What did you do in the reloading room today?

I used some new 44mag brass one time and had one heck of a time running them through the expander, I finally had to lube them all to get it to work. Lee powder-thru expander.
wash em in armor all wash and wax and all that goes away. Another benefit to wet tumbling, even new brass.

I loaded some plinking .38spl loads with 125gr berry's plated HPs and 3.5gr of IMR target. About an 850-900ish FPS super-low recoil steel target round. Should make good beginning shooter ammo for some family coming into town this week.
 
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Geared up for some bulk .223 reloading. The Dillon CV2001 has been humming all day polishing brass and I loaded up my test ammo tonight. I have a bunch of WC844 powder that I'm going to use with some 55/62gr FMJ pills

Was planning to hit the range tomorrow, but it looks like it's going to be a washout.
 
Reloaded 40 - 6.5 CM with 140 ELDs, 40 - 308 with 150 FMJ
then to the handgun - 250 - 9 MM with 3.8 gns of Bullseye under RMR 124 RN bullets
 
I would clean that die with brake clean and spray some CLP on it and let it sit for a while. The powder thru dies do get stick especially if you have it set to flare much
Not a bad idea. It doesn’t hurt to take the insert out to clean/polish it once in a while.
 
Loaded up a few more test loads last night. Shot them at the range today. Came back, cleaned guns, sorted and decapped brass.
 
Decap and cleaned 150 pieces of 45/70. Added powder inventory, bullet inventory to spread sheet. Getting ready to load all the 45 70 brass on hand. Also preparing to load .348 win.
 
I tried my hand at powdercoating for the first time today. I just did a small batch as a learning/practice experience. The color is a little "mottled" and there are a few thick areas but overall I think it went pretty well.

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And I received a Lee Pro 4-20 pot for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to trying it out. :D
 
Not really reloading but picked up some brass from the range today. I never realized how big the Nosler 28 is. That has to be one hell on a load. Also got some 6.5 PCM brass. That looks to me an interesting caliber.
 
Not today, but last night: finally got the used Lee turret press (that I picked up months ago) set up & began tinkering with it. Had some frustrating issues with it - alignment, not indexing, primer feed wonky as all get out - but have to admit most of that is just mee getting used to new-fangled, multi-stage stuff!
 
Refreshed a wet tumbler chamber and made a new one for continuous tumbling
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Reloaded the 204 Ruger that I shot yesterday. Total of 40 - 20 using Hornady V-max and 20 using Hornady V-max 40. Both over 26.7 and 26.5 gns of Benchmark.

It is raining here today so thinking about reloading some 223 if I get bored.
 
Loaded up some 9x19s with 3N38 and SRPs and 147 HSTs. I wasn't getting the expected velocities with SPPs, so talked with VV, did some research, and figured this was at least worth trying out. Started with the min load and worked up to max with a 1.152" COAL (book is 1.142" with XTPs). If this works out as I expected, then I'll be looking to trade several thousand CCI 500s for CCI 400s in BST soon. :D

The Wolf SRP work well with 3N38, FYI.
Good solid crimp is a must for clean burn.
I've not used 147's, only 115/124gr so YMMV.
 
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The Wolf SRP work well with 3N38, FYI.
Good solid crimp is a must for clean burn.
I've not used 147's, only 115/124gr so YMMV.
I'm still getting about 100 FPS below the advertised velocity (even with a completely different lot of powder). I figure I'm going to switch to Longshot after I use up my 3N38.
 
I'm still getting about 100 FPS below the advertised velocity (even with a completely different lot of powder). I figure I'm going to switch to Longshot after I use up my 3N38.

If I were seeing 100fps below book with a 5" barrel, I would get closer to the lands.
(Increase COAL).
If your shooting a 2011 then you will probably hit max mag length before hitting the lands?
 
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If I were seeing 100fps below book with a 5" barrel, I would get closer to the lands.
(Increase COAL).
If your shooting a 2011 then you will probably hit max mag length before hitting the lands?
Increasing COAL seemed counterintuitive to me, but made sense once you described it. In this case, I'm running in a 4" Glock, but sticking to the book load, so hopefully not blowing any fingers off.

