What did you do in the reloading room recently?

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Internet is out (Fios ONT failed) until Monday morning.
Wife had me doing a bunch of non-Dads day stuff so I escaped to the garage.
Only had enough HiTek mixed for two coats on three 4lb trays of MP 452-200 flat point
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Need to get to the range to fire several test batches of 45,9 and 380 then I can use up all my primers
 
I shot all my .308 reloads for my bolt gun, had one round that didn't want to come out of the chamber, turns out the tiny POS extractor is broken. However I did find the my MVP loves 178gr Amax over CFE223. The 168gr Nosler Ballistic tips with Varget weren't very consistent. Have more powder and ladder tests to run.

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pastera said:
Other than 357, I have plenty of brass - I have a couple of thousand 40 cases and I don't even have a 40.
Read about reloading steel and aluminum cases but figured why take the chance when brass is plentiful
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Well there's only 2 that I'd consider reloading, 8mm and 7.62x54R. Brass for those is far from plentiful. Any other caliber I can get by the buckets full at the range.
 
There's a fella (BishopofBling) on CTGuntalk with some o-f 8mm. He sold his Mauser, doesn't reload. He has a bunch of ammo, too, but he may not want to bother shipping ammo.
"I brought this ammo new and shot it but I don't reload and I sold all my Mausers so I have no need for it.
142 rounds for $20 that's 15 cents a round.
Location: Zip Code 06825"


Another source for o-f brass at reasonable rates is Midstate Gun Co. in Coventry, RI.

For local orders, Please visit Midstate Gun Company during store hours at 1200 Tiogue ave Coventry, RI (Rte. 3)
Large Quantity orders may be placed in store and picked up from our brass sorting facility.

500 count bags - 9mm $15 , .40sw $20 , .45acp $20 , .357sig $20 , .223/5.56 $25
200 count bags - .38spl $12 , .357mag $30 , 7.62x39 $40 , 7.62x54R $40 , 5.7x28mm $20
100 count bags - .44mag $18 , .44spl $18 , .45lc $18 , 10mm $13 , .308/7.62x51 $15 , .303Brit $25 , 8mm Maus $20 , 45-70 $35 , 30-30 $20 , 30-06 $15
By the piece - .500sw $.30

For online orders, please include phone number for payment contact and full shipping address. Return contact will be made during business hours of 9-330 eastern time Mon-Fri. you may also call 401-615-7973. Messages will be returned during hours listed above.

Shipping: Orders are shipped flat rate USPS. Shipping costs will discussed at time of payment.

Good luck.

If picking up brass in North Stonington, CT is handy for you, I will see BishopofBling this Saturday and can pickup this brass, if you make a deal with him.
Still, probably more sensible just to pay for a small flat-rate and save the drive.
 
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mac1911 said:
Both can be had easily in brass. PPU is usually the least expensive.
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yeah they can but I'm not paying for new brass that I'll only get to shoot once probably. Hakim beats the hell out of the case and rim so its pretty much one and done. But I can use the case from the stuff I use in the FN49 again. If it didn't trash the brass I'd just buy some commercial stuff and reload it a bunch of times.
 
jpm said:
Hakim beats the hell out of the case and rim so its pretty much one and done. But I can use the case from the stuff I use in the FN49 again. If it didn't trash the brass I'd just buy some commercial stuff and reload it a bunch of times.
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BTW, have you ever read of any Egyptians gathering their Hakim brass to reload?

Have you added some foam on the deflector? that will keep those marks off the brass. As for the longitudinal scraps along the case body, much of that will reform when sizing.. Some get damaged beyond reuse, i understand. Been there, done that.

The Hakim is a good candidate for steel-cased reloads, as they hold up well to the action. Problem is getting the proper berdan primers for the Romanian cases.

Don't quote me on this, but I think I settled on a load of 25 grains of Lil' Gun. My understanding is that the Hakim was designed around the 196g bullet, but I don't recall if that was the exclusive bullet I used with this load. All I know is, it functioned the action and didn't throw the brass thirty or more feet!
 
