Reloading General: Share your /k/nowledge
Don't squat with spurs on.
>>30512596
In rooms you plan on handling gunpowder, it is not advisable to paint the floor black or grey.
>>30512596
>just bought a rock chucker and rangemaster 2000
excited/10
now I just need to buy a gun that I want to reload for!
why does it take 1 hour to prep 100 .223 brass.
Deprime
clean
size
trim
swage
clean
Got one of these sexy things on the way. I love big ol' honking battleship engineered bits of steel like this. Stuff like this just smells of quality and simpler times.
>>30512663
Also don't eat yellow snow
>>30512953
It's definitely a chore no matter what but look into:
working in big batches (~1000 cases)
lanolin isopropyl alcohol spray for lube
powered setup for trimming, deburring & primer pocket reaming
Also maybe just ditch the deprime stage, clean and deprime with your sizing die, never had a problem with dirty primer pockets.
>>30513082
> never had a problem with dirty primer pockets
I don't mind the inside of the case having a little carbon, but I like to go the extra step and make sure the primer pocket is spotless to avoid surprises when priming. As a side effect, I usually get the case interiors pretty clean as well.
We will be next on the block. Mark my words. Buy your powder and primers now.
>>30513292
Pro tip- you wont ever get any surprises priming a pocket that hasn't been polished clean... I have a good 35k reloads under my belt. never cleaned a primer pocket in my life. I wont waste my time with trivial shit like that.
>>30512663
>having shit ankle mobility
Best way for a noob to start reloading his own ammo?
>>30512953
Your not doing it right, takes me twice that long & I have a Lyman prep center
i dont even shoot often enough to make the savings you get from reloading to be even worth it but I just think that reloading seems fun to do. Just looking at a pile of clean, fresh, hand loaded ammo gives me an erection
>>30516316
Buy good equipment (RCBS)
Press, dies, scale, powder trickler & thrower, tumbler, calipers, kinetic bullet puller& I highly recommend headspace gauges to test your ammo in
Read a reloading book/manual
Buy supplies
Profit
>>30516392
Nice autism boxes
>>30516337
You arent doing it right. I've timed it, it takes under an hour for me to process a hundred pieces of LC 556 brass and turn it into ready to load 300blk brass.
1-Chop with HF mini chop saw and jig
2- light chamfer/deburr with hornady hand tool
3- lube cases. spray healthy amount of hornady oneshot in bag full of cases. shake and pour out.
4- size/decap. Double strike brass for a consistent shoulder
5- Trim to final length with WFT trimmer(3 seconds per case tops)
6- Swage pockets with CH4D die. about 5 seconds a piece.
I timed it a while back because I made a shitload of 300blk brass. something like 4k pieces
>>30513292
I don't think cleaning primer pockets have ever been proved to do anything substantive, and the only issue you will ever have with primer pockets are if you are using some media that gets trapped in them while tumbling.
Maybe if you're benchrest shooting with a gun that pops off tenth of an inch groups.
>>30516397
Thx
>>30516426
Actually you're not doing it right, guaranteed you don't get sub moa ammo routinely
>>30516862
Lol, just brass unfortunately
Thetes no such thing as too much reloading literature, loaddata.com, shoulder bump guages for rifle cals, invest in quality, log everything
Watch out for crimped \boxed pockets and .45 small pistol primer brass
Buy your components now, the price is gonna spike the closer the election gets
Loading 500S&W today and fucked up on seating the bullet. Ruined a few cases so I've got some fixing to do. I think better job on deburring will help.
I have read front to back the Hodgens reloading manual.
Am I a fucking weirdo, or just an enthusiast?
>>30517154
How were the cases fucked up? good chance you are way over crimping causing the case to buckle about halfway down. If it weren't for the fact I mainly load coated lead I wouldn't chamfer/deburr. No reason to when loading jacketed bullets. a light chamfer will prevent shaving any of the coating off. It wont prevent fucking up cases.
>>30517379
Cases buckled near the mouth as I was trying to press in the Rainier 335gr jacketed HPs. I'll be honest, this is new to me. I've done some 307 in the past, but not straight wall. I've got a 45-70 I'll be loading for soon as well.
I'm doing 40gr H110 and the 335gr to 2.070". Hard to find loading data for this.
>>30517421
Need to flare the case mouth.
>>30517421
Plated bullets generally arent the best for a caliber in the 50-60k psi range. If they shoot well and dont show any signs of stripping out of their jacket then keep using them but they arent known to be very accurate at top end loads. 40gr should be a safe load considering 350gr heavy jacketed xtp's call for a max of 43gr h110. I use 42gr in my xtp loads.
