What have you done in the reloading room today

DMW1116 said:
Began prepping brass to test and load the Gallant 135 grain cast and coated 9mm projectiles I just acquired. I threw in 100 cases of 357 Magnum and 45 cases of 38 Special too. I can stock up on revolver ammo now. I have great loads using regularly available components for the revolver rounds. I’m still searching for “The Load” in 9mm.
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147gr XTPs with Longshot works good. I have since gotten away from 9mm and now focus on 45 ACP and 45 Colt. But I still help dad load 9mm though! I just organized his stash of primed 9mm brass he's had for a bit and forgot about lol. We've got two 30cal ammo cans chock full of the stuff now! I just like More Power! lol.
 
The 147 grain XTPs are really good. I have a box of them to pair with a portion of this brass. Even when they’re on sale for $0.16 each the Gallant bullets are half the cost. I’m trying to avoid a different 9mm load for each gun but it probably isn’t possible.

My son and I share a Canik Mete. I found a load for it that rivals my S&W Victory 22 for accuracy. Now I have hope for my M&P9. Honestly other than that load, the Canik and M&P9 are pretty close.

The local gun shop has a 6” barrel 1911 I really like. If that ever comes home with me I’ll have a long list of 45 loads to try.
 
hoardingthemanual said:
50x 9mm. It's my third batch of reloads, ever.

Priming on press has been the biggest headache of all time. I've never been at all interested in hand priming. I've used the priming arm that came with my press as well as the Lee ram prime but to no avail. The "feel" is hard to learn. It's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. That said, I recently bought another tool to help me, and this one made a night and day difference (for me).

It's the Forster Co-Ax Primer Seater. From the first case, I instantly felt the "feel" I'd been missing in other methods. I now know about the glide the primer does as it's being seated into the primer pocket. I know for sure the correct force required for this operation. The Co-Ax Primer Seater consistently seats primers very smoothly and with minimal effort! I'm borderline hysterical with glee because priming was such a problem for me that it completely stopped my entire reloading output for months. Thousands of dollars in dies, powders, primers, shipping/hazmat and accessories all gathering dust are no longer the case! The Forster Co-Ax Primer Seater changed my reloading life. It sounds like hyperbole, but I was struggling very bad. I know a lot of you will call me a man bun wearing hipster for needing help, but I really don't care. I hope anyone else having problems will read this and keep trying different things like I did.
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W00t!
It doesn’t matter how you solved it, just that you did. Rule #1 of reloading: if it works for you, then it works.
 
DMW1116 said:
The 147 grain XTPs are really good. I have a box of them to pair with a portion of this brass. Even when they’re on sale for $0.16 each the Gallant bullets are half the cost. I’m trying to avoid a different 9mm load for each gun but it probably isn’t possible.

My son and I share a Canik Mete. I found a load for it that rivals my S&W Victory 22 for accuracy. Now I have hope for my M&P9. Honestly other than that load, the Canik and M&P9 are pretty close.

The local gun shop has a 6” barrel 1911 I really like. If that ever comes home with me I’ll have a long list of 45 loads to try.
Click to expand...
6in 1911 in 45acp? What are you hunting? Bears? :rofl::rofl: I'm just joshing you... I'm just surprised you have seen one in person lol.
 
I helped dad load some test loads in 300blk using some of that new LAX brass he got from Millworks Brass. We did 10 190gr SUBX, 10 220gr SMK, 10 168gr SMK, and for fun cause he had 8 primed cases left, 8 165gr BTSP Hornady bullets. I want to see if they will even expand at 1000fps... Doubtful, but you never know. All using H110 powder from an 8lb jug that he got in late 2020 and the sticker says 199.99 on it! And he thought that was high back then lol.
 
I re-assembled 7.62x39 testloads. The original load data used Hornady than Speer load data and was lower than the Speer. Speers higher end loads were compression loads. And since I found more than one accuracy load that was on the lower end of the sks load data range, I loaded up to the middle of the load range using the Speer and the upper end of the Hornady range. This way (I hope) I will get a clear ladder print. I loaded three sets or an OCR ladder test to give me better results at 100 yards. I'm making targets today.
 
270OKIE said:
6in 1911 in 45acp? What are you hunting? Bears? :rofl::rofl: I'm just joshing you... I'm just surprised you have seen one in person lol.
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Some states require minimum barrel lengths. WI, where I live requires a pistol used for hunting to have a minimum of 5 1/2" barrel, and a 6" barrelled 1911 is not an uncommon sight in the field in Nov. around here.
 
kalielkslayer said:
View attachment 1115860 View attachment 1115861 Slept in when the fishing alarm went off. So I thought I would salvage the day with some time at the range.

That didn’t go well at all.

