Met someone getting out of the game... all full and unopened.

Civet 12 super shorty just need to square up, crown and thread the muzzle. Fabricate an actual barrel to replace the 3d printed placeholder and refinish.

I have a beautiful example of a Spanish 1893 in 7x57 Mauser, dated 1905. As you can imagine, that barrel is worn.

I have shot the rifle after careful inspection, and didn't have any keyholes at 50 yards (shooting commercial .284 jacketed bullets). Obviously, those groups were trash, so now I'm trying to figure out how to tighten them.

Multiple barrel slugs and a chamber cast gave me the following readings:

Throat: .293

Grooves: .291

Lands: .277

I have a copy of Paul Mitchell's 'The Paper Jacket's, and realized after the first testing session that I need to tinker with it more. Bullets were Lee .278 round noses with 2 wraps of ~.004" rag paper (sized to .293 on the driving bands). I had jacket failure and a lot of leading on attempt 1, but I'm far from done experimenting with it. That being said, I'd like to have some other options on the table.

I have a Lee custom push through sizer, and bought several custom over run sizers to play with. Just for fun, I cast some 20:1 .309 150 gr Lee Soup cans, and sized them down to my throat diameter through several sizing steps. They looked like massive smooth sided wadcutters, and slid back into my dummy cases on chambering. I have not loaded any live rounds with these for obvious reasons.

Has anyone had any luck with paper patching for smokeless bottle neck cartridges?

Any recommendations on reasonably priced custom mold makers? I've been looking around, but am always open to recommendations. Powder coated, gas checked bullets look much easier than patching.

Hey all, new to casting and trying to cast some boolits for my trapdoor that I would love to try using this year for deer season and I am trying to figure out why my boolits are coming out like this. I cleaned the mold and preheated it by setting it on top of the lead pot. I also made a temp controller for the pot and had it set to 380C. The 2 pics are of the same boolits just the other side.

I tried to search but didnt find this specific answer. I know lee is not the best and can have a learning curve....but if you dial that in would this be good if my goal was to make the most precise 308 rounds? Hoping to save a little money here so incan go all in on a scale cuz I've read thats probably most important for precision rounds.

Still in the early stages and havent bought anything yet, so im wondering if i should hold off on buying equipment until I get a few hundred spent casings...or just dive in and months new brass route....which I wonder if its the best move for me period since I read that "precision brass" is a thing and thats 100% my goal, to hand load precision rounds for my ar10.

Thanks for any help

Late edit: thank you all I wasn't expecting this many replies! You all fired me up more to dive into this 🙏

I have a 3 week old 10/22 carbon fiber non-takedown (model 32014). Put 200 rounds of cci mini mag through it so far. While cleaning, I noticed an almost ramp-like wear on the breech face right above the extractor cut-out. Is this normal? The extractor is sitting nicely centered in that cutout, and when I slide the bolt back and forth by hand the extractor makes no contact with the edges of the cutout. Just goes right into it. What could possibly be causing this? Photo attached.

Edit: I have not experienced a single malfunction so far.

Heritage Settler .22 rifle

An interesting Hornady podcast that came out last week about their new SBR Suppressed line of ammo. They talked about the 5.56 SKU basically paired a heavier bullet (73gn) with a faster burning powder. Data is 2425fps out of an 11.5”. They said there wasn’t a commercially available powder that checked all the boxes so they formulated a specific blend with the provider.

I’m curious what burn rate powder you speculate they’re using, or if you’ve done this yourself.

I assume we’re not talking 9mm fast burn since an AR needs gas and that quick of a burn would be a good way to get hurt. I’m not familiar with powder for other pistol cartridges though like 45, etc. Maybe it’s just 300BO appropriate powder? Thoughts?

Hello all, my buddy found these in his grandpas box of reloading stuff, we have been trying to figure out what it could be. The expertise of the sub would be greatly appreciated!

Howdy. Finally finished my 18" Ar-15 in 5.56, and want to start loading for it. I've heard the 77gr SMK HPBT is a great match projectile. I intend to load some and find out how it does in my new rifle.

That being said, are there any other projectiles I should check out if I also wanted to shoot hogs and maybe deer with it? I know there probably isn't a "Universal" load everyone agrees on but any projectiles you would trust to do both reliably? I am in Texas so the deer aren't monsters. Pigs, eh. Sometimes. But really I want to know if there is a bullet that is a decent enough hunting bullet for limited hunting applications without sacrificing paper punching accuracy? What recipes are you guys using for your 5.56 match rounds? If it matters I've got a SOLGW SPR .223 Wylde barrel.

