What did you do in the reloading room recently?

Yes, it's been uncomfortably warm but I needed to test a few loads. The 32/20 was slightly more accurate with crimped ammo. I seated with the RCBS and crimped with the Lee. The 43 Spanish did OK with the Lee 405 grain hollow base sized to .444 but no better than the paper patched Lyman 439186 370 grain. I think I'll stick with the paper patched bullets because they work that expensive brass less.
 
Loaded 10 rounds each with SR4759 and AA5744. All with that paper patched bullet. I'll try them at 100 yards cause I don't think 50 will tell me much. I might try them later at 200. Now that the VA sent me some glasses, I can actually see the sights instead of guessing where they might be.
 
Just went to the post office and retrieved my Lyman Case Prep Express. Working on 4000 pcs. of once fired, crimped LC 5.56 cases, reaming the crimp out.
This beats doing it by hand or even using a drill with a Wilson deburring tool mounted.

Next comes priming, then trim to length using the Dillon trimmer, then deburring the case mouth, in and out.

They will be loaded with 62gr M855 bullets and Lake City pulled tracers.
 
I finally got to try my 7.62x54R handloads at 100 yards today, and learned a valuable lesson. On these old scopes without focus adjustment, you've go to wear your glasses while shooting! The groups started at 1.5-2.5". Once I realized I could actually see the targets instead of small fuzzy orange blobs, I put on my cheaters and shot back to back sub .7" groups. It amazes me that this 1944 Mosin is capable of doing this!

I'm shooting .311 174 grain Hornady BTHPs on top of IMR4895 at a few different powder weights. Now it's time to make up another batch of the best ones and focus on getting the scope totally zeroed - which isn't easy given they have no clicks, and the adjustments are all pretty coarse.

IMG_6439.jpg IMG_6440.jpg IMG_6441.jpg
 
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paulleve said:
I finally got to try my 7.62x54R handloads at 100 yards today, and learned a valuable lesson. On these old scopes without focus adjustment, you've go to wear your glasses while shooting! The groups started at 1.5-2.5". Once I realized I could actually see the targets instead of small fuzzy orange blobs, I put on my cheaters and shot back to back sub .7" groups. It amazes me that this 1944 Mosin is capable of doing this!

I'm shooting .311 174 grain Hornady BTHPs on top of IMR4895 at a few different powder weights. Now it's time to make up another batch of the best ones and focus on getting the scope totally zeroed - which isn't easy given they have no clicks, and the adjustments are all pretty coarse.

View attachment 901766 View attachment 901765 View attachment 901764
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Mosins can shoot quite well when you use a good bullet and powder charge they like. They get a bad rap for accuracy, but I've found they can hold their own with some careful handloading.
 
Tested some 124 HST out of a P-01 and a Shadow 2. Sport pistol powder.

Got about 40 FPS more out of the longer barrel.

They just exited the 16” gel block. Some broke through the cardboard backer into a box and some bounced off and laid between the box and the gel.

I’m going to bump up the load a couple tenths to see if a little more expansion will yield less penetration.

Either way I’m pretty happy with the results.
P01 on top Shadow 2 on the bottom. No discernible difference

IMG_4573.jpeg
 
Anyone load collar button bullets? My son loaded a few 150 grain in 45/70 with 5 grains of red dot. They shot into one big hole at about 30 yards. That was out of a single shot. Now he wants to try some out of the 1886 lever action. That load is barely quiet enough to shoot without earmuffs.
 
gerrycaruso said:
Anyone load collar button bullets? My son loaded a few 150 grain in 45/70 with 5 grains of red dot. They shot into one big hole at about 30 yards. That was out of a single shot. Now he wants to try some out of the 1886 lever action. That load is barely quiet enough to shoot without earmuffs.
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I always wanted one of those moulds. The old Lyman books have data for them.

I do the poor man version sizing down a .490” ball to .460”

I’ve done a lot of reading and some guys like to seat the bullet or ball down deeper in the case. It increases efficiency and consistency allowing a slightly lower powder charge and less report. Especially from long barrels.
 
gerrycaruso said:
My son thought about seating the bullet deep but wanted it to function in a repeater. He used a 45/70 case to cut wads from a beer carton and seats them about 1/8" above the powder charge.
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I’m not sure what rifle he’s using but my Marlin cycles the deep seated cases just fine.

Has he tried 3 ball loads? 3-.460” balls on top of about 9 grains of unique. Now that’s fun!
 
One of the advantages that drew me to reloading is the ability to work with hard to find calibers. Today I loaded up 50 rounds of 7.7x58mm Arisaka using Hornady 174 gr FMJs over a relatively light charge of IMR4895. Cases are PPU - which is a whole lot easier than resizing .30-06 brass like fellas used to do in the old days!

The rifle is a Nagoya last ditch, made toward the end of '44. I'm looking forward to trying this rifle out!

Arisaka.jpg
 
gerrycaruso said:
Tried 2, 3, 4 and 5 grains of red dot. 5 did the best but 3 is quieter and shows promise. The collar button bullet cycled fine through the 1886.
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Nice. I think I found similar with the round balls. 5 was good but a little too loud for the back yard.

I did in a rooster with a round ball load one time. He was mean. A round ball took the fight out of him.
 

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