What did you do in the reloading room recently?

[240Geezer]

Not even a whole die. Just a piece. This state blows.

You should move to America

 

[Malibru]

Have my reloading bench setup so my back is nearest the boiler, with the colder weather plus 3 kids, showers, laundry etc damn thing runs all the time, keeps me toasty!

 

[ddeck]

Loaded up some 223 to test out some stuff for a friend

24.5 gn H335
2.210 COAL
55 gn Fmj bt

And I found this a few weeks ago. I found no gun parts near it so I hope it wasn’t too bad. Looks like an out of battery firing. 45 Acp case with blow outs on both sides

 

[p..]

Loaded up some 223 to test out some stuff for a friend

24.5 gn H335
2.210 COAL
55 gn Fmj bt

And I found this a few weeks ago. I found no gun parts near it so I hope it wasn’t too bad. Looks like an out of battery firing. 45 Acp case with blow outs on both sides

View attachment 844021

That reminds me of this. Based on where I found it, I assume it came from a V61 Vulcan. Pretty sure it's a 20x102mm brass. I have to imagine this was an interesting day at work, since there's no indent on the primer.

 

[Tallahassee]

Made a few rounds of full millimeter early today. 165gr ibejiheads and some longshot. The pew pew sounds shall be glorious.

 

[whacko]

I got a model 52 no dash that just made it to my ffl. Picking it up tomorrow. Will test at the range Thursday night.

38 special wadcutters using 2.8 to 2.9 bullseye seated flush and a slight roll. Figured I'd start the testing with 3 different projos and see what groups I get then maybe adjust charge from there.

Left to right
Ranier plated dewc
Star swaged hbwc
Berry's played dewc

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I got a model 52 no dash that just made it to my ffl. Picking it up tomorrow. Will test at the range Thursday night.

38 special wadcutters using 2.8 to 2.9 bullseye seated flush and a slight roll. Figured I'd start the testing with 3 different projos and see what groups I get then maybe adjust charge from there.

Left to right
Ranier plated dewc
Star swaged hbwc
Berry's played dewc

View attachment 845118

How old are the stars? They look like the lube is all dried up. Careful with leading.
If it is pick up some Lee Alox and thin with mineral spirits. Quick tumble, dry overnight and they should be great.

 

[whacko]

How old are the stars? They look like the lube is all dried up. Careful with leading.
If it is pick up some Lee Alox and thin with mineral spirits. Quick tumble, dry overnight and they should be great.

Don't know the age. Got em at ktp on the trade in amo shelf. Didn't even know stars had lube I thought the white was just some oxidation. They shot great out of my ruger balckhawk accurate and no leading. Got 2 boxes already went thru the first 1000.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Don't know the age. Got em at ktp on the trade in amo shelf. Didn't even know stars had lube I thought the white was just some oxidation. They shot great out of my ruger balckhawk accurate and no leading. Got 2 boxes already went thru the first 1000.

Sounds like you’re good to go then I haven’t worked with those specifically but different manufacturers used different lubes. Some held up better than others.

Man now I’m thinking about star reloaders. I need one for 38 someday. @ddeck

 

[CMEBoston]

I actually finally dragged my stuff out of my eaves and set it back up. I haven’t touched it since I moved to my new house in 2016.
Excited to be out of a basement and up on the 3rd floor where it’s warm and cozy

Still gotta get situated been along night

 

[ddeck]

Sounds like you’re good to go then I haven’t worked with those specifically but different manufacturers used different lubes. Some held up better than others.

Man now I’m thinking about star reloaders. I need one for 38 someday. @ddeck

They look to be going for the same or less than a Dillon 550 (about $600). Beautiful machine.

Mine was in 45. That was the greatest deal that I’ll ever get in my lifetime.

 

[whacko]

Sounds like you’re good to go then I haven’t worked with those specifically but different manufacturers used different lubes. Some held up better than others.

Man now I’m thinking about star reloaders. I need one for 38 someday. @ddeck

Just ordered some Hornady 148 hbwc from one of my online sources. On sale for 30 bucks for a 250 round pack. Ordered 2 packs. Gotta feed this model 52 for practice lol

Those are 40 bucks per pack at the bigger box stores.

 

[pastera]

Just my experience:

With pins, you need a media separator (I have the RCBS one) to spin out the pins and to get rid of a lot of the water. I then dump them out on a towel and rub the towel over them to get the surface water off. This eliminates the water spots. But, they do take a while to dry (unless your house is 40% humidity or you put them out in the sun in the summer).