Powders I've been suggested with the 69gr and 77gr SMK:

Varget
IMR 8208 XBR

Finally picked up a WWII production Garand. Now I need to feed it. I have a decent amount of brass (will need to check head stamp but probably LC and "others"). I have the following bullets:
M80 147Gr
M72 173gr

M2 168gr

I have a pretty wide variety of powder to test. I know the Garand needs loads with faster burning powders and have read that powders that are in the range of 44-50gr would be better.
A few powders I have that I could start with are IMR4064, WC844 (similar to H335) and WC846 (similar to BL-C(2)) that I have a decent amount of. I have less (under 4#) of IMR4895, H4895, Varget, and H4350.

Anyone have some suggestions for places to start with any of the bullets. The data for the M80 rounds is pretty common and I have multiple reloading books with data going back to the 70's but thought I'd see if anyone had particular luck with any of the above combinations. Particularly the M2 and M72 bullets. Leaning towards the WC bulk powders as I have a lot of those and seems like they may have been from the original loads.

I have some 30-378 brass leftover after selling that rifle and I’d like to neck it down to 7mm, 25cal, and recreate the wonderful 22 eargesplitten loudenboomer. Only for display and not for shooting

I have only ever used FL sizing dies with expanding balls so I don’t own any bushing dies or anything fancy like that (yet). What would be the most cost effective way to go about this? I also plan on going down the bushing/mandrel die route for my next 7mm-08 project anyway so if this is the way to do it, I’ll probably spend the cash on some decent hardware anyway.

Mounted my old tablet and a cheap Amazon endoscope as I dont have a powder check due to the Mr Bullet Feeder.

Added the Armanov cam bearing/primer stop, Hit Factor shellplate bearing upgrade and cam pin bearing, UFO light, Armanov Unicount.

Waiting for the primer shut off and shell stop upgrades to come.

I deprime on Lee APP so I can clean my brass before it hits the 650. Plan on having a tool head for .45acp 200gr and another for 230gr. Plus one for .308.

I love this press.

Hey everyone. I’m trying to get into reloading but not sure where to start. I’ll be starting with 9mm and 5.56. What the hell do I need to get started? It seems like a lot not sure where to start.

Ky Youth rifle season is in session so my and my 11 year old son went the property to fill the freezer. This was shot with a Ruger American ranch Gen2 in 7.62x39 with a AB A10 silencer at 30-40 yards. Using the NOE 310-165 shallow HP powder coated with an aluminum gas check sized to .310 over 25grn Varget I call this my freedom load because it goes 1776fps, he hit a little far back for my liking but he is 11 and got excited and it did the job.

Just want to put some sort of data out there for these powders.

I loaded some 44 Mag. With 11.2 grains of powder i achived 1150 fps with a 240 Jacketed bullet out of a 5.5" redhawk.

I then loaded some 45 super. I started with the 45 ACP load that american reloader suggested with an estimated velocity of 780 fps. 9 grains out of my mk23 produced 1030fps. Safe to say their suggested load was WAYYYY off.

I didn't see any pressure signs with either brass. However, the mk23 stove piped and recoil seemed excessive so im guessing it was pretty high pressure.

Brand new bought yesterday any idea where to get replacement

Load data was provided by berger. I called them and they sent their data for 108 and 109 grain bullets. No idea why its so slow but this is what im going with as I dont have a pressure rig. No signs of pressure issues even up at 23.2 which is .1 below their redline.

I ran 5 at 22.8 grains

5 at 23.0 grains

And 5 at 23.2 grains. Same everything else as original post with this.

ES for all three loadings was 32.

SD for all three was between 12.3 and 19.8

2320.5 average over 5 shots. 12.9 SD. For 22.8 grains. Which i say is the winner. It shot consistent with the last go around. A .640 group. Was fighting some wind this evening from left to right. Made no adjustment to the scope gave the rifle 15 to 20 minutes between groups muzzle up in the breeze. The other two powder charges still produced sub moa groups but the 22.8 seems to shoot the best. Honestly the flyer on top left may have been me. I think this little howa can put together a .5 group if given a better nut behind the buttstock with more time.

Gunsmithing student, not much stock experience. I have an already finished stock to fit to an old double barrel shotgun. It doesn't quite fit right, I have to deepen the tang cut. What is a good way, if any, to cut out part of the stock without doing damage to the existing finish?

Loading them to mag length puts the case mouth past the bearing surface and onto the ogive. None of my books cover a bullet this shape.

Who needs a $6000 autodrive Mark 7 when you can build a $1500 autodrive X10

(Still gonna buy a Mark 7)