I ran some .45 ACP and some .44 Magnum through the tumbler. I removed the primers from the .45 over the last two days.
I ran some .45 ACP and some .44 Magnum through the tumbler. I removed the primers from the .45 over the last two days.
I really support my local reloading supply shop. I buy whatever I can there, and they often give me some good deals.
Today, I got a GREAT deal. Some old guy had come in and dropped off about 50 pounds of various lead ingots, and suggested that the shop donate them to someone who could use them. So, they were given to me.
I have a custom made lead hardness tester, and will run them through the testing tomorrow. There were also a whole coffee can of raw wheel weights.
It pays to support your local suppliers.
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Ran a few hundred pieces of 308 through a Sinclair Neck Mandrel Die...now waiting on some bullets to be delivered so I can load them up.
Sorted the brass from my last couple trip out unloading. Got some bonus blackout brass out of the deal too from a friend. Deprived everything last night. Tumbled the 223, blackout, and 6.8spc today. Now it’s all drying.
Scored 8lbs of WC844, so I’m going to work up a few 223 loads with that sometime this week.
Maybe while I’m laid off I can actually get my reloading cave cleaned, I doubt it though.
Made some 44 Magnum dummy / snap cap rounds.
I see that snap caps for the 44 Magnum size are kind of expensive. About $16 at Amazon. And, while functional to keep the hammer pin and hammer spring safe, they are just plastic, and don't really simulate the weight of the cartridges I shoot for the Lawn Steel game. (see my signature/tag line)
I bought a safe queen version of a S&W 629 (stainless steel) 44 Mag, with 8 1/2" barrel. Did a nice trigger job on it, but have had very little range time with it. My primary purpose for buying this gun was to shoot the Lawn Steel shooting game that I love so much. Great trigger pull is critical for hitting called shots, and collecting nickels.
So, I used some matching 44 Mag brass (I really like the Starline brass!), and some of the actual cast lead bullets I use for the shooting game. 215 grain Lyman SWC's.
1) I full length resized the brass.
2) DID NOT install any primers (see step #6 )
3) Bell mouthed the brass, as normal, to accept the cast bullets
4) Installed the 215 grain cast bullets, which are normally lube/sized (Not really a fan of PC)
5) Crimped the bullets in place, as normal.
6) Squirted some clear silicone in the primer pockets, making sure that some got into the flash hole, and that there was excess sticking out of the primer pocket itself.
7) Allowed those to really set dry (silicone) for a full day. The aquarium type silicone hardens rather hard, but will still take a beating.
8) Sliced off excess silicone with new singe sided razor blade.
9) Painted the cast bullets with White Out as a primer. Allowed to dry for an hour.
10) Painted the White Out area on the bullets with flourescent orange paint (Testors, model paints)
11) Allowed those to really dry overnight.
The result is amazing. I have some other snap caps / dummy rounds, commercially made in other chamberings (see the image with the plastic box containing other commercially made dummy rounds). They all have plastic dummy bullets in flourescent orange and bright yellow, so my eye will see the new ones I just made as dummy rounds right away. The have the exact same weight (well, minus the otherwise very small weight of the non-existing powder) as the rounds that I shoot. So, trigger pull practice will be right on!
Images:
44mag1.jpg 44mag2.jpg
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Duke,
Those home-made dummy rounds are pretty cool!
I tumbled some .32 ACP brass along with some .30 Carbine brass from my dad's decades old stash (LC 52 head stamp).
All this brass I have been cleaning lately has really helped me clean up my tiny reloading bench, though most of it wasn't on my reloading bench. As I have been clearing it off I keep finding small batches of brass. If I didn't leave a small note with the brass, then I have to try to remember its provenance. Anyhow, I have much more room on my reloading bench now.