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NavelOfficer said:
BTW, have you ever read of any Egyptians gathering their Hakim brass to reload?

Have you added some foam on the deflector? that will keep those marks off the brass. As for the longitudinal scraps along the case body, much of that will reform when sizing.. Some get damaged beyond reuse, i understand. Been there, done that.

The Hakim is a good candidate for steel-cased reloads, as they hold up well to the action. Problem is getting the proper berdan primers for the Romanian cases.

Don't quote me on this, but I think I settled on a load of 25 grains of Lil' Gun. My understanding is that the Hakim was designed around the 196g bullet, but I don't recall if that was the exclusive bullet I used with this load. All I know is, it functioned the action and didn't throw the brass thirty or more feet!
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I never thought of trying lil gun in it but I have plenty of that on hand. I think it was developed for the lighter round though, I know mine is more accurate with the ~150ish gr bullet.

I don't know how the Egyptians could even find the brass in the field/sand given how far this thing throws it! I have foam on the deflector but that's not the big problem, the rim gets dented really badly.by the ejector which is what wrecks it and I've got the gas system at minimum.
 
jpm: My gas valve didn't seem to work. I never noticed any difference at either extreme.
Initially, my rifle had a broken extractor, so it didn't have the full surface area to extract the spent round. it would easily tear through the rims. Some ammo will do this, even with a good extractor. My guess is the case is still under expansion as the bolt carrier is moving rearward and it rips right rough the rim.
I ended up tailoring my reloads to allow proper function, no rim breakage and about a 7 foot ejection. Somewhere I read that it should throw the brass around 7 to 11 feet. Don't ask me where I read that now...

There is no published data for Lil Gun in the 8mm Mauser. This is purely an experimental load that I found to work well.
Caveat emptor applies.
 
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NavelOfficer said:
jpm: My gas valve didn't seem to work. I never noticed any difference at either extreme.
Initially, my rifle had a broken extractor, so it didn't have the full surface area to extract the spent round. it would easily tear through the rims. Some ammo will do this, even with a good extractor. My guess is the case is still under expansion as the bolt carrier is moving rearward and it rips right rough the rim.
I ended up tailoring my reloads to allow proper function, no rim breakage and about a 7 foot ejection. Somewhere I read that it should throw the brass around 7 to 11 feet. Don't ask me where I read that now...

There is no published data for Lil Gun in the 8mm Mauser. This is purely an experimental load that I found to work well.
Caveat emptor applies.
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Thanks, good to know on the Lil Gun! I think I'll pass on that idea then lol.

I'm talking about the ejector though, not the extractor. They extract just fine but when they hit the ejector, it puts a deep dent in the rim that f's it up.
 
Finished cleaning my dirty 380 cases in the rotary tumbler.
Looked at the 9mm buckets and decided to try tumbling without pins. Without pins I can fit 500 cases per load and no time emptying cases.
Cases are shiny clean outside, primer pockets and inside is good enough to not worry about.
Moral of the story is you don't need to use pins unless you have seriously nasty brass or really want the inside spotless.

I also printed a new 9mm seating die - some idiot decided to place a bullet pretty much sideways and proceed to ram it home. Case and bullet were crushed along with the top of the die flying a an impressive speed across the room. That's what I get for using jacketed bullets with a minimum bell...
New die ended up much nicer than the destroyed one - I found a good filament brand and tweaked my print setting for it.
 
jpm said:
Well there's only 2 that I'd consider reloading, 8mm and 7.62x54R. Brass for those is far from plentiful. Any other caliber I can get by the buckets full at the range.
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you got that right:) reloading is the way to go for 8mm mauser. saves money for all my k98s now :)

though i am debating 6.5 creed because well i will be shooting a lot of it :).. when this damn rifle gets fixed
 
