I just fixed mine yesterday. The weight bar came loose. Had worn the lock bolt down so it couldn't be tightened anymore. Retapped it and put in a nicer locking point set screw. Running like a champ.
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What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
- Start date
I just fixed mine yesterday. The weight bar came loose. Had worn the lock bolt down so it couldn't be tightened anymore. Retapped it and put in a nicer locking point set screw. Running like a champ.
pastera
NES Member
I ran into powder issues - slow down the powder, a lot, and the issues go way down.
Chased my tail - coated, coated and lubed, different sizes, etc.
Slowed down the powder and it started behaving perfectly with just hitek coating
Was reloading some .45ACP and had a bitch of a time priming the brass. Most of it was Winchester brass, no idea where I got it from since I don't shoot that crap but I had a hard time seating them fully, crushed one, and ended up going to a hand primer. Thank God this virus has my hand muscles in shape haha..
About 10 years old, branded as Cabelas. I believe it's a shaded-pole motor, with an unbalanced weight on the shaft. It's very simple mechanically, and 4 long Phillips bolts hold together the two main components. Interestingly, they use hot glue to secure the bolts at the factory.
pastera
NES Member
Hot glue does a great job of absorbing the vibration and is stupid cheap.
That's what I was using, it definitely helped but damn it felt like when you get that random SPP .45 in the press and you try and send a LPP home. I'll have to find my DB14 bit again, maybe I can use the RCBS swage tool?
Fire form for effect
Low load them for plinking ammo. They'll come back into shape after firing, then retrim them.
I've fire formed a bunch of .270 AI.
I've heard of guys using a small charge of pistol powder and whitebread, saving on bullets.
Today's bounty.
Wolf SR Magnum primer
55gr FMJ
Wc-844 powder
Single stage Lee press.
Still need to crimp the ones in the yellow bin.
What are you using for primers? I just finished about 500 .45 acp and I would guess 60% were Winchester cases. I had no problems using WLP primers on the turret press.
You could have a short lead in that barrel also.357 might be to big? Lee molds tend to be a bit "not round" especially at the seem.I broke out my Lee 6 cavity 120 Grain TC mold and made 500ish bullet heads. Sized and lubed them to .357. Then I spent hours... and I mean a ridiculous amount of time trying to set up my dies to get 9MM rounds to pass a case gauge and plunk test with a barrel using lead heads. I've been reloading now for over 10 years and I guess I'm starting to think I know what I am doing. It was a humbling experience for me, but I had nothing better to do. I had to go back to absolute basics on die seating to get a minimal crimp to just touch the bullet and enough tension to hold it in place. I had about a 10% failure rate where I just could not get some to pass the gauge. This was using mixed range brass. I am thinking of sorting cases but did not in this instance.
I've been searching for old-timer tips on 9mm cast boolit reloading. There is a lot out there but so many different opinions.
Anyway, I made up 200 rounds. I took them to Hopkinton yesterday and hit steel flawlessly. It is a beautiful thing because I have a lot of lead ingots, primers, and powder. I could do this every weekend for a long time.
Mixed brass and wall thickness can lead to issues, Different trim lengths can have effect on the case mouth flare.
I might consider sizing it to .356" ?
Try to recover some of your fired bullets and give them a look.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR_WiL8Dkgw
poking around I found this guy minute 10;00 has some 9mm ......Im not sure how well this works
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf1zUprw2s0
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I'm using WLP, it's pretty much the only thing I use for .45ACP. I've never had issues in the past. I do wonder if my "bench" being a lot shorter isn't giving me the leverage I used to have before. I'll make a stand at work and see how she does then.
You shouldn't need that much pressure to prime any brass. If you are encountering issues with the primer starting in the pockets, look to see if there is a crimp. If so it will need to be removed, either by reaming or swaging.
WCC headstamped brass is notorious for being a pain in the ass because they are crimped in .45 and 9mm.
By slightly beveling the pocket, the primers will start easier. I just did 2k of .45acp mixed brass and had a few Winchester pieces that I had to ream with the above pictured tool. A couple of twists and the primers go right in.
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The way I make my 7.7 Jap from 30-06 is as follows: lube (i use the hornady case wax for necking down, FL size trim w/pipe cutter, fine trim w/precision trimmer, chamfer/debur, anneal, primer, powder, bullet.
Then i load as hot as possible (based off known loads in MY rifle) and anneal the second time loading, but don't really bother after that.
Load it up and shoot it...zero harm in that. If you load it hot enough, it might even take out the wrinkle
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All the pieces that I had said Winchester not WCC. Nothing seemed to have any kind of crimp. What's funny is some primers went in with pretty much zero effort but only the Winchester had a tough time going in even after beveling it was still stiffer than most the others. I'll take a look at everything more tonight. Like I said I have no idea where the brass came from and some of it looked a little beat up. Never had an issue with brass before.
Interesting. I wouldn't expect primer pockets to get tighter over time. I know that Winchester cases, much like you allude to, are generally a good primer fit. The toughest brass to prime that I've noticed is the "R P" headstamp followed by Speer, and Sig. I really enjoy priming CBC brass (@andrew1220 ) as it has the best feel. Federal brass is by far the loosest, and I've actually had to stop using some cases after several firings.
I've run into tight pockets on "Winchester" stamped brass also, and yes even after bevelling they went in tight but at least they started a little easier......much like Sellior&Bellot brass, I just wanted to clarify the WCC issue.
