Don't get complacent

[Reefinmike]

Dont get complacent... I sure learned my lesson tonight :banghead: Always verify your powder charge each time you sit back down at the bench! It has been a year since I last loaded 38 (bullet mold went to junk and I had plenty of loaded ammo to shoot up) and after working up a load and testing out a new boolit alloy with a new powder (bullseye), I settled on a 3.1gr charge behind a relatively soft lee 158gr TLSWC sized down a thousandth or so to .358.

Yesterday I loaded up 250 at 3.1gr, switched my powder measure over from the .34 disk to the .43 disk and loaded up a box of 45acp 230gr LTC. After that I swapped the measure back on my 38/357 turret and loaded up a box of "premium" 357 with pre trimmed/sized/primed/chamfer/deburred brass loaded with a manually weighed charge of H110(it causes all my measures to bind up) and a 158gr xtp. No need to flare the case out so I didnt mess with the powder measure

Back to today- I hop back on the press with some shiny primed headstamp sorted ready to go 38 brass. Charge, seat... ooh silly me, I forgot I had it set for 357, lets just adjust my seating/crimp die and get back at it. My autodisk measure has thrown very precise charges since the day I bought it two years ago so I for the first time ever- didnt bother weighing the powder charge :banghead:.

600 rounds after I started I decided to weigh a charge as the cases looked fuller than I remember. Then it hit me- that .43cc disk was NOT the .34 disk I should be using. 3.9gr... thats the charge I throw for my cast 45's. DOH! I loaded up 600 rounds using the max 38 +p bullseye load. I know this will be just fine to shoot through my 357's. My only concern is that When I go test these out at the range tomorrow, my rifled barrel will be a smoothbore within a few shots. I got away from any serious leading in 38 loads once I stopped quenching boolits so hopefully these will be fine

Anyone know of any good boolit grippers to pull lead boolits? my pair of cheapo vice grips slip when I try to pull it using the press. I might have 600 to pull and recast and im sure as heck not using my impact puller for that.

 

[gamestalker]

600 rounds with a kinetic puller would be less than fun, to say the least.

I seriously doubt a collet puller will work with lead, more so if you used a roll crimp.

And depending on the bullet profile, there might not be enough bullet shank to grab onto, a collet puller may be out of the question anyway?

You might find yourself doing a lot of hammering.

GS

 

[Reefinmike]

The bullets arent too tight in the case, they seated easily but I do have a fairly mild roll crimp... nothing like the roll crimp I do on my full throttle 357 loads. A good grip with the vice grips does not work. I was thinking maybe some very large gauge wire strippers to to really cut in on the bullet rather than just mashing teeth into the side of a boolit.

Edit- I dont care about screwing up the boolit... I could recast all 600 in an hour.

 

[blarby]

Whackamole it is then...

 

[sexybeast]

A friend of a friend loaded up some suspect loads, well over 600. He had a double charge, damaged the gun. Scarred the crap out of him. I volunteered to pull his bullets.
It did not take that long with an RCBS impact puller, I did about 200 per evening and it took about an hour and a half. Did it in the garage while watching Sportscenter or Downton Abbey.
I DID NOT weigh each charge! This was just to tear down and re-load with the components he had.
No big deal. Took some time. We set up his press a little different and he is making good ammo now.
When in doubt, pull them all! Whats a little time when you consider the cost of the gun or medical bills.

 

[Walkalong]

Always double check any settings. Always check the first few rounds for OAL. Always weigh a couple of charges after settling the powder measure down with a few throws. Always check the load data for bullet weight, powder weight, OAL. Then, when you think you are ready to roll, double check it all.

I do not own a bullet puller. The worst I have done is mess up the first two or three rounds. Double check, double check, double check. Like your safety depends on it. Because it does.

 

[cfullgraf]

A number of years ago I bought a used farrier anvil that a farrier school was replacing. It has been one of those tools that "you cannot justify before you buy but cannot live without after".

One use of the anvil, it makes a great place to pound an inertia bullet puller on. The anvil does not move nor does it deflect making each hit of the puller more efficient.

 

[JWH321]

I've never done this, but....

