I think I'm ready to mix up my first batch of reloads...

[MacTech]

Here's the recipie I've worked up...

Ingredients;
WWB previously fired brass, fired by me
Winchester WLP Large pistol primers
Winchester 231 powder
Hornady #12308 Lead Round Nose 230 grain bullets

Press; Lee Progressive 1000
scale; MTM DS-1250 digital scale

I checked the Hornady manual at the store, and wrote down some loads to get a baseline;

4.9 grain-750 FPS
5.4 grain-800 FPS
5.8 grain-850 FPS

I want a nice, soft recoiling target load, so my recipe would be;
5.0 grains of powder with the Hornady 230 Gr bullet

with the press's current config, it's throwing a charge of 4.5-4.6 grains into the Winchester brass, for some reason, that same charge reads as 3.9-4.0 grains into Speer Gold Dot nickel plated brass

the charge it's throwing currently is exactly what's listed on the owners guide for the powder die for .45 ACP 207-230 grain, the Lee autodisk reccomends a charge of 4.6 grains of 231 for the Hornady 230 grain lead bullets

according to the Autodisk chart, if I want to throw my 5 grain charge, I'll have to move up a disk size to either .46 (4.9 Gr) or .49 (5.3 Gr)

If i was to start off with the current settings on the press, work up maybe 5-10 cartridges at 4.5 grains of 231 with a 230Gr bullet, would that be a safe starter load, or would it be too underpowered, the gun I'm using is a Kimber Classic II with a 5" barrel

I can't wait to really get into reloading, it amazes me that a pound of W231 could make 1400 rounds, given 100% powder use and no waste (of course, we all know how likely *that* is, right? )

 

[earplug]

Check out the Winchester online reloading site.
They list 231 for a 230 LRN 4.3-5.3
You will find many close but differant recipies for various loads.
One mistake I made is not checking my scales. I had a cheap one that did not repeat very well.
Always set your scale up in the same place, this will help in consistency.
Keep a log book.

 

[upstateSCreloader]

:banghead:1 question do you weigh powder, in cases or out of cases ,because speer vs winchester vs Remington etc... all weigh different so if you don't tare each one before filling and weighting all will be different because all have different wall thickness.allso You will Need LEE Mirco Disk(lee#90302) and Lee micrometeradjustable charge bar(lee#90792)This Team Will Get You ANY Drop Of Powder Your Heart Desires I'm Glad To See A Firt Time Reloader Info Hungry You Will Never Have To Much Info For Reloading I Love It Still After 32 Yrs:banghead:

 

[MacTech]

I've been weiging the powder charge itself, I load up a case, then pull it, tip the powder into the scale's powder funnel thingy, read the grain weight, and return that charge to the hopper, re feed the case and charge it again

so far, I've reloaded three rounds, and I'm about ready to throw the press against the wall, after the first three rounds reloaded flawlessly, the stupid AutoPrime (now I know why everyone hates them...) would not reliably feed primers, and to make matters worse, the press froze up on the fourth one, binding in the depriming/resizing die, when I lowered the ram arm, the carrier assembly stayed up , stuck in the depriming/resize die, I had to push down on the carrier assembly to get it to lower

it looks like the set screw backed itself out, so I'll have to go buy a set of hex wrenches and retighten the screw, if that doesn't work, I'm going to downgrade my press to a single station turret

 

[upstateSCreloader]

This All Sounds very very Familiar If At First You Don't suceed SHOOT It! Naw Don't Give Up And Let A Hunk Of Monkey Metal Whoop Ya.Once You Learn Your Press And Attachments I Know You Will Be A Very Happy And Lee Product Friendly Guy.Might Ort To Buy A Long Phillips Head Screwdriver ,Needle nose Plyers And Oh Yea Extra Chain For Auto Powder Measure:banghead::banghead:BIGGIE Measure Brass Length All Must Be Same To Drop Same Ammount Powder Sometimes Longer Brass Will Load More Powder Stay With The Same Height Brass You Set Up With

 

[The Bushmaster]

WAIT A MINUTE!!! WHOA!!! Am I getting this right? You went to a store and wrote down a couple "recipes" from the store load book that was for sale? You don't have your own loading manual? And you are trying to reload ammunition for the first time? WHOOOAA!!

