What did you do in the reloading room today?
- Thread starter Mike Overlay
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Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
Just finished putting the finishing touches on my load development spreadsheet/record. Kind of pleased with it. Can be printed on a single page and remain legible. I think.Ugly as the data is, the spreadsheet works even if there are issues with the load.
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hlpressley
Member
That’s super cool! Nice job! Wish I was that tech savvy.
Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
Will be glad to send to you if you are interested seeing as you are a tinkerer also. I could not keep up with my data and this is my latest attempt. It graphs, calculates STDEV, and extreme spread, automatically as you fill in the muzzle velocity and it does some of the other calculations like seating depth and jump to lands based on you input data. It still lacks some data that I want to add like lot#, etc., but keeping it to a single page is a high priority for me.
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The 308 brass in the last picture I posted has been fully processed (final wet tumble, sorted by headstamps). Last night I loaded up my first 308 test loads, using Hornady 178 A-Max bullets and Varget powder. I'm loading for a bolt-action Savage Axis, and determined the OAL @ 2.870" which is 0.020" off the lands. Much longer than SAAMI spec OAL, but still fits the Savage magazine.
Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
That is one of the things that I want to add that has fallen off in an effort to get it to a single page and legible. I had a column in the table for it, but I needed a magnifying glass. to read it then.
My solution will be to use target reading software and just save the pictures into the same file. That will really only interest me, if the accuracy differs from the muzzle velocity. If they are the same, then I am not concerned at all with it. If they differ, I will have to determine if I was the problem or the ammo.
I actually have one of these that showed me that 3 fouling rounds was not enough to settle the barrel after cleaning. My entire first series was significantly lower than the others, but tightened up with the others as I got further into the ladder. I know don't run a ladder with less than 10 rounds through the barrel.
hlpressley
Member
Played around on the 650 for a while this weekend. Been a while since I had loaded any pistol rounds.
I’ve been tumbling brass as time allows for the last two days. Still have about three loads to go I believe. I haven’t loaded or cleaned anything in about four years, it’s nice to get started again.
Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
Finally confirmed a suspicion raised by another forum member (one of two cannot remember which) regarding scales and the "settling" programs. Was having some problems with wide Extreme Spreads on speed and suspected that my scale was not as sensitive as I thought, so began making it standard practice, as I came close to weight, to remove and reset the pan on the scale after each time I trickled powder. In so doing I found that I frequently got weight increases that did not register before I removed and "resettled" the scale. Before I began this practice my .243 loads were averaging around 30-40 fps extreme spreads and mid teens to 20 fps STDEV.
Yesterday I chronoed the first loads using this new method and the results were beyond my expectations using Hornady brass, neck turned (-1/1000), annealed, using 87 gn. Hornady V-Max on a Forster Coax. Extreme Spread of 6 fps and STDEV of 2 fps
Yesterday I chronoed the first loads using this new method and the results were beyond my expectations using Hornady brass, neck turned (-1/1000), annealed, using 87 gn. Hornady V-Max on a Forster Coax. Extreme Spread of 6 fps and STDEV of 2 fps
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Can’t argue with the results!
So, if you were doing it again would you even buy electric or just throw .5g low with a powder measure and trickle on the beam scale?
Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
I don't have any experience with automatic powder measures, but I have pans to correct that in the future. There is no question that automatic measures are a time saver and my process makes trickling even more time consuming. In the same discussion I had with another forum member that led to this, he made the logical observation that automatic powder measures would have to account for automatic trickling in their programming, so the "stabilizing" portion of the program would have to account for it to provide the best accuracy. The load cell has to be active when the motor is running.
So my observation is most likely only applicable to using "stand alone" digital scale when throwing charges manually and trickling manually.
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Probably, but that sounds like planning... ain't nobody got time for that.Nah, you need more brass to let it dry for a few days before you need it,
Trusty ol' toaster oven dries it just a little slower than I can tumble another batch.
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You make her sort some brass in exchange for using the bench? Tell her it’s kinda like putting the seat down, just something wives do out of respect for their husbands.
What is that vise block?
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FatboyFlash
Senior Member
I wet tumbled several thousand .40 cases and a couple thousand 9mm cases. I also loaded 500 9mm major loads
Loaded up some 165gr Accubonds in LC brass over CCI primers and IMR4064 40.5 gas to be exact. Got some ready for hog hunting and just general shooting. This recipe shoots really good in my Ruger American Predator!
Nah, she’s one of a kind. Shoots, sorts and rolls her own. Let’s say, 20% stakeholder. Its still hunting season so I’m not using hot and heavy yet.
Vise....
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...X&ved=0ahUKEwiS1OyXjvHXAhVV2WMKHekuDLIQ8wIIOg
Pads (big time value add, IMHO).....
