What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[4g64loser]

This is so true. I've just started checking shops, and all the soccer mom shops with waiting rooms like to inform me loudly that "They recycle those metals".. The small shops were all throwing them in the trash

Pick up a few dozen donuts. Case or two of beer. Donuts get you I the shop to talk to the guys. The beer gets you out with the goods. This is how I used to get body parts from meat houses for ballistic testing. Should work for wheel weights too.

 

[trickg]

Does the donuts and beer thing really work? There are A LOT of sketchy-@$$ shops in "Glen Dirty" and "The Dena." I've got four or five that come to mind immediately offhand.

 

[4g64loser]

Does the donuts and beer thing really work? There are A LOT of sketchy-@$$ shops in "Glen Dirty" and "The Dena." I've got four or five that come to mind immediately offhand.

Yes. I got pig heads, hide, hearts, even some beef parts that went out of inspection.

In glen dirty, some bags of smack might be better but it should still work with food and beer. Since you want lead, try this:

Walk in with donuts. Check a price on some tires (have a size picked out just to make it good). Write down the price and verbally indicate that they beat the last shop. Offer to take the donuts to the guys in the shop since the counter guy surely has work to do. Pass out donuts shoot the shit. Ask the tech that was in the tire machine about some wheel weights for making fishing sinkers and decoy keel weights. If they offer up the goods, offer to back your car in to load up. Have your own buckets to put em in or offer to trade buckets. Case of beer may happen to be in the trunk. Damn, won't have room with all these wheel weights. Could you guys get rid of that beer for me?

Drive home.

 

[Sticky]

Definitely bring a spare 5 gal bucket.. cheap at HD or Lowes...

 

[4g64loser]

Sticky, you should roll with trickg. You guys would get along. He just likes hunting smaller critters!

 

[guzma393]

Brass prepped ~150 corrosive primed military HS 30-06 brass where the primers were heavily bonded with primer sealant and possibly heavy crimped on. Broke 4 lee style decapping pins on the universal decapping die as the start of my reloading session. Decided to go back to drawing board, and wet tumble the primed cases to try to break the bond between the primer sealant and the primer cup. Sealant acted as some type of glue bonded to the primer cup. The bond was so strong that the primers cup started ripping open like can lids, where i had to resort in "shucking" the primer cup out on some cases with a steel pick.

Decided to fashion a universal decapping die out of a decapping pin from an rcbs 45 LC decapping rod and a rcbs swage die. The rcbs had hardened steel tips unlike the lee capping pins. Worked like a charm, but still managed to snap one rcbs tip in the decapping process.

I sized the cases, wet tumbled the brass a second time, annealed the cases, reamed the pockets, and trimmed/deburred them to spec. So far so good until I realized certain military headstamps didn't take so well to reaming (smashed primers, crimp was way too tight that swaging was the) only way). I didn't have a swage tool that can readily do 30-06 cases (my turret press/rcbs swage die tool was out of commission), so I resorted to turning down the swage rod on a Frankford arsenal bench swager on my lathe to accommodate 30-06 cases (rod was only good for <308 length). Worked like a charm and swaged the pockets just fine.

I wanted to actually produce a bit of ammo to wrap up the day, so I progressive loaded ~100 rounds of 9mm from various pulled, weighed, and separated 115 gn and 124 gn bullets from de-mils. I used ginex srp and they seemed to seat just fine. Only the range will tell if they go bang. My vp9 doesn't seem to care what small primer is installed even going as far as setting off cci 450s.

 

[guzma393]

They had a clearance sale of $1 5 gal buckets at my local wally world early this past week. I grabbed a good amount of buckets as they are always filled with brass or lead.

 

[4g64loser]

Brass prepped ~150 corrosive primed military HS 30-06 brass where the primers were heavily bonded with primer sealant and possibly heavy crimped on. Broke 4 lee style decapping pins on the universal decapping die as the start of my reloading session. Decided to go back to drawing board, and wet tumble the primed cases to try to break the bond between the primer sealant and the primer cup. Sealant acted as some type of glue bonded to the primer cup. The bond was so strong that the primers cup started ripping open like can lids, where i had to resort in "shucking" the primer cup out on some cases with a steel pick.

Decided to fashion a universal decapping die out of a decapping pin from an rcbs 45 LC decapping rod and a rcbs swage die. The rcbs had hardened steel tips unlike the lee capping pins. Worked like a charm, but still managed to snap one rcbs tip in the decapping process.

I sized the cases, wet tumbled the brass a second time, annealed the cases, reamed the pockets, and trimmed/deburred them to spec. So far so good until I realized certain military headstamps didn't take so well to reaming (smashed primers, crimp was way too tight that swaging was the) only way). I didn't have a swage tool that can readily do 30-06 cases (my turret press/rcbs swage die tool was out of commission), so I resorted to turning down the swage rod on a Frankford arsenal bench swager on my lathe to accommodate 30-06 cases (rod was only good for <308 length). Worked like a charm and swaged the pockets just fine.

I wanted to actually produce a bit of ammo to wrap up the day, so I progressive loaded ~100 rounds of 9mm from various pulled, weighed, and separated 115 gn and 124 gn bullets from de-mils. I used ginex srp and they seemed to seat just fine. Only the range will tell if they go bang. My vp9 doesn't seem to care what small primer is installed even going as far as setting off cci 450s.

