What did you do today in the world of reloading?

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  • rp-

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    Won a Facebook raffle for 500 380 brass + 500 extreme 380 bullets. Haven't won one in along time. Also ordered 1000 more 380 brass and another 100 44mag off a guy on the cast boolits forum. Just happened to look over there and found a great deal.

    My 'worlds cheapest trimmer' came today. Man that was easy to setup. Trimmed a piece of brass to 1.742, put it in the WCT, adjusted the end mill until it touched the tip, set the lock screw. That was it. Less than 5 minutes, including trying to figure out where my calipers were! Ran a few tests and they all came out at 1.7425-1.7430. might reset it to aim closer to ±1.745.

    Death in the family (step daughter's grandma) so the wife is taking all of the kids out to Nebraska for the next week. I'll have plenty of time to try this thing out. I'll let you guys know how it does.

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    Younggun

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    Worked up 2 more .264 CM loads at 42gr and 42.2.

    Plan is to get up and shoot them in the morning before the mirage picks up. Don't expect much difference between them but figured what the hell. It will keep all my brass with the same number of firings and if it acts pretty much the same as the 42.1gr load I know the accuracy will be maintained as conditions change or if I accidently drop an extra .1gr.

    It's also an excuse to shoot tomorrow.
     

    TheMailMan

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    I did some 10 round lots of loads for 155 gr swc in the .45 AP. Three different powders at four weights each.

    Then I loaded 200 rounds of the Lyman 452389 bullet with 3.7 gr WST. That load puts the brass about 2-3 feet away. I really wanted 3.5 to work with that bullet, and it would if I changed the springs, but about 1-10 will stovepipe. At 3.7 that problem goes away. It's still a very soft shooting load.
     

    rp-

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    Got out of my class today and drove up to Cabela's to blow some gift cards. Picked up a few K primers, some more 223 bullets, some 90gr XTPs, another bag of shot, and 100 more shotgun primers. I'll be damned if I didn't set the shotgun primers down and forget where I put them. I was putting stuff away in my reloading area so I know they didn't go far. I'm not even mad. I'm afraid I'm gonna roll over them in my chair and have a code brown...

    When. I got home I had a box of 380 and 44 brass waiting for me. Cleaning those now. Gonna start reaming some 223s and keep a suspicious eye out for those shotgun primers.

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    deemus

    my mama says I'm special
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    Worked up 2 more .264 CM loads at 42gr and 42.2.

    Plan is to get up and shoot them in the morning before the mirage picks up. Don't expect much difference between them but figured what the hell. It will keep all my brass with the same number of firings and if it acts pretty much the same as the 42.1gr load I know the accuracy will be maintained as conditions change or if I accidently drop an extra .1gr.

    It's also an excuse to shoot tomorrow.


    Sometimes those .1g differences can surprise you.
     

    TheMailMan

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    At 0750 this morning I received a new bullet mold from Amazon. I cleaned it up with hot soapy water and let it dry. Then I lubed the points that needed lubed and smoked the cavities. Got it good and hot, let it cool down and then got it hot again and started casting. The mold is a six cavity Lee 125 gr 9mm ball. The bullets were falling like rain. I cast up around 350 of those then cast up some more RCBS 225 gr .45 ball bullets.

    Refilled the pot and switched benches. Loaded up 200 .45 ACP with 6.9 gr of Power Pistol and a Hornady 230 XTP hollow point. I then grabbed some ammo I loaded the other day and had to seat the bullets a bit deeper. The bullet is a 230 gr lead hollow point. The ammo had passed the plunk test but the bullet ogive was hitting the mags and causing problems. I shortened them up by "0.05 and now they function in the mags.

    That Lee mold is a replacement for an Arsenal mold that was supposed to be a clone of the Lee. It's not. The bullet profile is fatter and I have yet to find a COAL that will work with that bullet. Sadly I could have bought two Lee molds for what I paid for the Arsenal mold.
     

    rp-

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    I have that Lee mold in 2 cavity. It was pretty beat up when I got it. I have cast several hundred with it though. I have a 6 cavity of the tumble lube rn mold I use more though. You can really crank them out with a 6 cavity mold.

    When I get home tonight I'm gonna have to sort some wheel weights and melt some ingots. Need to fire up the new 2 cavity 380 mold I picked up before the wife gets back to town.

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    orbitup

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    Among other things I fashioned a label for a dummy round.

    b04ae99d606248ad628d2b400a410855.jpg
     

    fishingsetx

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    At 0750 this morning I received a new bullet mold from Amazon. I cleaned it up with hot soapy water and let it dry. Then I lubed the points that needed lubed and smoked the cavities. Got it good and hot, let it cool down and then got it hot again and started casting. The mold is a six cavity Lee 125 gr 9mm ball. The bullets were falling like rain. I cast up around 350 of those then cast up some more RCBS 225 gr .45 ball bullets.

