Thank you / first reload

[Jordan85]

I just got done pressing off my first batch of handloads ever, and I just wanted to thank everyone here at THR handloading/reloading forum for all the help getting me started on the right foot. i could not have been better prepared. No unforeseen problems, not running out to get extra supplies. The only minor problem was the unique powder I was using liked to stick to the plastic measuring tray on my scale. Any suggestions?

But really, I just wanted to thank everybody. I can't wait to go to the range tonight and try them out. Range report tonight.

Thank you everyone

Jordan

 

[Sgt.Dusk]

Dont know what causes that sticking.
Ive had problems like that with lee dippers.(I was using vihtavuori powder)
I guess its has to do something with static electricity or something......
I solved my problem buying a lee perfect powder measure.

wear gloves and eye protection tonight and come back unharmed to report

 

[Owens]

Wipe down the plastic with one of those dryer sheets. I was having powder cling in my RCBS powder throw and tried it. Works great.

 

[Walkalong]

Yep, it's static making your powder stick.

 

[Thirties]

See if you can get an aluminum tray. I have one and, although not completely static free, it will drop your powder with a small tap.

 

[jimbob86]

Welcome to the wonderful world of rollin' yer own!

 

[Jordan85]

So I go to the range tonight....

AND THEY ARE CLOSED!!! :banghead::banghead:

So now I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow and drive 30 minutes away in b/w my classes to try my loads out. O well.....

 

[RustyFN]

Way to go Jordan. Let us know how they shoot.
Rusty

 

[FieroCDSP]

all dressed up and nowhere to go?
Did that last year. My range had a invitational competition i didn't know about and was closed for a week and a half. Tried three times to go shootin. First time I had three rifles and three handguns ready, with cleaners, loading gear, and lunch. By the third trip, I was jonesing so bad I only had my M&P, my Mosin, and still ended up going to an indoor range for an hour of pistol work.

 

[scrat]

hahahahha all dressed up and no where to go. Well congrats on your first reloads. let us know how they turn out.

 

[Jordan85]

LOL, yeah thats a good way of saying it.

It just sucks b/c I am supposed to go shooting this weekend and can't start loading for that until I've ran these loads through my gun and made sure everything is ok w/ them.

Any suggestions on fun stuff to shoot? I live in the suburbs and shoot at a public range, so I am always just shooting paper.

My friend has a family farm a couple of hours out of town, so we can shoot whatever we want out there.

So far I have been thinking about empty milk cartons/jugs, fruit/veggies, unopened shaken soda/beer cans. What else you guys got for me??

 

[Jenrick]

Grab your empty tupperware, fill with water, freeze, and shoot the resulting ice block (take it out of the tupperware first though).

-Jenrick

 

[evan price]

I like to shoot discarded consumer electronics: Clocks, toasters, computers, TVs, etc. Car wheel covers.
Also tennis balls. Fruit. Zucchinis (Everyone who grows them has too many!)

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I like to shoot used 16oz water bottles. I refill them with colored water, screw the cap back on, tie a heavy string around the top and hang them from a low tree branch. I use the colored water because it's hard to see the outline of the bottle since the plastic is clear. You can color it with cheap food coloring from the market. Because they are only a few inches wide they are easy to hit with a .22 rifle but challenging with a handgun from 10-15 yards out. It's a lot of fun, give it a try.

 

[Sgt.Dusk]

I like to shoot discarded consumer electronics: Clocks, toasters, computers, TVs, etc

Yeah....especially tv screens and monitors are fun....for a while
....but I can tell they make a mess....shoot them someplace you dont have to clean afterwards...

 

[closetgunnut]

If you know someone that works at a bowling alley, get some cracked pins.

I worked at one for about ten years and got a bunch for a Prof I had in college. He would shoot them with his 45. They are fun to shoot and can take alot of punishment.

Closet

 

[Jordan85]

Just got back from the range....

50 loads

3 FTF's

2 were my fault from primers not being seated all the way. I am using a Lee and priming on the press and must not have lowered the ram all the way

1 stovepiped. Not sure what the problem was on that one, but I'm guessing it is the opposite of my other FTF's; not raising the ram completely, therefore not seating bullet completely, and therefore over the max OAL.

No signs of too much pressure in chamber as I could tell

All in all, I'm pretty happy w/ my results. Not seating primer completely is an easy fix, so i'm looking at it as 49/50. Woohoo, lol!

 

[scrat]

Sounds good then. You just have to make sure you double check your die settings. Then use full strokes. Sounds like you have done good.

 

[RustyFN]

Any suggestions on fun stuff to shoot?

Bowling pins, fruit, pop bottles, Cheap cans of pop shaken first.
Rusty

 

[azar]

I found out in college a bag of potatoes that has started to sprout make great and cheap targets. Place them all over a hill-side and it's like a bunch of little groundhogs. I had my Marlin autoloader .22 and a bunch of "bad" potatoes. It turns out that the .22LR "hollow-point" bullets will make the potatoes "explode".

If you can have that much fun with a puny little .22LR then I imagine any caliber would be fun to shoot into a potato. Although it's the hollow point that helped it explode with the little .22. Normal round-nosed bullets wouldn't do it.

 

[Run&Shoot]

+1 on the anodized aluminum scale tray. I am using an RCBS scale which comes with one and have never had any type of powder stick to it.

+1 on checking the seating depth. First I just used a dial caliper to check every 5-10 cartridges for OAL. If you are loading lead bullets the lube can start to pile up in the die and cause shorter OAL a little bit at a time.

Later on I started getting FTF on some 9mm and found that if certain brand of lead bullet (Silver Cast) was seated toward the minimum OAL then it would bulge the case mouth and be too wide for the chamber.

Now I use Wilson cartridge gauges to quickly spot check OAL and neck and case diameters on all semi-auto rounds I load. Any that are our=t of spec get run through the sizing die without the center post, or pulled and recycled.

So make sure you have the following:

- dial calipers
- aluminum scale tray
- bullet puller (kenetic or die)

- and optionally, Wilson cartridge gauges for semi-auto cartridges