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A quick method for using the hammer type boolit puller.
1) drop a nickel in the cap
2) shove some paper towel in the cap to hold the nickel
3) put the cartridge in the appropriate shell holder
4) place cartridge/shell holder in/on back of hammer type boolit puller
5) screw on the cap (with the nickel and paper you should only need 1 full twist and it's snug )
 
You can use a transparent/clear hot melt glue stick to see the bore of your gun.
stick the glue stick in the chamber and have a light source nearby it will illuminate the bore
 
For pouring gunpowder back in the bottle, Cut the top off a 2-liter pop bottle, this makes the perfect sized funnel.
 
If you have an old Food Dehydrator..... it will dry brass cases just as well as that new expensive brass case drying unit sold by Lyman or Frankford Arsenal .
 
Cleaning trick:-- cheap and safe

find heavy weed eater cord 6 inches longer than your barrel. The thicker the better.

Heat up a bolt head with a torch and press the end of the cord into the bolt head melting it into a flat bolt head type end

Take the other end and with some fine sandpaper sharpen it to a point.

Thread a cleaning patch on the line (the melted end will stop/catch the patch

Can't hurt the bore or crown
 
Cutting Dacron Filler:

You can either use a good paper cutter or a rotary fabric cutter, a long straight edge and a cutting mat. (also good for cutting cleaning patches
 
When I tried loading cast,147gr. HP bullets into 9mm, I found the seating die pressing on the nose of the bullet would deform them. The bullets expanded just enough that they wouldn't chamber. I fixed the problem by making a seating mandril for the die that would fit inside of the bullet. I turned the end of a piece of threaded rod to the contour of the mold core using my drill press and a file.
Works great.
HP Seating Tool-1.jpg HP Seating Tool-2.jpg
 
Some general observations...
Max powder charges are typically not the most accurate
Wives & children do not care about reloading so long as there is ammo for their guns
Wet/Dry shop-vacs are your friend
Having spares is important (dies, pins, scales, calipers...)
Cases get stuck and it's best to have the removal tool on-hand before you need it
Progressive presses are great but don't replace the usefulness of a single stage press
Cleaning dies with the same tools & solvents as barrels makes it easy (bore snakes work in a pinch during large runs...)
 
Does anyone else weigh their cast bullets, or am I just being annal?

I try to keep them within +.5 gr to -.0 figuring that a heavy bullet will just shot a little low,
but a light bullet may become eccentric in flight. I even weigh the round balls for my muzzle
loading rifle.
 
If you have an old Food Dehydrator..... it will dry brass cases just as well as that new expensive brass case drying unit sold by Lyman or Frankford Arsenal .
I used one for a long time, until it died. I now have the Lyman unit and it's much better as the hole in the middle of the tray is much smaller than a dehydrator. I rarely lose cases when lifting the trays now, I was always fishing cases from the floor and inside the unit before.

I also used to use the oven … but quickly realized I liked my wife more than my reloading and I wanted to keep both! ;)
 
Does anyone else weigh their cast bullets, or am I just being annal? ...

Depends on the load's purpose.

For plinking, speed steel, bring the kid's friends to the gravel pit type of pistol loads no way! For silhouette type loads yes, and I shoot them in weight order (not that I am that good, but it makes me feel special ;)) When I used to hunt with my .44 Mag I weighed those too … out of respect for the animal and my duty to do everything for a humane kill.

I used to cast rifle bullets for standing practice with my Garand. Didn't weigh those, there are far more issues with my "pattern" than caused by a few grain variation in the bullet. I created a load for my 8mm for use in "old warhorse" types of competitions. I weighed those. I never did get around to shooting a competition though … so who knows if the narrow weight range and psychological boost would have helped. Probably not! <grin>
 
When I tried loading cast,147gr. HP bullets into 9mm, I found the seating die pressing on the nose of the bullet would deform them. The bullets expanded just enough that they wouldn't chamber. I fixed the problem by making a seating mandril for the die that would fit inside of the bullet. I turned the end of a piece of threaded rod to the contour of the mold core using my drill press and a file.
Works great.
View attachment 636479View attachment 636480

I like that fix.

Another fix that I use on many of my seating dies is (1) clean the seating end well with acetone or? (2) lightly lube the end of the bullet whose profile you want (3) apply hot melt glue to the seating end and press the bullet into the hot glue.(4) carve/clean of the excess glue
 
Does anyone else weigh their cast bullets, or am I just being annal?

I try to keep them within +.5 gr to -.0 figuring that a heavy bullet will just shot a little low,
but a light bullet may become eccentric in flight. I even weigh the round balls for my muzzle
loading rifle.

It's more important to slug you bore or better yet pound or pour cast your chamber making sure you bullet is .001 to .003 over the bore diameter

I've found that less than a 5% difference in weight isn't noticeable in handguns or rifles unless your reaching wayyyyyyy out there.
** 5% difference doesn't mean 5% over AND 5% under, it means 5% total difference I usually go 2 1/2% over and under. most of the time I never weigh my handgun bullets, just cull the defects.
It's easy to test this theory. first, cull all the defects then sort 5 identical weight bullets and grab 5 random bullets keeping them separate. Load them identically and put 5 in 1 bag and 5 in another.

Have someone remove the labels and replace them with an "A" and a "B" marking the labels with the A or B and putting them in an envelope. mark two targets A and B then see if you tell which is which without opening the envelope [10 rounds will give you a more accurate reuslt] you'll be surprised at what little difference there is
 

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