Reloading misconceptions.

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When you top off your measure with a new canister/jug of powder. Mostly applicable to anybody loading bulk, you'll tail canisters to keep the measure at least half full during the entire session.
Sounds like something which only applies to people using mechanical powder droppers. I use dippers and scales - a purely hand-operation process - so, to me, "tailing" means dumping the end of a factory container into a freshly-opened container. I don't do that even though it's theoretically perfectly safe. To me, dumping old powder in with new powder is kind of like dumping old leftovers into my fresh ingredients. Yuk!
 
Globally Hodgdon isn't that big of a factor, and while they own a lot of US brands.....they don't own the production facilities that supply the powder for most of those labels. Until recently, Hodgdon didn't actually own any production facilities, I think that's only happened in the last decade with some of their acquisitions. Lots of Hodgdon powders come from plants all over the world, some of their most popular powders come out of a plant in Australia which was forced to shut down for a while during the pandemic. The biggest factor affecting smokeless powder was a global nitrocellulose shortage beginning in 2019. Note: NC is also used in other areas, notably Covid testing kits. Both General Dynamics and Explosia reported idled powder plants because of interrupted NC supplies. Other raw element shortages have impacted a LOT of areas relating to shooting.......copper, zinc, lead have all gone up several hundred percent, and shortages impacted brass companies, primer companies. If you can't get NC, you can't make powder. If you can't get the raw material for NC, you can't make powder, if you can't get copper, you can't make brass. If you don't have these things, your production idles. If you want to make product, you HAVE to pay market rate for the raw materials, and you're competing globally for an in demand product in a classic case of demand exceeding current supply, and unfortunately, that has to be passed on to the consumers. To compound matters, when you price products right now, you can't price based on what it cost you to buy supplies last week, you have to price them to cover your best guess on what supplies will cost next week...which contributes to inflation cycle. We're bumping 7.5% inflation economy wide in the US now.......certainly has nothing to do with Hodgdon.........everything is more expensive, and will likely not start coming down for a while. Last week, I got cold offered 55K for my 2018 Ram 2500, which was 10K over what I paid for it new 4 years ago! Did I sell it? Nope.....because It would likely cost far more to replace it, if I could find a replacement. Sign up for your "free" covid test kits? Guess what, that contributed to the NC shortage, and the high cost of powder. Just sayin'.
I also got a offer for my 2020 Toyota mini-van, $5,000 over what I paid. It just sits there, and only put 13,500 miles on it. I might sell, 8 more payments and It’s 100% my mini van
 
Sounds like something which only applies to people using mechanical powder droppers. I use dippers and scales - a purely hand-operation process - so, to me, "tailing" means dumping the end of a factory container into a freshly-opened container. I don't do that even though it's theoretically perfectly safe. To me, dumping old powder in with new powder is kind of like dumping old leftovers into my fresh ingredients. Yuk!
I agree. I’ve been using dippers for the past few months (in part because one of your posts) and when I got to the end of the BE-86 container, it was just under one dip and much easier to dispose of.

Putting old wine into new wine skins is a bad idea…yes I’m sure I read that somewhere:)
 
- so, to me, "tailing" means dumping the end of a factory container into a freshly-opened container. I don't do that even though it's theoretically perfectly safe. To me, dumping old powder in with new powder is kind of like dumping old leftovers into my fresh ingredients. Yuk!

Same here. I'll manually weigh powder to use up the last of a container. I don't mix old with new either.
 
Sounds like something which only applies to people using mechanical powder droppers. I use dippers and scales - a purely hand-operation process - so, to me, "tailing" means dumping the end of a factory container into a freshly-opened container. I don't do that even though it's theoretically perfectly safe. To me, dumping old powder in with new powder is kind of like dumping old leftovers into my fresh ingredients. Yuk!

Yeah, it's mostly something that applies to volume loading, though the term certainly also applies to tailing canisters as you come close to emptying them. It's just not viable to not tail, especially if you go through several lbs of powder in a session. Back when I paid 3.00 a lb for powder and did scoops and scales, I happily dumped the dregs out of a can in the yard......now not so much.
 
I agree. I’ve been using dippers for the past few months (in part because one of your posts) and when I got to the end of the BE-86 container, it was just under one dip and much easier to dispose of.

