Loading habits, good or bad?

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Grassman

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Now I have not been loading for long, but I can see a few habits of mine developing. For some reason I only load in multiples of 20. I guess its because I put the new reloads in old commercial rifle boxes that hold 20 rounds. I have also gotten into a habit of moving the charged brass to another tray, to keep them separate so no chance of overcharging can occur. These are a couple of mine, I don't think they are bad habits, but what are a few of yours. Maybe I could learn a few of your good habits.
 
Yours are good habits!

I generally reload in batches of 50, using loading blocks.

Primed cases go mouth down in one block.

As each one is charged with powder, it goes mouth up in a different loading block.

Sometimes, I only use one block, but it holds 60, or 100, so there is two or more empty rows between the upside down and charged cases.

After all 50 are filled, I use a strong light and carefully look in each case, comparing the powder levels in all of them.

Then I insert bullets, handgun bullets started into the belled cases, rifle bullets upside down in the neck.

Only then do I move the loading block to the press & seat all the bullets.

Having all the bullets in the case mouths prevents ruining all 50 charges if you fumble and drop one, spilling powder in the loading block.

I inspect cases several times during the loading process.
Once when sorting fired cases.
Again after they are tumble cleaned.
Again after sizing & priming.
And again after they are loaded.

.223 is all checked in a case guage after loading.

Handgun rounds are chamber-checked in the barrel or cylinder of the pistols they will be used in.

rcmodel
 
I've been reloading .223 for about a year and before I started I did a lot of reading ("ABCs of Reloading and many articles at the head of this forum). I wanted to do it safely and carefully. I reload in stages. I start with batch of 250 fired cartridges (all fired the same number of times). I clean, then FL resize, measure each one and trim as needed. Next, I reprime the entire batch. My next stage is recharging which I usually do on weekends when I am rested and can focus clearly on what I'm doing. I set up my scale (beam type) and my powder measure and start charging. I check every tenth round with the scale. I charge fifty at a time and then seat the bullets. I measure OAL on each round until I am confident that my seating depth is correct and then I recheck every fifth round. As I am charging, I move each case from a styrofoam holder to a plastic holder and before I start seating bullets I take a small flashlight and shine it into each case to make certain that it is charged. It's pretty hard to double charge a .223 case (ask me how I know) but I make certain that each case of the fifty has powder in it. I usually take about a thirty minute break after charging and seating 100 rounds. That's pretty much my routine. After reading RC's post which was wrttien while I was writing mine, it is important to note that I do the same things that he recommends as far as inspecting cases and placing prime cases mouth down before charging. His post is much better than mine and I would say that if you follow it, you will be doing reloading in the correct and safe way.

Be rested, be safe. You are handling explosives.

Historian
 
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I can see that after "hacking away" at reloading for two years now, and doing my first real production runs of a couple hundred .223 Rem cartridges at a time, I've gotten a little bit lazy and sloppy. Mostly in the area of case prep. (which is no fun for me).

I've made two errors and am blessed to not have had a serious problem as a result.

One is that I reprimed a case with a spent primer.

Two is that, rather than trim an entire batch of range p/u brass, I measured case lengths and only trimmed the ones that were > 1.76" (after sizing). Of course I missed one and it jammed up my AR.

My point in all this is that I need to go back to being a fanatic about doing every little detail the right way, with no exceptions for my least favorite steps.
 
For pistol bullets, every 3 to 5 rounds on a progressive loader I grab the charged brass and dump to a scale to assure weight. Funnel the powder back in and go. I'm now a quick draw with the funnel. It is a habit a friend showed me and it stuck.

Also don't talk on the phone you'll end up crimping a case with no bullet. "clean up in isle 1 please".
 
I do my work in stages. As I'm using a single stage this makes the most sense :) I'll deprime several hundred cases at once, then tumble them. Next up is resizing which I'll usually do 100-200 at a time. I'll then rinse them clean, and tumble them again. Next I'll trim to length at least 50-100 possibly more if I'm on a roll. Priming is then done with the primed cases stored ready for loading. When I load I do groups of 20. All powder is scooped, then trickled to weight, then funneled. I then work from my "loading block" ( a cut down styrofoam piece). I set each bullet fresh from the bullet box, and each completed round is put in the case.

