I got tired of looking at all the cardboard boxes of shotgun wads so I got my tail up to Home Depot and got 7 clear sterlite 30 gallon tubs to reorganize them.

I looked at my bench and said " Damn I should really organize my stuff". Same as I did the previous 7 months.

Hunting season is over. Time to reorganize and get rid of stuff cluttering my bench.

I just put up my rifle loading stuff. Got out the TSS supplies for the wet weekend so I won't get bored

I built a PVC canister for a HF rock tumbler. Got the kinks worked out and tumbled a load of junk brass I picked up. Some of it was nasty. I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked. SS pins, Dawn and Lemi-shine.

Just ordered some 300blk equipment to add to the inventory to play around with in the upcoming months.Got everything orginized to load up some 77gr smk's over the weekend to try out to 800yards at a buddies place in the next few week's. Took a few range trips to dial in tge load but liking A2520 and 77's

Sorting some brass and getting ready to start shooting some matches!

Glad I'm not the only one!!

I developed a ladder test for my 243. Gonna try and run some 80 Gr. Sierra blitzs for everything 500 yards and in, and save the more expensive 107 SMKs for the 600+. Hope to shoot them through the chrono at the range next weekend.

Well tonight I cleaned all my rifles I hunted with/shot this year. Made me realize I need a dedicated bench for cleaning guns. I cleaned 8 rifles and it was a pain in the ass without having a work area. Really wish I would have made my reloading bench to deeper dimensions. And also is it a subset of Murphy’s law that when you break down and buy a box of new brass, a friend just happens to give you a couple of boxes of once fired brass in that caliber? Got enough 280 now to last me the next 30 years.

Murphy's law #777 Thou shalt have excess supply after buying enough.

Not near as much as I should have, really need to do a thorough cleaning

set my little crow trimmer to trim some .223 and looked at my bench and said i need to organize this crap

Well decided to make up some high speed 16 ga 3/4 oz 7-1/2 extra hard shot loads from new bag of 100 delivered by fedex from ballistic products inc. PSI @ 10,100 and FPS of 1670 for a quick time to target shell.

Mounted a new scope on my 308 and swapped scopes between a couple other guns. If this rain would stop ill try to sight them in this weekend.

Went to range yesterday and tested some 124gr xtp's out and recorded data. Also zeroed the 270's new load. Cleaned and processed some 9mm,270win and 223 brass. Got all my 300blk gear in today and will be setting up dies tomorrow. Also scanned the reloading classifieds on ar15.com and came across a heck of a deal on brand new primed brass and snatched me up 1000.

I haven't even seen my bench or aNY of my junk since I moved out in Oct.

Well finally got in the 8mm brass. Now for some fire forming. Unique, cream of wheat and carpenter glue and I'll be ready to make some 8x58mmR Danish brass from this 8x56mmR Hungarian brass.

Damn that’s awesome nitro.

Well after 10 years the cheap 4’ shop light I have hanging over my bench bit the dust. I ended up buying the 4’ led retrofit kit from the electrical supply house here and got it installed in 2 minutes. Literally. The LED strips and ballast are all magnetic so they just pop in place. Just remove the bulbs and old ballast and sockets, and attach them. Two wires and you’re good to go. Wish I would have done it a long time ago. So much brighter and better quality light. No annoying hum either. I don’t have an electronic scale but I don’t think the LEDs affect them like the magnetic ballasts would.

I loaded and tested some 5.56 77gr hpbt. 23.5gr tac is decent. Ladder test time

Well the new base for the material pot that I have on the Master Caster arrived and since there is no rain today I need to get the pot removed from the Master Caster and setup on the new stand so I can get those molds with handles going, and I just happened to have those two new Lee molds for the rolling block to get broken in so that will be my mission today. The results are:














These sure are some big fat boogers. .515 Dia. and 450 and 500 grain boolits.
Now all I have left to do is size, lube and stuff into the case. But that will be another day.:bigsmyl2:

I put together some 5.56 77gr hpbt with TAC for my ladder test. Just got done tumbling some 7mmREMMAG and 300blk brass

Tested/chrono'd some 62gr bthp's and 77 gr smk's for the 11.5" ar and shot for the 1st time the 300blk 10.5" build and 50 test loads of 147gr fmj's and 125gr smk's. Very impressed with accuracy(.690" group with 2moa red dot)and velocity(2084fps)from the BA 300blk barrel and 125gr smk so far. Have some 125 gr sst's and barnes black tips 110gr' on the agenda to load. Going to be a nice little 100 yrd hunting rig.

