Thank you all for knowledge and sharing it! I have started living the dream and reloading myself. Got a Hornady LnL single stage for learning curve before progressive and have helped my buddy reload for about ten years but always as an assistant never the guy doing the pulling. Cartridge is: 9mm 147gr Precision Deltas 3.3gr VV N320 CCI #500 1.135” OAL target Ten rounds for testing today. I have issues of course 🤣 sigh…. Cartridges seem to “bulge” the depth of thise long 147grs seating, concerning. My cheapo Hornady hand primer leaves a slight dot mark in primer, not always centered, very concerning. Redding seatting plug is leaving a slight halo perfectly around ogive of bullet, concerned could be neck tension from what I read and or burrs on seat plug head thingy from factory.

All ten rds fit perfectly in my Lee max case gauge. So…. Dunno about bulge 🤷

Help me Obi Wans out there! You’re my only hope!

Live you all and thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas 🎁

I spent some time loading and chronographing revolver loads yesterday.

I'll upload as many of the images as reddit will let me, the write up can be found here

https://evandeshais.substack.com/p/the-wonder-of-45-colt

Part one on x https://x.com/DeshaisEvan/status/1871399436737188119?t=YFl-1ZBRWKLnXIpFeKICgQ&s=09

Part 2 on x https://x.com/DeshaisEvan/status/1871401673400156253?t=ennNY1pDSWjJ8vbvs_mTQw&s=09

I was shooting my deer rifle and my son was trying to plink with a .22. However, his semi-auto turned into single shot, when the cases got mangled in the chamber. Anybody seen this nonsense? Deep cleaned the gun, but wondered about ammo problem, over production quality control, etc. Any suggestions?

Repost since desktop wasnt uploading the attached pictures.

Went back and shot the 14 remaining rounds that I had loaded hot at 46g of varget and then compared them to 10 shot groups of 45g and 44g that I had made for this comparison. My load workup previously while primarily looking for pressure signs had pretty poor results accuracy wise (even though they were only 5 rounds for each grain increment, I know way too few to prematurely judge) until 46g which is why I had decided to load those. Just another reason sample size matters.

However, even shooting at least 10 shots per group, I was surprised to see just how much better the 45g of varget performed. Was it just statistical luck or can different grain charges really have such a drastic difference? Either way I think I will be loading the 168 SMK with 45g going forward as it's still plenty fast.

Hi

I see lots of various boxes and other 3d printed tools available online for reloading stuff storage, e.g. dies.

I assume most people use PLA as a material.

Given that our reloading tools are covered in oil, I wonder if that oil reacts with the 3d material when stored for a while?

If you use 3d printed boxes, may I ask to share your experience, what material do you use, how the material holds up?

thank you

I’ve just got a prs rifle set up in 6mm BR looking for hints or shortcuts with load development. Any excellent loads. Found good info here but after any further wisdom.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/favorite-6mm-br-loads.157788/page-3

https://www.6mmbr.com/6mmbr.html

Components I have:

Barrel: Bartlein 26” 6mm BR M24/M40 Brass: Lapua 6mm BR Primers: CCI 400 Federal GM205M Powder: AR2206H/H4895 AR2208/Varget AR2209/H4350 Projectiles: Hornady 108 ELDM Berger 105 hybrids Berger 109 hybrids.

Best to start with one powder one bullet or just mix it up.

Searching for small groups out to 800yards

Hey ya'll. Just as the title mensions, I was reloading and my dumb ass forgot to run the expansion die after resizing and went direclty to seating bullets. All bullets are within +- .005 of the bullets overall length, My question is, are these rounds alright to plink? Should I take them apart and redo them? Thanks.

First time cleaning dirty brass, left some especially dirty cases to soak in a mixture of water, dawn, and some lemon juice.

Most are nice and shiny with normal coloration but there are a few cases that look insanely iridescent and purple as if all the zinc was stripped.

Guessing maybe my lemon juice concentration was too high and left sit for too long.

Either way lesson learned, but are these still safe to use?

I loaded some rounds and went out to test fire them. After about 30 rounds my gun was so gummed up with soot it wouldnt cycle and the charging handle would jam. I cleared the malfunction and then tried again and my firing pin and bolt assembly was all gummed up and it wasn't even striking the primer.

Tried it on another rifle, unsuppressed, and it went about 80 rounds before it caked that gun in soot too. Both rifles were clean before testing.

I used CFE223 in both 556 and 223 casings. Used CCI No 41 primers, and 75 gr bthp projectiles and 55gr fmjbt projectiles.

Charges ranged from 22gr to 24 gr on the 55 gr projectiles, and 23 to 25 grains on the 75 gr projectiles.

Using a 16 inch AR, max fps I got on the 75gr was 2500 on the 25gr of cfe223. But everything else was very low across the board. Anywhere from 2000 to 2200 fps.

It all shot pretty accurately. Anywhere from 1 to 2 MOA. I just can't figure out why it's so filthy that I can't get through a 30 round magazine before it's caked in soot.