Pictures?? it is possible that you arent expanding enough. Bullet needs to be able to pretty firmly sit on top of the case before seating. a light chamfer could help. Working with new brass can exacerbate the problem as there is no carbon residue(lube) to helps when seating a bullet. I run a qtip with a little case lube inside the mouth of all new brass. this helps make expanding and pulling the case off the expander easier as well as smoother seating of the bullet.
>>30517421
ooh and you cant really put much of a roll crimp on a plated bullet. they usually have a half ass cannelure that isnt worth much. Crimp too hard and you may break the plating leading to a barrel obstruction and subsequent KB.
Skip the dry tumbling. Fuck walnut and corn cob. Jump directly to wet tumbling.
Buy good shit. Skip Lee, go directly to RCBS or Redding.
Buy several manuals. Cross check data.
NEVER ASK /k/ FOR LOAD DATA.
>>30517561
This
Fuck dry tumbling
I recommend the thumbler tumbler with the stainless steel media
Fucking amazing, I've had the same 2 pounds and have cleaned over 2000 rounds of brass
>>30517548
>>30517532
Thanks. The bullets were quite difficult to get to sit properly before seating, quite a tight fit so maybe the sizing wasn't great.
Sorry no pictures at the moment. Was getting them started at a buddy's. Thanks again for the help
>>30517561
I've personally never had a problem with Lee dies or presses I did happen to aquire some rcbs dies what's so good about them
>>30517561
I want to go with the wet tumbling crowd but just cant.
wet tumbling strips all carbon residue from inside cases making expanding and bullet seating more difficult.
You also have to decap brass before cleaning adding an extra step
You also must dry your brass properly to avoid water spots
Dont touch that brass, it doesnt have any nufinish on it to protect it from tarnishing quickly.
Not to mention getting ss pins stuck in primer pockets, flash holes or small necked cases like 223.
I'll stick with walnut and nufinish. It gives me a very high polish. see >>30517379
>tfw priming on forster co-ax press
>>30517642
Thumler good. I got the Rebel 17. Hurray for ball bearing rollers.
>>30512953
Got a little story for you
>dad spent about 4 hours playing with his new continueis press loading his 40 s&w
>come out to check out how much he's done and see how new press works
>next to him he has about 4 finished rounds
>ask him is that all you've gotten done?
>yes
>it's been 4 hours how is that all you have done
>he shows me a coffee can half full of ruined smashed cases
>how the fuck did you smash all these cases
>I'm just not used to this press you couldn't do any better
>tell him to move and proceed to crank out 5 rounds flawlessly
>dads just grasping at straws
>YOU DIDINT SEAT THEM RIGHT
>get the calipers
>everything's fine
What happened was the bullet wasn't aligned with the casing correctly and he wasn't following the bullet all the way up to the die with his fingers and he just kinda rested the bullet in top and as soon as the bullet hit the die it would try to correct it self but go in kinda sideways and crush the case
>dad still wont face the fact he wasn't holding the bullet right when it went into the seating die
>>30517885
lol dumbass. shouldnt be hard to bell the case enough to seat the bullet in there right. if all else fails, there is the lyman M type dies...
>>30512596
So what advantages are there to reloadin your own bullets? At the range I always wonder how much money im losing just throwing away all that brass.
Tested some 130gr hornady SP over 18.7gr of lil gun. Grouped and stabilized well. Very neat holes. Test gun was a 16.5" 1:8 twist 300blk ar-15. Here's Hodgdons load data I used.
>>30518102
For me, 500 mag loads only cost 20 cents a round using a coated cast lead bullet. Factory stuff is $2.50-$3 a round. Common shit like 38spl and 9mm I load for like 4 cents a round.
It pays off very very fast when you cast your own bullets.
>>30513082
I necksize without lubing but after case tumbling. It's not too bad but something a little force is needed.
Am I doing it wrong? I hate having to deal with greasy shit and I don't want have to clean my cases twice and worry about if I got all the shit out from inside etc
How much would it be to get into reloading? Get the equipment for it I mean
I only load for precision stuff: match loads for .308 and .223. And my own personal recipe hollow points for 9mm.
I don't load bulk blasting ammo for range fun. It takes too long and take all the joy and pleasure out of reloading and just becomes work.
Reloading is part of the firearms hobby for me. I don't want it ruined by spending hours and hours on brass prep and loading.
>>30518526
A basic setup is about $250. As you load more, you will upgrade a lot of stuff over time. $250 will get you started though. Bullets, primers, brass and powder will cost you extra, though.
>>30518526
about 19.
That is like asking how much does a car cost? answer to that question is $125 to $3,400,000.
