What have you done in the reloading room today

Good day at the range...

Ran about 300 rounds through my newly rebuilt Palmetto/DPMS AR-15... 100%. This was the AR upper that had the barrel nut on hand tight. The factory federal 55grn FMJ's shot better than my 62grn Hornady BTHP's over H335, which has me scratching my head a little... although it reinforces my decision to get away from H335, it's not performed well for me with any bullets over 55grn.

I don't normally go to the range on the weekend, but I had my daughter's boyfriend tagging along... and Sunday is about the only day he has available. He had never shot an AR-15, so that worked out well... and he had never heard of the .41MAG, which I was happy to introduce him to. By the time we were done, I had to pry the Dan Wesson out of his hands...

Separated the brass, threw the .41 brass in the tumbler. One of my 'to do' things is to empty all my .41 brass... and prep the primer pockets. I've been having issues with high primers... but only in my .41 brass. Even using the hand primer, it won't mash some of them even flush into the primer pocket... so I guess after 30 years of using this brass, I'll need to clean the primer pockets. The past few years I've been shooting a lot of IMR4227, which can be a little dirty... I'm guessing I've got some moon rock built up in the pockets... but I have just the fix. After this weekend, I still have about 800 rounds to empty, though.

 

Woke up super early this morning for some reason, then drank coffee and deprimed the brass from my short range trip yesterday before work.

PP Varmint and 75 bthps shot pretty darn well all of the way through the ladder. 24.0, 24.2, and 24.4 all were about 1.25-1.5moa(pretty darn good for my 16"AR and a 6x scope) and anything after that was~2 moa. The 24.2 matched my TAC/75bthp velocity as well. I'll be loading the 25 cases I have prepped with 24.2!

My 45-70 prove it load of 55.0gr IMR 3031 and 300gr interlocks proved it! 3 shots in an oblong hole at 50 yds. 1880fps, low ES/SD.

The 44 mag prove it load of N110/225XPB's also proved it, nice little clover leaf with all shots touching at 50 yds. 1530fps, low ES/SD. Only thing that scares me is that it is just barely running the action, and stovepiped on the last round. Not sure if the casing hit the scope or if it just doesn't have enough oomph to run the action reliably at 20°.

 

That's quite a load!!!

 

Not being argumentative but how does this method account for the difference in case length?

 

According to Hodgdon, it's a trapdoor level load, Hornady says it's a lever action level load, Lyman says it's a Ruger #1 load.... It's honestly not too bad in the recoil department.

 

Yup! I just re-checked Hodgdon, I'm actually 1 grain under their start load for trapdoor.....

 

I happened to be in QuickLoad helping AJC out... so I plugged those numbers in...

That load pushes nearly 26000 PSI... so it's knocking on the limits of Trapdoor loads.

 

270 okie check starline they have 45 acp 500 for $116 shipped I believe

 

If you ever have questions... just PM me and I'll run them through the grinder.

That load, with the Lyman 457193 405grn cast FN bullet, is at 17500psi and gives 1450fps (20" barrel... I used a generic length.) Looks like it would be a nice, soft-shooting load akin to my IMR4198 load.

 

Thank you sir! I'm shooting it out of a Marlin 1895 guide gun, so the top end of trapdoor is perfectly fine for me!

 

In my most recent explorations with the .45-70.... first with a 26" Marlin 1895 LTD V, and now with a 32" Pedersoli 1885... I found 1500fps with a 405grn bullet to be my threshold for a 'fun' load... once I go beyond that, it becomes decidedly less fun. When I first got the Marlin, I loaded up some basic 'lever-action' loads with IMR's 3031, 4895, and 4064... roughly 47grns each, with a 405grn cast bullet. I have 'Brutal' in my shooters notes, so much so that I wound up pulling nearly 100 cartridges...



I consider pulling bullets about as much 'unfun' as trimming brass on my old Pacific crank... so that should tell you something. Granted, I was shooting those off sticks, at steel, not afoot while hunting, so there is that.

 

Pulled the .41 brass out of the Lyman, 9mm brass next up.



