What did you do in the reloading room recently?

[NavelOfficer]

Generally, since the lever action does not have the mechanical advantage of a typical bolt action, it is recommended to full length resize lever gun calibers. YRMV.
Of course, you can still full length resize and get the shoulder to head space, if that's your objective. Even if you don't get as low on the brass, the diameters should still allow for easy chambering.
Remember, the Wilson head space gauge does not measure case diameters accurately, it is used to show shoulder positioning on your fired brass primarily, to reveal your rifles ideal head space dimensions. Even if a sized case drops into the gauge properly, it doesn't mean the case will chamber properly.
I've had .223 Remington neck-sized cases (for my former bolt gun) drop in the gauge per instructions and they bound up solid in an autoloader, due to the case diameter at the shoulder being about .005" over SAAMI specs.

The pictures show proper primer seating, in my view.

 

[DW357]

Generally, since the lever action does not have the mechanical advantage of a typical bolt action, it is recommended to full length resize lever gun calibers. YRMV.
Of course, you can still full length resize and get the shoulder to head space, if that's your objective. Even if you don't get as low on the brass, the diameters should still allow for easy chambering.

Good point. I was just going to use the comparator tool to ensure I’m not bumping the shoulder back much. But we’ll see if I need to go that route...

 

[p..]

I see a 45-70 in your future and you’re going to want to cast for that

Do you get most of your lead from range scrap?

I used to work as a mechanic, and think of all the lead wheel weights we used to get rid of before everything switched to steel or zinc. Seems that ship has sailed.

 

[NavelOfficer]

I used to get ww from a nearby Firestone store (not that I've been doing any casting of late).
Some clubs are more than happy to find someone that will take their range scrap, too.
When I was a club member, I volunteered to do that dirty work and gleaned tons of scrap from the bullet traps. Finding a place to properly dispose the slag could be an issue today.

 

[PL-52]

My sources for lead wheel weights is drying up. Last batch I got had lots of non-lead weights. Used torn fishing nets were good till that dried up when the price of lead was way up. I see having to actually buy scrap lead ( THE HORROR) in the some what near future. Of the 2 roofers that were a good source only one is still actively roofing . Lots of lead coated copper in my area used for roof flashing.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Do you get most of your lead from range scrap?

I used to work as a mechanic, and think of all the lead wheel weights we used to get rid of before everything switched to steel or zinc. Seems that ship has sailed.

I source it through all sorts of weird ways. I do have one local tire shop that will still sell me wheel weights but the yield is about 40 to 50 pounds out of a 5 gallon bucket. It’s not worth it at this point.
My father-in-law scored about 780 pounds for me this summer. Cost me $85 if I remember correctly.

 

[p..]

I source it through all sorts of weird ways. I do have one local tire shop that will still sell me wheel weights but the yield is about 40 to 50 pounds out of a 5 gallon bucket. It’s not worth it at this point.
My father-in-law scored about 780 pounds for me this summer. Cost me $85 if I remember correctly.

Aside from range scrap, about the only way I could access bulk amounts of lead economically is lead-acid batteries. And I'll buy bullets before I start trying to pull the lead out of those.

 

[NavelOfficer]

Perhaps boat keels will be the way to go. Maybe boat yards will sell old sailboat keels...?

 

[PL-52]

I worked as a heavy equip. oper. for a Utility Co. Lead was used as a joint filler on older watermains ( before leadite was introduced in the 50's) We did a huge 20" line replacement up Western Ave in Gloucester I SCORED on that job . That was the last big lead source I had there.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Aside from range scrap, about the only way I could access bulk amounts of lead economically is lead-acid batteries. And I'll buy bullets before I start trying to pull the lead out of those.

I know some roofers, some plumbers, hell even my old barber gave me 200# of lead one day. The biggest thing is to start asking everyone you know. I’ve had guys show up with 5# of old sinkers and literally one guy at the range had a dozen wheel weights in a plastic bag.
Lead is used in a lot of industries and can be found. It’s like fishing. If you’re not out on the water you can’t catch any. It’s all how much time you want to devote which works for some and not for others.
The other thing is to find a decent scrap yard and buy it. At $1 a pound or so you’re still 1/4 of the price of buying commercial cast bullets

 

[TrashcanDan]

I used to work as a mechanic, and think of all the lead wheel weights we used to get rid of before everything switched to steel or zinc. Seems that ship has sailed.

