What have you done in the reloading room today

[3sport]

I've been tweaking my bench lighting all week. Saving the reloading for the weekend. I bought a few stick-up LED bars for the top shelf, but they were far too bright and in my eyes because of the angle of installation. I do have LED stick-up bars under the low shelf where my eyes are shielded from the direct light from the low shelf itself. So I went with an LED flat bar desk lamp for the high shelf. That will put the light well above my head and out of direct glare angle to my eyes. Amazon will have it here tomorrow. I hope it works as well as I think it will. The older I get, the more important good lighting at the reloading bench is to me.

One of the fine members here directed me to an LED kit for my RCBS Rock Chucker, so that's been done, along with the light bar under the low shelf. Those give me bench work surface light, but I wanted something for general lighting for the whole bench area.

 

[Walkalong]

After shooting the Fed overrun 95 Gr JSPs with 2.8 & 2.9 Grs of N-310 with S&B SP primers
in .380 earlier today, I loaded up 10 more with 3.0 Grs. I'll shoot them tomorrow.

 

[riverats]

Awhile back I posted a thread & a photo detailing a brand new Steyr AUG & a couple ruptured (Igman) cases.

Backstory: Sometime back around 2010 I picked up a 300-round Igman (IK) 5.56 M855 battle pack & tossed it into an ammo can, where it sat for a decade or so.

A couple years back I broke out the Igman, as it was the oldest pack in my 5.56 cache, with the intent of putting a couple hundred rounds through the new AUG. For sighting-in purposes, I loaded up some 10-rd Magpuls & after emptying the first one, I gathered up the spent brass & discovered that two of the first 10 cases had suffered like-ruptures. Back into the ammo can went the battle pack.

Aforementioned ruptured cases

Well, I just spent, or should I say, I may have just wasted the past couple hours ( 3 hours, to include fabrication of this rambling post ) attempting to salvage the M855 bullets & the powder ... i.e., I'm not sure I care to spend more time cleaning (acetone) the tar-like sealant off each bullet. That, and after having measured & recorded approx. every 10th-case's powder volume, I put all of the IK powder into a repurposed AA #7 container only to discover, while screwing the lid on, that there was a mildly acrid scent wafting out of the AA jar.

And forget about reusing the primers as, the over abundance of lacquer & the crimps notwithstanding, Igman 5.56 brass from the era was (still is?) notorious for sometimes off-centered &/or undersized (decap' pin-breaking) flash holes.

So now I am stuck with 290 worthless primed cases; 290 sealant-laden 62 gr. bullets & what, nearly 3/4 lbs. of powder that smells as though it is on its way out.

Some fun facts ...
~ For the 20 cartridges measured, C.O.A.L.s ranged from 2.239 to 2.545"
~ Powder volume in 20-some (5.56) cases measured ranged from 22.9 to 23.7 grs.
~ On one stripper two of the bullet tips were a different green. Those two were 223R-cased rounds containing an entirely different ball powder (28 grs.) & bullet crimp.
~ No doubt due to varying amounts of (effective) sealant, a good number of the bullets required considerable effort to remove them from their cases. How would this translate into ballistics - f.p.s., etc??

I closed my initial ruptured case post by saying that if Igman were the last ammunition & component manufacturer left on the earth, it would mark the end of my involvement in/with the shooting sports. That sentiment has not changed.

Misc. pics ...











223 powder

5.56 powder

 

[Insignificant bill]

Powder cop dies

 

[AJC1]

Awhile back I posted a thread & a photo detailing a brand new Steyr AUG & a couple ruptured (Igman) cases.

Backstory: Sometime back around 2010 I picked up a 300-round Igman (IK) 5.56 M855 battle pack & tossed it into an ammo can, where it sat for a decade or so.

A couple years back I broke out the Igman, as it was the oldest pack in my 5.56 cache, with the intent of putting a couple hundred rounds through the new AUG. For sighting-in purposes, I loaded up some 10-rd Magpuls & after emptying the first one, I gathered up the spent brass & discovered that two of the first 10 cases had suffered like-ruptures. Back into the ammo can went the battle pack.

