Reloading Foibles and Ideosyncrasies

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Orcon

Orcon

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I've not been reloading long, a bit over five years, but I've found that I have picked up some traits that I cannot shake. Do they make a difference? I cannot say but nonetheless I continue to do them. Here are a few of my most time consuming offenders:

I read early on that rotating a cartridge whilst incrementally seating a bullet reduces run-out and improves precision. I don't do this for general plinking ammo nor for pistol cartridges but when I reload for accuracy I can't bring myself to skip this step. I do the same when seating primers regardless of cartridge type or use; seat, rotate, seat.

I also am compelled to measure either the over all length or casehead to ogive. Every. Single. One. I think that this one actually does more harm than good to be honest. I've never found a major problem but I will then sort the cartridges into groups of similar measurements. Why? Who knows.

For got to add this: That brass has to sparkle. If it isn't gleaming, I'm not impressed.

Do you have similar OCD behavior? What are things do you obsess over that are probably not important?
 
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I don't get that OCD, but I do test random rounds for .45 ACP in an old barrel instead of buying a gauge. Hey, it works. OCD is a good thing for a reloader to be.
 
I’ve been known to rotate the case when seating bullets.

I like shiny, too. Like a bug flying towards a light.

I have experimented with different things, when looking for precision. Annealing, turning necks, mandrel expanders, bushing dies, chamber style seating dies, etc. I have my own process that some would say is overboard, but it gives me the warm fuzzies if not accuracy. That is the great thing about making your own - you can do it any way you want.
 
Reloading for acp I don't worry about case length but I pay attention to the resistance to resize the case. I make three piles based on this, this has much to do with the case neck tension on the bullet.
 
Don’t do any of those things. You’re totally focusing on the wrong things.

Use a die like the Wilson LE seater that aligns the bullet before it starts seating. That will take care of seating. However runout mostly comes from your case neck being jacked.

A large variance in oal is a symptom of brass needing annealing. But normally it’s not a big deal. I never measure them. I do make sure I place the boxes sideways when driving though to keep them from vibrating up or down.


sparkly brass isn’t bad but lots of benchrest shooters reload the same piece of brass several times without really cleaning. Just knock the nasty stuff off so it doesn’t scratch the insides of your dies. I often reload without cleaning at all.
 
The extra stuff you are doing doesn’t hurt your loads, does it? If it only costs you time and your ammunition is solid and reliable, who cares?
.
.
.
.

Having got that out of the way. You might want to look at setting up your shell holders, so they are a little loose in the press. Letting them float a bit seems, for me, to let the bullets go in the case straighter. It also helped me get away from checking runout on every round. I pulled out the little clip retainers an made some new retainers from cpvc. And as mentioned a good seating die. I like Foster. Everyone makes one.

Things I likely waste my time with (match rifle only):

Cleaning brass twice. Before processing and just before priming.

Annealing every loading. It might be wrong, but it seems so right.



Things I let go:

Sizing primer pockets.

Sizing primer holes, unless they are visually way off.
 
I can't find any fault with your processes. None are dangerous so have at it. The one thing that I question though is many's fascination with sparkly, shiny brass. It isn't any more accurate than just clean brass and it will be dirty as soon as it's fired but if it makes you happy keep doing it. Clean is good, sparkly is a waste of time for me.

"You might want to look at setting up your shell holders, so they are a little loose in the press."

Use Lee shell holders. They are made loose apparently. All of the ones I have are. :eek:
 
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Reloading is a very personal hobby/process. Basically, if your idiosyncrasies don't produce unsafe ammo, for for it. I reload because I like to. My handloads may be assembled differently than yours, but it's my guns, my ammo, my time and my money. For me there is no "wasted time" as I reload for enjoyment so any "time savers" or "production increasing hints" just take away from my fun. I seat primers like you seat bullets; seat, turn, seat, turn, seat. I often do things in my shop when I'm bored or have plenty of ammo on hand and a bunch waiting testing, like deburring flash holes, measuring revolver brass length, "over tumbling" brass (the only reason I have for highly polished brass is my 45 ACP and 30-06 cases that are easier to find in the dirt, rocks and trash at my "range", but I may leave some other brass in the tumbler, just because) and I have even weighed some 308/7.62x51 cases (but I don't remember where I put the list of weights)...

So, it's your guns, your handloads, your time and money and it you wanna paint little Happy Faces on the case heads, it is certainly OK...
 
doubleh said:
Use Lee shell holders. They are made loose apparently. All of the ones I have are. :eek:
Click to expand...

Not criticizing, just asking.
And your press doesn’t have the wire clip that holds the shell holder offset? I have three Lee presses and they all had them. Now they all have a little piece of cpvc pipe keeping the shell holders from falling out.
 
I have an RCBS press and the holders fit tightly on the ram. The looseness is in the way they grip the cartridge. They aren't nearly as snug as the RCBS shell holders.
 
Orcon said:
Do you have similar OCD behavior?
Click to expand...

Yes.:)
(and the proper order is CDO, a compulsion disorder I obsess about.)


Ok, I’ll say it. I...(sigh), weigh, pistol charges.

There, I said it and I don’t feel better.
I feel dirty and guilty.
But I can’t help myself. I have to.
I itch if I don’t. I feel yucky inside if I don’t. This nagging little voice squeaks at me, compels me to, like if I don’t, I will never stop thinking about it. I must stop the whole works and redo all of it “the right way” or I can not let it go.
If I didn’t I surely could not shoot them. Just think of the groups, or lack of.

They will not work right if I do not know exactly the precise amount they weigh.

