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USA
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Posted: 5/15/2017 12:52:08 AM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lokifox:
Varget is once again the king of powders. Shrunk my groups in half or better out of the new ARP barrel vs. other powders I have tried. Consistently under .5 MOA at 100 yards 5 round groups. 77gr SMK, LC brass, CCI #41, 24gr. Varget, 2.26" COAL. May tweak it up a bit to get minor compression and see if that changes anything. I use Varget for most things, and was using a popular 77 SMK load above max and had to drop because of the crunchies (still compressed). 24.5, CCI450, 2.260 single feed in LaRue Stealth 16" LW-50, 2548 fps ave with V3, slight swipes. Those smarter than I recommended to back off, so I went with with 23.8 and mag feed w/ 2.250, 2455 fps. I tried 8208, and found a null in the velocity from 23.0 - 23.2 (recommended max), so stayed with 23.1 at 2.250". 2590 fps from 16" / 2718 FPS (5 shots) from a buddy's 20". Above 23.3, the velocities started to take off, and I have heard that it gets twitchy with more powder, so I'm happy. For me/buddy, this load is very accurate |
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USA
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Posted: 5/15/2017 12:53:19 AM EDT
[#2]
Just got the Annealing Made Perfect and ran a bunch of various .308 brass. My brass is at 3x, and this is my first attempt at annealing. I am totally pleased with the purchase, and was annealing 5 minutes after unboxing (men don't read directions). Just push buttons to change setting, and cranking out different headstamps immediately without the hassle of paints or timers. I paced myself and did 50 at a time within 10 minutes. Did ~300 Lapua, 200 PPU, and others yesterday.....
Using the program Settings Table, all brass looks to be done correctly. LC - 74, RP - 64, PPU - 90, Lapua - 93 Mr. Scar 17 loves to eat, so hopefully the AMP will prolong the brass. and hopefully the Lapua will tighten up my groups! I need all the help that I can get! Precision shooting is not cheap, so hopefully I can justify it's existence in my inventory. I may even do a service..... Awesome tool |
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Posted: 5/15/2017 12:56:34 AM EDT
[#3]
Washed an assortment of brass cases in the F.A.R.T.
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TX, USA
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Posted: 5/15/2017 8:17:54 AM EDT
[#4]
I bought a metal table and have been adding plywood shelves and a thick plywood top to it for a reloading bench. This weekend I just finished the construction and will be mounting my press and powder measure this week. Photos to come when it is ready to go.
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Posted: 5/15/2017 12:39:56 PM EDT
[#5]
Been collecting reloading supplies and equipment for about the last two years. Finally starting to get going with it all after I got my bench built in the garage.
Got my sample packs of 147 gr RN from The Blue Bullets. Started tumbling my 9mm brass I've been collecting for awhile. Been setting up the Hornady LNL ammo plant a little each day. Finding the instructions are a little goofy. Appears the video they send was made before the press came with a lot of add on features like it does now. |
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Posted: 5/15/2017 3:14:01 PM EDT
[#6]
loaded 600 rounds of .223 with 75 grain match bullets and BLC-2 powder.
Loaded 150 .308 rounds with 175 SMK's and 8208 powder. Going to go Pew! Pew! This weekend. |
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Posted: 5/15/2017 9:05:16 PM EDT
[#7]
I picked up a few electrical bits and pieces and got my press lights and video working! I need to clean up the cables and change some temporary connections to permanent, but it works exactly as intended!
After the above success, I was able to clean up the "project debris" that has kept me from doing "non-press" stuff on my bench, and I cleared up the space I need for using my RCBS case trimmer. I have some nickel plated .38 cases I need to trim, and I haven't had the space to do it because of this electronic boondoggle I made for myself. 
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Posted: 5/16/2017 11:45:07 AM EDT
[#8]
Completed 700 45acp yesterday. Found a hundred unwashed 45acp brass laying around so I washed those and will get them done and then convert the 1050 back to .223.
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AZ, USA
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Posted: 5/16/2017 6:44:48 PM EDT
[Last Edit: azmp5]
[#9]
Im sure others have, but after finding a good (pet) load , have you ever tried to do a workup and see if it is still the best?