Aforementioned ruptured cases
View attachment 1230780
Well, I just spent, or should I say, I may have just wasted the past couple hours ( 3 hours, to include fabrication of this rambling post ) attempting to salvage the M855 bullets & the powder ... i.e., I'm not sure I care to spend more time cleaning (acetone) the tar-like sealant off each bullet. That, and after having measured & recorded approx. every 10th-case's powder volume, I put all of the IK powder into a repurposed AA #7 container only to discover, while screwing the lid on, that there was a mildly acrid scent wafting out of the AA jar.

And forget about reusing the primers as, the over abundance of lacquer & the crimps notwithstanding, Igman 5.56 brass from the era was (still is?) notorious for sometimes off-centered &/or undersized (decap' pin-breaking) flash holes.

So now I am stuck with 290 worthless primed cases; 290 sealant-laden 62 gr. bullets & what, nearly 3/4 lbs. of powder that smells as though it is on its way out.

Some fun facts ...
~ For the 20 cartridges measured, C.O.A.L.s ranged from 2.239 to 2.545"
~ Powder volume in 20-some (5.56) cases measured ranged from 22.9 to 23.7 grs.
~ On one stripper two of the bullet tips were a different green. Those two were 223R-cased rounds containing an entirely different ball powder (28 grs.) & bullet crimp.
~ No doubt due to varying amounts of (effective) sealant, a good number of the bullets required considerable effort to remove them from their cases. How would this translate into ballistics - f.p.s., etc??

I closed my initial ruptured case post by saying that if Igman were the last ammunition & component manufacturer left on the earth, it would mark the end of my involvement in/with the shooting sports. That sentiment has not changed.

Misc. pics ...
View attachment 1230781

View attachment 1230789

View attachment 1230790

View attachment 1230791

View attachment 1230792

View attachment 1230793
223 powder
View attachment 1230802
5.56 powder
View attachment 1230803

That's definitely a crap show with zero redeeming qualities... I'm sorry you wasted your time and money..... I guess the positive is you didn't destroy your rifle...

 

[Charlie98]

Went ahead and loaded 50 .41MAG... 25 with AA4100, 25 with AA#7, all under the 210grn Xtreme PFP. I know, more or less, what to expect out of the 4100... the AA#7 will be a surprise. It's burn rate is between Unique and something like IMR4227... so I don't know.

Now that the dies are all set, I spun them out of the press, and set the press up for .45 Colt. I'll do the same 2 powders for some nice 255grn flat point coated bullets AJC sent me... those will be going into the H&R Classic Hunter.

Probably a dumb question at this point... but do you AA4100/Enforcer users use Magnum primers?

 

[shoebox1.1]

I worked on some depriming in the EZ chair this last Sundays range fodder and supper came along and spoiled it. About to go to bed but at least I got something done. Going to load my usual 38 load this weekend and test my grip adapter I have coming. The 15-4 snub loves it. The 1950 M&P outta love it too ( same frame)

 

[Charlie98]

and test my grip adapter

You young kids have to have all the newfangled things... back when we old timers carried revolvers, it was uphill, both ways, in 2' of snow... without a grip adapter!

 

[reverseturn]

Decapped, sized, flared and primed 50 .357 mag cases and similar number of .38 special. I've been using small rifle primers as I bought plenty when that was always alI i could find. They work ok though I did end up putting the original hammer spring back in a gp100 to fix the occasional light strike. Even so it just made me a bit uneasy to use them so I was pleased to break into my last package of 100 rifle primers. Then bad luck as I pulled harder on the warped wood drawer where I store them and found another 1000 small rifle primers behind the divider. On second thought, I suppose I should call that good luck!

Anyway add that to the regular pistol primers I have purchased since and i have have more than enough to last me through another presidential term

 

[JmacD]

but do you AA4100/Enforcer users use Magnum primers?

357 mag, but while they went bang with standard, it was WAAAAY cleaner with magnum. And I didn’t have bits of un burnt powder hitting my face.

 

[Big Wes]

I worked on some depriming in the EZ chair this last Sundays range fodder and supper came along and spoiled it. About to go to bed but at least I got something done. Going to load my usual 38 load this weekend and test my grip adapter I have coming. The 15-4 snub loves it. The 1950 M&P outta love it too ( same frame)

Tyler T's. I have them on 3 revolvers. Good product!

 

[3sport]

'Mornin' gents. At the bench getting components ready for the weekend loading session. It is going to be a 38/357 weekend. Loading both calibers. Just need to decide on bullet gr size. I have a few choices for each in my supply stock. Hodgdon powders for sure. Why? That's all I have left. It's all my LGS has in stock these days. So it will be an HP-38 and H-110 weekend.