I normally adjust my bullet seating die off a dud round I loaded and marked with OAL previously. I'll mic the first one or two to make sure I've got it right and go from there.

I use a charge of varget that is physically impossible to double charge with, heck it's almost a compressed charge just loading it once :)

Far as habits go:

I only pour enough powder out to fill 20 cases, the jug is then sealed and placed back in the cabinet. Same with primers, I only do 20 primers (what Lee says you can safely put in their autoprime) at a time.

My scale is located so that unless I bend down to check the pointer, I'm a little off (probably .5-.8 gr) low though. I'd much rather under charge a case by a little bit then over charge.

I made a series of dud rounds at the necessary OAL's and marked the outside of the case. Now if I want a a particular OAL (say for loading 77gr SMK for the 300 yd line) I can just stick that sucker in and set my bullet seating die.

-Jenrick
 
I loads in "blocks" of 50, because my loading blocks hold 50 - and since I only use a RCBS Jr. for metallic, that old single stage makes me sloooooow down

If I'm working in batches, I will size, deprime/reprime, and bell the mouth (pistol brass), than another time load powder and bullets

Rifles have EVERY charged weighed and trickled to be the same, bit I'm not a high-volume rifle shooter

I still visibly look in each case after powder charging, especially with stick powder to make sure all cases look equal
 
I only reload for 9mm and .45ACP on a Dillon XL-650 in groups of 100 to 500 rounds sometimes more........
Habits:
Once I have the dies set up in the tool head I mark the die, lock ring and the tool head with a black Sharpie in one line. That gives me a visual check to see if a lock ring has backed off.

Never let the powder measure get below 1/2.
Never reload dirty brass very hard on the dies.
Pull the decapping pin and run 10 to 20 cases through to station #4 seating pull the brass and weight the charge to make sure that the powder measure is dropping the correct amount.
Then I recheck the powder dump when I reload the priming system about 90 rounds.
Chief
 
I load in lots of 20 or multiples of 20 for most rifle cases simple because that fills a cartridge box. For pistol/revolver ammo it's multiples of 50, for the same reason.

I always leave the (capped) can of powder I'm using on the bench to be sure I get any unused powder back in the right can.
Never more than one can of powder on the bench at a time.
 
I just use a single stage. I do all my sizing/depriming at the same time. Same goes for the "belling". I use a Lee priming tool to prime, 50 at a time. Throw my powder in lots of 25, line up the cases in a "cube" of 5x5 rows and visually check the cases to make sure they look uniform as far as powder level. Then seat the bullets in lots of 25.
 
To begin with I always sort brass by caliber/headstamp. Once completed cases are weighed and seperated into groups based on weight. These lots stay together for the life of the cases; if one case starts to show deterioration then they all go in the scrap bucket.
Next cases are prepped and set to same length/O.A.L. using my manual RCBS trim pro. and then ran through the RCBS trim mate to clean primer pocket and to chamfer/deburr cases.
Next brass is primed and moved into loading trays in lots of 20. I always refer to load info which I have written on index cards and stored at my bench probably not really necessary as I have most of the info memorized but it keeps me honest.
All cases remain mouth down until charged with powder. I perform accuracy checks to ensure consistent powder charges every 5th cartridge. Bullet is then placed on top of charged cases immediately.
Once completed bullets are then seated and mic'ed to ensure case overall lengths are consistent. If everything checks out then they are seperated into plastic ammo boxes.
I have recently started using a labeling machine to create labels that list the folowing info:
caliber
bullet information (type/wgt)
powder information (type/chg)
and finally a small round sticker goes on bottom of box to show when brass was loaded.
As you might expect I do not turn out large volumes of ammo but I always know my ammo will be reliable and accurate.
 
I have had 2 squibs since beginning to reload; one in 45acp and the other in 380acp. Both were operator mistakes. I got that fixed. I now visually check every single casing BEFORE I set the bullet on top for seating. But, I have put two dowels in my range bag along with a small hammer.
 
loadin in batches is a universal + & the only thing i can add is my powder is in a locked cabinet & only one powder at a time is allowed out . then the cabinet is relocked!!
if i change caliber the powder measure is cleaned & all spilt is cleaned up before the other powder comes out.
i also inspect powder charges 2 times before seatin a boolit!!!

GP100man
 
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