Lee Classic Cast 50 BMG reloading set. He's gotten the brass to me, and it's pretty rough, as you might imagine, from 50+ years in the salty sands at Normandy. However, I think I caan make it work. The trick will be to get the brass resized without sticking in the die. He had tumbled them in walnut shell, and I see some evidence of some steel wool. However, the insides of the cases are bright fuzzy green. That will certainly play a role. So, I just put them in my SS pin tumbling system. That will make the insides bright and shiny brass. That will eliminate any sticking of the brass in the sizing die. I'll let that run for a few hours and check on it.

    Gotta get an Inline Fabrication mounting plate. The last time I had this press out and working was 7+ years ago when I lived in Maine. I had mounted it with bolts to my old reloading bench. The new bench, here in Florida, has an IF base plate, so I can swap out my Dillon 550b, RCBS Rockchucker, and Lymn 450 Lubricizer. Don't wanna make any new holes in the bench top, so the adapter plate makes the most sense.

    A 50 BMG rifle is on my wish list, as soon as I get this cancer behind me. So, maybe it's time to get my butt in gear, get healthy, so I can make use of this press for production ammo. I already have 300+ newer pcs of brass from a Gov't Auction a while back. I also have the Lee press for doing all the fabrication operations. Also, I have powder, primers, and some commercial jacketed bullets. I also have a Group Buy mold from cast Boolits which casts 830 grain Linotype 50 BMG boolits, and the gas check tools (FreeChex) to make the gas checks. Some Carnauba Red lube, and it's ready to go.

    In the meantime, I have this project to work on for a proud vet. Happy to assist!

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  18. #158
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    Wow! A really cool story. Hopefully you can get them resized without problems.

  19. #159
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    Wednesday I finally got to shoot my new 300PRC build with factory Hornady 225gr ELD Match......Just setting up the new MDT ACC chassis and sighting in the scope....seeing how she feels. Shot just 25 rounds and went home very happy with what I saw.

    Wednesday night I started processing brass. The Brass grew quite a bit and I had a lot of trimming to do. So I deprimed, wet tumbled, dried, neck sized and bumped the shoulder back a few thou...and then trimmed to the listed trim to length.

    Primed with Federal Match Primers....then loaded up 20 rounds...starting at the low end of the manual, then went up about 1.5-2.0 grains....The first 4 weights I just did 1 round each...knowing I most likely wouldn't be interested in them...but worked through the small stuff to get to where I thought I needed to be. Then three 5 round batches up the weight chart....and finally one above the max load just in case.

    I used Retumbo Powder and the new 230gr A-Tips. First load was 68.5 grains and shot like a whimp...hitting 4 inches below my first shot of a Retail 225gr ELD-M load....sounded wimpy...recoiled wimpy.
    second, third and fourth loads.... were 70.0, 71.5, and 73.0 and shot through the same damn hole.
    Next 5 rounds of 75.0 and it was sub 1/2MOA
    I was getting all giggly about the prospects of the next two loads and on the first shot of the next 5 shot group....recoil broke the lower end scope I was using... DOH!!!!

    I still shot the rest of the groups because I was measuring muzzle velocity. The next two groups I couldn't cover with a quarter....so broken scope hurt me on those 100yard groups...but the velocities looked good.

    Low end showed 2701fp/s and high end was 3041fp/s.....not bad for a .308 diameter magnum with a BC north of .800.

    Can't wait to get a new Razor GenII and try those other groups again. All brass appeared at first glance to show no signs of pressure...but tomorrow in the loading room I'll inspect each piece of brass under magnification and calipers and see if there was any pressure signs. I'll also measure force when depriming.

  20. #160
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    Reloading room has me all giddy tonight...I think these things are sexy.


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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check