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What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
- Start date
2500 .223 trimmed and primer pocket done. I started priming them as well. Got 300 done.
Since my company's PTO policy is use it or lose it, I'm on vacation until Jan 4th and I'll be hopefully plowing thru at least 15k pcs doing the above.
Since my company's PTO policy is use it or lose it, I'm on vacation until Jan 4th and I'll be hopefully plowing thru at least 15k pcs doing the above.
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Was at SO today. First trip down there. Very few primers, some ammo in various pistol calibers but at current pricing. They had Federal 223 at a buck a round. Picked up some powder (reasonable price), and misc. Supplies. They had a good stock of used pistols, but can‘t opine on reasonableness of prices since I haven’t bought in a while. Good shop, well stocked for reloaders, nice staff. Empty when arrived about 10a but line 15 deep when I left.
I got a new case tumbler yesterday. I almost didn't find it because UPS can't read English, big sign that says leave at side porch. Anyways it came with a small bottle of liquid polish that I'm not sure I should use with the dry media.
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I recently started using Lyman turbo brite with walnut media..put a little in, let the tumbler run for couple minutes, add brass, comes out shiny and slick..roll around on a bath towel for a minute and load away..
IIRC a 30/30 is 1/12 twist so you can push thrm prety fast.
Rpm
MVx720/twist will give you rpm
Then the min pressure needed for your bullets BHN
BHNx1422 will give you the minimum chamber pressure
Not set in stone but good starting points.
1800fps is not fast for cast.
I run wheel weight alloy water quenched in 1/10 twist barrels up tp about 1950fps before accuracy plummeted. 1500-1750 has been the most accurate.
If I where to hunt with cast 30/30 i would probably go with a heavy flatnose with softer alloy.
If tour going to shoot bulls eye any nullet will do . I have a ranch dog mold 160gn flat nose tumble lube design which is my accuracy bullet at the moment. Runs about 1500fps out of the 1903a3
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allen-1
NES Member
I do. I use Dillon's brass polish with corncob. Works fine. Read the directions, a little goes a long way.
The other thing I do is toss a couple of used dryer sheets into the tumbler, they soak up dirt and extend the life of the media. To be clear, they're replaced for each load.
This us my go to brass polish. I just had to replace my last bottle after 8 years. I do a cap full if each into the media and run it for 20 min before adding brass. It will last a good 4-5 runs before I do it again.
i dump dryer sheets in also. The media last me a long time since im not really looking for the polished look , i run my brass for about 1 hr to get it clean.
I will change the media every 2 years ir so or when it seems to not clean well.
i would use up the free product that came with it. Read instructions.
Before
After
i dump dryer sheets in also. The media last me a long time since im not really looking for the polished look , i run my brass for about 1 hr to get it clean.
I will change the media every 2 years ir so or when it seems to not clean well.
i would use up the free product that came with it. Read instructions.
Before
After
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I clean my dirty walnut media with dish soap.
I did it after my first hundred or so 9 mm I broke the decapping pin in my die, I'll have to get a few. Ran about fifty 9mm cases for an hour in the new tumbler I was not impress. The pockets don't get too clean or the brass too shiny, I might go longer.
bottle-cap
NES Member
This is exactly what I do as well. The dryer sheets make you brass smell springtime fresh too!!
Footnote- if brass looks real dirty, I usually use old media for an hour or two before using fresher media and Dillon juice.
I have enough media to last me about 10 years. Im not cleaning it. I scrounge enough as it is.
Good point, though another solution for shiny brass is to leave off the Pancho Villa bandoliers when you go out (can still wear them around the house).
Since I ran out of my Hornady case cleaner concentrate, what I started using from the beginning, I've been using Dawn and also a bit of citric acid in crystal form in the wet tumbler. I suppose the citric acid could be left off entirely, as I think it mainly removes tarnishing from the brass surface, and I only care that the insides are clean for powder storage without contamination and the outsides are free of lead-infused range dust and any build-up that could affect cycling. Still, the brass coming out of the wet tumbler is beautiful, at least for the time being (since there are no additives to delay tarnishing).