I
LOVECBC .45 brass......it is a very large majority of what I have and it is the smoothest loading .45 brass I've encountered. You're right.....the priming just feels right everytime.Not had any issues with R-P stuff, it seems ok so far.
A-MERC is another problematic headstamp......I separate them out before I even start loading.
As far as the sizing to .357 I feel pretty good about that size. I took the Boolit Casting class years ago in... Shirley. It was a great group of guys teaching that skillset and I am very grateful for them pass on that knowledge of smelting, lube and sizing and than reloading. In that class and in other reference material it is pretty clear that you should size .001 larger with lead than a jacketed bullet. I've been doing that with other calibers and not had a problem until trying 9MM. So a jacketed bullet would be .356 and a cast boolit sized to .357.
I think my problem has been the range brass. I am getting most to work but once in a while I run across a rogue case than just does not work for me. Seomtimes a second pass through the seating die and Lee Factory Crimp die works for me. But, I am always getting between 5% and 10% rejects that I will not even plink with because I know I will get an out of battery condition if I bring them to the range. These rounds are fine for plinking. I would never try to use them in any other situation.
Mudflap621
NES Member
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Seems lead bullet size is extremely dependent on actual barrel bore size. If you happen to have a bore of .357-.358 than seems that lead .356 bullet is pretty useless. I’m finding out the hard way myself. Just because it will work in some doesn’t mean it will work in all. I’ve found one gun to shoot .356 without issue while another gun leads extremely bad. This led me to slugging barrels and actually finding I needed to upsize.
Cbc is my favorite, it's pretty much the only factory ammo I buy just for the brass. Works very well with .44MAG as well. The R-P stuff I used was pretty smooth last night and the Perfecta was borderline loose. I may put this stuff to the side and find my known good brass in storage. Thanks for the help guys!
its always good to slug your bore.
9mm jacketed bullets ar .355" if you have a nice barrel machined to close tolerance s .358 might give you some fits?
Add that to thickness variation like you mentioned and you have more "problems" i would start stacking the rejects and see if a particular brand is prevailing.
I will try sorting brands for rejects going forward.
Mudflap621
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I’m pretty sure that I’ve read of people having issues with the lee FCD and lead bullets as it was swaging the boolits and undersizing them. When your Bullet’s aren’t passing the plunk test is it because they aren’t crimped enough or do you think it’s bulging the case? I’m new but trying to understand if your trying to combat the swaging and adjusting your die to compensate for it and therefore it’s not giving you enough crimp.
It can, and it happens.
More so on straight wall. 9 has a slight taper to it, so sometimes people luck out and the ring just catches down towards the case head.
Calipers are helpful with this. Quick measurement at the mouth after taper crimping will tell a lot.
I started my process with a crimp that was a little more aggressive than I needed (not sure how to phrase it, just more than I needed). I followed the advice I found online (here) by using a sharpie and completely covering the completed round. Then I gauged it and since it did not fit I was able to spin the round in the gauge and see where contact with the gauge was taking place. I found that there was a bulge below the crimp. That is why I decided to restart the whole seating process.
I went with the seating die adjusted so it would remove any belling that was there to accept the Lead boolit. Then the factory crimp was adjusted to only apply the lightest of crimps to provide tension to keep the boolit in place. I found that this process is what gives me the greatest success with lead and 9mm.
I've found that maybe 2 in a hundred completed rounds do not have enough tension to keep the boolit in place. I toss these. Then about 5 to 10 that do not pass the gauge or barrel plunk test. I pass all rejects through the seating and FCD process again. About 50% of those end up passing after that.
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SJan
NES Member
Do you have a kinetic bullet puller?
Try to pull one that is seated, but not ran in your final crimp station.
It should be held in quite well. You should not be able to push it deep or pull it out by hand, or by pushing against the bench.
If it does move in/out easily you should look at your sizing die, be sure it is set up correctly.
I will try this and yes I do have a puller. I assume you are suggesting that the crimp die is not needed. I have considered that but have been using it out of habit with 9mm. I will give it a try on my next batch.
SJan
NES Member
crimp die should not be needed to hold the bullet in. It is needed to remove the case flair.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Exactly
What gun/barrel are you plunking the rounds into? Just curious if you have a CZ for example which has a short throat and can be picky with bullet types and OAL's.I broke out my Lee 6 cavity 120 Grain TC mold and made 500ish bullet heads. Sized and lubed them to .357. Then I spent hours... and I mean a ridiculous amount of time trying to set up my dies to get 9MM rounds to pass a case gauge and plunk test with a barrel using lead heads. I've been reloading now for over 10 years and I guess I'm starting to think I know what I am doing. It was a humbling experience for me, but I had nothing better to do. I had to go back to absolute basics on die seating to get a minimal crimp to just touch the bullet and enough tension to hold it in place. I had about a 10% failure rate where I just could not get some to pass the gauge. This was using mixed range brass. I am thinking of sorting cases but did not in this instance.
I've been searching for old-timer tips on 9mm cast boolit reloading. There is a lot out there but so many different opinions.
Anyway, I made up 200 rounds. I took them to Hopkinton yesterday and hit steel flawlessly. It is a beautiful thing because I have a lot of lead ingots, primers, and powder. I could do this every weekend for a long time.
