What did you do in the reloading room recently?

[xtry51]

24.0gr to 24.5gr depending on your specific gun.

24.0gr is enough and will shoot well in nearly every gun. Basically better than most shooters.

24.5gr is hotter and better for 600yd if your gun has a favorable node at that mark and you don't mind losing 1-2 reloads on your brass.

If you're not sure what a "node" is, look into Optimal Charge Weight, OCW load development. I beleive this is what EddieCoyle teaches in his classes.

The short version is your barrel has a harmonic and you don't want the bullet exiting when your barrel is deflecting the most.

 

[xtry51]

I'm setting up to load a bit of the 223 brass I've been processing. Wanted to throw up a safety tip for any newer people here.

Whenever you come back to a station you left setup, always cycle the powder drop several times before running production.

Here is my "training ammo" setup. It's a Lee 4 Hole turret with (2) Lee seating dies and (2) Lee powder drops. Because I do the rest of my brass prep single stage or by hand this makes it pretty fast to bang out ammo without buying something like a 750. Basically I set this up about 10 years ago and it works so well I can't justify buying a real progressive. I've reloaded maybe 30k rounds on this press as it sits now.




Now I have this press setup for 26.1gr of WC844 surplus under a 55gr hornady FMJ. Here are pics of the first powder drops weighed from each



That right there is how you blow up a gun. 28.0 and 28.2gr. Roughly an 9% higher powder charge by vibrations on the bench settling the powder over time while I worked at other stations. I cycled the turret 3 full revolutions, (3) drops each and both settled back into 26.0-26.1gr drops.

I just dump the powder back up top and once it's settled in I start loading. I only check about once every 50 rounds as I go because I know this setup and if I had to pull 50 rounds no big deal.

 

[pastera]

I'm setting up to load a bit of the 223 brass I've been processing. Wanted to throw up a safety tip for any newer people here.

Whenever you come back to a station you left setup, always cycle the powder drop several times before running production.

Here is my "training ammo" setup. It's a Lee 4 Hole turret with (2) Lee seating dies and (2) Lee powder drops. Because I do the rest of my brass prep single stage or by hand this makes it pretty fast to bang out ammo without buying something like a 750. Basically I set this up about 10 years ago and it works so well I can't justify buying a real progressive. I've reloaded maybe 30k rounds on this press as it sits now.

View attachment 441206
View attachment 441207

Now I have this press setup for 26.1gr of WC844 surplus under a 55gr hornady FMJ. Here are pics of the first powder drops weighed from each

View attachment 441208View attachment 441209

That right there is how you blow up a gun. 28.0 and 28.2gr. Roughly an 9% higher powder charge by vibrations on the bench settling the powder over time while I worked at other stations. I cycled the turret 3 full revolutions, (3) drops each and both settled back into 26.0-26.1gr drops.

I just dump the powder back up top and once it's settled in I start loading. I only check about once every 50 rounds as I go because I know this setup and if I had to pull 50 rounds no big deal.

For the love of everything holy run some steel wool over those dies...
Please...

 

[xtry51]

Lol. Nah. It gives the ammo character!

 

[xtry51]

I just timed out (3) 10rd batches. Just under 90sec per batch average. That's about 400rds per hour. Not bad for hand placing each case and bullet.

I'd say I do more like 250-300 per hour as I'm usually watching something or chatting with wife. Plus you need to refill both powder hoppers once every 250 rounds or so. Plenty fast for me.

 

[p..]

I just timed out (3) 10rd batches. Just under 90sec per batch average. That's about 400rds per hour. Not bad for hand placing each case and bullet.

I'd say I do more like 250-300 per hour as I'm usually watching something or chatting with wife. Plus you need to refill both powder hoppers once every 250 rounds or so. Plenty fast for me.

I think it took me an hour and a half to load 30 rounds. But I was using a 357 case soldered to some copper wire as a powder scoop (because 3031 does *not* throw well) then trickling the rest, and hand filling each case, manually moving the case from station to station on the Dillon 550 without spinning the base plate to minimize variation, and loading one round at a time, and verifying the bullet seating depth with calipers on each round. It was a little slice of OCD heaven.

