What did you reload today?

[scruff]

I tested my 38 Special +P rounds at the range today. The velocity was 1004 fps out of my 4" GP100, a little higher than Hornady's 950 fps.

Then I shot it in my J-frames. Velocity was 904 fps in the 360SC Airlite, and 876 fps in the Model 60 Chiefs Special. The Airlite's recoil is intolerable with .357 Magnum. The purpose of this load was to see if a 38 Special +P round would be tolerable in the gun. It wasn't. It's gone from "Pray to make it stop!" to "Damn, this is painful!" So that's it - I'm never going to carry this silly scandium-frame Airlite. If I ever have to pull a gun, I want 100% of my brainpower going to stopping the threat, and none of it going to "This is going to hurt!"

The recoil of the Chiefs Special with the +P was much better, sharp but not painful. I'll load a box of ammo in case I do ever decide to carry it.

I'm liking the Caldwell chrono app. That's some nice functionality for a cheap chronometer.

[scruff]

The $80 press lives! All of the parts are in - the Dram Worx powder reservoir, the missing primer system parts, the 9mm shell plate, the spare Lock-N-Load bushings. I fabricated a bracket for the catch bin. To start out slow, I ran 100 rounds of 40 S&W with Blue Dot and 155 gr Sierra TMJ FN using primed brass, so I didn't have to use the priming system for the maiden voyage.



The very first case was crushed by the resizing die. The shell plate was overshooting the detents on every fifth pull. A quick call to Hornady and a slight pawl adjustment took care of that problem. Now it's cycling like a champ.

I see how nice the Lock-N-Load bushings are. When setting up one die, it's easy to pull the other dies out of the way.

The shell plate jumps when it snaps into the detents, causing flakes of powder to be knocked out of the cases. I'm pausing to insert the bullet near the bottom of the downstroke so the powder is contained when the shell plate indexes. This probably won't be a problem with loads that have less powder in each case.

The press ran great. If the primer system works just as well, I'll be in good shape!

[JoshIronshaft]

Those old pliers on your wall look like torture devices.

I don't know about that press, but for my Dillon XL650 I was able to buy a flat roller bearing that sits on top of the shell plate (under the shell plate retaining bolt), as well as an improved detent ball and spring for the detent ball, all from ebay. This eliminated the snap of the shell plate when it automatically indexes and eliminated the powder spillage. Which means I can crank out ammo as fast as my right hand can work the press and my left hand can sit a bullet on a case.

There may be some similar mods for your press. Brian Enos forum is a good source for that type of stuff.

[abner13]

Those old pliers on your wall look like torture devices.

And the Stanley-Yankee push drill!

[scruff]

Those old pliers on your wall look like torture devices.

I don't know about that press, but for my Dillon XL650 I was able to buy a flat roller bearing that sits on top of the shell plate (under the shell plate retaining bolt), as well as an improved detent ball and spring for the detent ball, all from ebay. This eliminated the snap of the shell plate when it automatically indexes and eliminated the powder spillage. Which means I can crank out ammo as fast as my right hand can work the press and my left hand can sit a bullet on a case.

There may be some similar mods for your press. Brian Enos forum is a good source for that type of stuff.

I saw someone who machined lead-ins into the detents. That looked like a really bad idea. It's no big deal. If I insert the bullet before the ram gets to the bottom, it can jump all it wants to, no powder can come out.

Most of the pliers were my grandfathers, a few came from estate sales. The oddball pliers come in handy sometimes. The modern pliers are in the toolbox.

And the Stanley-Yankee push drill!

Also my grandfather's. I don't think I've ever used it, lol. Any idea how old it would be?

[JoshIronshaft]

For rifle brass, I prep them on my XL650, with a universal decapping die in position 1 and a Dillon full length sizing die and rapid trimmer in position 4. Brass comes out ready to load, no deburring or anything needed. It saves a lot of time.

The only con is that it's hard to feel when your decapping pin encounters excessive force, size a casing is being sized at the same time.

Last night I deprimed about 1000 5.56/223 mixed cases. I wrecked a couple of decapping pins. Two headstamps were the problem. After a few pins were mangled I stopped and went through the brass, sorting out those two headstamps.

#1 was "F&S .223 REM" brass. Those Field and Stream DICKS! They could fuck up a one car funeral procession. Primer flash hole is undersized on every one, causing the decapping pin to deflect and bend. They can be carefully straightened a few times before they are scrap. These cases are easy to sort out because they have red sealant around the primer.

#2 was "NPA 01 5.56X45". If you research this headstamp it is referred to as Greek SS109 or Olympic SS109. There's a bunch of warnings on forums about not shooting it due to incorrect headspace and some guns going kaboom. It looks like whomever shot this at the range had problems with it. The case base has raised material along the rim edges on one side and an ejector pin witness mark, so something shitty was going on. Some seemed to have a primer flash hole undersized but some were fine. The cases are easy to sort out because they have a green primer sealant, in addition to the lovely damage to the case base/rim.

Now to prep 2k more cases today and then get back to loading.

[JohnXD]

Call Midway customer service ASAP and see if they can cancel the order. I received the Dram Works reservoir yesterday, and it IS very nice.

Check out this guy's tube at 2:50. It's melted to heck. Nice to know that will never happen to mine.

It's good to hear about Midway's customer service. I didn't get the powder rotor for rifle. I doubt it's an expensive part, but free would be even better.

My new tube showed up from midway Last night. I am not really too worried about it as I have 2 Hornady measures, both are a bunch of years old and neither has ever melted. I am surprised to see one in that condition though. Seems surprising that a company would turn out a product designed to hold powder that may react with the powder and melt. I am wondering if the melted ones might have been cleaned with something that when combined with the powder reacted with the plastic?

[scruff]

Today I loaded five 30 Carbine test rounds.



And I've spent hours over the last week prepping a couple thousand .223 cases. I bought a .223 shell plate on eBay for my new Hornady progressive press. As soon as that comes, I'll be ready to load a bunch of .223.

[pens87pgh]

Today I loaded five 30 Carbine test rounds.

And I've spent hours over the last week prepping a couple thousand .223 cases. I bought a .223 shell plate on eBay for my new Hornady progressive press. As soon as that comes, I'll be ready to load a bunch of .223.

I have a bag of spent cases of .223 or 5.56 I can bring to the group shoot if you'd like.

[scruff]

I have a bag of spent cases of .223 or 5.56 I can bring to the group shoot if you'd like.

Thanks, but I have plenty. Maybe somebody else can use it?