My first reloads ever

[tele_mark]

I just got done using my Lee 1000 to load my first ever batch of ammo. It's .40 S&W, 180 gr. Hornady XTP's, 9.5 grains of Alliant 2400, and CCI primers. The shop couldn't get the flat nosed heads I wanted, so they gave me these for the same price. Guess you've gone off the deep end when you take pictures of your "first born".

Anyone want to stand next to me when I fire 'em off tomorrow? [shock] I wish I could.....

 

[Adam_MA]

Look good!

How'd it go?


Adam

 

[tele_mark]

Not really all that terribly bad! 8) Lee's instructions aren't great, but I'm mechanically inclined enough that the setup was pretty intuitive. The biggest amount of time was setting up the seating/crimping die. I was using an empty unprimed case to get close, and had to fidget around a bit to get it all right. Now I have that case to use as a guide when I load these particular heads again.

I actually ran 25 cases, but 2 I buckled when setting the crimp, and the other three were apparently grossly different in length, because the COL was way out of tolerance on them. I think what I'm going to do next time is trim all my brass so it's all uniform, and I can just run the press without QC'ing every round, although right now it's a good learning experience.

This recipe called for a minimum OAL of 1.125, so I was trying to set the seater to seat the majority around 1.130. I have two that fell at both extremes, everything else was right in the middle range, but stopping to measure each one kind of defeats the purpose of progressive reloading, so I think I'm going to trim...

Another problem is the max. load was 10.9, and I wanted a -10% of about 9.8 or so, but the Lee disk was throwing 9.4-9.5, and the next one was right under the max. charge, so I was SOL on that.

I was having a slight problem with the primer system as predicted, but it was related to the case sensor not shutting off the feed without a case in, and primers were falling out of the press if I continued to cycle it with no case present. A call to Lee told me the obvious -- blow out the mechanism with canned air, which worked.

Mark

 

[Adam_MA]

Cool..

I found that if I follow the Lee instructions for setting the crimp die, it gets me to a good starting point. As for resetting your crimp, Once you have it set, you shouldn't have to change it much at all for different bullets. The Auto-Disk powder measure with the disks can be tricky, but there are a couple of things you can do.. First Lee makes the Micro-Disks, where you basically use 2 disks that are half as thick, and you just line up different holes to get a better range of powder drops. I almost bought these, until I found this baby.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=150005

It gives you some directions to get you close to the charge you are looking for, but then you just fine tune it with the knob. Best $10 I spent!

As for shooting your first loads, just make sure you have all your safety gear on, if you're worried about it, gloves might make you feel better. If you shoot a round that doesn't feel right, STOP! Make your gun safe, and check that the chamber and barrel are free from obstructions, then continue.

We expect a full report after you get to the range.

Adam

 

[tele_mark]

Cool..

I found that if I follow the Lee instructions for setting the crimp die, it gets me to a good starting point. As for resetting your crimp, Once you have it set, you shouldn't have to change it much at all for different bullets. The Auto-Disk powder measure with the disks can be tricky, but there are a couple of things you can do.. First Lee makes the Micro-Disks, where you basically use 2 disks that are half as thick, and you just line up different holes to get a better range of powder drops. I almost bought these, until I found this baby.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=150005

It gives you some directions to get you close to the charge you are looking for, but then you just fine tune it with the knob. Best $10 I spent!

As for shooting your first loads, just make sure you have all your safety gear on, if you're worried about it, gloves might make you feel better. If you shoot a round that doesn't feel right, STOP! Make your gun safe, and check that the chamber and barrel are free from obstructions, then continue.

We expect a full report after you get to the range.

Adam

Oh man, if that isn't cool or what! That'll definitly be in my next Midway order. This press is actually a loaner with an option to buy for $50.00, so I don't have a lot sunk into this.

I'll give a range report after I shoot these, unless I blow my hands off, in which case you'll have to wait for me to install the voice recognition software.

 

[GTOShootr]

I think what I'm going to do next time is trim all my brass so it's all uniform, and I can just run the press without QC'ing every round, although right now it's a good learning experience.

Don't trim. You should get a case gauge and drop every round in it. Too much crimp and too short of an OAL can increase pressure in .40, so looking at them is a good idea. When the rounds are in the box, check for high primers.

I've never tried Alliant 2400. I load a lot with Hodgon TiteGroup. I just checked the data and the TG load listed at 4.7gr makes about the same velocity as the 2400 load listed at 10.9gr. Your powder would go a longer way and it is relatively cheap to begin with.

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[tele_mark]

Ok, I looked around for some pictures of the case guage, and found one. It looks like it does pretty much what i was doing with my calipers? IOW -- it tells you what you have after the cartridge is assembled, right? I'm probably missing something real basic, but I want to go thru my empty brass and make sure it's uiniform enough that if I load it, the OAL of the finished cartridge will be in the middle of the range -- around 1.130" for 40 S&W. What I was thinking with the trimming, was to not go insane, but to get them all to a known point, or chuck them if they're out of spec.

Which leads to another question -- on the Lee die sheet, they have a diagram of a .40 casing, and it gives a maximum trim length, or stretch, of .85", but no spec for the minimum length. I think I'd want to QC my newly aquired brass to make sure it falls into that range somewhere before I let it into my system.

The only reason I ended up with 2400 was that I'm a complete newbie, and I picked that powder out of the Lee chart for a 180 gr. JHP head, and the shop happened to have that powder sitting there. I've got lots to learn .

 

[RKG]

For some loads, 2400 is a great powder, but it tends to be dirty; if you have a choice, try something else first.

 

[Adam_MA]

Dirty or not, the load data uses a high grain weight. For a new reloader that's a good thing. In a .40 case it will be impossible to double charge without overflowing the case...

 

[RKG]

True.

However, eyeballing a charged case is only useful for detecting double charges, not for detecting small movements such as the powder measure screw having become loose. With a short, wide-mouth case like the .40, detecting a double charge is pretty easy regardless of the load; what I teach is that, after filling a reloading tray with charged cases, take a flashling and pan over the lot. A double charge will stand out plainly.

However, I also teach that having a proper rhythm should make a double charge impossible. My recommendation: pick up the primed case with the left hand; transfer it to the right hand and tap it, upside down, in the bench; reverse it; charge it; put it in the tray.

Of course, that doesn't work for progressives.

 

[tele_mark]

Well, I did end up firing the rounds Saturday, and I still have all my limbs. I actually ended up meeting up with Pistol Pete and his wife at Four Seasons. Pete really went out of his way by driving all the way out to meet me there just so I could try out his S&W Airweight .38 at MRA, along with a bunch of other guns I enjoyed trying. We had the indoor range for only a short time, and when they let us know we had 5 minutes left, I realised I hadn't tried the reloads. So, I only fired 5 there. It was enough to see that the rounds worked. I tried the rest at No. Leominster on my way home. All went flawlwssly, except for one which was one of the first I loaded, had been crimpted too much and the case was lightly buckled, and it failed to go into battery. Yesterday I spent the snowstorm loading up the remaining 75 rounds, this time progressively, but slow, as I was still checking every single round as it came off the press. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try some later this week if it warms up like it's supposed to.

 

[Adam_MA]

I actually ended up meeting up with Pistol Pete and his wife at Four Seasons.

Too funny... I was at FS when he introduced you to his wife. I was standing right beside you, looking at ammo...

Had I only known.

Adam

 

[tele_mark]

Wow -- small world, eh? I ended up buying the Lyman Reloading Handbook BTW.

 

[Adam_MA]

Nice!
I Have that manual and love it!

Adam