Putting old wine into new wine skins is a bad idea…yes I’m sure I read that somewhere:)
LOL!!! Puts me in mind of a scene from the movie "13th Warrior." Yes, some things just aren't meant to be shared or spared.
 
when I got to the end of the BE-86 container, it was just under one dip and much easier to dispose of.

At this point, I'll top up that load with fresh powder. Same powder, no problem. Most of my loads are mid-range, so I'm not worried about lot to lot differences.
Why throw it away?

If I didn't have another bottle and I wasn't planning on buying that powder again, then I would dispose of it.
 
Isn't it about time for your mid-life crisis? Time to trade the mini-van in for a Challenger or Corvette.
My mid-life car was a RX-8 rechipped for unlimited rev'. Not quite 100% legal, I suspect. It made 185mph on a lonely country highway before I ran out of straightaway. Can't even imagine what it would have been like if a deer or possum had run out in front of it. :eek:
Got rid of it for something better on the clay roads. Our drive about destroyed that car the first day. :(
 
At this point, I'll top up that load with fresh powder. Same powder, no problem. Most of my loads are mid-range, so I'm not worried about lot to lot differences.
Why throw it away?

If I didn't have another bottle and I wasn't planning on buying that powder again, then I would dispose of it.
If I used the same powder two containers in a row, I’d save it for sure, even a flake. But, I don’t.

I’m currently in a rotation of Sport Pistol, BE-86, Bullseye, and HP-38/W231. I do not open a new container until the prior is empty. No exceptions.

I shoot pretty much in the same rotation and have somewhere over 1000 rounds of 9mm & 45ACP loaded in each powder.

I have 3-4 lbs of each of the above so I’ll be in this pattern for a long time. Don’t know when I’ll get to my one pound each of AA2, 5, and 7.
 
YES! problem is I started having children in my 40’s … so maybe in 10-15 years.

Then why you all like, "I'm thinking about buying a new 750 press"? You ain't gonna have time to shoot that much, nor the money to buy components. We'll see you back on THR in 15 years when you have time/monedy to engage in this hobby again. Goodbye. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
My mid-life car was a RX-8 rechipped for unlimited rev'. Not quite 100% legal, I suspect. It made 185mph on a lonely country highway before I ran out of straightaway. Can't even imagine what it would have been like if a deer or possum had run out in front of it. :eek:
Got rid of it for something better on the clay roads. Our drive about destroyed that car the first day. :(
I still have my Honda S2000 that I bought from a Spanish chief who was moving to Brazil to become a jausuwith priest. Have not driven it in 6 years . Refuse to sell it.
 
My mid-life car was a RX-8 rechipped for unlimited rev'. Not quite 100% legal, I suspect. It made 185mph on a lonely country highway before I ran out of straightaway. Can't even imagine what it would have been like if a deer or possum had run out in front of it. :eek:
Got rid of it for something better on the clay roads. Our drive about destroyed that car the first day. :(
On a rainy day in December 2014, my last sports car was taken away to London, Ontario. Since then, it’s shooting and reloading.

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Speaking of reloading misconceptions.... I used to be under the misguided impression that progressive presses only came as bare machinery built for one caliber. If you wanted to load another, you bought a whole press, setup and ready to roll. Modifying the setup was an exercise in frustration. Probably because WAY back when I first heard about progressives around 1985/86 that's how it was for the VERY few people I knew who used one. I just never followed that aspect of the industry. When you don't have an interest in something it's hard to keep up with where it's going. That's how misconceptions start, maybe?
 
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Speaking of reloading misconceptions.... I used to be under the misguided impression that progressive presses only came as bare machinery built for one caliber. If you wanted to load another, you bought a whole press, setup and ready to roll. Modifying the setup was an exercise is frustration. Probably because WAY back when I first heard about progressives around 1985/86 that's how it was for the VERY few people I knew who used one. I just never followed that aspect of the industry. When you don't have an interest in something it's hard to keep up with where it's going. That's how misconceptions start, maybe?

That's a good one! That's what I thought too, until I saw a 450RL at a gunshow in the 80s, it blew my mind! Even before that they existed, old companies like Star. I think the very first Star progressive from the 30's was fixed in 38 SPL, and there were PD's sill using them up until the end of the revolver era in law enforcement. But by the 50s IIRC, the Stars had changeable toolheads and supported multiple calibers. There's a few others out there, and a few guys on THR using the old progressives to this day!
 