I tested 2 different 5.56 loads in 2 different guns.

Trimmed, primed, loaded and tested some 6.8 SPCII rounds

Spent 2 hrs after testing organizing stuff from the different small projects of this past week

Nitro what you shooting them out of. 500 or 600?

I'm shooting them out of two rollers. A Husqvarna, and a Remington. Both chambered for 12.7x44R. Over here we would call it 50-70 Government.

And then today arrived. More stuff to do. Time to take the cut down 50 Alaskan cases and fill them up with powder, cream of wheat and cap them with a wax topper before taking them out and fire forming them so I can see just how big the chamber is. So with on with the show.

The cut down. First a test case to see how accurate and troublesome this is going to be,



Worked so good I just kept chopping on all 20.



Then slug the barrels to be sure I don't need to size down the cast boolits. Just drive a 54 cal Remington Golden ball down the muzzle to see just what the real bore is.









Now to get these cases loaded up for fire forming. Starting with getting the wax cap made. A sheet 1/8 inch thick should do just fine.









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[img]https://s19.postimg.org/kcuabcb4z/20180330_113030.jpg[/img]

Now all I have to do is go out and pop some caps and hope it does not rain.

I resized 52 .223/556 brass until I broke my decapping pin and bend the expander decapping unit. Evidently, I didn't have the set nut tightened up and it worked loose. So then I loaded up the swager tool and ran through the 52, then capped them. I'll weigh powder and stuff them tomorrow.

Just got the new Plains mould from lyman to try a case fit for the new rolling blocks, will see how using a front stuffer bullet in a cartridge works.

They seem to load just fine.
Hope to get out and pop a few caps soon.

I bought a Giraud power trimmer with 2 extra heads and holders for .223, .308, .300blk, and .30-06.

I've never been so excited to trim brass

Got some 44's and some 45's cast today, Will get them lubed and loaded over the next few days.

The 44's.


The 45's (45/70)

My RCBS Chargemaster arrived on Thursday so I'm going to set it up and see how well it works and compare the charges with my balance beam I've been using for over 30 years.

Well after casting up a small pile yesterday in the kitchen I am going to load them up in some new brass thats been waiting to become cartridges. Did about half of them today and will finish up the other half tomorrow. No sense getting in a hurry to do it all in one day, it will be raining again all day tomorrow so I have saved some so I can mess around with it while it's raining. I wanted to load some of the new 44 cal that I cast up yesterday but found out that I was out of gas checks for that caliber, so will have to wait until the order from Midsouth arrives.

Just reloaded 10 rounds for my 308. Sierra 150 grain HPBT, IMR 4895 powder @ 43.0 grains. According to book that will produce 2600 fps. COL = 2.775

If time permits, reload 40 rounds for my Savage 300. I'm trying different bullets in 10 round increments to see what she likes to eat. Will post later what I find out.

.30-30 AI brass has been in the tumbler all day, I'll probably load some tonight.

Got some time over the weekend to cast some more Lyman 44 caliber pointed bullets.

I have to admit those little pointy things DO look a little naked, so today I thought I would get them some new clothes to wear when they go out in public.

Today's activity in the reloading room.













Tomorrow, more colors, and, more calibers.

I had so much fun powder coating yesterday I thought I would try my luck today and see if my results from yesterday were just beginners luck, plus I wanted to use another thermometer to see just what was going on with the new oven that did not want to go over 350 degrees.
Well used another thermometer but was giving same reading that the other new one was giving me yesterday. Guess I'm just going to have to get this PCing to work at the lower temp. Here was today's results until the rain came.

I would use a different color. Those 45-70's look like peckers.

Deprimed and sorted 223 cases. Loaded up some finalized 300blk rounds consisting of 147gr fmj and 125 gr smk. Also loaded up some 125 sst to test next trip to the range. Hoping to be able to load up a couple hundred of my go to 77gr smk and 62gr hp recipe Sunday afternoon.

