Novice reloaders intro and questions

[shangobango]

Hello everyone. Im from louisiana. Ive been shooting ever since i could shoulder my first lil .410. Im just getting started in reloading. I have my press and most of the equipment i need (i think) set up and ready to go. I have spent many hours(too many depending on who you ask) researching. The main rifles i will start out loading for are just my old huntin rifles. I have a remington 7400 and 742 in .280 and .308 respectivley as well as a well used model 94 in.30-.30 that i still love to shoot. I really dont wont to mess up my rifles or my face so im a little nervous loading for the first time especially since i am planning on trying to load cartridges using remington core lokt bullets and there isnt much load data out there for them. I shoot 140's in the .280 and 150's in the .308 and .30-.30 Any advice you can give on finding more data or what has worked for you will be greatly appreciated.

 

[blarby]

First off, welcome to THR !

Second off, welcome to Reloading !

It can be intimidating at first, but is very worthwhile.

In regards to your model 94, .30-30 is a great cartridge to start reloading for.

Its rimmed, its pressure tolerances are good, and the handiwork required in full-length resizing and trimming your brass at each loading for a levergun is fantastic practice.

With regards to loads, I have used your core-lokt bullets, sierra, as well as hornady, speer and a few others from 150 grains up to 180 grains. I have utilized all of these bullets up and down the charge spectrum using H4895, h335, and IMR-4198.

I use a Hodgdons reloading manual, as I find it easy to reference both online and offline in paper form. You may wish to obtain data from a number of sources and manuals. One can never have too many, but sometimes the loading data between them ( often ) does not correlate, and can be confusing to the beginner in that aspect. With that in mind, as a beginner, you may wish to settle on one for simplicity....other users here may have a different viewpoint.

Hodgdons data is available on their website in a format that is easy to reference while at the PC, and copy and paste where appropriate in forums, or in my notes.

You will receive many recommendations here on bullet weight and type, and powder weight and type. Where does that leave you ? What will inevitably be best is what is best for you, your reloading habits, your component availability, and most importantly what works best in your rifle(s).

My favorite load ( one that performs well in this rifle, repeatably, in all weather conditions, and uses a powder which I use in other cartridge loadings for its universal characteristics and weather resistant properties) for the .30-30 is as follows:

150gr Sierra FN (bullet)
31 grains H4895 ( Charge weight of powder type)
CCI LRP (primer)
2.540 COAL ( Combined Overall Length )

In general, it is often referenced that seating for the .30-30 is acceptable anywhere within the cannelure of the bullet. This is generally true, as it allows for even and easy to place crimp. You may find that in your rifle, some experimentation may be required to achieve the best accuracy.


I wish you the best of luck in this most excellent of endeavors, and implore you to return with any questions you may have !


edit :

I got carried away and forgot to answer probably your most important question !

If you are using these :

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/16...-winchester-308-diameter-150-grain-soft-point

Any 150gr FN or RN load data would be/ should be appropriate and safe. All fails, confused ? Ask away ! Thats what we're here for.

Where you will notice the difference is the velocity and chamber pressures. They wont match exactly as listed in a real rifle anyway, as testing chambers and real rifles are fairly different.

Remember, start low, and work up.

 

[mingansr]

going to bed now, but just got off of 'xdtalk.com' and their reloading forum called Ammo Can.
the thread was from a newbie reloader, and he got his butt chewed for doing things he knew nothing about, cuz he didn't read any manuals, like the ABC's of Reloading, etc., but the xdtalkers all gave sage advice and i related a little story of my first reloading attempt, so i'll repeat what i said there. fyi

this is a little off the specific topic but i've just started reloading 40sw with my Lee Loadmaster. with the help of my friend, who is much more mechanically minded, we went thru the setup of the dies, including factory crimp die, with no powder in the hopper. we got the right primer seating depth right, expander die at the powder charging station, bullet seating depth just right, and factory crimp.

having done that, i laid the uncharged shell on the table. later that evening i loaded my first 12 rounds, just so i could take to the range and see that all was well with reloads and my xd40. my brother and his son watched the process, all done without the case feeder tubes installed yet.

well, took the shells to the range, and to keep story short, i had my first 'squibb' round of my life and hopefully my last. now i could swear that i saw each charged case as i manually placed bullets for the seating operation. and then it dawned on me. i did see powder charges in all the cases, but because of my leaving that uncharged setup round on the table, it got mixed in with my reloaded bullets.

