Hand reloading

[psweigle]

I'm wondering how many of us use the old hand tools to reload. I use them a lot when we go to the cabin. It's a great way to entertain the kids. Nothing like making a few revolver rounds the shooting them just to do it again.

[Ecclectic Collector]

I do it all the time. I've got a big turret press, but find unless it is a really heavy brass case the Lee hand tool I have does fine.

[psweigle]

I've been looking for an old 310 set in 32 s&w long, or 38s&w. An old ideal tool with the mold would be soooo awesome as well.

[Noah_Zark]

I use hand reloading tools all the time.

I have too many 310 tool die sets and large and small 310 handles to list; probably 16-20 sets. Thing is, with 310 and Tru-Line Jr dies you can mix and match dies set components to load what you need. For example, a .308 Winchester set will handle 7.5 Swiss just fine. With the correct handle bushing it will also load 7.62x54R. My 30-40 Krag die set works just fine for .303 British. The 32-20 set is perfect for 7.62x38R and just about any of the longer 32 Handgun cartridges, including 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R Magnum, and 32 Federal Magnum. The 38-55 die set naturally loads 375 Winchester just fine. And I thought it would be difficult to find a 405 Winchester 310 die set, but IIRC the 2nd gun show I attended after acquiring the 1895 Winchester in 405 (the Ruger #1 in 405 came about a year later), there was an orange box marked "405 Win" on a vendor table, with all the bits in it. Even better, it was marked $25 and had not been used, and had not rusted.

I use the 310s quite often, plus two Lyman hand presses and two Lee hand presses, both the Lyman and Lee with 7/8" dies, of course.

I wrote an article for Handloader back in the early '80s on practical portable handloading describing how to pack a large tackle box with everything needed to develop loads right at a shooting bench, including a Lyman/Ohaus 10-10 scale and a HDS "Compac" press or Lyman 310 equipment.

Noah

[psweigle]

Wow, I had no idea the 310 dies were so versitile. I too have an acculine hand press, I use it quite often for bullet sizing and priming. I guess if a guy got the small die bushing, he could use his 310 dies in a modern press as well. I use the lee loaders for most of the cabin loading. I am glad to see that these tools are still being used. Thank you.

Paul.

[Noah_Zark]

The thing about 310 dies is that they neck resize only, NOT full-length. The ID of the resizing die of the 308 set is large enough to accommodate the 7.5 Swiss and 7.62 Russian case bodies without touching them. The downside to using 310 dies is you need to keep like cases segregated by rifle or handgun, in most instances because of differences in chamber dimensions. E.G., rifles chambered in 303 British and 30-40 Krag vary all over the place. But that's what different color Sharpie markers are for, "painting" the case heads by firearm.

Back in the day, if you wanted to FL resize with 310/TL Jr dies, you needed a (sold separately) FL resizing die which required a soft-faced hammer and a punch, and some really effective FL sizing lube. Sorta like with a Lee "Load All" set. Tedious. But back in the day, many folks had but one rifle, maybe two in different chamberings, and mostly neck sized their reloads as there was no need to FL resize; the reloads were going back in the same chamber anyway.

Since anymore I mostly shoot lower-power "plinking" loads in my rifles using 10-16 gr of Unique dependent of the cartridge and bullet type (cast vs jacketed) and weight, there is little case body expansion or neck growth and I get 10, 12, even 15 loadings out of a given set of cases and still no need to FL resize. The Unique plinking loads are plenty powerful to shoot fom 25 yds to 200 yds with respectable accuracy, even though the trajectory is not unlike a rainbow.

Thread at Cast Boolits re: 10 gr of Unique:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/arch...p/t-39923.html

Best,

Noah

[psweigle]

Nice info to have. Has anyone use an ideal reloading tool with the mold built in? I've been looking around at them and just haven't found the right one. They are rather pricey.