They are not unsafe, as evidenced by the repeated consistency of my Hornady powder measure.
I can’t shoot the difference.
The gun won’t know either.
The target doesn’t care and says so by reminding I suck. All the time. Incessantly.
The voluminous charge weights in the large cases could lose grains of powder in them and be indifferent.
Gallon jugs “at paces” require only the crudest of accuracies.
Did I mention my eyes are failing faster than a dope smoking high school kid?

But, I have a GemPro250. And an exuberant intolerance of the unknown! A loathing, fear really.
I must know exactly how much powder is in there!
(Short of counting the kernels... I’m obsessive, not crazy.;))

IT JUST WON’T WORK IF I DON’T WIEGH THEM!

I have one way of loading these little gold tubes and I do it the same for all of them!
It is my way.
Brass. Look. Blow. Dump. Weigh. Pour. Seat(with an already inspected, cleaned, approved and indexed bullet).
My Tao of Charging.

Now, after they are labeled, noted, stored and relegated to numbered magazines, based on capacity and color....

...you know it doesn’t stop at the loading room door, right?:D
 
I don't know yet, just taking up reloading. Once I have my process worked out - I'm sure I'll do many things different than others. As long as the work has a good end result .. I may just weigh each finished cartridge and reject anything high or low out of a determined deviation, or just the say 5 high and low out of each batch. you're your own quality control and assurance after all.
 
I had to laugh when I read this. Trust me I wasn't laughing at the OP because I'm new to reloading as well and I do a lot of the same things. It's not about being weird or anything like that. For me it's just trying to make sure if I'm loading X case with X powder with X bullet at X OAL I get the same or as precise as my equipment will measure for every single round. I'm after something consistent that works well for me and the guns I shoot from as well as being safe.

I did two things recently that helped a lot with my OCD. One I bought a Hornady LNL auto charge. This allows me to set a charge weight and watch the scale as it dispenses. No my fiddling around trying to manually do this.
Second thing was set up a different press that was just given to me by my dad. My first press is a Lee 25 year anniversary kit press and it seemed like my seating depth was all over place. The old RCBS press doesn't have the quick change bushing like the Lee and and seats in my opinion more consistent. The Lee tends to have a little slop in the threads on the quick change bushing.

Now I seat on the RCBS I see consistent results. Rather than measure every single round I am now down to measuring the first two or three and eventually relax enough to measuring every 5th or tenth. Yes even when using bullets with cannelures.

It's a good hobby that is safe when done properly and if you are making what works for you and you enjoy it do what works for you even if you triple check everything. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
 
Waterboy3313 said:
I had to laugh when I read this. Trust me I wasn't laughing at the OP because I'm new to reloading as well and I do a lot of the same things. It's not about being weird or anything like that. For me it's just trying to make sure if I'm loading X case with X powder with X bullet at X OAL I get the same or as precise as my equipment will measure for every single round. I'm after something consistent that works well for me and the guns I shoot from as well as being safe.

I did two things recently that helped a lot with my OCD. One I bought a Hornady LNL auto charge. This allows me to set a charge weight and watch the scale as it dispenses. No my fiddling around trying to manually do this.
Second thing was set up a different press that was just given to me by my dad. My first press is a Lee 25 year anniversary kit press and it seemed like my seating depth was all over place. The old RCBS press doesn't have the quick change bushing like the Lee and and seats in my opinion more consistent. The Lee tends to have a little slop in the threads on the quick change bushing.

Now I seat on the RCBS I see consistent results. Rather than measure every single round I am now down to measuring the first two or three and eventually relax enough to measuring every 5th or tenth. Yes even when using bullets with cannelures.

It's a good hobby that is safe when done properly and if you are making what works for you and you enjoy it do what works for you even if you triple check everything. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
Click to expand...
 
I NEVER ever polished brass.....not for 38 years! I wiped them with a rag just before the seater die.........then I got old.....tired....so I bought a progressive, eyes got old, so I bought a tumbler.....geeze....then a Thumblers with ss pins! and for what? Bling makes my tired eyes happier......period.;)

OCD? not so much......ocd guys bench rest, or at least weigh every charge.....not me.....too impatient for that ....too little time left for ocd. But we are all different.....and we all need floating boats.......so whatever floats yours!:)
 
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Orcon said:
I've not been reloading long, a bit over five years, but I've found that I have picked up some traits that I cannot shake. Do they make a difference? I cannot say but nonetheless I continue to do them. Here are a few of my most time consuming offenders:

I read early on that rotating a cartridge whilst incrementally seating a bullet reduces run-out and improves precision. I don't do this for general plinking ammo nor for pistol cartridges but when I reload for accuracy I can't bring myself to skip this step. I do the same when seating primers regardless of cartridge type or use; seat, rotate, seat.

I also am compelled to measure either the over all length or casehead to ogive. Every. Single. One. I think that this one actually does more harm than good to be honest. I've never found a major problem but I will then sort the cartridges into groups of similar measurements. Why? Who knows.

For got to add this: That brass has to sparkle. If it isn't gleaming, I'm not impressed.

Do you have similar OCD behavior? What are things do you obsess over that are probably not important?
Click to expand...
I ALWAYS wear the same socks while loading match ammunition.
 
I ALWAYS wear the same socks while loading match ammunition.
Click to expand...

I'm only superstitious in race cars. I always wore the same pair of gloves and only cleaned the dirt off of my helmet on the face shield. I also had 3 pennies taped to the A pillar cage tubing. Oh and if I see a black cat on my way to work I promptly make a U turn, go home and call in sick. LOL
 
Orcon said:
read early on that rotating a cartridge whilst incrementally seating a bullet reduces run-out and improves precision. I don't do this for general plinking ammo nor for pistol cartridges but when I reload for accuracy I can't bring myself to skip this step. I do the same when seating primers regardless of cartridge type or use; seat, rotate, seat.
Click to expand...

I do the for the same reason, but also turn cases during the sizing operation. My group size srank some.
 
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