I have the Frankford Arsenal hand primer. I love the feel and the adjustable seating depth.
What did you do at your reloading bench today?
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Rockzilla
Ultimate Member
RCBS universal us okay, Whidden is great, old Lee round Tray Autoprimes are awesome
-Rock
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If you're processing 1200 pieces of brass for somebody else, you ARE a true buddy!
He's either a hell of a buddy or he has expensive reloading tools and helps pay for them by processing for others. I have a couple shooting buddies I do that for. Recovers some of the money spent and gets the work done more consistently/efficiently.
Haven't shot much lately due to various life events (mostly good) except for a few matches, but things are turning around at a pretty rapid rate on that front, so I'm prepping back up for the new shooting season:
1. I think I'm going to load up some of these 223 streak pulls I bought and see how they perform at an NV shoot.
2. My revolver ammo is starting to run low, so I'm due for another run of 9mm and 45 with Federal primers and brass. I converted my 38/357 revo to 9mm, so I no longer need to load bunches of 357 Minor anymore (thank G-d).
3. I need to start loading 7.62x39, 6.5 Grendel, and .308 again, which I think will mean some more toolheads and conversion kits for the 650.
1. I think I'm going to load up some of these 223 streak pulls I bought and see how they perform at an NV shoot.
2. My revolver ammo is starting to run low, so I'm due for another run of 9mm and 45 with Federal primers and brass. I converted my 38/357 revo to 9mm, so I no longer need to load bunches of 357 Minor anymore (thank G-d).
3. I need to start loading 7.62x39, 6.5 Grendel, and .308 again, which I think will mean some more toolheads and conversion kits for the 650.
Hahaha. Called it!
I'm in the same boat so I won't say anything negative about it. Helps pay for the expensive tooling.
I have another friend bring his rifle to me with a complaint about accuracy.....it turns out his custom made 204 Model 700 has a 1-in-13 twist barrel and he was shooting 40 grain bullets. So, I am gonna pull those and reload him some 32 grain ammo. Rifle puts those in a half an inch at 100......{also not doing this for free!!!}
For myself, I need to cast and load up some buckshot rounds for my trench gun.
For myself, I need to cast and load up some buckshot rounds for my trench gun.
85MikeTPI
Ultimate Member
Garand 30-06 loads using Hornady Vintage varget recipe & pulled Nosler 168gr match
Processed the last 350 rnds of Federal 308win brass and moved up to 180gr pulls.
180gr Nosler Accubond
180gr Federal Trophy
180gr Swift Scirocco
Processed the last 350 rnds of Federal 308win brass and moved up to 180gr pulls.
180gr Nosler Accubond
180gr Federal Trophy
180gr Swift Scirocco
I've finished reloading my 5.56. As a new reloader, many lessons were learned.
It took a little while for the powder measure cylinder to get a good coating of graphite on it so that it would dispense smoothly and consistently. Initially, I was re-weighing many charges out of caution because the consistency just wasn't there. It did finally settle in and it's spot-on now. I'm only QA checking 5 cases in 50 now. (I do visually check the entire tray to ensure that powder is in every case)
.223/5.56 brass is finicky compared to .30-06. I had several different headstamps. PSD brass has a thick sleeve in the primer hole that really does not like CCI military primers. Ordinary primers might fit better. Many Lake City primers have pockets that are off center. I learned that if I rotated the case in the shell holder, the primer would line up better and be seated without undue pressure.
My test shots indicate that Hornady .224 projectiles are very acceptable. I'm sure I'm not up to F-class quality but I'm very pleased with how things have turned out so far.
It took a little while for the powder measure cylinder to get a good coating of graphite on it so that it would dispense smoothly and consistently. Initially, I was re-weighing many charges out of caution because the consistency just wasn't there. It did finally settle in and it's spot-on now. I'm only QA checking 5 cases in 50 now. (I do visually check the entire tray to ensure that powder is in every case)
.223/5.56 brass is finicky compared to .30-06. I had several different headstamps. PSD brass has a thick sleeve in the primer hole that really does not like CCI military primers. Ordinary primers might fit better. Many Lake City primers have pockets that are off center. I learned that if I rotated the case in the shell holder, the primer would line up better and be seated without undue pressure.
My test shots indicate that Hornady .224 projectiles are very acceptable. I'm sure I'm not up to F-class quality but I'm very pleased with how things have turned out so far.
PSD is crimped South Korean brass. It's the crimp that you'll need to deal with, not the #41 that's causing primer seating issues.
85MikeTPI
Ultimate Member
Or if the crimp is removed, it’s just that the brass doesn’t completely center in the primer tool. It’s not the primer hole being off-centered
85MikeTPI
Ultimate Member
Loaded up 30 300BO test rounds of a 130gr hollow point that looks a lot like the Speer Varmint, but with a Cannelure.
Will fire them over the chrono and into the gel, next trip out. Then load the remaining 500rnds if testing is fruitful
Will fire them over the chrono and into the gel, next trip out. Then load the remaining 500rnds if testing is fruitful
Chauchat
Active Member
So he is looking a ring crimp on the PSD brass. Yes?
Rockzilla
Ultimate Member
Dealt with PMC, PSD and some old PS brass really never an issue, the crimp is more pronounced on these, than others. TAA crimp is more difficult to remove than those
-Rock
-Rock
Help me understand.
In my pile, I've seen brass with 3 stakes. To me, this is crimped brass. The PSD brass does not have this. The hole is completely open, there's just a thick sleeve. They aren't uniformly thick from case to cast. I got to the point where I could eyeball a case and tell if it would work. Is there a crimp that I'm not seeing?
@85MikeTPI other brands of brass that I have are absolutely off-center. It's easily observed. It's not that I'm putting the case in the shell holder off center.
The easy answer to this question is yes - more often than not the 5.56 range pickup I get has crimped primer pockets, and they aren't always staked. It's usually a ring crimp.
These days I have batches of brass - brass that I know I've processed, and brass that isn't processed and needs to be decapped, sized, primer pockets checked, and crimps cut out of the ones that need it.
guzma393
Active Member
They do make primer pocket gauges for a definitive check on whether a primer pocket is crimped or not swaged enough: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1026245819?pid=100387
Personally, I mass process primer pockets for all 223/556 range pickup brass. Too many variables to account for if just simply sorting them out by head stamp (i.e. undersized flash holes, berdan cases, swaged cases, etc.) . The lee app press makes short work of decapping/swaging 223/556 range pickup brass.
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