While I was out there, the nice mail lady pulled up... with my box from Montana Bullet Works! .308 and .348 cast goodness right there!

 

I've played with H4198 and IMR 3031 with the 300gr Hornady interlocks, and definitely found the "unfun" load levels as well. I feel your pain! I think it would be fun to do some "pooch" loads with 5744 and some cast bullets.

Nice! Mine has been real solid for the deer hunting we do here! Out of curiosity, do they have a serial # reference sheet or something to find out when your rifle was made? I have no idea on mine, but now I'm curious

 

The only manuals that matter present pressure information for their test. For that reason I find Hornaday basically useless. They provide no additional information of use. Lyman provides at least the best tested and pressure. Nossler provides the best tested and the best charge weight in each powder used along with case fill. I don't own a nosler book yet but they have online data. GRT is free and will give you data like quickloads. I recommend you try it first to see if a program adds value to your bench. I do all kinds of testing a lot of guys don't so I'll definitely be buying it when I can.

 

Saturday I got to do my first casts. I casted about 17lbs of bullets between my NOE 360-182-WFN-U2 GC HP, 311-171-RF-I3 GC & 460-396-RF-AE2.

The next day I melted all of them over again (except the 396gr, which will probably be melted again as well).

I was having troubles with my Pro Melt 2. The flow out of the nozzle was sporadic at best and a slow dribble at the worst. This caused most of the casts I threw to be heavily wrinkled or with poor fill in general.

The next day after Sunday chores I drained the pot to make some adjustments. I disassembled the spout lever arm and went to Ace to pick up some washers to add to the fulcrum and spout plug connections. Found some stuff that would fit so now there's no lateral play in the arm when I pull it up. Also when I had the spout plug off I chucked it in my drill and lapped the tip with some 200 grit sandpaper. As it comes there's a bulb type end that doesn't really seat well with the drain spout. After some time I turned that into a nice taper point. Not sharp but definitely smaller and a better fit.

I assembled everything back together and loaded it back up with alloy and set it to melt again. I don't have a thermometer handy yet for checking the temps but I read a lot of reviews that people had said the display reads about 50F hotter than the actual melt so I bumped it up to 790F on the temp setting.

After a couple more hours I had a nice new pile of 30-30 and 357 heavies that look a LOT better than the stuff I threw the day before.

360-182-WFN-U2 HP GC by Bearded Phil posted Jan 23, 2023 at 11:55 AM

360-182-WFN-U2 HP GC Close Up by Bearded Phil posted Jan 23, 2023 at 11:55 AM

311-171-RF-I3 GC by Bearded Phil posted Jan 23, 2023 at 11:55 AM

I think I may just have this casting stuff figured out! I casted a little over 4lbs of the 30-30s and then switched to the 180gr HP (really 168gr). Once I really got into the groove I didn't want to stop. I casted about 7.5lbs of the .357 heavies before I decided I needed to stop and finish laundry and pack it in. It was getting dark and chilly by that time.

The gas checks for the 30-30 fit just as they should but my checks for the .357 are loose. I tried sizing some of the .357 to see if they would crimp down but although they don't come off easy I can spin them around on the shank with my thumb & forefinger. I contacted the maker to ask if I could send it back into the shop with some of my casts to see if he can make a better fit.

I was trying to size them to .358" with my NOE body sizer (they cast at .360" just like they should) but the sizer I have only got them to .359". I need to run some through my .359" sizer I got to see if I get the same results or if they come out .360", barely sized at all. I may need to hit up Al at NOE and see what he thinks, maybe my .358" bushing got overcut a bit? We shall see.

Next coming week I'll be playing around with Hitek and seeing if I can get that accomplished as well. Should be able to start hitting the range again with my home cast bullets! I haven't been out in over 6 months, the RSOs are probably wondering what the heck happened to me, haha.

 

All for the same bullet? Seating depth (the amount of bullet IN the case, not OAL which only accounts for the amount of bullet sticking OUT of the case) can make some pretty big (or very small) differences in pressure. Even with a big case like the .45-70. Let's also recall Hornady uses a different case length at times.