"Bless You My Son"
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
I've been loading .223 like it's going out of style......oh wait......it is!
The other day I was rearranging an industrial shelf that I'd piled stuff on years ago and found a 30gal bucket full of clean, polished and bagged .223, 9mm and .45acp brass. I only vaguely remember stashing it away about 7 years ago.
Then, going through some jugs of powder on a low shelf I found another 8lb. jug of WC-844.......right on time because I was on the last hopper fill from the jug I was working out of.
![[cheers]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/018.gif "Cheers [cheers]")
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Tumbling more brass. Probably 15 batches through the tumbler this week.
I need to start loading
I need to start loading
If you want "really shiny" try corncob media with the New Finish......wear your sunglasses!
Made that big batch of PPU .308 with the Nosler CC 168 blems. Shot a nice target today in the Leominster offhand match but lost 5 or 6 cases in the snow. Glad it's the PPU and not the Lapua brass.
I have a light .30-06 load with Sierra 110's I'm going to try in the '03 National Match this week as soon as I cook up a few. IIRC they shoot well but need to verify. If a good load I'll shoot those in the next Leominster match or two. May try some NOE Ranch Dogs in HXP brass as well. Maybe with some Trail Boss? Head to head shoot off between the two?
I have a light .30-06 load with Sierra 110's I'm going to try in the '03 National Match this week as soon as I cook up a few. IIRC they shoot well but need to verify. If a good load I'll shoot those in the next Leominster match or two. May try some NOE Ranch Dogs in HXP brass as well. Maybe with some Trail Boss? Head to head shoot off between the two?
This is what I use. Don’t need to tumble very long to get em nice and shiny.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Same here.
I did a ton of batches this week and noticed which batches had some nu finish and which did not.
1.5 gallons of 9mm or so tumbled and one batch had older media without the nu finish. Looked terrible compared to the shiny stuff.
I like that the nu finish seems to really protect the brass and keep it shiny for a long time too.
Likely the same here. When I first starting loading a few years ago I bought 2 bags (50 lbs. each I think) of corn cob media from Clint Sales in Beverly. It's really inexpensive. Being new at reloading, I thought I was going to go through media quickly. I have only changed the media once, and that was so I could use one batch of media for removing case lube from rifle cases, and a separate batch for case cleaning. That second bag of media will likely "outlive" me. Oh, and I use NuFinish every 4 or 5 case cleaning runs, but always throw some dryer sheets in every run.
Nah, im not looking for shine, what ever a hour does is plemty
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
You need to get those numbers up! tumble more brass
I’ve split a bag with a buddy twice. So I’ve gone through 50# plus countless bags and containers of random stuff picked up over the years at estates
I'm hoarding, expecting a corn cob shortage soon. I've done thousands of pistol and rifle cases, and am surprised how long this stuff lasts. I do have about 40 gals worth of mixed rifle cases to do yet, not to mention several large bins of different pistol calibers. I could slow down on shooting to catch up, but that's not happening. What I need is a larger tumbler.
Trailboss has not worked outgreat for me. More so in 30-06 . Your only going to get to about 1400fps with a max load of trailboss. i use trailboss for fun plinking at 50 yards or so. Works ok with heavy bullets in 303, 54r. Its a fun powder if your slinging slow and heavy . The mosin loved the lyman 314299 with trail bose at 1150fps out to 100 yards.
Maybe reduced 4895 better?
Darn! While digging through my locker for some brass, I came across some primed GP 11 brass, as well as some primed boxer brass for same. I'm loading these with the 125gr copper bullets that I ordered from AR...
Not only that, I found more of the wooden cased Remington 1 1/2 primers. What a deal!
Not only that, I found more of the wooden cased Remington 1 1/2 primers. What a deal!
Trailboss is great for subsonic .223 loads. Only place I've used it.
BarnBuilder
NES Member
I've used Trail Boss in 300 BLK 125 Gr Subsonic with good results
