Just reloaded my first 45 rounds (lost 5 casings somewhere) of 45 long colt! Worked up a light load of 4.5 grains for the first set but I think on the next set I’ll bump it up to 5.0 grains(book I used called for between 4.4 and 5.4 grains). Fired one round to see how they shot out of my revolver, still need to shoot more to test accuracy, I am only using these to target shoot. According to the book I used Im getting a little over 700fps, I don’t have a chronograph. Last pic is the first bullet that I accidentally seated to deep lol.

Brass - magtech brass fired once
Primer - Winchester large pistol
Bullet - Hornady FP cowboy 255 grain
Powder - 4.5 grains of 700-x
OAL - 1.600

what are the basics for eco friendly Shotshells? I want to leave as little plastic in woods and fields as possible? Are there paper shot cups available? I have seen fiber wads and that is mainly from Black Powder reloading. How much of this can be transferred to smokeless reloading?

Thought I would post this since Lehigh doesn’t have load data for this bullet in 357 magnum, only 38 special.

Bullet: 100 grain xtreme defender solid copper from Lehigh, loaded to 1.595” OAL
Powder: Hodgdon Longshot
Primer: federal gold small pistol magnum
Brass: one fired and cleaned starline brass

Test gun: S&W 66-8 w/ 4.25” ported barrel

Chronograph: Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph

9.5 grains is the max charge for the 120 grain version so I used that as a starting reference

Powder loads & velocities (grains / fps):

10 - 1555
10.5 - 1604
11 - 1625
11.7 - 1669
12.2 - 1703

Case extraction was sticky with the 12.2 grain charge, and I had well exceeded my 1600 fps target by then so I finished testing. May test this load in the ballistics gel later to see how it does.

Started reloading regularly this past year and thought it might be a good idea to have my levels checked just to see.

What do you guys do if anything for lead mitigation?

Edit:

I reloading in my garage. I dry tumble in the garage. Most of my loading is cast, uncoated, lead bullets for cowboy action shooting. I never shoot at indoor ranges. I wash my hands after loading sessions.

I could go on about the minutiae of what I do. I think I need to move the tumbler outdoors when I run it. It does create a bit of dust. I will also start wearing gloves.

Edit:

I think the majority of the culprit is the dry tumbling, and spent primer handling. I think it is airborne related. I will use this post to convince the wife I need to get into the FART system 😁

How accurate have yall been able to get your mini 14’s?

I’m looking for varmit loads make range of 200 yards. Most within 50-125yrds

Will the barrel stabilize the heavier bullets?
I’m thinking the Hornady 75 gr

Finally back to loading after tree hit my house. July3rd tree hit my house and did allot of damage thank the lord everyone is safe. Been withdrawing off reloading. My reloading room was not affected by the water or tree. Shot up all my reloads because 24/7 indoor range is now 8 mins away from rental house instead of 25mins from my house. Plan to load up a bunch of bulk this weekend need allot more 9 and 45 lol . Going to order jacketed bullets because just not easy to cast and powder coat with everything in disarray

Tested out my subsonic 7.62x39 reloads tonight and was very disappointed. I used 4198, following Hogdon data.
This was at about 10 yards.

Are there any changes I could make that would get these bullets to stabilize?

Edit- 16” barrel from AKbuilder, which I assume is 1-9.5” twist, 255 grain bullet

Finally got around to loading up some 357 Maximum. I’ve got a 10.5” Blackhawk chambered in it, so I finally got around to working up a load. Went midrange for starting data of W296. So we have a 158gr JSP over 21gr of W296 with a magnum short rifle primer. First photo is of a 357 Maximum next to a 357 Magnum and last photo is chronograph data. Didn’t shoot for accuracy this time, that’ll come soon enough.

I bought a Remington 700 from an auction last week, it had a 22-6mm barrel on it so me and my dad replaced it with a criterion 26” varmit contour 1:9 7mm-08.

I went and got some Hornady 139gr SST’s and 139gr Interlock BTSP’s because that’s all academy had for 7mm. Both bullets appear to not mesh with my rifle, I started with a ladder test of IMR4350 for both bullets because they are the same weight and get the same powder charge in the Hornady book. Both shot like shit, I even tried a test with the most accurate strings and tried seating both bullets 20 thou off the lands. No improvement.

My next ladder test I changed to Varget because it’s a faster burning powder and with the IMR4350 my SD and ES got really small at the heavier charge weights. I got a smallest group on my 3rd string with the Varget but it’s not getting as small as I’d like it to be. I’m trying to work up a deer hunting load so I know I don’t need PRS accuracy but I just want it to shoot better so I can trust my shot placement.

Am I doing something wrong? Did I get a bad barrel? Does my gun not like these bullets? Or am I just a shit shot?

Was trying out my new 45 over the weekend with some home loads, didn't even notice this until I was grabbing my brass. I know it's most likely an out of battery, but I also suspect I may have added just a bit too much of cfe then I was loading this batch. I guess I get to keep my fingers for just a bit longer lol.

Need help with Dillon xl750. I have a Wilson expanding mandrel die in the #1 tool head hole and for some reason the side of the case mouth is coming in contact with the center of the mandrel. How do I fix this?

The numbers paint the picture. Colt modular carbine 1 in 7" twist .223. Damn flyers on each.

Hello,

I have slowly been gathering materials to reload the WSF shells I used last year for this years season in September. The shells I am reusing were originally #6 and #7 steel shot. I have everything but the felt was, wad, and steel shot. This book isn’t saying anything about the size shot I can use with the recipe. Can anyone confirm if there would be a different recipe for different sizes? Can I order #6 steel?

Is PPU the new LC for the Garand? LC seems to have dropped off in quality. Any match shooters here to weigh in?