Call wayne at mighty armory to solve the decapping problem. I didn't want to blow the money on his dies at first. Now I don't know how I processed nine and 556 without that decapper. It kicks the living shit out of lee, rcbs, and redding for nasty crimped stuff. His .50bmg decapper is damn good too.

You will thank me later. Your wallet might not.

 

[guzma393]

Interesting, I usually don't have an issue with decapping, but when I do, I break at least one pin, either from being careless, bad luck, or a combination of both. Will look into the mighty armory decapping dies.

 

[4g64loser]

I was initially skeptical. I am now a convert.

 

[trickg]

I was initially skeptical. I am now a convert.

I'll have to pick up one of those - I've busted enough decapping pins on my Lee Universal decapping die using my Lee APP that it had become a bit of a frustrating conundrum. I'd be willing to shell out a few bucks for peace of mind to drastically mitigate that issue.

 

[Sticky]

I have seen their dies and they look very stout... Haven't sprung for any yet, but their decapper looks mighty tough!

Can't afford any right now, just sent my last paycheck to Dillon Precision. Arrrgh...

 

[bigmancrisler]

I went to lowes last night to buy another shelving unit for my reloading room, got home and started to put it together only to realize that I got the wrong size. So I’m currently taking what I had put together apart and back in the box and gonna exchange it for the right size this morning. I literally said to myself, nah I don’t need to measure it, it’ll be fine.


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[4g64loser]

I was buying lee pins ten at a time. My friend and I process nine and 308 by the bucket to feed his machine guns. What really tore it for me was the shitty norma 9 brass with smaller than BR flash holes. Really ruining production rates and costing money. Then lee decap pins were out of stock everywhere. The squirrel daddy pins were better but still not up to that job. Called wayne. He guaranteed me that his die would either decap the case or destroy it but the pin would be fine in either event. So far he has been right. I'm running his shorty bull decap die.

And to my friend bigmancrisler, "cut twice, measure, say f@#$ three times, and go back to the lumber yard" is the way of the construction industry, ain't it?

 

[Sticky]

I went to lowes last night to buy another shelving unit for my reloading room, got home and started to put it together only to realize that I got the wrong size. So I’m currently taking what I had put together apart and back in the box and gonna exchange it for the right size this morning. I literally said to myself, nah I don’t need to measure it, it’ll be fine.


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Building a bench with shelves now with a prefab leg kit from Northern Tools, just cut and add the lumber, so you can make it to your needed size.. we'll see how it turns out in the end, nothing fancy, just need it to be solid. They have shelving kits only too...

 

[gwfrench]

Not at the bench, but needed to load at the bench.
Saturday, took a ride to RSP Gun Shop out in Falling Waters, WV.
Got 2# ($37ea) Alliant Power Pro 300-MP (357 loads) and 1# ($32) Longshot (40 S&W). Looking at the receipt and remembered, no sales tax in WV on reloading supplies. No tax covered over 1/2 the cost of the gas to get out there from Frederick. Prices were about $2/lb more than Powder Valley, but no hazmat/shipping/sales tax and immediate gratification.

 

[4g64loser]

Not at the bench, but needed to load at the bench.
Saturday, took a ride to RSP Gun Shop out in Falling Waters, WV.
Got 2# ($37ea) Alliant Power Pro 300-MP (357 loads) and 1# ($32) Longshot (40 S&W). Looking at the receipt and remembered, no sales tax in WV on reloading supplies. No tax covered over 1/2 the cost of the gas to get out there from Frederick. Prices were about $2/lb more than Powder Valley, but no hazmat/shipping/sales tax and immediate gratification.

Rsp are good people. I never get to make it over there when they are open these days but they are also a great resource for Dillon stuff. A friend wanted to go blue and had some challenges getting set up. The owner actually gave him a tutorial on both setup and normal maintenance of the press and case feeder. I refer people to them for the service but the tax free powder thing is a bonus.

 

[erwos]

RSP is great, but finding them when they're open is a giant pain in the neck.

I gauged a whole bunch of 9 Major tonight, and will probably be spending tomorrow night doing some heavy-duty 9mm loading to make up for the 650 rounds I shot in class today.

 

[6-Pack]

I’ve actually had good luck on eBay getting fairly cheap, but already cast into ingots lead. It’s not free, but you also don’t have the waste that you do with casting wheel weights from shady tire places. You’d be amazed how heavy those flat rate shipping boxes can get. I think I got about 30 pounds in one before. Came with a lot of “caution: heavy” stickers from the USPS too.

But yeah, free lead is best sourced from shady places. I remember one time I was scrounging up lead and was offered a complete still for sale. Called the wife, but she said no.

 

[bigmancrisler]

I was buying lee pins ten at a time. My friend and I process nine and 308 by the bucket to feed his machine guns. What really tore it for me was the shitty norma 9 brass with smaller than BR flash holes. Really ruining production rates and costing money. Then lee decap pins were out of stock everywhere. The squirrel daddy pins were better but still not up to that job. Called wayne. He guaranteed me that his die would either decap the case or destroy it but the pin would be fine in either event. So far he has been right. I'm running his shorty bull decap die.

And to my friend bigmancrisler, "cut twice, measure, say f@#$ three times, and go back to the lumber yard" is the way of the construction industry, ain't it?

As long as I’ve been doing construction it has been lol

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