What did you reload today?

[misterarman]

Different batch of 124gr XTP presenting for inspection.

 

[Newberg]

After a month of waiting on RCBS to send me a replacement decapping and expanding replacement parts for my 7mm Rem Mag die, I finally finished resizing the batch and started trimming.

Not finished trimming my second group, but here is a photo of the ones I've done so far.

Decapped, annealed, sized, and trimmed on an RCBS 3way trimmer.

Once done, I'll give these a tumble to remove lube and shine them up before loading.

The plan is to load up some 150grn Nosler ballistic tips that I picked up a few shows ago at the Portland Armory gunshow.

 

[Bobbygun]

Just curious. How many pieces of brass are in your batch? That looks like a bunch. If I loaded that many for my .300 Wby Magnum, it would likely last my lifetime and then some.

Also, how often do you anneal your brass?

 

[misterarman]

Just curious. How many pieces of brass are in your batch? That looks like a bunch. If I loaded that many for my .300 Wby Magnum, it would likely last my lifetime and then some.

Also, how often do you anneal your brass?

Define a bunch?

 

[Bobbygun]

Define a bunch?

I don't remember the scientific definition, but it's different for 9mm vs. 7mm magnum. I've seen several of your pictures where you've loaded boxes and boxes of 9mm - almost to the point of being a bunch. But a guy can go through a bunch of 9mm in a hurry.

Seriously, his picture looks like 100+ cases of 7mm. I typically think of 7mm as a hunting round, not one I would sit at a benchrest and shoot targets with for an extended shooting session. When I'm loading for my .300 Weatherby Magnum, I think 60 is the most rounds I've loaded in one day. Perhaps it was because my components were getting soggy from the tears that were flowing as I realized how quickly my supply of H4831SC was disappearing as I filled each case.

 

[misterarman]

I don't remember the scientific definition, but it's different for 9mm vs. 7mm magnum. I've seen several of your pictures where you've loaded boxes and boxes of 9mm - almost to the point of being a bunch. But a guy can go through a bunch of 9mm in a hurry.

Seriously, his picture looks like 100+ cases of 7mm. I typically think of 7mm as a hunting round, not one I would sit at a benchrest and shoot targets with for an extended shooting session. When I'm loading for my .300 Weatherby Magnum, I think 60 is the most rounds I've loaded in one day. Perhaps it was because my components were getting soggy from the tears that were flowing as I realized how quickly my supply of H4831SC was disappearing as I filled each case.

I get it. Handgun vs. Hunting are a different thing.
A bunch of handgun was different when I was younger.
It's a smaller quality these days.
I'm planning on shooting some 9 today and probably only about 3 mags worth.
Practice practice practice.
Did I mention I did my second Plate Match at Clark Rifles [handgun] and placed 4th.
I want to do better and it could have easily been better. 3rd was very close.
Also a reason I have stayed away from doing competitions.

 

[Bobbygun]

A bunch of handgun was different when I was younger.

It's funny you should mention that. Our last few trips to the gravel pit, my wife and I haven't gone through a bunch of ammo. Except for that one trip when my son was along with us. THEN we went through a BUNCH. He's 28.

 

[misterarman]

It's funny you should mention that. Our last few trips to the gravel pit, my wife and I haven't gone through a bunch of ammo. Except for that one trip when my son was along with us. THEN we went through a BUNCH. He's 28.

Age is different.

 

[misterarman]

I get it. Handgun vs. Hunting are a different thing.
A bunch of handgun was different when I was younger.
It's a smaller quality these days.
I'm planning on shooting some 9 today and probably only about 3 mags worth.
Practice practice practice.
Did I mention I did my second Plate Match at Clark Rifles [handgun] and placed 4th.
I want to do better and it could have easily been better. 3rd was very close.
Also a reason I have stayed away from doing competitions.

Woops!
I miswrote.
I took 4th and was very close to 3rd.

 

[Bobbygun]

Woops!
I miswrote.
I took 4th and was very close to 3rd.

And here I thought you miswrote when you wrote: "It's a smaller quality these days." From the pictures you post, your reloads like high quality stuff to me.

 

[Newberg]

Just curious. How many pieces of brass are in your batch? That looks like a bunch. If I loaded that many for my .300 Wby Magnum, it would likely last my lifetime and then some.

Also, how often do you anneal your brass?

I've been gathering this brass for a few years, so I'm doing a large mass prep to save time in the future. Right now I'm prepping ~250 pieces of 7mm Rem Mag brass.

I'll load up ~20 or so when done, but have ~500 or so projos to play with, so I'll probably have fun with this and shoot it more.