    Refilled the pot and switched benches. Loaded up 200 .45 ACP with 6.9 gr of Power Pistol and a Hornady 230 XTP hollow point. I then grabbed some ammo I loaded the other day and had to seat the bullets a bit deeper. The bullet is a 230 gr lead hollow point. The ammo had passed the plunk test but the bullet ogive was hitting the mags and causing problems. I shortened them up by "0.05 and now they function in the mags.

    That Lee mold is a replacement for an Arsenal mold that was supposed to be a clone of the Lee. It's not. The bullet profile is fatter and I have yet to find a COAL that will work with that bullet. Sadly I could have bought two Lee molds for what I paid for the Arsenal mold.
    I have the lee 6 cavity 9mm 123 gr RN tumble lube and after about 3k rounds havent been impressed. The mold works has always worked great, but the bullets arent accurate out of anything ive tried them in (beretta 92, taurus 709 slim, a buddy's glock with wolf barrel, a springfield xdm, etc). Sized (.356) or not sized (drop between .358 and .360). I also have a problem with them leading the barrel. I tried powder coating them and that solved the leading issue, but the accuracy issue was still there. One of these days, I may slug the barrel and check the bullet diameter, but Im sticking to FMJ for the time being. No issues with any of the other calibers I cast for, just the 9mm.

    Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!
     

    TheMailMan

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    I have the lee 6 cavity 9mm 123 gr RN tumble lube and after about 3k rounds havent been impressed. The mold works has always worked great, but the bullets arent accurate out of anything ive tried them in (beretta 92, taurus 709 slim, a buddy's glock with wolf barrel, a springfield xdm, etc). Sized (.356) or not sized (drop between .358 and .360). I also have a problem with them leading the barrel. I tried powder coating them and that solved the leading issue, but the accuracy issue was still there. One of these days, I may slug the barrel and check the bullet diameter, but Im sticking to FMJ for the time being. No issues with any of the other calibers I cast for, just the 9mm.

    Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!

    I'm not a fan of the tumble lube bullets. 9mm for me is the problem child with cast bullets and reloading. The Lee 125 has been my least problematic bullet for both.
     

    rp-

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    Hi-Tek. I used to powder coat but the Hi-Tek is quicker and works like a champ.
    I bought a bunch of hi-tek bullets once from a reputable guy. They were garbage. I hit them with a hammer and they would flake off really bad. It just kind of ruined my perception of hi-tek. I tried powder coat and liked it. I've been using harbor freight red and some Eastwood powders but recently just picked up a few new colors from a guy on the cast boolits page. He sells a lot on there and they say his powders are the best. Figured I'd give it a try.

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    TheMailMan

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    I bought a bunch of hi-tek bullets once from a reputable guy. They were garbage. I hit them with a hammer and they would flake off really bad. It just kind of ruined my perception of hi-tek. I tried powder coat and liked it. I've been using harbor freight red and some Eastwood powders but recently just picked up a few new colors from a guy on the cast boolits page. He sells a lot on there and they say his powders are the best. Figured I'd give it a try.

    Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

    If it flaked off it wasn't applied correctly. It's pretty simple stuff, but it's amazing how people manage to screw it up.

    5 ml per 5.5 lbs of bullets. Swirl, pour, let dry. Bake at 400° for 10-11 minutes. Repeat. Size, load, and shoot.

    I headed to the range today to try some powder puff .45 ACP loads for function. Before shooting I checked the other pistol ranges for brass. Someone kindly left me ~250 rounds of RP brass on one range and there were another 50 or so on the range I was using.

    I finally found a load that flat doesn't shoot. 5.5 gr of IMR Red under a 155 gr SWC. I'm not the greatest shot around for sure. I normally shoot at 10 yards using a B-29 target. I'll also use some 3" stick on dots. I can normally keep all my rounds on that 3" dot with no problems. With the load above that 3" dot was safe. I fired 50 rounds at it and they were all hitting 2-3" low and in an arc below the target. I thought it must be me. I loaded up a different load and hit the dot no problem.

    Make fun of me all ya want. I'm getting older, blinder, and shakier. The B-29 target is right at the same size as a human torso. If I can keep my shots inside the 9 ring on the target I'm getting solid COM hits.
     

    avvidclif

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    Years ago I tried loading 9mm cast bullets. 95gr RN IIRC. loaded them in 380 cases. I never could get them to shoot accurately. Finally figured out the bullets didn't have enough bearing surface and would seat in the case slightly crooked
     

    TheMailMan

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    Years ago I tried loading 9mm cast bullets. 95gr RN IIRC. loaded them in 380 cases. I never could get them to shoot accurately. Finally figured out the bullets didn't have enough bearing surface and would seat in the case slightly crooked

    I've got a custom powder funnel for my Dillon 650 XL. I can sit those 155s in there no problem. Not to mention they just look good.

    155.jpg
     
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