 

[riverats]

That's definitely a crap show with zero redeeming qualities... I'm sorry you wasted your time and money..... I guess the positive is you didn't destroy your rifle...

Thank you, sir …
Be they (my) reloads or factory ammo, I have always been one to inspect spent brass. That, and I am grateful for having loaded bench top-friendly 10-rd Magpuls, as opposed to just blasting away via 30-rd magazines.

 

[lightman]

My running buddy is planning a move pretty soon and is expecting to be between houses for a while. So he began moving some of his guns, ammo and some premium beer to my house for storage. Amongst his ammo he had a bucket of wet corroded shotgun shells that he gave me. So I broke them down this morning. The shot will go into my next smelt and the powder will go to Deer Camp this fall as part of my Annual Campfire Light Show. What a PITA this project was!

 

[barnfrog]

My running buddy is planning a move pretty soon and is expecting to be between houses for a while. So he began moving some of his guns, ammo and some premium beer to my house for storage. Amongst his ammo he had a bucket of wet corroded shotgun shells that he gave me. So I broke them down this morning. The shot will go into my next smelt and the powder will go to Deer Camp this fall as part of my Annual Campfire Light Show. What a PITA this project was!

Well, at least there was some premium beer to be enjoyed afterwards to ease the P in your A.

 

[irishlad]

After shooting the Fed overrun 95 Gr JSPs with 2.8 & 2.9 Grs of N-310 with S&B SP primers
in .380 earlier today, I loaded up 10 more with 3.0 Grs. I'll shoot them tomorrow.

How'd they shoot?

 

[geo57]

I loaded a small batch of .357 mag. for Grandmother's Ruger SP101. Old style Hornady 125 gr. JHP on top of 8.7 grs. of BE-86 in Win. cases & Win. SPP.

 

[Walkalong]

I shot 3.0 Grs of N-310 with my cheap over run 95 Gr JSPs and between that and the 2.9 Gr results I decided 2.9 was my max and loaded the last 70 cases that way today.

I also loaded another 100 of the plated 95 Gr RN bullets, also with 2.9 Grs of N-310, but with Fed 100 primers instead of the S&B SP primers used with the JSPs.

 

[shoebox1.1]

Tyler T's. I have them on 3 revolvers. Good product!

These are BK grip adapters. Kip there is a great guy. I’m Working on brass tonight!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

These are BK grip adapters. Kip there is a great guy. I’m Working on brass tonight!

Me too!

Decapped and resized 100 R-P .38Spl, 250 Federal .38Spl, 112 Federal .357Mag, 210 WW .357Mag and 47 Magtec .357 Mag. This is all the brass I tumbled right before I broke my hand. Now that it’s all healed up I got it done. The tumbler is struggling a little but I’m confident it will be fine. I’ll just let it go a few extra hours.

 

[Charlie98]

There's my first .38SPC round in about 15 years! Appropriately, it's a 158grn bullet over Unique, in old tymey Western nickle brass. Loaded 50 with Unique, 50 with WSF, as an experiment.

I also loaded 50 rounds of .45 Colt... 25 with AA#7, and 25 with AA4100, like I did with the .41's last night.... 255grn RNFP coated cast.

 

[barnfrog]

Loaded a couple hundred rounds of 9mm on the RL450.

 

[stonebuster]

Got my 100 38 spc all done. Super excited to road test my new smith K snub M&P dated somewhere in 1948-52 tomorrow

Nice Pre Model 10! Looks just like the one I bought last year days before my 73rd birthday and turned out it was "born" in the late August - early Sept of 1950 as was I. My serial#12411X. A guy contacted me on another forum stating he got his Pre-Model 10 snub lettered from S&W with the ship date and his was 3 units later than mine. Yours has the "speed hammer" as mine does and probably has the same smooth trigger. Mine carries well in a Bucheimer "Concealer" (C-15). Load data for your reloads?

 

[lightman]

Opened a Midway package that arrived and stored away the Lapua 300 WSM brass that arrived!

 

[Soonerpesek]

Since the reloading room is also the gun room, the basement, ect….
Shortened the shell ejector springs and polished the ways in my cheezer Stevens OU.
That animal would eject those 12ga shells into oblivion…

A fella coulda poked his eye out….!!…

I wish I did enough Unloading to warrant some loading…..