What did you reload today?

Lesliet · May 6, 2020

DLS said:
Loaded and test fired 20 115gr. 9mm yesterday. Had one stovepipe so I bumped the charge 0.1gr. and loaded 20 more.

I'm looking for a light but reliable load that doesn't require a lighter recoil spring as I have a number of new shooters that want my help in learning the ropes.

I have two 9mm Luger loads I use, both have very light recoil and work 100%. With 147 grain poly-coated slugs, I use 3.9 grains of WSF, and with 125 grain stuff plated, I'm using 3.9 grains of Tight Group. Working up a 9mm load to use Accurate #2, as that stuff meters so well when I'm loading .45 ACP.

Faster powders with heavier bullets seems to be the magic recipe for a recoil impulse I like, and can shoot quickly with accuracy. Shooting these out of a Sig p320 x-5 Legion, and a Springfield Range Officer, coals are typically around 1.13 to 1.15 and I like to keep the stock springs in. ( using the 14 lb spring in the Sig, which is the heavier of the two it came with. )

Hopefully this gives a good starting point, obviously you'd need to adjust your charge a bit for the lighter bullet, if that's what you have.

ageingstudent · May 6, 2020

Lesliet said:
I have two 9mm Luger loads I use, both have very light recoil and work 100%. With 147 grain poly-coated slugs, I use 3.9 grains of WSF, and with 125 grain stuff plated, I'm using 3.9 grains of Tight Group. Working up a 9mm load to use Accurate #2, as that stuff meters so well when I'm loading .45 ACP.

Faster powders with heavier bullets seems to be the magic recipe for a recoil impulse I like, and can shoot quickly with accuracy. Shooting these out of a Sig p320 x-5 Legion, and a Springfield Range Officer, coals are typically around 1.13 to 1.15 and I like to keep the stock springs in. ( using the 14 lb spring in the Sig, which is the heavier of the two it came with. )

Hopefully this gives a good starting point, obviously you'd need to adjust your charge a bit for the lighter bullet, if that's what you have.

How do you like the 320? I want to try a compact. I had a 220 (45 acp) and a 226 (40) that I loved but traded them off for S&W revolvers that I love even more. The 320 is striker fired I'm really interested in having one. I have a shield 40 and I love it. Want a striker fired 9mm I love as much as the Shield and that 320 looks interesting.

ageingstudent · May 6, 2020

Caveman Jim said:
I still have and use the 40S&W tray you made for me. I appreciate your craftyness

Cool Jim I'm glad it works!

Caveman Jim · May 6, 2020

I'm actually thinking of making some this summer... I haven't built anything from wood in a few years except for target frames...

ageingstudent · May 6, 2020

Do you remember that jig I showed you? Works pretty slick once you get the measurements ironed out.

ageingstudent · May 6, 2020

Caveman Jim said:
I'm actually thinking of making some this summer... I haven't built anything from wood in a few years except for target frames...

And your killer man cave reloading room...

Lesliet · May 6, 2020

ageingstudent said:
How do you like the 320? I want to try a compact. I had a 220 (45 acp) and a 226 (40) that I loved but traded them off for S&W revolvers that I love even more. The 320 is striker fired I'm really interested in having one. I have a shield 40 and I love it. Want a striker fired 9mm I love as much as the Shield and that 320 looks interesting.

Not sure how the trigger is on the non-Legion ones, but on my x-5 legion, it was great right out of the box. I don't expect I'll mess with it at all, since it just runs, and is accurate. I like the feature that the "receiver" for registration purposes, is not the handle... its the guts of the handle, and you can get caliber conversions that have a slide, springs, barrel, and a "grip module", that don't need an ffl to ship, and work with your receiver. I don't think I'd want one as a carry pistol without the manual safety, though, but I'm a little paranoid about doing an ND like that dude with the gun on the chair under a napkin.... but for speed competition, it is a very competent weapon for the money. Generous chamber, as well. Haven't slugged the barrel, but it's very accurate with .357 bullets, and you can load pretty long if you want to. I'm thinking about getting a carry one in .40 so I can use some of this extra brass.

In other news, still working through this batch of .45 acp brass. Got it all bulge-busted, running it on the progressive now to size, prime ( and weed out the small primer ones) and flare.

Helocat · May 6, 2020

2000 .45 ACP range cases pre-washed and dried. Ready to join the other 6k for deprime, sort by primer size, re-size and under-size brass processing.

Lesliet · May 7, 2020

Helocat said:
2000 .45 ACP range cases pre-washed and dried. Ready to join the other 6k for deprime, sort by primer size, re-size and under-size brass processing.

...and I thought I had a lot of .45 brass at 2500 ....

Helocat · May 7, 2020

Lesliet said:
...and I thought I had a lot of .45 brass at 2500 ....

@Lesliet since I process/prep brass separate from loading its helpful to have 6 months or so worth to process at one time. This way I don't have to keep setting up just to process brass. (I wash and dry it 2x as well so it's messy and time-consuming, why I run two wet tumblers and driers) In the end, I have freshly prepped brass on hand most of the time to load as needed.

Kind of like when I was a bachelor and just owned a month's worth of underwear so I did not have to do laundry every week....

tac · May 7, 2020

Helocat said:
@Lesliet since I process/prep brass separate from loading its helpful to have 6 months or so worth to process at one time.

So you say that you shoot 8000 rounds every six months, just of one calibre? When do you get time to sleep?

Helocat · May 7, 2020

tac said:
So you say that you shoot 8000 rounds every six months, just of one calibre? When do you get time to sleep?

Not shoot but might load that many, then let the brass stack up. I don't like not having prepared brass on hand and its been more than 6 months since I last prepped .45

As for shooting, I have 3 teenage boys. Two range trips a week can be as low as a few hundred or top end 3k between the 4 of us. Most of its 9mm but the recent additions of .45 PCC's our .45 consumption has gone up. My 19yr old was off to college, but back home now (thanks virus) and never misses a trip to the range. I thought we were down one shooter for a bit and trade $ for college vs reloading components. However honestly, I would not trade anything for the days at the range with my boys.

I have one simple rule for ammunition: You can never have too much.

tac · May 7, 2020

Ah, there's more than just one shooter. I got the impression you were the only user. Sorry.

Caveman Jim · May 7, 2020

ageingstudent said:
And your killer man cave reloading room...

Well yeah, now that you mentioned it....

But I was thinking of smaller scale building projects that require digital calipers and a sharp eye to detail...

gmerkt · May 8, 2020

Yesterday loaded 50 rounds .41 Magnum. I have a revolver and a rifle in this cartridge. But I load some special ones for the rifle that have more poop. I load the rifle versions in nickel plated cases so I can tell at a glance which is which. Of course they are identified in other ways, too, with load data. Last time I had my chrono out, I fired some of the rifle version over it. When fired in a pistol, this particular load is rated at about 1,250 fps. Fired in my rifle, they go over 1,500 fps.

The .41 Mags that I fire in my revolver are pretty soft loads. About 1,050 fps using a semi-wadcutter Keith type bullet. Very pleasant and accurate load.

RedRob · May 9, 2020

I stay in a hotel a lot. Some times I have a little extra time so I take a Lee hand press a hornady powder dispenser mechanical scale. I enjoy reloading otherwise I wouldn't have loaded 1500 rounds today. Now this was prepped brass sized pri.ed and flared. Just add powder and set bullet.