What did you do today in the world of reloading?

[The Dave]

I guess your concoction worked.

Sent from.... RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

It did... Kinda I need to work on annealing the brass. I think the trick is going to be to try to fire form them a little at a time. But for now they work and can be reloaded with standard large pistol primers. :-)

I was being extra careful the first couple shots. But these actually load and eject smoother than the plastic shells.


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[Vaquero]

It did... Kinda I need to work on annealing the brass. I think the trick is going to be to try to fire form them a little at a time. But for now they work and can be reloaded with standard large pistol primers. :-) View attachment 35887 View attachment 35888

I was being extra careful the first couple shots. But these actually load and eject smoother than the plastic shells.


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the bullet should penetrate the target, not the gun.

Seriously, I imagine the forming load pressure was pretty low. Should look great after firing a bullet.

 

[The Dave]

Is it just me, or does the case on the left look very, very bulged? It starts around halfway up the case.

Yes it is. I fired formed the .303 rifle brass to fit in a .410 shotgun. It is bulged because instead of over stressing the brass by trying to do it in one shot. At least that's what I read and sounds reasonable to me.


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[dobarker]

Learned how to make a homemade gas check groove on a 405grn .458 slug and loaded some pig pills.

 

[The Dave]

My gf and I have been working on fire forming .303 British brass into .410 shot shells. This isn't as straight forward as it may seem but the result is a shell that is much longer lasting than the plastic kinds and use standard large pistol primers. Meaning I don't have to stock up on another type of primer.

Fist step is (with EMPTY BRASS not loaded ammo) to machine down the case head this is easily done with a electric drill a corse file and a couple needle files. View attachment 35943 View attachment 35944 View attachment 35945

Check the head spacing in your gun View attachment 35946

If the bolt can't close remove a little more material. And repeat until the firearm will safely close in the loaded (spent brass) after this is completed deprive the case I found the Lyman Universal de-priming die works best for this with a shell holder from my Mosin Nagant kit.

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This would also be a good time to anneal the brass so that it is less likely to split during the fire forming process.


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[The Dave]

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I then add 9 grains of powder into the case with a TP wad and then load the case with regular oat meal

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Pack TP and cap with wax or white glue. View attachment 35951 View attachment 35952

Take them out to a safe area and shoot them the resulting case will not be perfect but will be close.

I found that a .44 sizing die works well to even out any bulges or minor imperfections during the firing process.

It may take 2-3 oat meal firings to get the cases right how you want them but once you are done you will have hand made brass .410 shot shells you can reload with ease.


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[The Dave]

These shells are almost harmless in fact I shot at a beer bottle some jacka** left on the ground and from 5' it just gently rolled the bottle a foot to two.

Every 5 or so shots I suggest a load of birdshot to clear all the oatmeal out of the bore.

Some shells may still split the neck but without annealing the brass you will lose a lot more than if you anneal.

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[Younggun]

Could be fouling. As the barrel fouls it slows the bullets down. This is based on the assumption that the powder is burnt in the first few inches. Just a guess though.

I thought (and have read) the same. Problem is, I can come back later and it doesn't pick up where it left off. It starts over at the higher velocity and slows again.

Also noticed if I let the rifle sit for a little bit the velocity drop with be less. I'm thinking its a hot barrel=increased friction type thing maybe.

I did swab the barrel once with a lightly oiled patch and gained over 100fps from the same load in a dry bore. Went from like 1,087 to 950 IIRC. Then followed the normal slowing cycle.

Hornady One Shot had a marginal effect.

 

[Charlie]

I need to load some 444 Marlin and 45 Colt before Hicksville! So you all can shoot some real manly cartridges!!

 

[robertc1024]

I need to load some 444 Marlin and 45 Colt before Hicksville! So you all can shoot some real manly cartridges!!

I'll be up to that. I have decided that tomorrow - after the brass dries - I'm going to make the best rounds of 9mm cartridges that have ever been assembled.

 

[Charlie]

Got a friend (with better eyesight than me) that shot a three round group less than .4" with a certain load with the 444 Marlin. I'll load some of them.

 

[robertc1024]

Be happy to shoot them. Hicksville couldn't come soon enough.

 

[Charlie]

Be happy to shoot them. Hicksville couldn't come soon enough.

You're welcome to, get ready for a thump.

 

[shadowwalker]

loaded 50 rounds of .45 ACP with some bullets I cast last winter. Test fired 10 of them in my 1911 and grinned like a jack ass eating stickers.

 

[robertc1024]

A pile of 9's. They are lurking in the Crown Royal bag - no, I didn't drink any while making them. Decided not to crimp them at all. They look fine to me.

 

[Skee]

Loaded up 1000 9mm 124 Grain Plated Flat Points.

 

[Younggun]

Tumbling some .308 subsonic brass right now.

Gonna load for and test for accuracy. If it's good (enough) I'll come back and load up 20 to shoot groups at 50, 75, 100, 125, and 150 yards to get my DOPE.

Then it's on to fine tuning the 110gr Vmax rounds, getting the DOPE numbers, and coming up with an efficient way to state the data for the different loads so I can grab what is needed, make the adjustment for the given ammo and situation.

Gonna be thuper tactical.

 

[BennyS]

Primed 100 rounds of 45 acp

 

[Younggun]

I went outside and remembered I'm out of heavy 308 projectiles for SS 300BO, so just grabbed some at lunch.

Just use 110gr Vmax.

 

[Ozzman]

Yesterday...

- Powder Coated 90 .309 160 gr bullets for the M1 Garand for a later date, as well as an additional 150 bullets of .40 S&W in HF black.
- Reloaded 112 .357 magnum cases from tumble & resize to finish... 8.5 gr of 2400 under a 158 gr 45-45-10 lubed lead bullet.