OK, guys, there are too many good threads in the Handloading section. I found lots of good tips on things that frustrated me in the past. I am just getting back into handloading and looking forward to pumping out some .40, .45, .38 and .44.
* I bought Lee Factory crimp dies to try out as a separate crimping step on my single satge press. It was a hassle trying to get a consistent seating depth and good crimp. Always seemed the sumiltaneous crimping action was compromising a consistent seating depth. So I am going to back off the crimper in the seating die and then after it is seated accurately I will use the RCD to give it just the right taper or roll crimp.
* I did save some money by not getting a case trimmer yet. Reading the Lyman manual again (yes, I am one of those who enjoy re-reading every section of reloading manuals every so often) made me think that case trimming was more important than I had treated it in the past. Many years ago a competitive shooting friend of mine loaded thousands of rounds per week and he said he never trimmed pistol cases as they always start to fil before they need trimming (usually 8-10 reloads per case). Several posts here in THR confirmed his advise as well.
* I did get maximum case gauges after I had a screwed up batch of Oregon Laser Cast bullets jam my BHP. Pretty hard to make a BHP look like it is a crappy gun, but my ammo did a great job of humiliating me at the range. I fell into the cardinal sin of trusting the manufacturer regarding bullet dimension instead of measuring with my calipers. Plus I used reloading data from Lyman, not Oregon LC. When I tried shooting the first batch most of the cartridges failed to feed. I discovered that about 1/3 of the way down the case was too fat to fir into the chamber. It turns out that the LC bullets are at least 0.001" larger in diameter than they are marked on the box. My supposedly .355" 9mm bullets were actually closer to .357". The Oregon LC manual specifies a longer OAL. By loading it shorter using the Lyman data the bullet was pushed too far down into the case and caused it to bulge enough to jam in the chamber. Although the OLC manual does not explain this, it is appranet that their recommended OAL accounts for seating the bullet out further and avoids widening the case. I could just test loaded cartridges in the chamber of one of my barrels, but I thought it would be good to spot check them with an all-around max gauge for length and diameter at head, case mouth, rim, etc.
* I also got a new priming system as it seeme that primer seating can cause significant changes in ignition. In the past I just used an RCBS hand primer tool, but I know my seating depth varied wildly. I never had a failure to ignite or any sign of over pressure. But it always bothered me that as precise as I was with powder weighing, seating with mic dies, and careful process control, that my priming was kind of lame. So I am going to try the RCBS APS system with their press mounted APS priming tool and APS strip loader (to avoid having to touch any primer with my hands yet still get singel stage press seating precision).
* I am also expanding my powder selection to include Unique. I had been using Win 231 and 296 for virtually everything, with some experiementing with AA5 and Blue Dot. But some of the 231 loads leave a LOT of vacant space in teh case, so I want to see if Unique will fill up the case more. Unique seems to be pretty popular for mid-range loads. This time around I am not interested in full house loads. For defense ammo I'll buy Double Tap, Speer or Federal. For lots of practice a don't need max velocity and pressure loads, so a medium powder like Unique will hopefully give me better case volume than small charges of 231. I probably will do very little 296 since I gave away my .357 and sold my .44. Unique and 231 ought to cover my current needs.
Anyway, I can't afford any more reloading equipment at this time, so just keep your great tips to yourselves for some later date!
* I bought Lee Factory crimp dies to try out as a separate crimping step on my single satge press. It was a hassle trying to get a consistent seating depth and good crimp. Always seemed the sumiltaneous crimping action was compromising a consistent seating depth. So I am going to back off the crimper in the seating die and then after it is seated accurately I will use the RCD to give it just the right taper or roll crimp.
* I did save some money by not getting a case trimmer yet. Reading the Lyman manual again (yes, I am one of those who enjoy re-reading every section of reloading manuals every so often) made me think that case trimming was more important than I had treated it in the past. Many years ago a competitive shooting friend of mine loaded thousands of rounds per week and he said he never trimmed pistol cases as they always start to fil before they need trimming (usually 8-10 reloads per case). Several posts here in THR confirmed his advise as well.
* I did get maximum case gauges after I had a screwed up batch of Oregon Laser Cast bullets jam my BHP. Pretty hard to make a BHP look like it is a crappy gun, but my ammo did a great job of humiliating me at the range. I fell into the cardinal sin of trusting the manufacturer regarding bullet dimension instead of measuring with my calipers. Plus I used reloading data from Lyman, not Oregon LC. When I tried shooting the first batch most of the cartridges failed to feed. I discovered that about 1/3 of the way down the case was too fat to fir into the chamber. It turns out that the LC bullets are at least 0.001" larger in diameter than they are marked on the box. My supposedly .355" 9mm bullets were actually closer to .357". The Oregon LC manual specifies a longer OAL. By loading it shorter using the Lyman data the bullet was pushed too far down into the case and caused it to bulge enough to jam in the chamber. Although the OLC manual does not explain this, it is appranet that their recommended OAL accounts for seating the bullet out further and avoids widening the case. I could just test loaded cartridges in the chamber of one of my barrels, but I thought it would be good to spot check them with an all-around max gauge for length and diameter at head, case mouth, rim, etc.
* I also got a new priming system as it seeme that primer seating can cause significant changes in ignition. In the past I just used an RCBS hand primer tool, but I know my seating depth varied wildly. I never had a failure to ignite or any sign of over pressure. But it always bothered me that as precise as I was with powder weighing, seating with mic dies, and careful process control, that my priming was kind of lame. So I am going to try the RCBS APS system with their press mounted APS priming tool and APS strip loader (to avoid having to touch any primer with my hands yet still get singel stage press seating precision).
* I am also expanding my powder selection to include Unique. I had been using Win 231 and 296 for virtually everything, with some experiementing with AA5 and Blue Dot. But some of the 231 loads leave a LOT of vacant space in teh case, so I want to see if Unique will fill up the case more. Unique seems to be pretty popular for mid-range loads. This time around I am not interested in full house loads. For defense ammo I'll buy Double Tap, Speer or Federal. For lots of practice a don't need max velocity and pressure loads, so a medium powder like Unique will hopefully give me better case volume than small charges of 231. I probably will do very little 296 since I gave away my .357 and sold my .44. Unique and 231 ought to cover my current needs.
Anyway, I can't afford any more reloading equipment at this time, so just keep your great tips to yourselves for some later date!
