What did you do at your reloading bench today?

trickg · Jan 17, 2022

guzma393 said:
I'm down to my last decapping pin on my lee universal decapper too. I loosened the collet that holds the decapping pin enough where the pin will slip the moment it hits berdan/small flash holes/mis-align flash holes, rocks, etc. saving the pin. Only drawback to this is it sometimes slips on tight/really crimped primer pockets, so i keep a hammer ready and pound it back down to "reset" the pin.

I might have to do that. I eventually got through it and set up my primer pocket swage.

I might have to rethink that a bit. I was having issues checking with the go/no-go gauge I have, but I may have over-swaged a touch. After I set up my 223 dies for the Dillon, some primers were seating maybe a bit too easily, in spite of the fact that the small side of the gauge was fitting really tight.

I will say this though, the Dillon makes it danged easy, and from what I could see, even with IMR 3031, the powder measure was very accurate - when I spot-checked, if it wasn't right on, it was never more than 1/10th of a gr off in either direction.

Harrys · Jan 19, 2022

guzma393 said:
I'm down to my last decapping pin on my lee universal decapper too. I loosened the collet that holds the decapping pin enough where the pin will slip the moment it hits berdan/small flash holes/mis-align flash holes, rocks, etc. saving the pin. Only drawback to this is it sometimes slips on tight/really crimped primer pockets, so i keep a hammer ready and pound it back down to "reset" the pin.

I had the same issue with my Hornaday. I ended up sizing some old drill bits to the pin diameter. Once I got the correct diameter. I heated it up to take the temper out dull red and let it cool. I cut it off longer than I needed put it in my drill press and used a file to size the pin to the correct size. Once I got everything cut and sized, I heated the pin up and dropped it in oil. Used a jeweler's file and it skated showing it was hard. Total time about 1.5 hours. I never throw anything away and the drill bit worked great, and it looks like OEM made.

Dirty_Civilian · Jan 19, 2022

I ordered some decapping pins from squirrel daddy this week. I'm hoping they hold up better than Lee. I have a lot of pmc brass to process and the flash holes are off center.

Broncolou · Jan 19, 2022

Patriot45 said:
I ordered some decapping pins from squirrel daddy this week. I'm hoping they hold up better than Lee. I have a lot of pmc brass to process and the flash holes are off center.

I run the squirrel daddy pins in my 1050 processing head. They are great. I've even punched out berdan cases with them....lol

lazarus · Jan 19, 2022

Broncolou said:
I run the squirrel daddy pins in my 1050 processing head. They are great. I've even punched out berdan cases with them....lol

Yeah, I managed to convert a berdan primer case to a boxer primed with a squirrel daddy pin and some enthusiastic working of the press. Pin is still good to go.

GuitarmanNick · Jan 19, 2022

Loaded some rounds up for the P-64 today and broke the Lee small priming gizmo that attaches to the press. Finished the batch I was working on by hand, then found that a spring inside it had broken. New gizmos for both large and small primers due on Monday. Bought the setup used, and have done at least 7,000 rounds using it.

guzma393 · Jan 19, 2022

Life events got me shifting to transition to a more minimalist reloading style. Gotta love those HF bench grinder stands. With a bit of lumber and fasteners, I fashioned a multi-press reloading hub complete with a lee ablp for progressive pistol/intermediate loading, lee loadmaster for progressive rifle loading, lee app for bullet sizing, and a bench swager. Lee loadmaster can always be swapped for a lee turret for single stage loading, but I also got a lee hand press for that too.

I gotta figure out getting a shell and bullet feeder in the middle and have them feed in my progressives and app, but the universal case feeder and feeding in bullets by hand will suffice.

I think I'll invest in another hf stand to make a complete case prep station in the near future.

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John from MD · Jan 19, 2022

lazarus said:
Yeah, I managed to convert a berdan primer case to a boxer primed with a squirrel daddy pin and some enthusiastic working of the press. Pin is still good to go.

bigmancrisler · Jan 19, 2022

I have been working on completely cleaning everything in the reloading room from deep cleaning all my firearms (haven’t done that in ages) to reorganizing my ammo cans. And in the process of reorganizing the ammo cans I found a 50cal can labeled “556” and turns out it was a completely full 50cal can of 7.62x54r I had completely forgotten about. I thought I was running quite low on it and turns out I have way more than I thought.

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Harrys · Jan 22, 2022

Test Loads

I got a shipment of LT-30 powder yesterday. I have never used in my 45/70 and making up some test loads. Will be heading out this afternoon for some target shooting. I am interested to see how cold weather affects the rounds. When I was deer hunting in subzero temperatures, I missed my deer at about 150 yards shot way low. I know where my current Iron sites are set for warmer weather at the 3rd notch for 100 yards. It will be interesting to see the difference.