37 degrees when I started, 37 when I got done. 10 mph wind, coming at me from 10 o’clock to about 2 o’clock.

I could never get either the 62 or 70 grain Barnes to group very well. Then I found a load with 60 gr Vmaxs that consistently shoots sub 1” groups at 200 yards.

After the first 5 groups with the 55 grain Barnes I was wondering if it was the wind. So I shot 3 of the Vmax loads. Seems the wind did open em up a bit, .71”. Usually do better than that.

Guess I’ll try another powder. I need these to shoot because I had some in my cart when I ordered these I ended up with 1,000 and they ain’t cheap.

Not sure why this gun shoots all 3 jacketed bullets I’ve tried so well but I can’t get a consistent good group with any on the 3 copper bullets I’ve tried.
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kali', if you do try another powder, try IMR4064. That was really the ticket in my 22-250[Savage FVS 112] and 55gr bthp Sierra. I've always liked 22-250's; maybe I need another one!
 
.45Coltguy said:
kali', if you do try another powder, try IMR4064. That was really the ticket in my 22-250[Savage FVS 112] and 55gr bthp Sierra. I've always liked 22-250's; maybe I need another one!
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I’ve never used IMR4064 but if I see some on the shelf, I’ll pick it up. Thanks.

These were with H380. I still have 1/2 dozen powders that the manuals show for a 22-250/55 gr bullet. I think I’ll try IMR4895 next. I also have H335, RL15, TAC, A2230, A2700 and Win760/H414.
 
DMW1116 said:
I’m looking for a target companion to my 6.5” Blackhawk in a semiautomatic format. A standard 5” would be fine but this one has a certain appeal.
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I had an AMT Longslide (7”) a long while back and very briefly. It was more accurate than me when it fed. There’s something funky about the feed ramp angle on them that makes it so you have to use a pointy bullet seated deep to get it to feed reliably. I ended up using conical wadcutters and did well enough with it but I just can’t keep a fussy gun; especially not a fussy Series 70-style .45 Auto.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
I had an AMT Longslide (7”) a long while back and very briefly. It was more accurate than me when it fed. There’s something funky about the feed ramp angle on them that makes it so you have to use a pointy bullet seated deep to get it to feed reliably. I ended up using conical wadcutters and did well enough with it but I just can’t keep a fussy gun; especially not a fussy Series 70-style .45 Auto.
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The AMTs were/are finicky eaters for sure. Both my AMT 45s (Hardballer and Backup) fed FMJs all day long but would balk at JHPs. Finally found a good defense round that would feed reliably in both guns, the Pow'rBall; a hollowpoint with a plastic ball at the tip for an FMJ profile. Sadly, after purchasing the brand, Corbon seems to have deleted it. The original story was Corbon was temporarily dismantling the production line for an overhaul, but that was over two years ago. Oh. And my Automag II would only feed 40 gr Winchester Super-X. All three Lightnings (2 pistols and 1 rifle) on the other hand, will feed and shoot just about anything with a plated bullet.
 
kalielkslayer said:
I’ve never used IMR4064 but if I see some on the shelf, I’ll pick it up. Thanks.

These were with H380. I still have 1/2 dozen powders that the manuals show for a 22-250/55 gr bullet. I think I’ll try IMR4895 next. I also have H335, RL15, TAC, A2230, A2700 and Win760/H414.
Click to expand...

IMR 4895 was also a good performer with 55gr bullets. 34.0-34.5gr if I remember right. I sold my 22-250 just before the lead free silliness here in Ca started.
 
Finally found that round toit and made some .32Mags with 4.2-4.4gr of Autocomp under 85gr XTP’s.
EF9DDDB7-00FC-403C-932A-A3A492C3E82F.jpeg
Red primers are Federal No.100, Black are Federal No.200, and Blue are CCI No.500. First round of tests will be with the Taurus to find out if Autocomp is less flashy and lower recoil than Red Dot.
 
Finally starting to feel a bit better, and have some energy, so I spent some time in the reloading room today. Loaded up a ladder of .308 with 175 smks and .224 Valkyrie with 80.5gr Bergers, both with N140, then made up 25 44 mag loads for my wife for deer season of 21gr of N110 and 240gr XTP's. Must have been a Vhitavuori day today! Now I'm watching my Vikings get absolutely manhandled by the Cowboys.
 
Pickled ~600 pieces of mixed 38, 357, & 9mm brass. I tried a new rinse procedure to reduce water consumption and get all the soap off. Also started another 50 pieces of 223 test brass.

Reviewing my notes I found the latest TAC/69 gr RMR shot the same during testing as the CFE 223/77 gr SMK load. That’s encouraging since that’s one of my favorite loads. I reviewing my notes I also found out I need to find more 52 grain Barnes Match Burners. They outshot both the heavier bullets in this rifle.
 
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