These were once fired, I annealed to reset them so to speak, and may go through the entire group once before doing another annealing on the next mass prep. May not need to trim again, but annealing is fast and easy for me.

I do plan on adding another step before final clean and loading, but I have a neck turning setup that I want to play with, so may as well.

 

[DLS]

The ONE time I fail to check the website and show up to shoot there was that plate match @misterarman was shooting.

And guess what ... the ONE time I go to Clark with just pistols and nothing else was the same day.



And the rifle ranges were totally empty!

Such is my life ... LOL.

 

[arrowshooter]

I'll load up ~20 or so when done

This is me. I have about 150 pcs of 30-06 FC brass prepped and ready to go, and loaded 20 up before last deer season and now I have 19 left. Before the opener this year I'll go out and put a round down the pipe to cook it up a bit then wait.

 

[Newberg]

Finished trimming/chamfer/deburr using the RCBS 3 way cutter on the trim pro.

Since the ball head of the 3 way cutter cuts rings into the inside neck of the case, I decided to go forward with neck turning since the neck pilot also uniforms the inside of the necks.

I experimented with how much I took off, but decided to go minimal removal on these first 20. I did sacrifice a couple pieces that already had cracked necks to set it up, and test cutting depths.

First photo shows the case on the left trimmed, showing low spots in the neck. The case in the center was uniformed to the same depth, same settings, but doesn't show low spots. Case on the right was not neck turned yet.


The next photo shows 3 finished cases.

Decapped, annealed, FL sized, trimmed to consistent length, chamfer/deburr, neck turned for uniformity, and inside of neck smoothed. Tumbled in Walnut media for 2hrs to clean up the finish and remove lube.

20 cases ready to load.

I'll pause on the remaining neck turning until I'm happy with these 20.

 

[misterarman]

And here I thought you miswrote when you wrote: "It's a smaller quality these days." From the pictures you post, your reloads like high quality stuff to me.

Thanks!

 

[misterarman]

Finished trimming/chamfer/deburr using the RCBS 3 way cutter on the trim pro.

Since the ball head of the 3 way cutter cuts rings into the inside neck of the case, I decided to go forward with neck turning since the neck pilot also uniforms the inside of the necks.

I experimented with how much I took off, but decided to go minimal removal on these first 20. I did sacrifice a couple pieces that already had cracked necks to set it up, and test cutting depths.

First photo shows the case on the left trimmed, showing low spots in the neck. The case in the center was uniformed to the same depth, same settings, but doesn't show low spots. Case on the right was not neck turned yet.


The next photo shows 3 finished cases.

Decapped, annealed, FL sized, trimmed to consistent length, chamfer/deburr, neck turned for uniformity, and inside of neck smoothed. Tumbled in Walnut media for 2hrs to clean up the finish and remove lube.

20 cases ready to load.

I'll pause on the remaining neck turning until I'm happy with these 20.

View attachment 2304523 View attachment 2304524

Wow! A lot of therapy going on here.

 

[2ndtimer]

Loaded up 100 rounds of 10mm "lite " loads. 180 gr plated flat nose pulls from American Reloading, 5.8 gr Zip, RP 2 1/2 primers half in Winchester brass, the other in Nosler.
Hoping my son will stop by with his new Ruger Precision Rifle in .308 Win, so we can determine proper seating depth for 175 gr bullets, so I can load some test rounds to see what it likes.

 

[Newberg]

Finished loading 20rnds of 7mm Remington Magnum.

150grn Nosler Ballistic Tip projos.
69grns of MagPro powder.
CCI 250 Magnum Large Rifle primers
Seated to 3.290 OACL.

The Dillon 550 did a great job with consistent OAL when seating.

I hit the range and fired them at 50 and 100yrds. I may bump down the load to 68.5grns per Noslers recommendation as the most accurate load with MagPro powder.

This range trip was to look for any pressure signs, stress on the necks after trimming, any feeding issues, etc etc. Nothing to report negative! I'll continue processing the rest of the brass next week.

 

[Mikej]

Hoping my son will stop by with his new Ruger Precision Rifle in .308 Win, so we can determine proper seating depth for 175 gr bullets, so I can load some test rounds to see what it likes.

That's one of the neatest thing about rolling your own! Figuring out the bullet jump to the lands. Making up 5 rounds or so with 2-5 1/10th grain powder weights and see which group is tightest!

 

[2ndtimer]

That's one of the neatest thing about rolling your own! Figuring out the bullet jump to the lands. Making up 5 rounds or so with 2-5 1/10th grain powder weights and see which group is tightest!

That, and being able to meet or exceed the performance of expensive factory ammo at less than 1/3 the cost!
Hey, my 2,000th post!