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  • rp-

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    About half way through the batch a few days ago.
    95c50072ee428b135710b4ed85369c94.jpg


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    Orbie

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    Sorted all my brass and put it in new bags. Much of it was given to me and is for calibers that I don’t shoot. Most of that was already sorted but I sifted through it checking for randoms that may have been included. Majority of the 5.56, 9mm and 30-06 were mine while a good amount of the .45 belonged to me. For years, I’ve come home from range day and dumped all my brass in cans. I decided today that I’ll never do that again.

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    robertc1024

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    I bought big stacking tubs for mine - they work great.

    Holy Cow - Trying to give some love to my Savage 6.5 CM. I've loaded up a bunch of rounds for it, but never really figured out "the load" for it. So, I bought some Lapua brass, loaded it 50 of them and fired it through the rifle. That was months and months ago.

    So today, I was shocked - when I measured the cartridge lengths - to the headspace - they were within 0.001". Then I set up my full length die and bumped the shoulder back ~0.002", then only neck sized them to ~0.262 ish. Trim lengths were almost perfect - so skipped that. Ultrasonic is heating up - the one I have has a built in heater and when you get the water/dawn/lemishine up to ~40C or so, the cleaning only takes a few minutes. Loading precision rounds are a PITA, but very rewarding when you have the right concoction.

    Going to load them with slightly different grain weights of powder, chrono them and then decide on the load. I did that on some 55g .223 ammo, CFE223 with a different rifle and found a load that seems to work really, really well out of different rifles. I'm hoping to find the same with the Gaymoor.

    My biggest concern is the ability to get components. I've got a variety of stuff right now - regular CCI SR primers, CCI SR Benchrest primers, Winchester SR primers - etc. Berger 140g, Hornady 140g... I'd hate to find the perfect load and not be able to get more components. I guess, I just need to figure out what works, and buy a pile of the piece parts.
     

    deemus

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    I went with Hornady 140g SSTs for mine. Did a ladder test and got a .448 group, which is good fir me. Been loading that one.

    I see the 6.5 140 SSTs regularly, and always buy a box when I find one.
     

    robertc1024

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    I went with Hornady 140g SSTs for mine. Did a ladder test and got a .448 group, which is good fir me. Been loading that one.

    I see the 6.5 140 SSTs regularly, and always buy a box when I find one.
    Thanks! That's a good point. I've got the 140 ELD Match right now, but I've seen the SST's around too. I know the 123 grains were the go-to bullet for 6.5 Grendel when they quit making the 123 g AMax's. That might be a good choice if I can't find a good load with the ELD's.
     

    rp-

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    Well there it is. It wound up only being about 3700 rounds of 223. Filled up 3 medium flat rate boxes. No, I'm not shipping it in those boxes, just transporting back to my friend this weekend.
    38cf32a7525a3d2558cac55682a5285f.jpg


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    TXTad

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    I found a couple of videos of ballistic gel testing comparing the .32 Long wadcutter load to the .38 Special wadcutter load.
    Eye-opening, indeed.
    The .32 penetrated straight line in for around 14-15", when shot through one or two layers of denim.
    The .38 penetrated straight line close to 18"....

    This would lend credence to the notion of lighter wadcutter loads for the .38 being possibly more effective, or at least as effective as the hotter wadcutter loads....

    I think the .32 was chrono'd at about 675 fps.... and IIRC, the .38 was chrono'd at the mid to upper 700's.
    That test was pretty confidence-inspiring.... at least it's way better than throwing rocks at a bad guy...
    Not that it was ever a great choice, but the .32 S&W Long was a police caliber for several major cities for a long time.
     

    benenglish

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    Not just today, but the past couple of weeks I have been slowly building up my supply of .38 Special target WC loads.

    Previously I've been all in on my .44s and .45s. All of the sudden my interest is now on my .35s.

    View attachment 388230
    I assume that's for a revolver? The auto pistols for .38 Special pretty much all (there may be an exception of which I am unaware) require flush-seated WCs.
     

    Ozzman

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    I assume that's for a revolver? The auto pistols for .38 Special pretty much all (there may be an exception of which I am unaware) require flush-seated WCs.
    Not saying you are wrong, but I have never heard that...

    .38 Special headspaces to the rim of the cartridge, and not the case mouth or the projectile.
    I would not see any issues firing WC's loaded like TX Tad having any operation issues other than potential feeding issues.

    In my experience lever action Marlins like 'em loaded like this, and of course revolvers too.

    I don't have a Coonan or S&W model 52 to test it in SA mode.
     

    benenglish

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    I suppose cycling through lever actions can be fine based on the design. The Coonan is a .357 so it didn't enter my mind.

    But afaik the M52 and every 1911 conversion I've seen required flush-fit loads to function.

    Now that you've got me thinking about it I'm going to open a box of .38 AMU and see how the Army chose to seat those wadcutters.
     

    TXTad

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    I assume that's for a revolver? The auto pistols for .38 Special pretty much all (there may be an exception of which I am unaware) require flush-seated WCs.
    Yes. They are commercially cast DEWCs with a crimp goove. I've loaded them flush as well as to the crimp groove. They work just as well either way.

    These will feed my pre-model number K-38 Target Masterpiece as well as my two 1970s Combat Masterpieces.
     

    hornetguy

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    I've shot quite a few of those, myself..... my problem with them is that they are cast too hard, and are .357 in diameter, and they use a hard lube.

    They lead some.

    I have 3 or 4 different WC molds, and my cast ones work pretty well, with no leading. I've done lubrisizer, tumble lube, and PC.... it's a tossup between tumble lube and PC as to which I prefer..... the PC creates no smoke... the tumble lube does smoke a little bit, and the lubrisizer ones smoke quite a bit.
     

    TXTad

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    I've shot quite a few of those, myself..... my problem with them is that they are cast too hard, and are .357 in diameter, and they use a hard lube.

    They lead some.

    I have 3 or 4 different WC molds, and my cast ones work pretty well, with no leading. I've done lubrisizer, tumble lube, and PC.... it's a tossup between tumble lube and PC as to which I prefer..... the PC creates no smoke... the tumble lube does smoke a little bit, and the lubrisizer ones smoke quite a bit.
    They do. These are "old stock" that I've had for a while. I'm just loading them up to get rid of them. I've bought a few different molds lately, including several different WC molds. Once I'm done with school this summer I'm going to ease my way into PC.
     
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