350 grain HCFN
37 grains of LT-30

John from MD · Jan 22, 2022

Harrys said:
I got a shipment of LT-30 powder yesterday. I have never used in my 45/70 and making up some test loads. Will be heading out this afternoon for some target shooting. I am interested to see how cold weather affects the rounds. When I was deer hunting in subzero temperatures, I missed my deer at about 150 yards shot way low. I know where my current Iron sites are set for warmer weather at the 3rd notch for 100 yards. It will be interesting to see the difference.

350 grain HCFN
37 grains of LT-30

When I used to shoot serious competitions and hunting out West, I used to keep my ammo in a box with a couple of hand warmers. I learned this from an old timer back when we were shooting PPC.

Much has been written about how heat affects your powder but very little about cold. Hogdon developed the Varget powder specifically to be less sensitive to temperature swings.

trickg · Jan 22, 2022

John from MD said:
When I used to shoot serious competitions and hunting out West, I used to keep my ammo in a box with a couple of hand warmers. I learned this from an old timer back when we were shooting PPC.

Much has been written about how heat affects your powder but very little about cold. Hogdon developed the Varget powder specifically to be less sensitive to temperature swings.

Certain powders are temperature sensitive. I was watching a documentary about military snipers and one of the stories was about the Canadian sniper team that had the longest sniper kill shot on record, at the time. They talked about the fact that because they were in the high mountain air, they had their scoped doped to the max, were using hold, etc, and the shot wasn't getting there. The shot was far enough away that I don't think the "targets" realized they were being shot at.

They switched to the American ammo they had, which they said was loaded a bit hotter, and they set the rounds out on the rocks in the sun to warm up, thinking that the warmer powder would burn a bit hotter, and that's finally what got them there. Or something like that.

JBoshoven · Jan 22, 2022

The least temperature sensitive powder I load with is H4350. I have chronograph data between near 0 to just above 100 degrees. The following is my muzzle velocity curve for my 6.5 CM with 140 yr Hornady ELD Match bullets. Temps in degrees Fahrenheit.

0 Degrees 2751 fps
20 Degrees 2756 fps
40 Degrees 2764 fps
50 Degrees 2769 fps
60 Degrees 2775 fps
70 Degrees 2781 fps
80 Degrees 2788 fps
90 Degrees 2795 fps
100 Degrees 2803 fps

I do not have my data with me but H4831 is much more sensitive to temperature. If I am remembering correctly I loose over 100 fps from 90 Degrees and 30ish Degrees in my 270 Win with 130 yr Nosler Partitions.

Jack

JBoshoven · Jan 22, 2022

Duplicate

Melnic · Jan 22, 2022

Swaged some Jelly Beans (powder coasted cast bullets. Then loaded up 200 38 with clean burning Universal

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bigmancrisler · Jan 22, 2022

Last night was pulling some 7.62x54r I had loaded with IMR4895 and I had mistakenly thought I loaded it with IMR4064 and so I accidentally poured about 8 rounds worth of 4895 into my lb of 4064. I ended up scooping off as much of it as I could from the jug and put it in my trash powder bottle and then shook the tub really good to disperse whatever little bit was left as they’re similar burn rates. I figured it wouldn’t hurt if they’re is a few sticks of IMR 4895 mixed in as I don’t load anything close to max as it is.

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bigmancrisler · Jan 22, 2022

Definitely learned to 1) not pull bullets late at night while I’m half asleep. 2) triple check what powder I’m pouring back into the jug.

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John from MD · Jan 22, 2022

bigmancrisler said:
Definitely learned to 1) not pull bullets late at night while I’m half asleep. 2) triple check what powder I’m pouring back into the jug.

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I won't tell you what happened many years ago when I worked late reloading two different loads for the next days shooting. I will tell you that one batch wound up with 10 grains of Bullseye and 16 grains of 2400. :facepalm:

bigmancrisler · Jan 22, 2022

John from MD said:
I won't tell you what happened many years ago when I worked late reloading two different loads for the next days shooting. I will tell you that one batch wound up with 10 grains of Bullseye and 16 grains of 2400.

To make it even better, I let my gf drive us back from AGC to Martinsburg, and I had the seats down so I could fit the gun cases in the car and my nearly full bucket of range pick up (a ton of steel case cause it was to cold to sort through) was sitting on the back seat. Well she slammed on the breaks and the bucket went flying. It went literally everywhere. I now have 22lr brass down the defroster vents, 223 stuck under the steering wheel, in between the seats, I mean everywhere.

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Trekker · Jan 22, 2022

This evening I loaded up a test ladder of 30 carbine, from 14.0 to 15.0 with H110.
After I see how performance works, I will continue with a production run.

What did you do at your reloading bench today?

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