I still get chunkers off 10 & 11R rims.
Seems the bigger the rims get, the less costly option is to run lead w.w.'s
Like Mike said, lot of scarp yards will sell at X per lb.
When the scrap price is really low they'll dam near give it away.

 

[allen-1]

UPS just delivered 5,000 9mm 124grn bullets from XTreme

Ordered 12/17
Shipped 12/21
Received 12/29

 

[DW357]

Ahh yes!

After doing some reading it appears headspace issues were relatively common with the older Marlins - compounded even more when there are variations in the rim thickness. I see on other forums that guys are basically neck sizing only so it headspaces off the shoulder instead of the rim. This allows basically zero “play” in the chamber when the bolt is closed. Added bonus is you’re increasing case life.

I’ll go that route if I’m still getting light strikes with these new rounds I loaded. Should be easy to figure out with my Hornady headspace comparator...

Just left the range now. All 25 rounds went bang on the first hit! Was the primers all along.

Also scored 7 PPU 7.5x55 cases. Guy shooting a K11 and was chucking that nice brass into the scrap bucket

 

[kerryman71]

Well I made 25 more and seated the primers as deep as I could (giggity...). Hopefully I can sneak out to the range tomorrow afternoon.
View attachment 428576View attachment 428577

Nice, but I have to say, you'd think a guy with more primers on hand than Federal would know how to seat 'em!

 

[DW357]

Nice, but I have to say, you'd think a guy with more primers on hand than Federal would know how to seat 'em!

This is literally the first time I’ve encountered this. Never happened with the tens of thousands of rounds I made previously. Really strange. I may want to double check the primer pockets after using that dusty shit walnut media....

The lizard bedding came yesterday so I’ll mess around with that.

 

[DW357]

View attachment 428247

Any drawbacks to not cleaning the cases? I’ll probably just wipe them down to get any loose fouling off. Otherwise they look like they were never shot. Pretty damn clean.

 

[allen-1]

Any drawbacks to not cleaning the cases? I’ll probably just wipe them down to get any loose fouling off. Otherwise they look like they were never shot. Pretty damn clean.

At 3AM you will be staring at your ceiling, unable to sleep, thinking "should I go break those rounds down, tumble the brass and reload them? I've never reloaded ammo without tumbling the brass". tick tick tick, (or whatever electronic alarm clocks do) - it's now 4:07 AM and you're still staring at the ceiling, obsessing...

But hey, you do you. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

[Mudflap621]

Any drawbacks to not cleaning the cases? I’ll probably just wipe them down to get any loose fouling off. Otherwise they look like they were never shot. Pretty damn clean.

the last few load work ups I’ve done for my 308 I didn’t clean. They literally went from box to chamber to boom back to box. I wiped em down quick and threw em in the press.

 

[DW357]

the last few load work ups I’ve done for my 308 I didn’t clean. They literally went from box to chamber to boom back to box. I wiped em down quick and threw em in the press.

Nice!

 

[mac1911]

Perhaps boat keels will be the way to go. Maybe boat yards will sell old sailboat keels...?

Problem is they usually want you take the whole boat, thats the catch.

 

[mac1911]

Any drawbacks to not cleaning the cases? I’ll probably just wipe them down to get any loose fouling off. Otherwise they look like they were never shot. Pretty damn clean.

I can get really lazy , if the brass gies from chamber to pocket I often wont tumble it.

 

[DW357]

if the brass gies from chamber to pocket I often wont tumble it.

Exactly what I did today

 

[DW357]

i found the FA walnut was very fine vs the lyman that came with my lyman tumbler and i ended up with lizard liter as its even more coarse than the lyman.
So What I did with the RA
i had a old sieve with fairly fine holes. I just sifted out the fine stiff. I then lightly used compressed air to blow off a bit more. In a small bucket i just blew across the rim it will suck the lightest stuff out.