Finally got an order of 12 gauge pre-primed empty kraft paper shotshells shipped to me after being on back order since last December. This type of hull paper was new to me so I though I would load up a couple of boxes to see how they load. Came out pretty good, next will be to fire a few and see how they eject and if they are good for another reload and if so how many.

I took an old RCBS rusty powder drop apart and soaked it in Evaporust. It really cleaned up. Give the 650 a little PM. Feeling accomplished.

Finally worked up some test deer rounds with pills I've had since mid summer.

Well those all look like their ready to go. What powder and what grain weight bullet are you using in them treemydog?

trlrdrdave, always nice when the project works out like you want it to. Nice to have happy ending.

Don't laugh... but that's a 222 Rem. with 60 gr. nosler partitions stuck in them. 23.5 gr of Varget, and I have 3 charges of Benchmark also ready to test with it. Benchmark and Varget got the 63 gr sierra SMP to stabilize last year and I took a nice doe with it. I'm hoping that the same powders prove effective pushing the partitions.

Loaded up some 300 Roy the other day.



God Bless,
David B.

I've been busy in the loading room today. Went to the range this morning to burn a little gun powder and here's a list of what I've done since:
[list]
1. Deprimed and cleaned 50-308, 20-7X57, 20-338-06AI, and 20-338 win mag cases
2. Loaded 50 308
3. Loaded 20 7mm RM
4. Loaded 20 7X57
5. Loaded 20 338 WM
6. Getting ready to load 100 300 RUM

I did the first actual press work I have done since I moved today. Finally have the presses setup and back working, took most of the morning just to find where I had put a few critical items. All I did was decapped and washed 37 6.5 CM rounds for a guy at work, but it sure felt good to have the handle in my hand again! May go back down and FL size those and get them ready to load. Going to put some 129gr Hornady Interlocked SP in those cases for him to hunt with. Have not loaded for his rifle yet (Savage) but I have a good load for that bullet in my FIL's RPR, hopefully they will perform well in the Savage. I have a good bit of 223 that needs to be gone through soon, but I realized today I am all but out of 55gr pills, wouldnt have guessed 6000 of them would have went so fast-- under a year.

Jason

Sweet looking Roy's there BOFF.

You'll like the partitions. Are they flat base or boat tail? What is the twist rate on the barrel? And how long is the barrel?

No such thing as a partition boat tail.

Thank you!


God Bless,
David B.

How right you are AU, all the partitions are flat base designed.

The 222 traditionally has a 1:14 twist, as my rifle does, and it has a 22" barrel. Most deuce gurus will tell you that a 55 grainer is about all she'll stabilize. I shoot the flat base sierra 63 gr. semipoints well in it, and those noslers are trying to behave, but I can tell she's struggling with it. You have to really send them hot to increase the RPMs to ensure they stabilize. I have yet to get anything but a round hole in the target at 100 yds, but the groups are 1.5 MOA (and will get the occasional 2" or 3" flyer), instead of 1/2 MOA groups the 55s and 50's typically produce.

I have been trying some sierra 55 gr. gamekings, which mushroom instead of fragment. I got some decent groups today, and I may just stick with them for green field hunting. They are used in 220 swift and 22-250 chamberings quite a bit, but also expand and mushroom within the 222 and 223's more modest velocity ranges. It's always fun to taylor a round to a gun... and it's even more fun to do it with an obscure cartridge.

Sized, deprimed, head stamp sorted, and swaged about 3 gallons of 5.56 brass that I have collected from factory loads over the years. Now I just needs those 75gr Gold Dots to show up in the mail.

I put together 40 test rounds of 35 Rem.

220gr Speer Hot-Cor and Varget ranging from 34-37 grains

I mounted a Rockchucker beside the Dillon. Got dies set up to load some 270 wsm. 145g eld-x. Going to do a ladder test asap.

Got a case stuck in a RCBS resizing die. Had to drill it out and tap it. Then used a bolt to pull it out.

I hate it when that happens!

Jason

Treemydog, have you ever tried Barnes TSX or their TTSX in 50 or 55 grain. Being all copper you get a longer bullet with less weight than with a traditional lead core jacketed bullet. Higher sectional density numbers for improved penetration. And the TTSX's polymer tip helps with expansion at the outer yardage numbers.