 

[xtry51]

Another 100rds neatly stacked and waiting for 1100 more buddies to join them in the can tonight.

 

[EddieZoom]

that tray is pretty cool ,

I agree, pretty cool.

 

[DW357]

I just timed out (3) 10rd batches. Just under 90sec per batch average. That's about 400rds per hour. Not bad for hand placing each case and bullet.

I'd say I do more like 250-300 per hour as I'm usually watching something or chatting with wife. Plus you need to refill both powder hoppers once every 250 rounds or so. Plenty fast for me.

That’s about my output also

 

[xtry51]

I think it took me an hour and a half to load 30 rounds. But I was using a 357 case soldered to some copper wire as a powder scoop (because 3031 does *not* throw well) then trickling the rest, and hand filling each case, manually moving the case from station to station on the Dillon 550 without spinning the base plate to minimize variation, and loading one round at a time, and verifying the bullet seating depth with calipers on each round. It was a little slice of OCD heaven.

I get OCD with my 77gr loads and .308 loads.

This ammo is still decent. Roughly 1-1.5moa depending what gun we run it through. But it's intent is really for training 100yds or less. No point doing crazy quality control with this goal.

 

[slap shot]

I'm setting up to load a bit of the 223 brass I've been processing. Wanted to throw up a safety tip for any newer people here.

Whenever you come back to a station you left setup, always cycle the powder drop several times before running production.

Here is my "training ammo" setup. It's a Lee 4 Hole turret with (2) Lee seating dies and (2) Lee powder drops. Because I do the rest of my brass prep single stage or by hand this makes it pretty fast to bang out ammo without buying something like a 750. Basically I set this up about 10 years ago and it works so well I can't justify buying a real progressive. I've reloaded maybe 30k rounds on this press as it sits now.

View attachment 441206
View attachment 441207

Now I have this press setup for 26.1gr of WC844 surplus under a 55gr hornady FMJ. Here are pics of the first powder drops weighed from each

View attachment 441208View attachment 441209

That right there is how you blow up a gun. 28.0 and 28.2gr. Roughly an 9% higher powder charge by vibrations on the bench settling the powder over time while I worked at other stations. I cycled the turret 3 full revolutions, (3) drops each and both settled back into 26.0-26.1gr drops.

I just dump the powder back up top and once it's settled in I start loading. I only check about once every 50 rounds as I go because I know this setup and if I had to pull 50 rounds no big deal.

10% of 28 is 2.8, not .2. What am I missing?

 

[mac1911]

Lol. Nah. It gives the ammo character!

Reloading equipment steel is funny when it comes to rust. i have dies that are spotless and others that are rusty , even from the same die sets.
Im tempted to rust blue some of them as no matter what I do they turn red/brown in short order.

 

[xtry51]

10% of 28 is 2.8, not .2. What am I missing?

I had it set for 26.1gn. It threw 28.3gn. 2.2gr over charge. So technically 8.4% overcharge.

I'm pretty sure that charge of my lot would pierce the primer and destroy the firing pin at minimum. I loaded up to 27.0gn and was getting cratering.

 

[mac1911]

I think it took me an hour and a half to load 30 rounds. But I was using a 357 case soldered to some copper wire as a powder scoop (because 3031 does *not* throw well) then trickling the rest, and hand filling each case, manually moving the case from station to station on the Dillon 550 without spinning the base plate to minimize variation, and loading one round at a time, and verifying the bullet seating depth with calipers on each round. It was a little slice of OCD heaven.

i dont know how you inflected people get anything done. i see OCD as torture. God bless

 

[xtry51]

Reloading equipment steel is funny when it comes to rust. i have dies that are spotless and others that are rusty , even from the same die sets.
Im tempted to rust blue some of them as no matter what I do they turn red/brown in short order.

This not a bad idea

 

[slap shot]

I had it set for 26.1gn. It threw 28.3gn. 2.2gr over charge. So technically 8.4% overcharge.