MacTec...Run that by us again...A Lyman 48th or 49th Edition only costs $20.00. Much cheaper then a body part or firearm. When you get it...READ IT...Twice

 

[Walkalong]

Gotta go with The Bushmaster here. You really need at least one manual to keep you from guessing.

 

[ReloaderFred]

+2 on buying reloading manuals, and The Bushmaster gave you good advice on the Lyman Manuals.

Before you do another thing, buy at least one manual and sit down and read the introduction to reloading at the front of the manual. That's why they put it at the front, in the hopes you'll read it before you get to the data........

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[DRYHUMOR]

Get a small lead shot up under that set screw, it'll help keep it in.

 

[jfh]

In addition to buying the (Lyman) manual, I also suggest that you consider removing the auto-indexing rod as you learn to sort this first attempt out.

At the very least, you should consider building numerous dummy rounds--i.e., size, install no primer, dump no powder, and get the dies set up properly.

The Pro 1000 will make good ammo for you, but it does have some quirks that need to be sorted out. The primer feed, for example, will work just fine--if it's 1) clean, 2) lightly lubed with dry graphite, rubbed in with a q-tip, and 3) the tray and feeder is kept full.

and on and on....

Jim H.

 

[MacTech]

Bushmaster, I understand where you're coming from now, I picked up the Lee Modern Reloading book, and am reading it now, skipping ahead to the recipies for a 230 grain lead bullet, Lee says to never exceed 5.1 grains of 231 in the AutoDisk, it looks like my 4.5-4.6 loadout is safe, but I need to finish reading the book first, as well as pick up the Lyman book as well

now, to get a set of hex wrenches, the metric wrenches for my bike don't fit the set screw

I'm still thinking of downgrading to a Lee Turret press, as it'd give me more control, I also think I should switch to a hand-primer tool, as the autofeed thingy on the Pro 1000 is a headache, I can take out the index rod in the turret pres, decap all my brass, then move the turret to the expand/load powder stage, and finally to the bullet seating stage

going with a single station/turret seems to make more sense to me

 

[Walkalong]

I also think I should switch to a hand-primer tool, as the autofeed thingy on the Pro 1000 is a headache,

I did the same thing 20 plus years ago with my Projector. I was MUCH happier not priming on it. Generation 2 & 3 shell plates fixed most of that problem, but I still much prefer to prime by hand with my RCBS tool, for a couple of reasons.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Never liked priming my cases on a turret. Don't like resizing/decapping on one either. I have a Lee "O" press that I use for resizing/decapping and priming. Everything else is done on the Lee Turret.

Good. Read all you can get your hands on and learn the venacular too. Then ask all the questions your heart desires...

 

[MacTech]

got a hex wrench, and it turns out the set screw backed off just enough to cause the carrier to bind on the deprime die, once tightened back down, it's working just fine

I'm using an MTM DS-1250 digital scale to measure the actual powder load, I'll drop a powder charge into the case, pull that case, and tip the powder into the powder pan, it's within .1 grain consistently, it's throwing a 4.5 to 4.6 grain charge of Winchester 231

the scale seems accurate, as they supplied it with a 50 Gram weight to check calibration, and it specs out, depending on location, to 49.98 to 50.02, most commonly falling on 49.9

as far as the measurements go, it measures Gram, Grain, Ounce, and Carat, I'm assuming the "GN" setting is Grains and the "G" setting is Grams, the owners leaflet and MTM website don't seem to specify

Okay, just primed and measured powder loads in a half dozen cases, every powder load measured 4.6 grains, every one

I figured out why the primer feed thingy is acting up, sometimes primers turn sideways before feeding and block further primer feeding

I think it might be prudent to pick up a hand press and move the resizing/decapping die onto that, prime manually, and then set the Pro 1000 's first station to be the Autodisk, that would make station 2 bullet seat, and I'd have station 3 open, any die suggestions for that station?