Can you put a hole through each bullet from the side and stick a nail through it and then use you press to pull the case down while the nail and what ever its against (1 inch PVC comes to mind) holds the bullet in place?

make a 2 or 3 inch piece of PVC, raise the ram and put the bullet on it, put the PVC piece over the bullet and ram, run the nail through the bullet, and lower the ram.

Am I making sense? Oh, be sure that you drill the bullet carefully by hand, obviously.

 

[Comrade Mike]

I've never done this, but....



Can you put a hole through each bullet from the side and stick a nail through it and then use you press to pull the case down while the nail and what ever its against (1 inch PVC comes to mind) holds the bullet in place?



make a 2 or 3 inch piece of PVC, raise the ram and put the bullet on it, put the PVC piece over the bullet and ram, run the nail through the bullet, and lower the ram.



Am I making sense? Oh, be sure that you drill the bullet carefully by hand, obviously.

With the effort involved you might as well use a kinetic puller

 

[A Pause for the Coz]

Wire cutters of the proper size. I cut a piece of PVC pipe to slip over the ram to use as a stop for the cutter.

I feel your pain. I have a tub of about 300 45's I have to take apart. Noticed the knob worked loose on my Uni-flow.
Dang nabit...

Here you made me go dig around in my bag of stuff. I have a set of cable TV crimper's. Picked them up for a buck.
The wire cutting edge cuts into the 45's just fine and the crimp holes work great on 30 cal cast and jacketed.
Quick and easy.
I suppose I might as well disassemble all these now.

 

[Walkalong]

That PVC worked great for the short round.

 

[TenDriver]

Mike, I have pulled plated 9mm with a Forster collet puller with good results. I'd be happy to pull a lead bullet or three tonight and see if I have the same, but I think it's a good product for it.

No markings on the bullets whatsoever from the collet. If we''re in the same area you're welcome to use it.

 

[Reefinmike]

Woah great idea on the pvc, thats gonna save a lot of time over raising the round all the way and using the top of the turret press to pull it. Whelp, off to the range to find out if im going to be grumpy all day or figure out if I have myself a lot of +p lead loads that wont lead the bore. I have a feeling that Im going to be stopping by harbor freight to pick out a new pair of wire cutters... would it be weird to bring some ammo in the store and try out some tools ?

 

[Reefinmike]

Ten- thanks for the offer, but I really dont mind damaging the boolits with a hardware store remedy. It'll only take me an hour to recast em all.

And those that say kinetic puller- you guys are nuts! have you ever seen what happens when you shake an alox tumble lubed bullet around in a charge of bullseye? what a mess!

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I got away from any serious leading in 38 loads once I stopped quenching boolits so hopefully these will be fine

I think you'll be fine. The water quenching was making them too hard for .38 Special velocity and that's what was causing the leading. If the bullet is a good fit in the bore, I bet it won't lead very bad, if at all. I've pushed 10 BHN bullets to some pretty impressive velocities in my .45 Colt with no noticeable leading.

Shoot a few before pulling 600 of them.

 

[Reefinmike]

A silver lining

Well, im glad i accidentally "overcharged" 600 rounds. I took em out to the range earlier today. They left some lead in my 6" revolver, not a whole ton but enough to have to send a bore brush and a few plated bullets down every box or so. Then just for the heck of it I decided to throw a few through my snubby. I havent sent lead down my snubby barrel in a very long time due to the fact that ive never found a load that wouldnt slick the barrel in lead within a cylinder. I shot a whole box through the snubby and the barrel was as clean as the day I bought it. Very happy that I finally have a lead load that I can send down my snubby, it was tired of all the toasty jacketed 357 loads .

I may even load up another 500 to put away for snubby use only while im still working with this alloy.

 

[jmorris]

Yeah, I have more presses than I need and sometimes it seems silly to have so many but it does help if your loading a bunch of different stuff often enough.

 

[BYJO4]

A kinetic bullet puller will do the job and the bullet can be used again. Sorry to hear that you have so many to pull.

 

[horsemen61]

glad it worked out for you

 

[TenDriver]

Sounds good!