I buy my stainless steel pins for wet tumbling from Best Byte Computers in Katy, TX. I really like these ss pins. They are 0.047" X 0.255" and don't get stuck in flash holes or anywhere else in the case, with two exceptions thus far for me, .25 Auto and .30 Carbine. When stuck in .25 Auto or near the mouth of .30 Carbine cases they are easily removed (I straightened part of a paper clip and bent the tip into a hook that I can use to remove the pin). If they are stuck down near the flash hole in .30 Carbine, I have to use thin needle nose pliers to remove them. What's interesting is that the inside diameter of a .30 Carbine case is greater than the length of a single pin. What happens is that two pins end up stacked perpendicular to each other, then get wedged in the case. I assume the inside diameter gets smaller toward the base of the case and that causes the stuck pins to be that much more "stuck." This doesn't occur a lot, as I only had 3 cases out of 50-60 (edit: I was way off on my brass count, there were 159 pieces of .30 carbine that I cleaned) that got the pins wedged down close to the flash hole, but it does require me to look inside each and every .30 carbine case that I clean in order to check for stuck pins. Since I don't process a lot of .30 carbine brass it doesn't really matter to me, but if I did process a bunch of it, I would use shorter ss pins, if I could find them.
Last edited by WarEagleEd; 05-10-2020 at 09:11 AM.
The shipping cost takes them out of the running
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Low cost flat rate shipping for this part is available to all 50 states, $7.80 up to 10 lbs by USPS Priority Mail small flat rate box or $14.95 per 50 lbs by medium flat rate box.
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Amazon has a better deal if you are a Prime member. I bought the 2.5 pound deal a few years ago, and I think they will last a lifetime....
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Currently, Amazon has ss pins for $19.50 for 2.5 lbs, but you will also be charged tax (state tax in my state is 4% which would make the total bill $20.28). The same pins would be $20.05 from Best Byte, but tax is included.
Last edited by WarEagleEd; 05-10-2020 at 08:15 PM.
$18.65 on ebay for 2.5 lbs and free shipping
$21.69 for 3 lbs
$25.69 for 4 lbs
Same pins I've been using for a couple years. They work good.
I don’t even use pins. I’m not really that worried about the primer pockets or insides of the cases, I just want the outside clean so my dies don’t get scratched.
Which is the exact correct reason for cleaning brass. So your sizing dies don't get scratched.
Beyond that, it's all just a matter of personal taste.
Some people want to see their faces in the shiny brass. Etc.
However, except in extreme situations, cleaning the brass so meticulously really doesn't affect case volume or performance. In most cases, properly made cartridges should be better than the shooters ability to shoot them.
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I just started resizing a medium flat rate box of 40 S&W brass that I got in a trade. Its starting to rain and I rather enjoy sitting in my loading room and looking out of the window.
I haven’t done much at the loading bench lately other than loading up test loads for 223, WC844 powder under 62spbt, 62 steel core, and 75BTHP.
I intended to try them out at the range the other day, but that trip got cut short when someone hit another member with an ND. The guy that was injured was taken to the hospital but should be fine other than having a couple extra holes in him. The guy that had the ND was obviously rattled and the firearm in question was taken as evidence.
At the end of the day there was no permanent damage, but it just goes to show how important the commandments of gun safety are.
Ouch!!! I hope he is fine. What was the weapon? Pistol? Rifle? and what round? I've had 45's whiz by my ear lobes....not a good feeling....I've had hunting rounds hit above me in the trees....no idea what direction they came from was disconcerting....and other things.....but...when it's my turn to work in the pits...I get really weird feeling....but I don't tell anyone.
It was a 303 British. I’m not very proficient with WWII rifles, unfortunately, so I couldn’t tell you what the rifle was.
The round went through some foam and the side of the rifle case before it went through his leg. He also had a shrapnel wound in his back from the plastic gun case.
Finished melting over a ton of wheel weights into lead muffins. I think I have officially acquired my lifetime supply of bullet casting lead. It took me several years to accumulate this much. I feel accomplished now. That's a 40 gallon tote they are in and that's sitting on a strong concrete floor.
Last edited by SafetyJoe; 05-18-2020 at 10:40 PM.
Thats a nice pile of ingots! I for one can appreciate the work that was involved.
Are they all of exactly the same hardness?
I commonly create a batch of lead to cast into similar ingots. I measure the hardness of each batch and write that on the ingots with a sharpie pen that way I know if I'm casting rifle bullets to use the harder alloy. And if doing pistol bullets I know to use the softer alloy batches. Having a tub of randomly hard ingots could be confusing in the future
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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 |