Had a squib last night in my revolver. I was on the indoor range and brought the Henry rifle and my revolver just for some group tests to see if there is much of a difference in group between 16 grain and 14 grain loads with 2400 powder in 357 mag. Fired 5 shot groups from each loading at 50 feet from the rifle.......seems 16 grains actually gave me a slightly tighter group all is well....very good group actually. Change targets to 25 feet and goin to run the same test from the sp101. First shot is a fizzle. I thought to myself I know that's stuck in the barrel f***! I know I double check every case to ensure I have powder I physically look in before I seat a bullet. Waited the 20 seconds and opened the cylinder and there is powder falling out everywhere and packed into the barrel right to the edge of the forcing cone! Primer detonated but just blew the projo and powder into the barrel! What the f***?!? Poked all the powder out with a ball point pen but didn't have my brass rod so knew that was it for that handgun until I get home and remove the projo. Tried to shut the cylinder to put it in the case and the cylinder won't close! I'm hoping it's just powder in the detent that is keeping it from closing. When I get home tonight I'll ram out the projo with my brass rod and clean the shit out of it and hope the cylinder will close!

Anyone ever had a primer go off and have no powder burn like that?

Edit......I did fire a few more of that batch in the rifle and they all went off perfectly!
 
whacko said:
Had a squib last night in my revolver. I was on the indoor range and brought the Henry rifle and my revolver just for some group tests to see if there is much of a difference in group between 16 grain and 14 grain loads with 2400 powder in 357 mag. Fired 5 shot groups from each loading at 50 feet from the rifle.......seems 16 grains actually gave me a slightly tighter group all is well....very good group actually. Change targets to 25 feet and goin to run the same test from the sp101. First shot is a fizzle. I thought to myself I know that's stuck in the barrel f***! I know I double check every case to ensure I have powder I physically look in before I seat a bullet. Waited the 20 seconds and opened the cylinder and there is powder falling out everywhere and packed into the barrel right to the edge of the forcing cone! Primer detonated but just blew the projo and powder into the barrel! What the f***?!? Poked all the powder out with a ball point pen but didn't have my brass rod so knew that was it for that handgun until I get home and remove the projo. Tried to shut the cylinder to put it in the case and the cylinder won't close! I'm hoping it's just powder in the detent that is keeping it from closing. When I get home tonight I'll ram out the projo with my brass rod and clean the shit out of it and hope the cylinder will close!

Anyone ever had a primer go off and have no powder burn like that?

Edit......I did fire a few more of that batch in the rifle and they all went off perfectly!
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Yeah - I was able to recover the case contents. There was a small clump of powder that looked like it started to burn and just fused together.

Couldn't figure out a reason for the weird failure
 
pastera said:
Yeah - I was able to recover the case contents. There was a small clump of powder that looked like it started to burn and just fused together.

Couldn't figure out a reason for the weird failure
Click to expand...
The powder was packed in tight....had to basically scrape it out. I assumed it was because it was forced into the bore behind the bullet when the primer went off. Did not see any indication that any of it was burned. Very very strange. I'm just hoping that the cylinder will close after I clean it up tonight and there is no damage.

Im glad I pay attention and am cautious with squibs. If I had pulled the trigger again it would have been a disaster. I know someone that blew up a brand new Smith 686 that way. He had a 38 special reload that was a squib........click.....and he pulled the trigger again and kaboom.
 
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I had squib issues with a batch of Xtreme plated that were undersized AND Speer 38SPL brass (thin wall).
Any other combination worked fine but with that combination there wasn't enough neck tension to get a good burn but I couldn't crimp enough without piercing the plating.
Ended up tossing the remaining bullets into the melt pot.

I did set aside a few well marked rounds to use for newbie training (had a family I was introducing to firearms) - once you hear a squib you never forget the sound.
 
whacko said:
The powder was packed in tight....had to basically scrape it out. I assumed it was because it was forced into the bore behind the bullet when the primer went off. Did not see any indication that any of it was burned. Very very strange. I'm just hoping that the cylinder will close after I clean it up tonight and there is no damage.