223 is the worst to air dry I find. Before I spun them dry in the media separator (when cleaning them without pins) they would take up to 5 days to dry out to be able to deprime them. Now it only takes 2.

Window screen and a fan - dries them quickly

 

[ddeck]

Window screen and a fan - dries them quickly

I have a used dehydrator that I got just for brass. But I’m a true skinflint and that takes energy.

But that’s a good idea in the summer when the fan might need to be on anyway.

 

[p..]

I have just started playing around with CFE Pistol, and really only because I was starting to run low on Power Pistol. So far when I get near the max book data loads, I'm running about 80fps slower than I was with Power Pistol.

But this is what I have so far out of a P228.

Federal brass
Federal #100 SPP
115g FMJ from AR (edit: FMJ not JHP as originally posted)

5.4g average 1073, SD 37, high 1132, low 1010, ES 122
5.7g average 1119, SD 26, high 1172, low 1092, ES 80
5.8g average 1096, SD 22, high 1132, low 1070, ES 62

Just loaded up a couple hundred of 5.9g. Haven't tested those yet.

One thing that caught my attention at the last steel match I ran with Power Pistol was as I was reloading between stages, one of the guys watching asked the range officer why my loads were so much louder than everyone else's 9mm. So, I guess that powder is kind of loud. I usually compete with double earpro so I kind of don't notice.

I had a chance to run the 6.4g Power Pistol and 5.9g CFE Pistol loads back to back the other day in 4 inch and 3.4 inch barrels. Usually I'm outside nerding around with a chronograph for this stuff, but it was raining so I used the indoor range. The florescent lights don't play well with the chrono so I passed on that and just went plain old paper target shooting. Had the lights on down range for the target, but shut off at the booths, so I got a good view of the flash.

Power Pistol had a pale yellow almost white flash, quite pronounced. It didn't blind me, but it did completely block my sight picture for a moment.

CFE Pistol had a small dull orange flash and I could actually see a few individual sparks. If I were going to choose one for a defensive load based just on this, I'd have to go with CFE Pistol.

I couldn't discern any significant difference in accuracy between the two, but I was also only shooting at 20 feet, which is one hole range for a handgun if you don't have Parkinson's.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

They look to be going for the same or less than a Dillon 550 (about $600). Beautiful machine.

Mine was in 45. That was the greatest deal that I’ll ever get in my lifetime.

Yeah that was a deal! Still jealous.

Just ordered some Hornady 148 hbwc from one of my online sources. On sale for 30 bucks for a 250 round pack. Ordered 2 packs. Gotta feed this model 52 for practice lol

Those are 40 bucks per pack at the bigger box stores.

A model 52 and you’re not casting your own? Insanity!

 

[whacko]

Yeah that was a deal! Still jealous.

A model 52 and you’re not casting your own? Insanity!

Not yet. When I retire I'll get into that.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Not yet. When I retire I'll get into that.

If you get into it now you can retire early. You won’t save any money but the sickness will overtake your life and you can spend your 401k on a magma Mark8 and live like the rest of the welfare folks but with better guns.

 

[ddeck]

They look to be going for the same or less than a Dillon 550 (about $600). Beautiful machine.

Mine was in 45. That was the greatest deal that I’ll ever get in my lifetime.

Some pics of that Star press in 45 I had

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Some pics of that Star press in 45 I had

View attachment 845579View attachment 845580

Stop it!!! I don’t need to be looking on eBay for one of those.

 

[Jenska22]

Stop it!!! I don’t need to be looking on eBay for one of those.

like this?

 

[massboykie]

Loaded up some more 230gr 45 Super and 460 Rowland...

Nice and spicy... lol

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

like this?

I’m dying here!

 

[peterk123]

10 rounds of 223 loaded. Working up the load. Would like a heavier bullet than 68gr but have not found anything locally yet. Shot off 73gr hornady factory loads yesterday and had great results.

Also set up the 6.5 Creedmoor dies finally. First five rounds have been loaded. Using Staball 6.5. It meters well.

 

[doxdsgn]

Put together 200 rnds 45 ACP - Berry’s 230gr PRN over 6gr CFE Pistol. Have another 50 primed cases to load, Not sure if will make the balance with 230gr JHP or 185gr JHP from Magnus. 1911 is fussy, so may make 10 of each to try through it.

 

[p..]

Finally finished off the last of a brick of Federal #100 small pistol primers loading 9mm for the club's weekend steel match.

Have been using blem 115g FMJs with 5.9g of CFE Pistol, Fed #100 primers, in Blazer brass. My guns aren't too fussy so these have been 100%.

