Recent content by Barrelgal

Though the over all functional concept is the same, the two are very different when it comes to reloading them. Bottle neck brass must be maintain to within SAAMI trim length. Straight wall brass not so much of a must, if at all. Bottle neck brass gets resized to a close head to datum...

Many years ago when I first started this awesome hobby with my hubby we would try smoking or using a sharpie to indicate land contact, but quickly realized this method was terribly inaccurate. Reasoning being is that hard or soft contact leaves marks, so you never really know if it's jamming...

I've never in my reloading life experienced a single mis-fire. But in my opinion and what I've seen at the range, almost all are the result of a shallow seated primer which is determined by attempting to fire it more than just once. Just because a primer is seated below flush does not mean...

I've always backed my charge down a tad when changing to a different primer, but this is because I'm a full pressure type of gal. I load everything to produce typical full pressure performance, so I don't like risking an over pressure event. But if what you're loading are mild to moderate...

I've never found the need for a SB die, and that includes minimum SAAMI spec barrels. So IMO it just depends on the chamber, but I've yet to come across one that needed one. BG

I've been shooting / hunting with 1.5 lb. triggers for so long that I can't comfortably shoot them much heavier. I guess woman have a lighter touch than some men do, might be that we typically have smaller fingers? My DIL also hunts with a very light trigger on all her rifles. BG

I had a brand new piece of FC brass that blew the entire primer pocket seal all the way around. I was shooting a moderate development I'd been running for a number of years, part way into the second box one let go. The other 39 were fine and never a single pressure sign to include chrony...

I've never stuck a case with any lube, so can't really relate to that aspect. But I have used One Shot and it worked pretty good, again I've never stuck a case, but it did seem to require a bit more muscle than with Dillon. I've been using Dillon since the early 90's I think, never had...

I spent some time doing load development for my DIL's Tika T3 .270 win. and I gotta say it was a real jewel. It shot under an inch with the first development and was shooting under 1/2" by the time I got the load tuned. Trigger was great, broke like glass. The stock was solid, barrel nicely...

I have a -5 and a -2, love them both and would buy another if I could find one. I actually like my -5 better than the -2, just prefer the internal firing pin. BG

In all my years of mounting scopes I can't believe no one has ever mentioned Barts reticle centering trick, about as straight forward and simplistic as it gets. Thanks Bart BG

I can't imagine how cool it would be to have one with all the chamberings. The 44 AMP of course would be a hoot, but I believe Standford either had plans or maybe he actually produced some in 300 AMP's (30 carbine), .357 AM, 41 AM, and 45 WM. I'd be in Auto mag heaven if I stumbled onto one with...

I came across an RCBS reamer, reamer die, cut down die, trim die, FL sizing die gosh there's everything here to make 44 AMP brass from 308. All of it is in perfect condition and looks like none of it's ever been used. The man who sold it to me only took $20 for all of it, but it looks like I...

In addition to what other have said, which is good advice, I also drop the slide on the same few cartridges multiple times. Measure them before and after, this will help reveal a functional set back scenario. I've also performed a bench test by pressing the nose against a bathroom scale...

There's no way I'd ever just toss good brass. So, there's several different ways my hubby taught me to handle this. You can pull the bullets, fertilize the yard with the powder, then just fire the primers, resize and load back up with your desired load. Or, pull bullets, dump powder in...