That's a good one! That's what I thought too, until I saw a 450RL at a gunshow in the 80s, it blew my mind! Even before that they existed, old companies like Star. I think the very first Star progressive from the 30's was fixed in 38 SPL, and there were PD's sill using them up until the end of the revolver era in law enforcement. But by the 50s IIRC, the Stars had changeable toolheads and supported multiple calibers. There's a few others out there, and a few guys on THR using the old progressives to this day!
I almost - almost! - bought a RCBS Green Machine setup for .38Spl. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen - the way it clickety-clacked and trundled the cases along a rail - but then I figured, "aw heck! what would I do with 500 of the same load?" And what hurry was I ever in for ammo? Pass! Back then I loaded 10-12 at a time, at most. Carried six in the Blackhawk, six in the Marlin. Two rounds for sighting, one or two for whatever game I took, a couple for spares in case I got invited on another hunt. I had a pedestal bathtub for marinating and a old propane smoker that would hold two whole hogs, easily. Bought a old pop-up camper and converted it into a beer dispensary with two kegs and the insides refrigerated using the guts of a hotel ice machine. Me and those buds from that first machine shop I worked at kind of invented the "Kegerator." You're welcome, World! ;)
 
that thing is sweet! why did you sell it???
Thanks. Yes it was nice but I’d had it since 1988 and it was time. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse at a time when the market had gone hyperbolic for certain specific cars. It was my car’s time. Today, VW microbuses go for even more. When stocks and real estate go nuts, so do other assets.
 
I think you have that reversed, but you probably knew that!
I have dumped in new powder after the crumbs of the old powder were all thats left in the hopper, but not the other way around.
Yes, but I thought it was clever just the same. And there I go being prideful—guess I need to forget about using scripture for personal gain.
 
I almost - almost! - bought a RCBS Green Machine setup for .38Spl. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen - the way it clickety-clacked and trundled the cases along a rail - but then I figured, "aw heck! what would I do with 500 of the same load?" And what hurry was I ever in for ammo? Pass! Back then I loaded 10-12 at a time, at most. Carried six in the Blackhawk, six in the Marlin. Two rounds for sighting, one or two for whatever game I took, a couple for spares in case I got invited on another hunt. I had a pedestal bathtub for marinating and a old propane smoker that would hold two whole hogs, easily. Bought a old pop-up camper and converted it into a beer dispensary with two kegs and the insides refrigerated using the guts of a hotel ice machine. Me and those buds from that first machine shop I worked at kind of invented the "Kegerator." You're welcome, World! ;)
That’s what I like to hear...a machinist who loves his brewski. My grandfather was a machinist in western PA. His fridge was stocked with Iron City beer. He’d get a kick out of knowing I was using his tools for my shooting & loading hobby.
 
My mid-life car was a RX-8 rechipped for unlimited rev'. Not quite 100% legal, I suspect. It made 185mph on a lonely country highway before I ran out of straightaway. Can't even imagine what it would have been like if a deer or possum had run out in front of it. :eek:
Got rid of it for something better on the clay roads. Our drive about destroyed that car the first day. :(
Have never come close to those speeds. I went to a driving/racing school back in the 70s when I was single. Spent a lot of money I didn’t have to scream around Summit Point over four days in a formula ford, Datsun 510, and a no-name Chevy powered sports racer.

I learned I was created with all the skills necessary to be a great…spectator.
 
Thanks. Yes it was nice but I’d had it since 1988 and it was time. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse at a time when the market had gone hyperbolic for certain specific cars. It was my car’s time. Today, VW microbuses go for even more. When stocks and real estate go nuts, so do other assets.
that’s a beautiful car! Would love to drive that thing!
 
Have never come close to those speeds. I went to a driving/racing school back in the 70s when I was single. Spent a lot of money I didn’t have to scream around Summit Point over four days in a formula ford, Datsun 510, and a no-name Chevy powered sports racer.

I learned I was created with all the skills necessary to be a great…spectator.
faster I been was 160 on a No Windshield Triumph and that was good enough
 
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