Bessey BV-NVJ Multi-Purpose Vise Jaws (Jaws Only)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057PUEZO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_luAjAbW9CJ824
Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
lol my wife said "you mean you have to PHYSICALLY put the bullet on the case???" I said "not if you let me get a progressive setup with a bullet and case feeder. It'll be a few thousand though"
I like that idea.....
She a clinical researcher by trade. So after obvserving me cut my teeth and back track a few times of the last 3 years, she decided to add “ and oh yeah, I load my own” to her talk off. Many of the doctors she works with like to think they know something about guns before they talk to her. she has been thoroughly brainwashed at this point.
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Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
It would take me two weeks to clear that much space on my reloading bench for my wife to wrap presents. But then it may be worth the effort.
Picked up 4K S&B SPP from Cabelas on sale plus used my 18% off gift card!
Loaded 150 357 Mag. bullets. 180 grn coated SWC over 9.8 Grns. of Blue Dot and CCI 550 primer. Est 1058 ft/sec. and a 1.55" O.A.L. these are for the lever action rifle.
What to do on a cold, rainy Saturday...
Processed another 400 pieces of 308 brass, mixed headstamps, range pickups. LC, FC, RP, MKE, Aquila, and Perfecta made up the majority. Also some ICC, WCC, F&S, BHA and a couple others.
I decided to compare weights, and the LC brass were all over the place. I could tell some had been shot in an HK or CETME, as the fluted chamber left marks on them. I ended up tossing most of these since rims had been abused and would not pass the case gauge test. Surprisingly, the weights of the Aquila and Perfecta brass were fairly consistent, and close to the same average weight of the LC. The RP brass averaged about 10gn less than the LC.
I don't know what I am going to do with this info, I just was curious.
Processed another 400 pieces of 308 brass, mixed headstamps, range pickups. LC, FC, RP, MKE, Aquila, and Perfecta made up the majority. Also some ICC, WCC, F&S, BHA and a couple others.
I decided to compare weights, and the LC brass were all over the place. I could tell some had been shot in an HK or CETME, as the fluted chamber left marks on them. I ended up tossing most of these since rims had been abused and would not pass the case gauge test. Surprisingly, the weights of the Aquila and Perfecta brass were fairly consistent, and close to the same average weight of the LC. The RP brass averaged about 10gn less than the LC.
I don't know what I am going to do with this info, I just was curious.
Today I loaded up a batch of .38 Spl 158 grain HBWC's. Also managed to knock out 3 or 4 sparkly clean unused primers from brass that I forgot I had already sized and primed before I caught my error. DOH !
I guess last time I ran I drained the 10 or 12 primers remaining in the primer feeder tube by pressing them into some clean brass and then set them aside and they somehow got mixed into some un-prepped cases in a bench kerfuffle. Yeah, its only some .03 cent primers but now I have damaged my profit/ loss spreadsheet for this month
I guess last time I ran I drained the 10 or 12 primers remaining in the primer feeder tube by pressing them into some clean brass and then set them aside and they somehow got mixed into some un-prepped cases in a bench kerfuffle. Yeah, its only some .03 cent primers but now I have damaged my profit/ loss spreadsheet for this month
FatboyFlash
Senior Member
I sorted about 4000 9mm brass to get rid of the crappy FM, Ammoland, and IMT head stamps. Then I loaded about 80 rounds just because I was there and the primers were in the tube.
Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
I have quite a few perfecta .308 brass cases and theyre exactly as you have described. Which is surprising since their
223 brass is pure shite
Yeah, I was surprised as well.
What also surprised me was that in .223, the federal cases for the most part are shorter than the trim-to length, while some of the LC brass need a lot of trimming. In .308, I saw the reverse.
Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
yep. American Eagle and Federal .223 cases that aren't LC are basically shite as well. Lots of runout and short trim lengths. No thanks, not with cheap LC out there. I can swage as a part of my case prepping.
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Sorted some range brass. Good mix. Lots of 45acp and 223. 9mm, 40, 308, 30-06, 7.62x39, 357sig, 44mag, 44spl, a couple 357mag, some 38spl, couple 300blk, 30-30, and 50ae. I have more than one mag full of 50ae, so I need to buy something in that caliber now.
FatboyFlash
Senior Member
I have not seen any of that but I'll add that to the list of headstamps to check for. Thanks.
hlpressley
Member
They ought to be shot!
Maxxtech doesn't bother me, but I'm not loading major. Many accounts of seperations leaving the ring even in minor though.
CBC is my 9mm nemesis, haven't had a piece pass gauge yet.
There's brass washed steel S&B too, I don't care, but you might.
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Charlie R
You can't take ammo home!
Dumped about a pound and a half of Autocomp all over the floor
Was it your first time? Did it hurt much?