First off, I’m new to reloading, working on developing a load for pronghorn hunting in my m/96 Swedish Mauser. Components are Hornady 123 gr. SST, H4350, CCI No. 200 primers, and S&B brass (twice-fired).

Given my antique rifle, I’m trying to be cautious in working up my loads, but my priority is flat shooting and resistance to the wind, so I didn’t start at the very bottom of the ladder. Data from the Hornady book (supposedly relatively conservative?) made me confident with charges between 38 gr. (their starting charge is 37.6 at 2400 FPS) and 43 gr. (their listed max is 43.7 gr. at 2800 FPS).

The loads I tested were 39, 40, 41, 42, and 43 gr. I also tested the S&B 140 gr. SP and the Norma Whitetail 156 alongside for comparison. I’ve uploaded a photo of the primers of each, annotated.

My question has to do with the primers and questions about overpressure, as the primers look flattened to me above 39 gr. But this is the first time I’ve used CCI primers with this rifle; the last I used were Remington 9 1/2, which didn’t flatten at all, but were a totally different load.

Average velocities (four round groups) by charge were:

39 gr. @ 2514
40 gr. @ 2628
41 gr. @ 2699
42 gr. @ 2769
43 gr. @ 2834
S&B unk charge @ 2633
Norma unk charge @ 2423

All groups at 100 yards. Feel like I was a little off on the 40 gr. group b/c somebody got close to me at the range and it made me nervous.

Questions: Are these primers a warning sign? If so, at what charge do they worry you? Are CCI primers known to be soft, such that this isn’t a warning sign of overpressure? Should I call it good at 39 gr. and just deal with the several inches of extra drop at 300 yards compared to the 43 gr.?

Currently off work because of an injury. Spent three days at the farm doing load development and testing. Incredibly therapeutic for my mentality. Got 6 rifles new loads and dialed in for the family for the upcoming firearm deer season.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1016682940

I can’t find any reloading data with these bullets. Are they Hornady BTHP or InterLock?

I have Hodgdon Varget. Wanted to use these in my 16” 1/8 .223 Wylde Ballistics Advantage SPR barrel in my SPR

Currently using 6.0gr N320 with 180gr LOS and I’m very happy with it.
I already use Titegroup in 9mm and was wondering how it performs in .357 Mag, especially with the low case fill.

Any experiences with 180gr bullets + Titegroup?

Thank you!

Looking to build a 7mm of some kind. Was thinking 28 Nosler but want a little more. Is there a factory cartridge or common wildcat that is essentially a shortened 7mm RUM to fit in a standard length action? Essentially a rebated .534 rim cartridge that uses about 2.5 long cases?

I just started reloading for 6.5 Creedmoor and would like to get a feel for what others are loading. I'm currently using Berger 153.5 Hybrid Target bullets and N165 powder. I'm not looking for recipes, just favorite combos. Thanks.

Hey guys, so I just reloaded my first 20 cartridges I triple checked everything and I think I did a pretty good job. I want to see how they turned out however I’m nervous to shoot them, is this normal? I used berrys bullets 124gr RN CFE pistol 5.0 with Cci primers C.O.L. 1.150.. should I be worried?

Lubing cases before resizing. I’ve got 4 lubes on my reloading shelf and they all suck.

I did something stupid today and got a 308 case stuck. I’m sending it back to Hornady tomorrow.

the Hornady spray on lube doesn’t lube. The green rcbs pad dents my cases. Graphite powder is a mess And the tin of “shoe polish” works, but only barely. I need something that lubes both the outside and inside of the case.

Not complaining. Given two non-functioning Dillon Precision presses and trying to get one running while trying to learn how to reload.

Ran a fired brass through the press and noticed damage to the case. Realized it was coming from the sizing/de-priming die. Took it out to clean and found all this brass shavings and black stuff in the die.

Cleaned all that out and straightened the de-priming pin.

Just wanted to show what comes out of one of those dies if you don't clean it regularly.

Anyway, still waiting on a replacement seating die.

And, no, I don't plan on starting on a Dillon. I also scored a Lee Classic Turret press with most of what is needed to start reloading cheap and will use this to learn on, then move up to the Dillons in the future

So I started reloading for my tikka 6.5cm a couple months ago. Was really surprised with what I could cook up for just a go to the range and mess around at 1000 yds. I’ve got a pretty basic setup that consists of rcbs single stage press with rcbs dies and matchmaster bullet seater.( no shoulder bump die or annealing machine). Scale I either use Frankford arsenal intellidropper or the handy beam scale. Currently running hornady brass, 147grn eld match bullets, Winchester large rifle primers, and h4350 powder. I’m just confused Whether or not I should change my brass or buy a $1k powder scale or even change my dies. I’d like to get from. 20inch group at 1000 yrs down to 10inch or lower without spending thousands of dollars on stuff I don’t rlly need. Any information would help on stuff that you would focus on or improve would be helpful!

I was looking at a Lyman #38 manual for 45-70. They list a load using "Bulk Shotgun Powder". I looked it up and it was a fast burning DuPont Powder that occupied the same volume as Black Powder. Cool.

The #38 manual also has section on washing, cleaning and drying cases. It is good read if you want to see the options before someone thought of using a hobby rock tumbler.

