Reloading Rifle Ammo

[27hand]

Somewhere I heard that letting the lead go out to the septic system wasn't a good idea and it sounded logical to me. If I was on sewers I'd be all over that. OTOH, my other house is on sewers and I could take all my brass over there and do that.

This was funny.
My friend is flipping a house. All the bathroom drain branches are lead pipe bent to make direction changes. Yes, lead pipe not soldered, lead wiped fittings made on site.
I was a plumber foreman at a research building in which we installed double walled polyethelene pipe to transport biohazardous waste from the lab to an acid tank.

it was doublewall so if the interior pipe leaked, they could flood the void with acid to hopefully kill anything they might be testing.

Although any lead washed into the drains is bad further down the line, there is so much stuff in those sewers you would have to be a plumber to truely appreciate how bad it is.
Even shit isn't bad compared to what I've seen and heard about.

[frankski]

Now that I have my .338 winmag up and running I'm looking at reloading for it and have some questions. I'll also start reloading my .308. I have a Dillon 550 press and have done some 9mm but nothing else. I figure I can use it to load rifle rounds as well but suspect that I will hand measure the powder. What special procedures are there for doing them? I have been told that the dies are pretty much universal with one or two exceptions. What brands won't fit this machine? And why do some die sets have two dies and others have three?

You can use the 550 for rifle rounds easily. As others have noted, most of the work, case prep, is done off the press. You can get separate tool heads and powder drops for the rifle calibers, and just do decapping, priming, powder charge, and bullet seating on the press.

In my case, I prime on a bench mounted priming tool which provides better control than a press. For bulk .223 with easily metered powder like h335, I use the powder drop. For precision rifle rounds, I hand measure (I can dribble as fast as an automatic dribbler), and only seat the bullet on the press.

In short, you can use as few or as many stations as you want to on the 550.

[frankski]

One other note, if you do any volume of case prep, you may want to invest in a case prep machine. I’ve had the Lyman for years, and it is terrific. Really saves wear and tear on the wrists.

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/...kEzAbzFuyX3Q40

[Walleye Hunter]

One other note, if you do any volume of case prep, you may want to invest in a case prep machine. I*ve had the Lyman for years, and it is terrific. Really saves wear and tear on the wrists.

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/...kEzAbzFuyX3Q40

That device looks interesting and I'll keep it in mind and know what it is if I come across a used one cheap. For now I have the large pen shaped tool that holds the pieces inside it until they're ready for use.

[Qtrborecrazy]

27hand has great advice on reloading rifle ammo. I also have a Dillion 550 and only load pistol ammo on it.

[27hand]

Walleye.

From your start load, I would load 3 rounds each and progressively increasing by .3 ( 3 tenths) of a grain and checking group size.
Instead of using a shit ton of targets, I use one for about 4 loadings and transfer the shot location (numbered) for each group using a spotting scope and secondary target at the bench.

2020-08-19_08-21-29 by poofy27, on Flickr

This target was for my PA10 in .308.

I chrono my workup strings but that's just me.

I shot my .300 win mag yesterday before shooting that 8 point with my crossbow.

I was really happy with this group at 200 yards. That was bench off of bags. When I went prone and sitting with a 25" bipod, it opened up considerably. Ha.

2020-11-19_08-50-42 by poofy27, on Flickr

Good luck and enjoy

[Brick]

27hand: That's an interesting idea. But why not just use the Champion type target with the center aiming diamond and four smaller aiming diamonds in the sheet's quadrants? That gives you five sets on one sheet and you need only track which aiming point for which powder charge.

[27hand]

27hand: That's an interesting idea. But why not just use the Champion type target with the center aiming diamond and four smaller aiming diamonds in the sheet's quadrants? That gives you five sets on one sheet and you need only track which aiming point for which powder charge.

I've tried something similar with multiple
aim points but the reticle superimposed on the target centers works best for me.
I have somewhat diminished eyesight in my dominant eye.

[Walleye Hunter]

OK, I'm stalled on prepping this .338 WINMAG brass. I have Redding dies in my Dillon 550. I set the depth on resizing/depriming using an unfired round and screwed die down until it stopped and I tapped it a couple times with my leather hammer. Miced the OAL in the die for verfication and ran a shell through it. I am getting the same OAL while inside the die but my depriming pin will not go in deep enough to push the primer all the way out. It does hit but not far enough to push it all the way out. Is my pin too short or am I not down far enough with the die? I do not want to shove the brass any farther into it than I'm supposed to so I'm afraid to just give it a turn or two. As it sits, the base of the shell sticks out 3/8" or so from the die when pushed in as set.

[Brick]

Is my pin too short or am I not down far enough with the die? I do not want to shove the brass any farther into it than I'm supposed to so I'm afraid to just give it a turn or two. As it sits, the base of the shell sticks out 3/8" or so from the die when pushed in as set.

Not too short, but if you look at the die you should find it is possible to adjust the decapping rod independently from the die. At least if it is the same type of Redding die as my 6.5 Swede set. As I recall the Redding instructions they recommend that you start with a once fired case and the die screwed down so it touches the ram at its full height. Then back off 1/2 turn, lube and resize the cartridge. Then try it in your rifle and if the action closes with difficulty, screw the sizing die downward slightly and retry until the the breech mechanism will close freely on the case. Lock the ring on the sizing die and now you're set for resizing for that rifle with correct headspace. IIRC this used to was called "neck-resizing" and works very well if you're reloading for one particular rifle. If you're reloading the smae claiber for several rifles you'll want to do "full-length" resizing. In any event the instructions included in your Redding die set are very good.