I have tried 50 gr barnes, and the rifle did not like it... I'm talking 4" groups at 100 is the best I could make it work. I've read on the 222 talk boards that most folks can't get the 50's and 55's barnes to shoot. Some will of course, but a lot of them won't. That slow twist likes short and stubby in the 50+ grain bullets, not long and slender. I've since locked into a good load with the 55 gr. sierra gamekings. When I get my deer, I'll post pics.

Removed primers, sized 80 cases for the 260

Well that is a shame that a small twist kills that bullet. But, your still getting a good .157 SD out of the Game King and that is the same with Barnes all copper 55 gr TSX so as long as it doesn't break up on close shots and opens up on the far ones alls good that work in my book. I'd be curious what kind of twist was offered in a handi rifle in 222 if one was ever offered.

I started the day straightening up my work space. That turned in to tumbling a bunch of.40S&W, 5.56, 6.5CM, and .300blk.

Once the .300blk was cleaned I decided to size and prime them. That led to testing 4 loads in my 8.5" pistol. 180gr soft point over 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, and 11.2gr of H4198. All cycled the bolt but none locked it back on an empty mag.

I was going to tumble some .270 wsm brass. It was brand new but sized and lubed and trimmed. Put the dawn and lemishine in the tumbler. Forgot to put any water. put it on and went back to work. That made for some ugly brass. Started all over and it looks much better now. Most of it did any way. Letting it run another hour with just pins and clear water and a pinch of lemishine. Took some measurements to add some shelving above the bench. Sorted a bunch of new/old stock bullets that were given to me. Put a few things in my wish list to buy after the first. Loaded up a few more .270wsm and 146g eldx looking for a sweet spot the next dry day I can go shoot. Then had to go work a wreck. Guess I can separate brass and pins now.

Sized and deprimed some 5.56, loaded 500 9mm, and 25 subsonic.300blk . One of the subs is especially for a certain blowin' doe.

Seating a few Dashers.



Waiting for these to get put on my auto trickler

Looking sweet 1bamashooter.

Cleaned 2k 9mm, loaded 500 9mm, loaded and tested 10 different 300 blk loads.

I spent all day reloading. Great day!

yesterday I tested 180gr prohunters and 180gr Hot-cor's in my 30-06

Today I loaded 1k 9mm. FYI, a .30cal can full of 9mm is a beautiful thing!

Loaded 700 5.56

24gr TAC under Hornady 55gr FMJ's

Finally got my reloading bench setup since moving. Feels good to get back behind the press.

Loaded some 165gr accubonds for my 3006 7400.
Then did some 358 win 220gr speer hot cor for my ar10
Last loaded some 140gr accubonds for my 270 wsm.

Sorted some range pick-up brass

Tumbled 45lc, .270, .300blk, and 5.56

loaded a few more 5.56

Loaded 50 .300blk subs

Sized 75 pieces of .270

my reloading room is a mess and I should start clean`n it up again. probably start after the Bill Hick`s dealer show.

Loaded up some 7-08 for my son to finish out the season

Sized 50pcs of .270

Swagged and primed 300pcs of 5.56

Going to test some diffrent seating depths

Good looking cartridges. Hope they find a good target.

Decided to make my own cast bullet lube.

Got my new on sale at academy store closing sale
Chargemaster lock an load set up
Got some cleaning up to do and get so e loading did

I walked though my reloading room yesterday and wish I could load some 38s instead of going to work.

Did my post hunting season gun cleaning and neck sized 50 .308 cases.

Made more beeswax muffins.

Had a box of 110g Sierra HP. Loaded up 10 just to see if they would even work in my AR10. If I can get them to group half way decent I may try to eliminate a few 'yotes. What else am I going to do with a bullet that light!

Loaded up a 20 rounds of 300 Weatherby with 168 TTSX bullets, 12 rounds of different loads with a 210 partition to test in my 338-06 AI, and 20 test rounds with 140 and 150 partitions for my brother's 7X57.

Sized several different cases and put them in the tumbler to clean. 20-300 win mag, 60 7mm RM, 100.223 and 20 375 h&h magnum. Found out its probably best not to throw your 375 and 223 in the tumbler at the same time...