Went to the match this morning. It was windy and just above freezing, but sunny. Only a handful of guys showed up. Everyone was bundled up in Carhartts, boots, hats and gloves. We all looked about as tactical as a framing crew. A couple guys got a fire going in the pit in the middle of the action shooting range but it's down in a sand pit so no matter where you stood you got camp fire smoke blowing past you. It was so windy the match directer said we're passing on spray painting the targets between shooters today or we'll just end up painting ourselves.

I haven't been in a few weeks. First time up, I forgot about the stop target and just shot left to right. Bzzt... damn it.

Good bunch of guys. Everyone just there to have fun. No complaining about the senate bill. Nice little vacation from the shenanigans.

 

[jek]

Finally finished off the last of a brick of Federal #100 small pistol primers loading 9mm for the club's weekend steel match.

Have been using blem 115g FMJs with 5.9g of CFE Pistol, Fed #100 primers, in Blazer brass. My guns aren't too fussy so these have been 100%.

Went to the match this morning. It was windy and just above freezing, but sunny. Only a handful of guys showed up. Everyone was bundled up in Carhartts, boots, hats and gloves. We all looked about as tactical as a framing crew. A couple guys got a fire going in the pit in the middle of the action shooting range but it's down in a sand pit so no matter where you stood you got camp fire smoke blowing past you. It was so windy the match directer said we're passing on spray painting the targets between shooters today or we'll just end up painting ourselves.

I haven't been in a few weeks. First time up, I forgot about the stop target and just shot left to right. Bzzt... damn it.

Good bunch of guys. Everyone just there to have fun. No complaining about the senate bill. Nice little vacation from the shenanigans.

What is your OAL? I generally load the same combination only with 5.3 gns of CFE with OAL of 1.12” and velocities around 1150 fps.

Do you see any pressure signs?

 

[p..]

What is your OAL? I generally load the same combination only with 5.3 gns of CFE with OAL of 1.12” and velocities around 1150 fps.

Do you see any pressure signs?

1.135"-1.145" OAL. I actually haven't run 5.9g over the chrono, but 5.8g was running just under 1100 fps out of a 4" barrel.

Same everything but with 6.4g of Power Pistol runs about 1160 - 1190 fps and I was kind of chasing that.

Here are my last several loads. Sorry for the cut and paste formatting issue but you'll get the idea:

Date # loaded Case Caliber Powder type Powder charge Primer Bullet Times case fired Times case trimmed overall length comments Average Standard deviation Max Min Extreme spread

11/14/23 116 Federal 9mm Luger Power Pistol 6.4g Fed 100 Win 115g JRN 2 none 1.145-1.150” 1194 1176 1175 1191 1182
1185 1214 1188 13 1214 1175 39
12/09/23 10 Federal 9mm Luger CFE Pistol 5.4g Fed 100 AR 115g FMJ 1? none 1.135-1.145 8” group at 50 yards 1042 1057 1010 1073 1053
1117 1105 1080 1132 1063 1073 37 1132 1010 122
12/09/23 8 Federal 9mm Luger CFE Pistol 5.7g Fed 100 AR 115g FMJ 1? none 1.135-1.145 8" group at 50 yards 1096 1106 1123 1127 1092
1105 1127 1172 1119 26 1172 1092 80
12/18/23 30 Federal 9mm Luger CFE Pistol 5.8g Fed 100 AR 115g FMJ 1? none 1.135-1.145 1106 1132 1110 1070 1071
1092 1089 1096 22 1132 1070 62
01/16/24 200 Blazer 9mm Luger CFE Pistol 5.9g Fed 100 AR 115g FMJ 1.135-1.145 function test only, no chrono, used for sighting and match
02/03/24 55 Blazer 9mm Luger CFE Pistol 5.9g Fed 100 AR 115g FMJ 1.135-1.145 used in match, no problems

Pressure signs... a little bit of cratering around the firing pin.

 

[Leezway]

Winter loading in full effect… Pumping away those calories and getting ready for the upcoming steel match season… Also, I’ve been working on a new Steel challenge load… hoping to get similar feel from a 100gr 9mm as I do with the 147’s but at a higher velocity… need to get them bullets there faster but with less felt recoil like my 147’s.. need to get out and chrono….

 

[bigblue]

Winter loading in full effect… Pumping away those calories and getting ready for the upcoming steel match season… Also, I’ve been working on a new Steel challenge load… hoping to get similar feel from a 100gr 9mm as I do with the 147’s but at a higher velocity… need to get them bullets there faster but with less felt recoil like my 147’s.. need to get out and chrono….

We run 5-7 steel challenge matches a week, two on Saturdays lol