Also, related to the overall thread, I bought all I needed to have an entire different 9x19 toolhead for my 650. I tend to have an hour max a day to reload (or do anything else for pleasure), so I figured by buying an additional toolhead setup I can always be ready to load plinking loads with just an easy swap. I already set it up for a Titegroup load that I was able to test today. Now I can finally work through my glut of Titegroup. :)
 
Added another 1,100 bullets to the shelf for 300BLK.
500 125gr TNT, 500 110gr Varmageddon, 100 208gr Amax. Listed all of my Amax’s for sale, I just don’t use them, I shoot mostly supers.

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I purchased a single stage press, and a few accessories. I am brand new to reloading, and aiming to work up a load for my Tikka 30-06. I mounted the press on a 2x8 frame sitting on a bench in my garage. So far, I have:

  • RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit
  • RCBS universal accesory mounting plate
  • RCBS full length sizing and seating die set
  • Hornady case trimmer
  • OAL gauge +Bullet comparator (Hornady)
  • Shoulder comparator insert (Sinclair)
  • Digital 6" micometer (Mitutoyo)
  • shell holders (RCBS and Hornady)
  • case lube, and neck lube

From my research, I still need to get a few items before I can get started working up a load for my rifle, namely:

  • Brass tumbler
  • Flash hole de-burring tool
I can't wait to load up some of the components that I've picked up along the way. These new Hornady EDL-X bullets are insanely long. I doubt they will fit my magazine if I seated any wear close to the lands, but time will certainly tell.

Photo of Sierre Game King 165gr beside a Hornady 178 EDL-X :

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Work some brass that I shot yesterday and some range brass that I picked up. This is the first time that I have run into 6 CM brass. Also got some 338 Laupa brass. For what, I have no idea.
 
Loaded 200 9mm blue bullets. Had to reset my decap/sizer. Somehow it came a little loose, and wasn't resizing the brass fully. Had a few rounds went in and locked the gun up from the brass getting stuck in the chamber. Reset, and checked, and problem solved. Now it's time to churn some of those blue puppies out again.
 
Trying to clean up my storage cabinet. Found some brass and also 100 bullets in a load that I have not loaded since 2016 (per log) and I know it has been that long since I have shot it.
7.62 x 39 - Accurate 1680 24.3 gns (100 rounds)
Hornady 123 SP CCI 200 Primer

While looking through the MTM boxes that I had with brass in them, I found a MTM box of 50 - 308s and a box of 9 MM that I will load after dinner. Not sure what I am going to load the 308s with but the 9s will be topped with Hornady 115 hp.
 
Cruised the PSA website tonight and found several items reduced in price. Stupid not to buy these

The taper crimp seaters can be used as separate crimp dies, just remove the seating stems. Good deal!
 
The taper crimp seaters can be used as separate crimp dies, just remove the seating stems. Good deal!
Yep.

I cast bullets for every thing listed in that post. With the taper crimp dies I can make sure that the crimp is right for what I cast.

PSA did list a .38spcl taper die, but I roll crimp those because they are used only in revolvers.

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Cleaned some brass. Technically I did it in the garage not the reloading room. ;)
 
Decided I needed to use up some components to make room for more. ;) Loaded up 100 rounds of 30-06, for the “finest battle implement ever devised”. Also loaded up 200 rounds of 44 mag. I have never used up that much powder in one loading session before.
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I got 50 rnds of 30BR loaded. Process: 0000 steel wool on outside neck, spinning brush on inside neck, bushing neck size/decap, clean primer pocket with spinning primer pocket brush, weight sort primers, prime cases, charge cases with powder via Autotrickler, weight sort bullets, BTO measure sort bullets, seat bullets. There was lunch and a nap somewhere in there too. I swore I would never get into benchrest competition shooting and now I'm neck deep.
 
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