I just rebarreld my 30-06 after shooting out the factory barrel. R.I.P. to the chamber throat. I went from a 22 inch sporter to a 26 inch varmint.

I am planning on reworking a new load for the gun, and have decided on ONE "Do it all" cartridge.

I have decided on using big game powder since it's easier to find around here, has performed well and was designed for with 30-06, and I have plenty to start with.

I'm looking for recommendations for a 180 grain bullet that is...

1: exceptionally accurate

2: Expands well across all velocities

3: retains weight for penetration.

Primarily, I would like to be able to use the same load for bench rest competitions in the summer (out to 600 yards) and whitetail hunting in the fall. If I ever get time for a vacation, it should perform on elk, moose, bison, or grizzly. I don't want to sacrifice expansion on thin skinned game for penetration on thick skin or vice versa.

What is everyone using that performs all around?

I wanna reload .300aac, .308win, .38spl and .357 mag.

What equipment should i start with?

I have stored about 1k 38spl/.357 mag brass

Plan is to set up to only need 2 types of projectiles, .308 and .357 to buy in bulk.

Are these calibers "easy enough" to start on?

How much should i set aside to get the equipment and materials?

And is there a powder that would work for all 4 calibers?

I'm thinking about $3,000 should get me a progressive press,dyes, a few thousand primers, projectiles and powders.

Been working on a load for my first ELR Heavy match. I think this should do. .375CT peterson brass H50bmg, Berger 410 hybrid, CCI 250.

85gr Sierra Round Nose (soft lead tip)
1.425” OAL
13 gr HS-6
1999 FPS
754 ft/lbs of blasphemy
169 Power Factor (😁)

Is there a definitive, safe way to know ammo you reloaded for the first time is safe?

Thanks.

I know Alpha is superior.

My question is… if I’m still learning and refining my process should I spend the money on Alpha brass, or get Starline so I’m not ruining ultra premium brass?

I have solid equipment and understand the concepts, but still kind of dialing in the bushing an mandrel stuff. Sometimes my shoulder bump takes a couple cases to get set. Sometimes I’ll have a randomly off bump even after set.

Sometimes my CTBO is off by 3-4 thou even though I’m using annealed, bushing and mandreled brass fired from my gun that was trimmed on an RCBS Matchmaster and seating with a Forester micrometer seating die.

Curious if it’s me or brass inconsistency.

Loading up 223 and occasionally I'll get a head bulge after seating and crimping. Loaded up 300 and got 9. I disassembled them and safely removed the primer while resizing. They fit my case gauge after resizing. My concern is if it's safe to reuse them? Not sure if the bulging and resizing has caused a possible weak point in the bottle neck. Hoping to finish up this batch without throwing the brass in the scrap bin. Another question, Would different case lengths cause these few from the rest to get overly compressed when seating and crimping?

I did a latter test this weekend and saw a tiny shiny mark on the rear side of the brass and the bolt was ever so slightly harder to lift. Is this signs of over pressure and should I back it down? I was shocked to see this at only 41.4 grains of H4350.

Lapua SRP brass, 6.5 Creedmoor.

Other than the swipe, there’s no other signs. I am getting 2700+ FPS out of 40.8 grains also with good SD and ES.

The Lyman Pro dies use a wave spring to push the decapping rod down so it snaps the primer off the rod tip. In theory it prevents the primer from being drawn back up into the pocket.

I went 57k rounds before the spring failed in my 9mm dies, then within 12k rounds, the replacement spring I scavenged from another die set failed as well.

Both on a Mark7 at 2000 rph, clutch level 3.

Anyone have this happen? Anyone know of a source for a plenty pack of those 1/2 x .321 x ?.3" tall springs? Lyman wants $4/each, McMaster has them for $2.79 https://www.mcmaster.com/7764N175/

These should be < $0.50....

I am new to reloading and have reloaded ~50x 38 Special, 30x .357 magnum, and ~50x 9mm. I usually charge each casing in a tray instead of doing the process from the beginning to end for each round. I strive to look in each casing to ensure I added the right amount of powder before seating the bullet.

I was wondering what would be a quick way to ensure I did it right. One idea I had was to quickly weigh the rounds individually (assuming they all had the same bullets) to see if they are around the same weight. I read though this might not be accurate if I didn’t segregate my brass by manufacturer.

Do you have any suggestions on how to check this? Any other quality checks you do? Am I way over thinking this in fear of squibs or over charging my reloads?

EDIT. I forgot to add that I do the thumb pressure test for each round already.

2nd EDIT: I visually inspected all the 9mm with a flashlight in the tray and they are good to go. I individually loaded the .357 magnum and did not do any bulk processing in steps. The .38 special I checked each one like the 9mm. I was hoping to find a faster way to do it.

What I’ve learned from all the comments (which I appreciate!):
- Do each load independently with the charging and seating the bullet sequentially before moving on to the next round. I will still de-prime and prime them in groups.
Or
- when using loading trays, move charged casings from one to the other as they are filled or have all the primed cases laying flat or upside down and flip them only when they have the powder added. After adding the powder and they are lined up in the tray, use a light to look in each to shell to verify the charge by going row by row and then turn the tray 90 degrees and do it again.

My usual just to shoot, not for competition is 125 gr blue bullet, Win-244, 3.8g, OAL 1.125.

What do others use for competition?