Cleaned, sized, trimmed about 75-260 rem and a handful of 280 Ackley improved
Got them ready to load
Waiting on some 7mm-08 to get here for the same treatment

Boy oh boy does that look familiar. Been there, done that too. lol. At least you can get them out, just think if they got stuck inside the shell, wow, now that would be a real PITA.

Prepped a 100 7mm-08 sized, cleaned and primed ready to work a load for the new barrel

Loaded a some tsx 130gr for my 3006 . 56,57 58 gr imr 4064.

Had 33 .308 cases primed and ready. Had 36.168g Sierra HPBT International bullets. Was just going to load them up and got to looking for a powder. Hmm Accurate 2200 will work. Went to pour powder and looked again..I was about to load Accurate 2700. SMDH at least I caught it. Guess I need to do some more research. Tumbled 81 pieces of .270 WSM I have been saving. Where that 1 extra came from I have no clue. Granddaughter was in there watching me asking questions so I put her to work for a few minutes. She has asked me to take here fishing and now she wants to go shooting. She has never showed much interest till now. I guess that is what pawpaw is for! Chargmaster lite will be here Next week. I can't wait!

Resized and cleaned 120 cases of different calibers. Loaded up a dozen 7mm RM with the new Sierra 165 gr Gamechanger bullets over H1000 to see how they shoot. Gonna try to get in a little range time this weekend.

Getting ready to start fire forming some 9.3 x 74R brass into 3" brass 410 shells for a bolt action 410.

Well I finally found a few spare hours to get these brass shotshells made for the 410.
The brass came already annealed at the neck area, but I would need to anneal it further down on the body so the fire forming would expand the base area of the case as well. The brass is thicker towards the rim and you only get one good first time shot at a good forming. Using a cordless drill with a 1/2" socket to hold the base of the brass while it is spun in front of the flame until the purples start to show on the brass then it's tip the drill an drop it into the cold water. The brass should be sufficienctly softened enough to take the fire forming first time around. Then a quick dry in the oven, load regular large rifle primers, 10.7 grains of Unique powder with a poly foam disc to separate it from the cream of wheat, capped off with a custom cut card using a sharpened case mouth of another brass casings and all packed snuggly with a Bic pen and sealed with sodium silicate (water glass). A overnight drying and they will be ready to shoot.





















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I bought and setup a Harbor Freight 2" cutoff saw to cut 5.56 brass down for 300BLK. Next weekend I'll be running that brass thru new dies and load some 175gr projectiles.

I spent all day yesterday working on subsonic .300blk loads. Found an inexpensive one that works for my AR pistol

Inquiring minds want to know!

Tell me more about the 410 nitro. TSS Turkey slayer?

180gr SP pulls from American Reloading($0.14/ea)
12.8gr Shooters World Blackout Powder
Wolf SR primer
COAL 2.100
8.5" PSA Stainless with a Suppressed Armament Systems Reaper

It's somewhere between 1-1.5moa. Plenty good enough for the amount of money they cost to put together

Kyle, did you find that powder somewhere local or order it?

I walked in, looked around and said “dang, I don’t have a press... so I ordered one... here’s to hoping I don’t blow my rifle or face up

If you study and follow safe practices, that will never be a problem.

Mike's in Hartselle is where I got the powder. Pretty sure I've seen it in Shooters Warehouse also.

Shot this load again today just to verify results. It's GTG in my 8.5". Time to load up all the brass I have.

Good info. I'll make a trip to Shooters Warehouse

A little trigger therapy yesterday. This was 130 Nosler BT out of my 270WSM. Actually had another shot in the same area before i reset the screen. Just made 5 up to see what they did and dang good for a first group.




This was 145 g Eldx i worked up and this was the best group.

Loaded up 100 380 acp's with some 90 gr. Speer Gold Dots. Seated them to .974 over 3.1 grains of BE. Pop'ed one in the mag and snapped the slide and chambered just fine. So I taper crimped them all and then decided I would load up the magazine and upon loading round #2 knew Houston had a problem. COAL was too long for the magazine. Didn't have a issue with one cause the nose isn't buried inside the mag housing, Ugly. So I ended up just having to nudge them down to a COAL of .965 and all is well. Let that be a lesson on auto loaders, make sure action will go to battery, but at the same time be sure the overall length will work inside the magazine. Sometimes it's easy to forget the simplest of things.

Case gauges are your friend.