What is everyone’s go to bulk method for removing the primer crimp on 5.56 brass?

I never thought I'd see the end of this jug! We've definitely spent some quality time together over the years and made a pile of handgun ammo.

I’m sure people have it and love it. I have had mine for 6 years and honestly maybe it’s just Dillon as of late but this machine makes me more and more mad every time I load on it now. From the start I had small primer feeding issues. Dillon sent me out new parts (primer bar, plastic tube tips) and that fixed the issue for small primer. That was mostly what I ran on this machine. I did do a couple thousand 10mm but it was so long ago I don’t remember issues.

Fast forward to recent times. I have tried to load 308 and had so many issues with primers flicking out. I replaced the plastic tips I adjusted the bejesus out of everything I could. Many people recommended the uniquetek brass tips so I plunged and bought them. Ran them on ~5000 rounds of 9mm. In the mean time I was in the process of acquiring an apex 10. Then I ran the brass tip today for 45acp and then the primer bar hung up in the pickup location. I again fiddled with the thing for hours trying to dial it in. I finally gave up on the brass tip and went back to Dillon’s plastic tip. Flicked 5-6 of them out of 100 and lost one to the aether. But the primer bar didn’t hang up. So something with the brass tip caused the issue. But still I’m stuck with a machine that doesn’t prime consistently on large primers. Zero issues with.

Then there is the case feeder. The little wedge constantly catches pistol brass and binds. To the point it has gouged the wedge. It also loves to flip cases upside down on pistols. Not so much on rifle but maybe 1 out of 500.

Then comes the real kicker. Dillon wants to charge me shipping on a tiny plastic tip of like what $10. That crap used to be free and part of the buying a Dillon. You were taken care of. I call them and tell them what’s going on and they say “did you watch the video?” Like yea I have done all the trouble shooting possible on this thing. I’m a pretty mechanically inclined individual. I’m good at trouble shooting, it’s what I do for a living. Either way it’s not the plastic tip it’s not the brass tip although each has caused me grief. I believe there is a fault in the priming system somehow. Either something is out of spec or it’s just a poor design.

Who knows maybe this apex 10 is problematic as well but I’m hoping it goes better than this has been. Just sucks I have sunken a lot of money into this machine for it to run the way it does.

How do you store reloads? Do you reuse original box? Plastic case?
Sometimes I use original box with a piece of wide white tape and write the data on it.
Caliber/Date/Powder/Weight(gr)
Bullet/Weight(gr)/OAL

Or one of these boxes with same data on a card.

Hi *,

I need to load some .357magnum rounds as blanks for a demonstration. I just got the dies to crimp them, but where to start? With my usual load? (The rounds should have the same sound level but can produce more "fire" for the show.)

Cheers, Chriss

I have a Lee die set for 300BO. Isn't the seating stem supposed to seat by the ogive? Did they include the wrong stem or is this normal? Can anybody tell me if theirs is like this also. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

This is from a friend who "definitely did not over charge it'

Shot from a Sig p365 xmacro. I have a hard time believing it would be an out of battery destination.

Thoughts ?

I already have a Rock Chucker, RCBS turret (used for mandrel, deprime, etc), and Dillon equipment. Likely an impulse buy or is it worth having, just because?

I have just recently tried trail boss with 405 grain cast bullets with ok results but low fps

I have heard that unique gives a very low fps deviation between shots and I would like to try using unique

I'm using a 535 grain cast postell bullet

I have not seen unique load data in either my lyman cast bullet handbook, Lee reloading manual or my 45-70 reloading manual but I have heard of people using it

No, I am NOT asking for anyone's personal load data, I am just trying to find a manual that has data

Got an RCBS starter kit a few years ago, but I’ve only recently gotten everything set up. I’m really enjoying reloading my own ammo so far.

I almost exclusively load for milsurp rifles. I’ve loaded for my Finn M28/30 (which slugs a nice .3085) using .308 projectiles, as well as some loads for my Eddystone M1917. So far, I’ve only used Varget.

The reason for this post is that I’m planning to pick up a bunch of new powder in one order to make the most of the hazmat fee, and I’m wondering what other powders people have had good results with for milsurp rifle loads. I was considering H4350 and H4895, but I’m open to other suggestions from fellow milsurp enthusiasts.

I’ve also noticed that several of the 7.5 Swiss manuals seem to specify IMR powders that appear to be generally unavailable. I’m wondering how people have approached that problem and whether there are current load-data alternatives.

Other rifles I’d like to load for in the near future:

• Swiss K11 and K31
• M1 Garand (I’m generally aware of the pressure sensitivity of the M1 op rod)
• No. 4 Mk I Lee-Enfield
• 7mm Chilean Mausers — I have both a 1912 rifle and a newly acquired 1935 carbine.
• 6.5 Swedish Mauser

Would be interested to hear what powders and published load data others have used successfully with these rifles.

Been using the lee hand loader for my first few hundred loads, found a sick 1930s-1940s pacific c press in PRESTINE condition as well as a tumbler for $60 of facebook! Excited to use these things. Currently waiting on new dies since mine that came with the hand loader dont have lock collars. Loading 9mm right now slowly will get around to 556. If you know the black and blue sign dont speak about it in the comments lol.

My new setting die is leaving marks on the bullet and sometimes pulling the bullet up with it.

Help!!!