every item should have its place on my reloading table. any such things as setup rounds will in the future be marked with magic marker so this never happens again. inattention to what i was doing cuz my brother's there shooting the s... with me, and my not actually counting the shells i was taking to the range caused what could have been a bad bang had the bullet not entered the barrel only 1/4" from the primer's blast (it did go boom, but i wasn't paying attention to the recoil). sheesh.

so, nxxxxx [anonymous OP of a post about loose 9mm bullets after reloading], be careful and listen to these guys mentioned above [ guys like Fredj338, cuda66, agalindo] (and i don't wish to exclude other xdtalkers that have commented here). i have learned much from these sage shooters.

tomorrow i'll shoot another twelve. it's 3:30 am right now, and i'm too tired to reload and KNOW that i've done everything right! if all goes well (my first rounds 'cept for the uncharged one were pretty accurate, being i was just standing, not benchresting to get an accurate picture of the grouping) i'll load up a coupla hundred. my barrel wants to be warmed!

gnite!

oh, and i bought and read the Lee Reloading manual 2nd edition. lots of good load info from a nonspecific (as opposed to bullet specific like Hornady, Speer) source.

 

[kingmt]

Never seat a primer in a dummy round.

If you are nerves about your first loads you should try Varget. It isn't the best in anything I have used it in but I don't know of a case you can get enough of it in to blow up a gun.

 

[Walkalong]

You do not have to have data for the exact bullet, in this case Core-Lokts. You can use data for similar jacketed bullet shapes of the same weight.

.30-30 and .308 are simple to load for with lots of data. I don't reload .280, but it can't be too hard.

Check Hodgdon online data, or Alliants online data, ( etc, depending on what powder you want to use), or consult your reloading manual for data. Pick a middle of the road charge and load it up. I like to roll crimp my 150 Gr Core-Lokts in .30-30. Same for .308 hunting rounds.

IMR 4895 works well in .30-30 and .308. It may not give the highest velocities (Which we are not worried about here), but it will be easy to find a good accurate load with.

Do you have a powder in mind?

Welcome to THR

 

[shangobango]

Thanks for the replies everyone. In regards to powder choice I was considering IMR 4064 for the autoloaders for starters and IMR 4198 for the lever gun. But was also planning on trying RL15 in the .30-.30 and .308 and IMR 4350 in the .280 though i was somewhat concerned that the 4350 may be a little on the slow side for the semi-auto action.

 

[shangobango]

Ok just an update with questions. I loaded a half dozen cartridges with the core lokt ultra bonded 140's and 38.3 grains of IMR4064 which is the starting load data found in the Hornady Handbook for their 139 grain bullets. This load was too light to work the bolt correctly on the 7400. My question is: How do i proceed now? Do i move directly to the next load listed which is 40.4 grains of the 4064 or move up in smaller increments? The recoil was quite a bit lighter than the factory core lokt loadings(i shot them afterwards for comparison)and the bolt was about halfway back with the neck of the bullet still lying well within the barrell. Also, is it ridiculous that i already think i need a chrono lol?

 

[PCCUSNRET]

What I did when I first started developing a load was to load 5 rounds in .5 gr. increments up to about 1 gr. shy of maximum. If I didn't notice any excess pressure signs and I hadn't found a decent load by then, I would go ahead and load up to max. Once I reached max and found nothing working, I'd switch powders. I second the recommendation for Varget, it is one of my favorite powders and it is the best powder I have used in my .308's.

 

[Walkalong]

38.3 grains of IMR4064 which is the starting load data found in the Hornady Handbook for their 139 grain bullets. This load was too light to work the bolt correctly on the 7400. My question is: How do i proceed now?

Do not jump to 40.4 Grs, which I assume is the max. Bump up the charge .3 to .5 Grs and try again. Do it again if needed. Stop at 40.4, or max, or if things seem to stout, sticky extraction etc.

 

[shangobango]

Nah it isnt a maximum. I compared the data to what is listed in the lyman and speer manuals and the hornady data starts out much lighter than the lyman and speer data for the same weight and style of bullets. I dont have the hornady data in front of me but the max is somewhere around 46.5 in there if i remember correctly.

 

[kingmt]

I would go up .5gn at a time until it functioned then work up loads .2gn at a time.

If you can shoot out the door at your house I'd just load one of each 2 or 3 at a time until it functions.

 

[mookiie]

If you can shoot out the door at your house

- In my dreams!

 

[shangobango]

Great idea kingmt. I can definatly fire em off the porch. I am fortunate enough to have a nice little makeshift range complete with backstop where i can shoot up to about 300 yds right across the road at my folks place.