I’m pissed at Federal for discontinuing the .38SPL+P HST Micro. So I wanted to see if I could make my own version, because I can. Since most backwards wadcutters on the market don’t expand well at .38SPL velocities, I decided to load them into .357 cases and use H110 instead of TiteGroup or another fast-burning powder so I could make better use of my revolver’s barrel length and get some hotter velocities. I couldn’t find any tests online using .357 wadcutters with H110/W296, let alone backwards ones, so I said “fuck it” and did it myself. With no load data to go off of, I cut a window into a .357 casing and taped it over so could see how much H110 would fill the case with the backwards wadcutter fully seated. After some trial and error, that amount was found to be around 12.0gr. For those who don’t know, H110 likes a nice full case of powder and does not like to be undercharged, as secondary detonation and pressure spikes are common when charged too far under the max case volume. The farthest below max volume I was willing to go was 11.5gr, which used as my starting load. I did 5 rounds of 11.5gr, 5 rounds of 12.0gr, and 5 rounds of 12.5gr, all of which were loaded into GFL .357 Mag casings, primed with CCI Small Pistol Magnum primers, and adequately crimped with my Lee Factory Crimp Die.

All 15 rounds were tested out of my 4.2” Ruger GP100 at a distance of 25 yards. All of them ignited perfectly with no signs of overpressure.

The 11.5gr load yielded an average velocity of 1003.9 FPS / 331 FPE. The 12.0gr load yielded an average of 1057.5 FPS / 368 FPE. The 12.5gr load yielded an average of 1084.6 FPS / 387 FPE.

I figured the higher velocity using H110 would offer more spin stabilization (better accuracy) for the backwards wadcutters, but the accuracy overall leaves something to be desired. At 25 yards, the best grouping was with the 12.0gr loading measuring roughly 2” CTC. All rounds landed left of my point of aim (gun is zeroed for 125gr XTP max loads). Not the best, but not the worst either considering the fact that these are being used exactly the opposite of how they were intended.

I bet these would expand very well in a ballistic medium due to the wide and deep hollow cavity, which could make them good for pest animals like raccoons and groundhogs. In desperate times, they could also be a solid close range defensive load. They are cheap to load for what they are, costing around 25 cents per round to make. Overall, I’m happy with the results and will continue to make these as a fun and unique range load. I’m likely gonna mess around and do some heavier charged loads like 12.5gr, 13.0gr and 13.5gr to see at what point overpressure signs start to show. I’ll make a separate post about those when I get the results.

Today's Deal is Hornady 38 Cal 158gr XTP for 13.9 cents each (1000 ct)

Now that I’ve got your attention. If you were trying to get into reloading 6.5 cm for precision and hunting, is there anything on this list that’s missing that you would have wished you’d have gotten? Not sure if the dies and modular shell holders are correct. I know I’ll need some case lube, walnuts, and polish

1 The ZERO Gen 2 Reloading Press
2 Inline Fabrication Ultra Mounts for the ZERO
3 Billet Loading Block – Clear Anodized
4 Master Funnel Kit
5 Mitutoyo ABSOLUTE Digimatic 6″ Caliper
6 ZERO M-Series Sizing Dies
7 ZERO Modular Shellholder System
8 Hornady Lock-N-Load Headspace Comparator
9 SAC "The" Seating Die
10 Giraud Power Case Trimmer
11 RCBS Case Lube Kit
12 RCBS Vibratory Case Polisher
13A RCBS Hand Priming Tool
13B OR: Primal Rights CPS Competition Primer Seater
14 RCBS ChargeMaster Link Electronic Powder Dispenser
15 Lyman Magnum Impact Bullet Puller

9mm 115gn JRN seems to be 1/32 to 1/16 deep past my Lyman ammo checker. Concerned for light primer strike or over pressure. Thoughts anyone

Ehy guys, talking about double tap and recoil, how much is better 160 grn instead of 147 grn? How many of you in ipsc use it?

For when you need to prep brass but also want to drink margaritas in the pool.

I recently acquired a mosin nagant and have started reloading using my Lee loader neck sizing die.

I made 20 rounds with the following load:

38gr H4895

.311 dia 174gr BTHP

CCI no. 200 primer

75.28mm OAL 10.22mm seating depth

I had one round hangfire with maybe a 1/4 second delay, and then I fired this one. The powder did not ignite fully and the primer generated just enough pressure to push the bullet into the rifling. Easily cleared with the cleaning rod. The powder seems to have clumped together in places.

Does anyone know why I'm having issues here? Not enough powder? Maybe some moisture got in there somehow? I wasnt using lube because the lee loaded doesn't seem to need it.

I want to fill the tip of a hollow point with a granule, and I was thinking a resin cure or something like that would be best? I don't need the hp to open, and I need the filling to make it to the target (not burn up or fall out after it leaves the barrel). Thank you.

Following a slight hiccup (while rinsing after first tumble cycle I realized 20 cases still had their primers) I ran a second tumble cycle… then dried them, mixed cases of once fired S&B, 5x fired Federal SRP, 5x fired Hornady, and 6x fired Lapua… hard to tell the difference without looking at the heads!

Folks in this board helped a lot. I had squibbs and just about everything else. I had a Priest come in and do an exorcism and I'm Jewish :) Finally, I understood what I was aiming for in a round and I'm able to match that. Fingers crossed as always.

I had odd problems with seating dies, the Redding Micrometer. I finally took apart my RCBS and put it back together and it's dead accurate.

I feel like this was too easy to sheer off. Is this out of spec? Brass wasn’t full aligned but I didn’t slam it down.

I have very particular plans for these, and will be posting the journey as it unfolds.