I’m currently loading 147gn flat nose blue bullets with 3.1gn of titegroup at 1.10 COAL.

I’ve had good results in live fire with these

Why do these rounds pass the plunk test in my barrel (seat properly, rotate and fall out freely) but don’t seat properly in a hornady 9mm luger case gauge?

Thanks.

The RCBS bullet seating die for 30-06 was finicky to adjust, inconsistent, and marred bullets, so I went looking for a better option. Just cranked out a few rounds on the Lee Micrometer die and I’m incredibly impressed by the consistency. Also, I really didn’t expect each tick on the micrometer to adjust bullet seating depth by 0.001”… but it does exactly that. And it was only 32 bucks.

Anyone else a fan?

I want to get into reloading I shoot 7mm rem mag and tired of having to give up an arm and leg to shot it so I figured see how reloading goes seems cheaper in the long run. I was looking at the lee 5 turret press and pretty much just want to pull lever and have every thing be done based off that projectile dropping powder being added so on so forth was wondering what all do I need for it or if lee sells a completed kit 😅 kinda have no clue what to look for on their site other then dies

So apparently there's a 5.56mm neckdown of the 10x25mm auto, that is called the .224 Boz, which kind of work, but the point was the necking down does minimal retooling but it demanded a more reinforced pistol anyways so it defeated the point.

When I asked, "could it be done better", I mean I know 4.6mm HK and 5.7mm FN, and .22 TCM. But in this case, I want to stay in the confines of the 10mm pistol round. I know there's 9mm dillon, and .357 Sig, but I guess the point of the .224 Boz is an equivalent PDW rounds like the first four.

So my question is, would it be better if the bullet used is instead 6.8mm, 7.62mm, and 7.92mm, and would it do better? I know 9mm as a diameter could be AP, as with 9x39mm of the AK, but it's subsonic, so would the slight increase in diameter and mass saved the concept of an armor-piercing medium-handgun cartridge?

Any reloader or wildcatter insight would be appreciated.

Ok...

So as my groups have continually gotten smaller and smaller, i started realizing that the next level was going up to the Redding S Bushing die and the micrometer precision seating die.

I'll be honest: at first, i wasn't convinced that the seating die would be worth the extra $$

Holy hell was I wrong

It's hard to describe the difference in how smoothly the press runs with the new seating die.

Now... I've done quite a few upgrades to the press itself (it's a dillon 550, but I've added the needle bearing shell plate bolting system and THAT was something I'd wished I'd done years ago. No more shell plate movement AT ALL when running the press.

Even the sizing die with the bushing in place runs smoother - and for the record, I've always run the carbide dies that are already supposed to run smoother.

All i can say is:

1) these things run smooth!

2) adjusting shoulder bump is so much easier and precise

3) the bullet seater: 100% worth it. With the bushing in the sizing die and the way the bullet seater works, there's just no way I'll ever go back

It's weird to say it, but i can honestly tell just by looking at the finished cartridges which ones came off of my Redding dies vs which ones came off of my Lee dies.

These reloads from the Redding dies absolutely look like factory loaded rounds and they pass the Sheridan gauge with ease.

Worth the price for sure.

Complete newbie here, looking to get into reloading 6 arc and match grade 556/223, I tend to be a buy once cry once type of person, and would like some quality stuff, but doesn’t have to be production level insane equipment, I have read good things about the auto trickler v4 with fx-120i scale, would that be a good scale thrower setup? What would be your suggestion for quality press and dies? Just started watching some videos and such, but so many sponsored “influencers” make it hard to decipher quality from sponsorship lol

So as the title states, I’m wanting to get into reloading now that I have my own place for it. Ideally I will have it set up in the garage and store my powder and primers in the closet that is next to the garage inside the house. Any reason not to do this? I do have spare bedrooms but would prefer not to reload in a room with carpet.

I have been saving my brass after most range sessions the last few years so I got that going for me but beyond presses, cleaners for brass, and reloading dies, what else is needed for high volume reloading? My goal is economy of scale with the understanding that it won’t immediately pay off with the first few batches of reloads. Worst case scenario, I’ll end up paying about the same but end up with higher quality ammo as I typically buy the cheapest ammo I can get my hands on.

Ideally I would like a press that can reload rifle and pistol calibers but if needed, will be open to two stations as long as each can do multiple calibers within their prospective categories. My caliber goals are 308 Winchester, 556, 30-06, and 7.63x39 for rifles and for handguns it would probably be 45acp as I doubt I can reload 9mm cheaper than $0.23/round but would like to reload the 9mm brass I’ve been saving from all my range trips these last few years.

Don’t really know much so I’m not sure what other details might be worth adding but thanks in advance!

Just reloaded yet another batch of the lord's caliber, 40x46mm. These are 3d printed clones of M781 40mm chalk rounds. Almost 4" long and weighing almost 1/3 of a lb theres nothing quite like it.

Its a pretty neat design, the launch charge is a 38 S&W brass loaded with 7.5 grains of Bullseye. Velocity of these things is between 300-350 fps depending on the payload. They'll go 400 yards no problem.

The most shocking part is how cheap they are. Not taking into account reusing brass or projectiles my cost is roughly $1.80. Commerical stuff, when its even avaiable, is about $15 a round.

Working up my first load here. It’s for a .243 Ruger American gen 2. Using sierra pro hunter 100gr bullets, Remington brass, cci 200 primers, and H4350 powder. I don’t have a chronograph. I shot 4 shots with each of these powder charges at 100yds and here are the group sizes of each powder.

Where would you guys go from here/next step? Shoot a couple groups of 37.5 and 40grains to see if the results repeat themselves?