This got me by until i bought some more from the pet store.
Then I learned the Nufinish and Oderless Mineral hack . I use the cap of the nu finish bottle one cap of NF one cap of OMS. Let it run for 20min until its mixed in well. i will add again after 5 or so runs or as needed. Dryer sheets help a little.
Oh and probably to much lube from the get go

Note: i seldom run them in the tumbler to remove lube. Only time I run them is when Im making long term storage bulk ammo. Its hard to tell my cases are lubed unless you touch it.

I tried the lizard bedding + OMS + nufinish + dryer sheet combo tonight to remove the lube from the 30-30 cases. BIG difference in dust. I also cut down on the amount of lube too. There was a VERY light coating of dust but nothing like the shit walnut media from Frankfort Arsenal.

Anyway, I loaded up all of my 30-30 brass. Still have to grab some from a friend in town who’s got 2 boxes of ammo and 4 pounds of brass for me. And trade brass with jpm at some point.

 

[mac1911]

I tried the lizard bedding + OMS + nufinish + dryer sheet combo tonight to remove the lube from the 30-30 cases. BIG difference in dust. I also cut down on the amount of lube too. There was a VERY light coating of dust but nothing like the shit walnut media from Frankfort Arsenal.

Anyway, I loaded up all of my 30-30 brass. Still have to grab some from a friend in town who’s got 2 boxes of ammo and 4 pounds of brass for me. And trade brass with jpm at some point.

Sounds to me like your heading down the path of wet tumbling....... Try new dryer sheets , it may or may not help with that fine dust on the brass?

 

[DW357]

Sounds to me like your heading down the path of wet tumbling....... Try new dryer sheets , it may or may not help with that fine dust on the brass?

Lol no I’m good. Maybe I wasn’t clear in my previous post. But the lizard bedding worked well. The very fine coating of dust wasn’t bad at all.

 

[DW357]

So apparently the 44 cal 240 gr XTPs I bought from a vendor a few weeks back were actually ‘streak’ bullets?? They have a gel on the base that will glow red when fired. He didn’t specify this when I bought them. But he sent out a newsletter last night with streak bullets for sale and said they have a gel on the base of the bullets. Then it dawned on me that is what he sent me. Pretty cool. I’ve already loaded some a couple weeks ago with H110. Can’t wait to see how they work.



Though he told me that they're not bright like tracers. Damn!! I was hoping they were. He said more visible in low light conditions.

 

[p..]

So apparently the 44 cal 240 gr XTPs I bought from a vendor a few weeks back were actually ‘streak’ bullets?? They have a gel on the base that will glow red when fired. He didn’t specify this when I bought them. But he sent out a newsletter last night with streak bullets for sale and said they have a gel on the base of the bullets. Then it dawned on me that is what he sent me. Pretty cool. I’ve already loaded some a couple weeks ago with H110. Can’t wait to see how they work.

I think you need to load some of those up with 2400 and take video of running them at night. Please and thank you.

 

[DW357]

I think you need to load some of those up with 2400 and take video of running them at night. Please and thank you.

Kinda bummed he said they're not like tracer bullets and would be better seen in low light....Can't be shooting at night at my club lol.

I might run to the range during my lunch and see if they're visible given that its a cloudy day.

 

[p..]

Can't be shooting at night at my club lol.

Do you have an indoor range? Can you light up the targets but leave the lights off at the firing line? I'm just trying to problem solve here...

 

[mac1911]

So apparently the 44 cal 240 gr XTPs I bought from a vendor a few weeks back were actually ‘streak’ bullets?? They have a gel on the base that will glow red when fired. He didn’t specify this when I bought them. But he sent out a newsletter last night with streak bullets for sale and said they have a gel on the base of the bullets. Then it dawned on me that is what he sent me. Pretty cool. I’ve already loaded some a couple weeks ago with H110. Can’t wait to see how they work.
View attachment 429140
View attachment 429142

Though he told me that they're not bright like tracers. Damn!! I was hoping they were. He said more visible in low light conditions.

So they are glow in the dark bullets?