Im glad I pay attention and am cautious with squibs. If I had pulled the trigger again it would have been a disaster. I know someone that blew up a brand new Smith 686 that way. He had a 38 special reload that was a squib........click.....and he pulled the trigger again and kaboom.
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Maybe loose crimp? Maybe that bullet for what ever reason did not "seal" in the case well enough to get the powder burning. Shit primers?
Good thing is you caught it..
 
mac1911 said:
Maybe loose crimp? Maybe that bullet for what ever reason did not "seal" in the case well enough to get the powder burning. Shit primers?
Good thing is you caught it..
Click to expand...
Well I learned something today. Didn't know a loose crimp could do that. I'm pretty sure it was a good crimp I made them on my Lee turret and I am very consistent with ensuring I bring the handle all the way down and give it a little extra nudge to make sure the ram goes all the way up tight. The rest of the batch like I said is fine. Primers are cci never had a problem with cci ever. Only other thing I can think of is I store the ammo in the basement where it's a constant 64 degrees even in summer......and was shooting on a very warm and humid indoor range. The ammo actually has a little condensation on the brass?
 
whacko said:
Well I learned something today. Didn't know a loose crimp could do that. I'm pretty sure it was a good crimp I made them on my Lee turret and I am very consistent with ensuring I bring the handle all the way down and give it a little extra nudge to make sure the ram goes all the way up tight. The rest of the batch like I said is fine. Primers are cci never had a problem with cci ever. Only other thing I can think of is I store the ammo in the basement where it's a constant 64 degrees even in summer......and was shooting on a very warm and humid indoor range. The ammo actually has a little condensation on the brass?
Click to expand...

Does the case look okay, any neck splits? I was loading .45 acp recently on my Lee turret and I felt like one bullet went in a little too easy vs others. I still crimped it (taper crimp) like the other rounds, but it gnawed at me that if felt different. Fortunately I had put it aside for inspection later on. Sure enough there was a barely perceptible crack in the neck and I was able to move the bullet without much effort. Not saying this would be a squib, but I'm glad I won't find out.
 
jek said:
Does the case look okay, any neck splits? I was loading .45 acp recently on my Lee turret and I felt like one bullet went in a little too easy vs others. I still crimped it (taper crimp) like the other rounds, but it gnawed at me that if felt different. Fortunately I had put it aside for inspection later on. Sure enough there was a barely perceptible crack in the neck and I was able to move the bullet without much effort. Not saying this would be a squib, but I'm glad I won't find out.
Click to expand...
Stupid of me but I never thought to check the case.
 
mac1911 said:
Maybe loose crimp? Maybe that bullet for what ever reason did not "seal" in the case well enough to get the powder burning. Shit primers?
Good thing is you caught it..
Click to expand...
whacko said:
Well I learned something today. Didn't know a loose crimp could do that. I'm pretty sure it was a good crimp I made them on my Lee turret and I am very consistent with ensuring I bring the handle all the way down and give it a little extra nudge to make sure the ram goes all the way up tight. The rest of the batch like I said is fine. Primers are cci never had a problem with cci ever. Only other thing I can think of is I store the ammo in the basement where it's a constant 64 degrees even in summer......and was shooting on a very warm and humid indoor range. The ammo actually has a little condensation on the brass?
Click to expand...
pastera said:
I had squib issues with a batch of Xtreme plated that were undersized AND Speer 38SPL brass (thin wall).
Any other combination worked fine but with that combination there wasn't enough neck tension to get a good burn but I couldn't crimp enough without piercing the plating.
Ended up tossing the remaining bullets into the melt pot.

I did set aside a few well marked rounds to use for newbie training (had a family I was introducing to firearms) - once you hear a squib you never forget the sound.
Click to expand...

I've had it happen with certain headstamps and undersized lead heads. Some of the BlackBullets I had in 165 gr were probably sized for 9mm.
Had one work loose at the 6 o'clock position and bind the cylinder up.
Now when I sort I keep Winchester, Blazer and Federal cases and toss everything else.
 

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