I'm pretty sure that charge of my lot would pierce the primer and destroy the firing pin at minimum. I loaded up to 27.0gn and was getting cratering.

ok I thought it was a typo. Carry on.

 

[p..]

i dont know how you inflected people get anything done. i see OCD as torture. God bless

I was using a scoop for the powder because I didn't like my RCBS Uniflow cutting the extrusions in half.

 

[Mudflap621]

24.0gr to 24.5gr depending on your specific gun.

24.0gr is enough and will shoot well in nearly every gun. Basically better than most shooters.

24.5gr is hotter and better for 600yd if your gun has a favorable node at that mark and you don't mind losing 1-2 reloads on your brass.

If you're not sure what a "node" is, look into Optimal Charge Weight, OCW load development. I beleive this is what EddieCoyle teaches in his classes.

The short version is your barrel has a harmonic and you don't want the bullet exiting when your barrel is deflecting the most.

Thank you just loaded up my OCW rounds for this. I dunno how u are getting 24.5 in there I was crunching around 23.5
I loaded from 21-23.8 to test. I measure jam and backed off 5 thou but is this too close?

 

[Mudflap621]

Got to use the new trimmer and chargemaster as well and man it’s definitely better than the lil Lyman hand doohickey trimmer and lee scoops. I checked all charges against my beam scale had 2-3 overcharges so redropped. I’ve read that guys are running a straw to help prevent the overcharge I’m gonna give it a try.

 

[bigblue]

Every time I see all this hand reloading and powder drops and scoops and doo hickeys, it makes me happy I drank the blue Kool Aid when I fell down this rabbit hole ages ago.

 

[xtry51]

Thank you just loaded up my OCW rounds for this. I dunno how u are getting 24.5 in there I was crunching around 23.5
I loaded from 21-23.8 to test. I measure jam and backed off 5 thou but is this too close?

Crunching stick powders is ok. When I load 4320 the case is literally almost overflowing. CRUNCH goes the stick powder.

You can actually dip a 223 case in 4320 and load it with a 55gr bullet and still no be an overcharge. It's one of the best powders if you're a beginner other than the metering.

 

[Mudflap621]

Every time I see all this hand reloading and powder drops and scoops and doo hickeys, it makes me happy I drank the blue Kool Aid when I fell down this rabbit hole ages ago.

Yeah I can’t wait to get bluey setup to run these but until I settle on a load I’m gonna do by hand. I only loaded 25 or so

 

[SCreign]

10% of 28 is 2.8, not .2. What am I missing?

He was going for 26gr and got 28 & 28.2 which is ~9% higher than intended

 

[Quite_Exasperated]

If anyone sees cheap .45 ACP projos with a reasonable lead time, please let me know. All the coated guys seem to be out 14-16 weeks but I may throw an order in there just to be in line.

PM sent..

 

[mac1911]

I was using a scoop for the powder because I didn't like my RCBS Uniflow cutting the extrusions in half.

How long did it take you to fill the scoop

 

[bigblue]

Now if I could just find large primers like everyone else looking.

 

[xtry51]

Finished off the jug of WC844. That was the last of my old surplus powder

Those jugs were $70 for 8lb when I got them. Oh the "good ol days" lol.

Moved on to Ramshot Tac. Going 25.0gr still under 55gr FMJs.

 

[bigblue]

Love me some TAC. I put that shit on everything from 55 to 90 grains and on up to .308

Meters very well for me, economical, and accurate enough. A bit temp sensitive but meh

 

[xtry51]

I only use Varget if I care about high end accuracy or temp stability. I think I still have 20lbs, so I'm not gonna run out of that any time soon.

 

[slipknot]

For those reloading bottleneck cartridges, how many of you anneal, how often, and HOW do you do it?

(.223, .308, 6.5C, & 6.5G for reference)

I anneal every firing. I shoot 6.5 creedmoor, use Lapua brass and am waiting on a 6 Dasher rebarreling so I expect 25-30 firings on the Lapua brass I bought and had hydro formed. I use an AMP and love it. Consistent annealing every time. Expensive but buy once cry once, besides I had a coupon