So, I Was In The Loading Room Today...

[gizmo]

Any of y'all ever go out to the reloading bench and wonder what was in an unlabeled coffee can, open it, and see that it's 3/4 way full of coffee?


Asking for a friend.....

Well that explains all the misfires.

 

[Newboomer]

I've used CCI in the past but Win now for everything. I had good luck with CCI but stocked up on Win when I ran out of CCI.

 

[Newboomer]

I do everything on my Lee single stage. I had one of those blue monster turret things and it cost me a rifle. I didn't trust it and weighed about every tenth charge. Somehow some got through and it threw charges about ten grains over max. When I was at FTW Ranch I fired some that were OK but then got one that felt and sounded different. I couldn't get the bolt open by hand and we couldn't budge it with a hammer. I had Tim at FTW Ranch send it to High Country Rifles. They got the case out but the action was shot. Blown primer, swollen case and sprung action. They sent me the case and said the gun was unsalvagible. Even the barrel was damaged. Damn lucky I didn't get a mouthful of bolt.

Something to be said for a Browning A bolt 7 RM. Tough action.I pulled all the remaining bullets when I got home and found about half were overloaded. That machine came off my bench in one helluva hurry and I'll never use another turret press. I do it all on a single stage where I have control.

 

[Bullthrower338]

What powder were you throwing in that 7? Only thing I ever loaded in a 7 mag case that I could get 10 grains over max was a 4064 load I had for 100 grain sierras.
I load pistol ammo and 223, some 7.62 on the Dillon and have never had any issues close to that! I still check every 10-20 rounds because I don’t trust things just out of my nature. Never have had much deviation in my charge.
Glad you didn’t get hurt Boomer!

 

[Newboomer]

What powder were you throwing in that 7? Only thing I ever loaded in a 7 mag case that I could get 10 grains over max was a 4064 load I had for 100 grain sierras.
I load pistol ammo and 223, some 7.62 on the Dillon and have never had any issues close to that! I still check every 10-20 rounds because I don’t trust things just out of my nature. Never have had much deviation in my charge.
Glad you didn’t get hurt Boomer!

I had it set for 52.2 g of 4064 behind a Barnes 160 g TSX. I don't really know what happened to that batch. I had loaded a couple hundred rounds before with no problems. The ones I weighed after the f*&^%up came in at 65 to 75 g. They loaded OK but must have been a compressed load or close to it. Any way you look at it, it wasn't right. I pulled over 100 rounds and they were all over the place. No more turrets for me.

 

[gizmo]

That’s scary stuff right there. I have no interest in a progressive press. I like to hand load one at a time with everything under complete control. But I’m the ocd guy that goes waaaay over board on making things perfect. Each charge is loaded, weighed, checked, and double checked. Brass is sorted by weight, bullets the same, everything in my power is done to squeeze every ounce of accuracy out of each round. I enjoy it because it’s tedious. Probably not necessary but it’s therapeutic

 

[Ridgewalker]

Overpowder charge! What I do-
1) most of my accurate loads tend to be a couple of grains below listed max loads.
2) I drop or weigh 10 loads into cases (if dropping, I weigh every 10th load)
3) I take a small flashlight and go down the row looking to see if the charges are the same
4) finally I press the bullet
It may take a bit more time than dropping and pressing the bullet, but I have responsibilities (family) I have to take care of for a while longer.
JME
Best of luck and be careful out there!

 

[tarbe]

Soooo the seating depth adjustment looks awesome but loading the primers with a tweezer (that’s what the pic showed anyway) would drive me f’n crazy. My hands shake waaaay to bad for that shit.

I have done 400 round lots of 45 on the Bald Eagle and I’m not crazy I’m not crazy I’m not crazy.

 

[Rob404]

Another vote for the ChargeMaster, it really speeds up loading time

 

[Bullthrower338]

I have done 400 round lots of 45 on the Bald Eagle and I’m not crazy I’m not crazy I’m not crazy.

But the other guy in your head damn sure is! Lol

 

[Shootist43]

I have four of those Big Blue Progressive presses. To change the charge weight being dispensed, a hex bolt needs to be turned. My original Blue Progressive press needs to be indexed by hand. Failure to do so could result in a double charge which in a rifle will overfill the case and is immediately apparent. Until joining AH, all of my reloading was done on Blue Presses. I vividly remember loading some 404 Jeffery rounds with IMR 4064 when I should have been using H4350. I had completely forgotten that I had loaded up a few 35 Whelen rounds for a quick trip to the range. I broke a cardinal rule of reloading and had both powders on my bench at the same time. Luckily I caught the error before any shots were fired. I've loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds on Blue Presses without any equipment related issues. BTW I use a single stage press for reloading my big bores.

 

[Newboomer]

I use a loading block, trickle my charges into a pan on my scale, then dump it into a case. I weigh each one to the 1/10 of a grain. Before I do another charge, I move the funnel to the next case so I don't forget where I'm at. Then I look to make damn sure I have moved and that the case is charged correctly. When I get 50 rounds charged I start seating bullets. Takes a little time but I know it's done right. Reloading is my stress reliever.

 

[Shootist43]

Newboomer, that is pretty much how I load my big bores. Except that I use an electronic powder dispenser that is very accurate but no longer made. I then weigh every 5th charge on a digital scale. My automated powder dispenser usually drops charges that are from 3 to 5 pieces of extruded powder of being exact. This is well under 1/10 of a grain. I'm anal about powder weights and brass lengths. Like you reloading is one way I extend my hunting related pleasure.

 

[Bullthrower338]

 

[tarbe]

View attachment 274517

Poor only as the fallen world counts poor.

Wealthy beyond measure where it counts!

 

[Bullthrower338]

Poor only as the fallen world counts poor.

Wealthy beyond measure where it counts!

Well said TIM-fucious! You are a master!

 

[tarbe]

Holy cow!

MidwayUSA has Norma 404J brass for $1.20 each!

I was going to clean them out - then decided this would be my good deed for the day.

Go get ‘em boys!

Some other good Norma deals as well.

 

[tarbe]

@375 Ruger Fan and I were at the range today and we chronographed the two lots of 45/70 ammo.

The results are top secret and will be announced on 4/1.

Now sending my Henry 45/70 back to the factory for a new barrel (just kidding!).

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

The results are top secret and will be announced on 4/1.

The AH version of the Mueller Report.

 

[Rob404]

Holy cow!

MidwayUSA has Norma 404J brass for $1.20 each!

I was going to clean them out - then decided this would be my good deed for the day.

Go get ‘em boys!

Some other good Norma deals as well.

I just bought a 100rds of 7x57 Brass can't pass on a 100 for the price of 50