What did you do in the reloading room recently?

made some 165gr loads in 400 corbon flavor last night. finally found a good use for all that stupid small primer 45acp.

i find myself loading more than shooting lately (3 kids, stuck to house mostly). although my oldest is going to try out the 22 this summer after some classroom teaching, might let me get out more.
 
BFDX7 said:
Those small primer 45’s drive me up the wall....
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I use both large and small primer 45acp. Im too cheap to throw the small primer ones away and I went through a time when I was shooting a ton of American eagle brand 45 and it's all small primer. After I tumble a batch of 45 I have to sort large and small into seperate coffee cans. But it doesn't take too long the smalls all have federal headstamp.
 
Fired off the 50 rounds of 9mm I reloaded of five varying COLs. Settled with 5.5 grains under a 124 grain RMR RN FMJ with a 1.11 COL recipe when using Alliant BE - 86.

Next up is my recipe using Hodgdon HS - 6, which will be at 6.4 grains. I also have some Hodgdon HP - 38 and CFE Pistol coming, along with 3K RMR 124 grain RN FMJs.
 
kerryman71 said:
Over the course of the past two days I decapped, sized, wet tumbled and dried approximately 600 9mm cases.

Ok, who am I BSing, anyone who has read some of my past posts knows it wasn't "approximately 600", it was 609.
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That’s awesome.
I think as reloaded a we tend to watch the numbers whether it’s to do the math and make sure we’re frugal or just to make sure that we know what we paid. It’s too easy to be OCD when everything is laid out in 50 and 100 packs
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
That’s awesome.
I think as reloaded a we tend to watch the numbers whether it’s to do the math and make sure we’re frugal or just to make sure that we know what we paid. It’s too easy to be OCD when everything is laid out in 50 and 100 packs
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You guys and your OCD .....f*** me i count brass like this. Theres a "box,bucket,bag," i load until something runs out, " primers,powder,bullets,brass"
Im going to dope slap you if you weigh your dross from smelting!
God bless enjoy the weather and happy fathers day !
 
whacko said:
But it doesn't take too long the smalls all have federal headstamp.
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I've found other headstamps with small primers. I've also found some Federal that has large primers. I try to keep them separate, but where I shoot there is usually a lot of range brass. So it is inevitable that some small primer .45 acp gets in with the LP stuff. A royal PITA.
 
jek said:
I've found other headstamps with small primers. I've also found some Federal that has large primers. I try to keep them separate, but where I shoot there is usually a lot of range brass. So it is inevitable that some small primer .45 acp gets in with the LP stuff. A royal PITA.
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I mean all of MY brass the federal headstamp is all small primer. I know some fed brand is large. I just happened to buy a crap ton of factory federal on sale one time that was all small.......so sorting my brass is easy....if it's federal it's small primer.
 
mac1911 said:
You guys and your OCD .....f*** me i count brass like this. Theres a "box,bucket,bag," i load until something runs out, " primers,powder,bullets,brass"
Im going to dope slap you if you weigh your dross from smelting!
God bless enjoy the weather and happy fathers day !
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What’s wrong with weighing dross? 😂
Thanks! Happy Father’s Day to you too
 
Yard work interrupted by a thunderstorm. So I resized/deprimed some 223 brass. The tools laid out are my stuck case removal kit.

Remove die from press. Loosen wedge nut and remove. Place die on top of 1/2" drive socket, drive side up. Hammer decapping pin lightly and case w/pin will fall out. Use pick to wedge between pin and case mount creating a bump out, remove pick and set aside. Place wood chisel on bump out. Lightly tap with hammer, slicing the case down the length about 3/4". Set chisel and hammer aside. Use flat blade screw driver to lightly pry open mouth, case will fall off. Reassemble die. Takes me less than a minute.

Only had one stuck case today out of about 2k pcs. I prelude the die with thin film of Hope's Elite gun oil and I clean/relube about every 1k pcs.

20200620_195205.jpg 20200620_170041.jpg 20200620_165729.jpg
 
You guys know that you shoot the SP primed .45 Auto cases when at a range where others may scoff up your brass. Many hate these and leave them be.
Although not always recommended, the Wolf steel cases reload and shoot just fine. Most will pass these over, too.
I'm not promoting this method, but even the Blazer aluminum can be reloaded, but don't expect 20 reloads from them.
I have reloaded all of these with good results. Again, this really isn't necessary with all of the boxer-primed brass available.
You may come across small rifle primed R-P 7.62x39mm brass, too.
Although not very common, I've come across small berdan-primed .45 Auto cases, too.
 
headednorth said:
Why did I assume steel cased ammo was berdan primed?
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Because a lot of steel cased ammo is imported from communist countries...but definitely not all of it. I've never seen anyone reload it, but knew it could be done. I just won't do it until if/when I need to and it comes to it so save my dies from any premature wear (yeah, yeah...i know).
 
jpm said:
Don't the steel cases crack after a reloading or two because its not malleable like brass?
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its soft as shit , I was able to reload 762x54r steel cases 2-3 times before I finally scored some brass cases. Necks would crack 3-4 loads in.
Loaded a bunch of 45acp steel case just because a range know it all said you can not reload steel case ammo OR anything berdan primed.
is it ideal , No, would I keep doing it after I have brass, No. If I could only find steel cases for reloading I would still do it, yup.

I reloaded a good amount of 223 steel case also.
 
76Too said:
Because a lot of steel cased ammo is imported from communist countries...but definitely not all of it. I've never seen anyone reload it, but knew it could be done. I just won't do it until if/when I need to and it comes to it so save my dies from any premature wear (yeah, yeah...i know).
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your more likely to wear out or damage your dies from contamination than from steel cases. How many millions of rounds do you think commercial loaders run before wearing out.

Just for giggles what do you think the steel in your dies has for a hardness ? 150 Bhn Before any case hardening ?
 
You know me Mac...I’m a gear queer from way back!

I buy ALL Redding dies (Unless not available for caliber, ie. 6.5x50 Jap) and I disassemble/clean them in my parts washer often so they don’t get all mucked up.

I’m not saying they WOULD wear out...but I know I’d probably have a bug in my ear every time I shot a ‘5’ at a CMP match that I ‘never should have loaded those steel cases’ in my dies, lol.
 
The Romanian steel-cased 8mm reloads fine when LRB primers are available. Same with 7,62x39mm steel.
Aluminum (9mm) has made at least seven reloads, but I gave up on the experiment...
...I guess I didn't photograph number 6 and 7.
 

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Speaking of steel cased ammo everyone should put “Bullets by the billionS” on their to buy list.
It’s an awesome book explaining how Chrysler got into the ammo business for WWII. They were a manufacturing beast. Right when things got moving they were asked to make all of the cases out of steel instead of brass. They did it and did an awesome job.
Definitely worth the $

Shop All Products - Cornell Publications

Products Archive - Cornell Publications
www.cornellpubs.com www.cornellpubs.com

 
There are plenty of steel-cased USA made WWII-era cartridges around. I know I've fired a few and probably saved a few. Can't recall what headstamp, but most are EC (at least the two I have in front of me).
I get a kick out of the 1914-1918 .45 Auto ammo. Many have a jacketed bullet with a lead glazing that makes it look like it has a cast bullet in it.

Speaking of older USGI ammo, you guys might like the following (for those that are unfamiliar with it):
 
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jpm said:
Don't the steel cases crack after a reloading or two because its not malleable like brass?
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I've been reloading Wolf .45 steel cased ammo for almost twenty years. When I first started doing it, I did a test batch of fifty cases and fired and reloaded those fifty cases five times......5gr Bullseye, 230 FMJ no splits or cracks.
 

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