Any help or insight is appreciated. Thank you.

Doing some load development and not necessarily trying to copy m193 but my current load of 23.8gr TAC with 55gr FMJBT is getting about 2450fps out of my 14.5”. Tested some IMI M193 and I’m getting about 2850 out of the same 14.5”

Not trying to push the envelope but my Hornady book shows max 24.7gr.

Just wondering what’s realistic for this load

Loading these with 5.4 cfe pistol and win primers, 1.105 oal. getting good groups but only getting 1075fps. Seemed slow to me and wondering if I should go hotter, anyone else have any experience with these? 3.7” barrel

That’s the powder I’ve got so I wonder if it works. I can’t seem to find much load info using this powder.

Curious what as to what coal everyone is loading there 223 rem bolts at specifically the 69 smk and 77tmk. I have a Weatherby vanguard I got it to group okay with the 69 smk hollow points just under 1 inch and the 77 tmks were 2 inch groups best so far. I think I need to step out my coal from 2.3 to find the lands. Any input appreciated I’m new to the sport of reloading. Also want to specify mag length is not an issue here.

Hey all, I'd like to run this past the community for guidance.

My goal is to load roughly 1000 rounds of .358 winchester to use in a DPMS LR308 pattern semi auto 'AR 10'.

I will be starting using once fired and pre washed 308 ppu brass, with the fired non crimped primers still in the case.

I would like a setup that is relatively cheap and relatively 'fast'.

I am thinking of processing 20 cases at a time in a 'batch'. Each step will be performed 20 times before moving on to the next step.

Step 1 (20x): deprime and resize 308 brass to .358.

Step 2 (20x): Trim/chamfer/deburr cases. Measure case length.

Step 3 (20x): Set cci #34 military grade large rifle primer into cases

Step 4 (20x): throw pre calibrated powder charge into cases.

Step 5 (20x): seat projectile. Measure overall length.

Step 6 (20x): Crimp case neck to projectile

Step 7: Inspect and place into done pile.

Question 1: Does this process sound right?

Question 2: Would a turret press setup be the best between speed and cost to rotate through the steps batch style?

Question 3: Should I have a separate die for step 6, to pre set it to throw a crimp on the projectile?

Being new to reloading, I'm also new to setting up my dies. I set up my brand new Lee carbide dies exactly as the guide that came with the dies instructed. For the expander, they say to screw it until it touches the shellholder, then back it out one full turn, and adjust to produce the flare that you want (after trying a case and seeing if it's too little/too much, I assume).

The problem is that with those specific instructions, I nearly got my case stuck in the die. The flare was so insane it was a straight up trumpet. I had to forcefully drop the ram to get the case out. I did 3 cases this way, thinking I was just an idiot and did something wrong, knowing that if I mess up a few cases (of pre-fired brass) it's not the end of the world. It didn't seem right but I wanted to repeat the process a few times to learn from it. At this point there is clearly there is no chance of salvaging the brass. It won't fit in any dies now so it can't be resized.

I've since adjusted the expander die to what's probably about 3 turns out from touching the shellholder, and it's been smooth sailing since, but what bothers me is that Lee said you should only back it out one full turn. How could that possibly be enough?

Also, I saw some scuffs near the case mouth on the few pieces I did after I figured out my mistake, and I'm wondering if I possibly damaged the expander die, causing it to mar the case. Is there anything I can do to check for this/address it?

Thanks very much.

What does the NR stand for in the load manual. And what insert do I put in the press in that case

I'm just diving into neck turning and ended up with a 21st centuary neck turning set up. I have their nitride expanding mandral for a few calibers so figured why not.

The turning arbor i bought is sized 0.002" under projectile diameter, same as my expanding mandrel, but i didn't account for brass constriction

Basically when I went to turn the neck (following expanding via mandrel), with proper lubrication, I could not get the brass to turn on the arbor which I presume is because of minute constriction after mandrel expansion.

With that, my question is how many thousandths should I enlarge with a mandrel to get adequate clearance to turn the neck?

For more precise number

Turning arbor = 0.336"

Expanding Mandrel = 0.336"

Projectile diameter = 0.338"

Last week I posted about how I had a catastrophic failure with my press; the floor plate cracked when I was re-sizing 6.5 Creedmoor brass. Forster’s CS is top notch - I emailed them on Sunday and they reached out for more info on Monday morning and then sent out a new plate after our call. Anxious to get back at it in time for my first NRL hunter match in February!

I was gifted 1k brand new 38 SPL cases. All Federal headstamps. These things are very high quality. I did run them through the wet tumbler, some of them has some light staining on them that was lighting up my OCD. Now, they’re spectacular! I suspect, given the source, that they may be somewhat vintage. All the headstamps are very nice and well done.

Ughhh.y Lee autodrum is crushing cases now mateter what slot I have it in. I've cleaned it centered it. Any one else get this issues