What did you do in the reloading room today?

Loaded up 100 rounds of 45acp 230gr FMJ 5.5 Win 231 and 100 rounds of 38special 148gr DEWC 2.4gr Bullseye
 
Finally finished up about 1300 223 cases that I started processing a couple of weeks ago. I would work an hour here and there when I got a chance. All once fired LC, had to swage the primer pockets as well as decap, size, wash, trim, chamfer, etc. glad to get it all done. Then I immediately turned my attention to about 300 pieces of 30-30 brass that needed the same.
 
Finally finished up about 1300 223 cases that I started processing a couple of weeks ago. I would work an hour here and there when I got a chance. All once fired LC, had to swage the primer pockets as well as decap, size, wash, trim, chamfer, etc. glad to get it all done. Then I immediately turned my attention to about 300 pieces of 30-30 brass that needed the same.

You have been a little busy. I did 50 pieces of LC brass the other day and that was enough for that day.
 
You have been a little busy. I did 50 pieces of LC brass the other day and that was enough for that day.
I don't know what it is about the 5.56 LC brass, it seems that about 95% of them require a lot of trimming. The LC 7.62 brass that I have come across don't require much trimming at all. The 30-30 brass was much quicker to process than the LC 223 brass.
 
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I don't know what it is about the 5.56 LC brass, it seems that about 95% of them require a lot of trimming. The LC 7.62 brass that I have come across don't require much trimming at all. The 30-30 brass was much quicker to process than the LC 223 brass.

Mine is 7.62 and most are just a slight trim as you say.
 
Mine is 7.62 and most are just a slight trim as you say.
I find it interesting that in 5.56, the FC brass requires little or no trimming (many are shorter than the trim-to length) while the LC brass need lots of trimming. In 7.62, it is reversed, the LC needs little trimming while many of the FC require lots of trimming.

And then there is the Perfecta. Lots of off-center flash holes in 5.56, but in 7.62 they are all centered. At least in the batches I have seen.
 
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I find it interesting that in 5.56, the FC brass requires little or no trimming (many are shorter than the trim-to length) while the LC brass need lots of trimming. In 7.62, it is reversed, the LC needs little trimming while many of the FC require lots of trimming.

And then there is the Perfecta. Lots of off-center flash holes in 5.56, but in 7.62 they are all centered. At least in the batches I have seen.

You are the second person now that has mentioned off-center flash holes. Someone I was talking to a few weeks ago was telling me the same thing. Never heard mention of it until this year. Wonder what is up with that? If it is just something that has started to happen.
 
Are off center flash holes cause for concern?
As far as the performance of cartridge, I don't think it would significantly affect anything.

There could be problems during the reloading process. If the decapping pin doesn't find the off-center hole, it may be bent. For some operations that use the flash hole for centering, like the Lee collet neck sizer or case trimmers, the off-center flash hole could cause runout or non-square case mouths.
 
Brought my new supply of York Peppermint Patties out to fridg. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!
 
Casting and reloadingnow has push shooting/unloading to 3rd on hobby list. About 200 530 gr. 45/70.

You were aiming for Toprudder? I guess that makes me "collateral damage". That's all it would take, a gas burner and a big pot to stand over, pouring molten lead, and stopping at every garage to scrounge for used wheel weights, for the wife to sign the commitment papers and sell all of the guns and reloading stuff and retire to an island somewhere.

On the positive side, it would probably ratchet up the neighbor's concerns about me to another level. Maybe I could even quit crossing my eyes when I talk to them.
 
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You were aiming for Toprudder? I guess that makes me "collateral damage". That's all it would take, a gas burner and a big pot to stand over, pouring molten lead, and stopping at every garage to scrounge for used wheel weights, for the wife to sign the commitment papers and sell all of the guns and reloading stuff and retire to an island somewhere.

On the positive side, it would probably ratchet up the neighbor's concerns about me to another level. Maybe I could even quit crossing my eyes when I talk to them.
Sorry I didn't mean to leave you out. I just know Toprudder has sickness as an engineer. The testing possibilities go up exponentially when adding cast bullet combinations. Plus with all the money he is saving "reloading" , now he can save even more.
On a side note....I am at .21 a round loading 45 70 by casting. Are they good? Well I am narrowing down a load for the 530 gr 45 70. My first three shots have a SD of 14 and was within a inch of each other at 100 yards. The gun is 2nd from top....and the 45 70. Toprudder will come to the dark side 20180405_182456.jpg 20180420_191147.jpg
 
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Went to the range today and done some plinking with a couple hundred or so 9mm & 38 Specials I had reloaded, and a few factory 357 Magnums. Time to load up some more.

I've been thinking a lot about getting into casting, but just reading about it at this stage. I'm thinking I'd like to start out by casting my own DEWCs for the 38/357. Maybe just tumble lubing to start, then possibly move into powder coating. But it looks like a whole 'nother hobby to spend money on.
 
Sorry I didn't mean to leave you out. I just know Toprudder has sickness as an engineer. The testing possibilities go up exponentially when adding cast bullet combinations. Plus with all the money he is saving "reloading" , now he can save even more.
Can’t start casting now. I still have some powders I have not tested yet. ;)
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Changed my 40 s&w load from lead cast to Hi Tek coated ran off 50 to test before a long run
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and the bench
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Decapped and wet tumbled a bunch of 38 Special and 357 Mag brass. Hopefully I'll get time soon to put some of these in them:

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I've used them in 38 before, but haven't tried them in 357 Magnum yet.
 
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Last night ran 250 45 ACP using Extreme 230 RN over 4.4 grn of Titewad (trying to use up that powder) and 100 223 using Hornady 68 gn Match bullets over 22.3 grns of Benchmark
 
Last night ran 250 45 ACP using Extreme 230 RN over 4.4 grn of Titewad (trying to use up that powder) and 100 223 using Hornady 68 gn Match bullets over 22.3 grns of Benchmark
Takes a long time to use up a bottle of Titewad! Aptly named.
 
Put another coat of paint under the eves of my load shed. Bees were starting to thank me for putting all that nice wood there for them. Now there are two coats.
 
Loaded up another 200 rounds of 44 Magnum (240 gr RMR FMJFP bullets) on a single stage press. Man, I need to find a reasonably priced Dillon 550:confused:
I have a 550, but I do all my revolver rounds on my Lee turret. If I am doing a production run, I will use the auto-index feature and can crank out about 200-250 rounds in an hour. I don't shoot nearly as much revolver as I do semi-auto, though.
 
After my trip to the range on Saturday, I needed to replenish some of what I shot. I loaded 200 rounds of 9mm specifically for my AR 9. (RMR 115 fmj, Power Pistol). I also loaded some more 223 with Hornady 55SP bullets and Varget. This session was the first time I loaded 223 on my Dillon 550, using a Lee Auto-Drum measure to drop Varget. I was very happy with the consistency, about +/- 0.2gn (target 26.5gn).
 
Preparing final load test for 2 different powders for the 530 gr 45 70. I don't think I will get any better by bracketing on either side of the powder charge, but I have to make sure.
 
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