Reason I ask is for all my (308) workups, I used LC match once fired brass. I loaded it 5 rounds up in .3gr increments from min to .5gr over book max. **i always go .5gr over max but if i get pressure signs prior i dont shoot it obviously* I did this for Varget, XBR and IMR 4064 for 168 and 175 SMK's about 2 years ago and for me/my rifle, 4064 (42.2gr) and 175s worked best . I get GREAT groups and im sure if I could do better groups would get better. me doing my part i can get .3-.5 groups and my best group was .28x., if i just shoot to shoot, its a solid 1moa rifle. That being said, back to my question. Since imo, these groups are great, should i try to redo the work up? I always see that since its LC, I should have dropped the original load 1 or 2 grains and worked up from there, but since i have a great load and no real pressure signs (sometimes ill get a flat primer, but id get random flat primers all the time, "hot" load or not. But to also keep on topic, I finished tumbling all the brass I shot over the winter and will be reloading it come july/august. not looking forward to the powder order 
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Posted: 5/17/2017 8:08:10 PM EDT
[#10]
stripper clipped another 400 rds or so of .223
cranked out another 300 rds of .223 Polished the large powder bar in the Dillon measure |
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Posted: 5/17/2017 8:14:54 PM EDT
[#11]
Tumbling some .223/5.56, 9x19, and .380.
Just found out days ago that I have another filled up and overflowing 5 gallon bucket of brass waiting for me to plunder when I visit a friend in July. It took me two weeks to fully process the last five gallons of brass he gave me
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Posted: 5/17/2017 8:44:09 PM EDT
[#12]
Was processing another 100 or so .243s today (on left) into 6.5x50 (on right) and I decided to take some of my 7.62x51 HP L31A1 blanks and make 6.5 blanks...success! Now after I shoot these I can trim off the crimp and have more 6.5 cases..win win!
 Attached File |
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Posted: 5/17/2017 9:01:09 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jeremy2171:
Was processing another 100 or so .243s today (on left) into 6.5x50 (on right) and I decided to take some of my 7.62x51 HP L31A1 blanks and make 6.5 blanks...success! Now after I shoot these I can trim off the crimp and have more 6.5 cases..win win! https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/51024/IMG-20170517-175009819-210541.JPG I sold about 592 bullets of various weights and 1k LR primers to a local guy from calguns. Turns out we shoot at the same place and he just recently built his first AR. |
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Posted: 5/17/2017 9:22:01 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By GSL:
Just found out days ago that I have another filled up and overflowing 5 gallon bucket of brass waiting for me to plunder when I visit a friend in July. It took me two weeks to fully process the last five gallons of brass he gave me And I'm jealous, by the way. 
This evening I continued to clean up the mess I made working on my lighting/video project. The bench ain't huge, and there are still a bunch of tools on it, but not much in the way of debris anymore. And I've cleaned up the wiring some, making it neater and with less stuff hanging in the way or just dangling. I will finish (really finish!) it soon and I'll post pictures. More and more I'm finding that I NEED to add shelves to the back of the bench for storing dies, shell plates, and so on. I'm planning a shelf unit with a top shelf for my scale, and pigeon holes and spaces for things I need at hand on the bench. So I also took some measurements of the space I have, how high I need the scale to be, and so on. I should be able to do this with 1X6 dimensional lumber for simplicity. Not really loading, but I'm making progress toward loading... |
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Posted: 5/17/2017 10:00:20 PM EDT
[Last Edit: GSL]
[#15]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By GHPorter:
Talk about first world problems! And I'm jealous, by the way. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By GHPorter:
Originally Posted By GSL:
Just found out days ago that I have another filled up and overflowing 5 gallon bucket of brass waiting for me to plunder when I visit a friend in July. It took me two weeks to fully process the last five gallons of brass he gave me And I'm jealous, by the way.
Every local arfcomer to me that once needed .45 ACP brass is now set. My RCBS 223 die set has given me enough sizing problems to the point that when the pros are having issues, I am calling it quits and will get something else in its place 
And I have 4 gallon containers stuffed with either LC 5.56 or cherry picked .223 that I cannot work on until I get things sorted with a good new die set 
I will never buy used or accept free hand me down die sets ever again. ETA: Going to finish processing the pistol brass that's tumbling right now later tonight and set the rifle aside until things get sorted out. |
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Posted: 5/18/2017 5:17:47 AM EDT
[#16]
Decapped and swaged 1500 223 brass.
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FL, USA
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Posted: 5/18/2017 8:49:03 PM EDT
[#17]
Scrounged about 20lbs of lead yesterday and made a few ingots this morning.
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Posted: 5/18/2017 10:02:53 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By GSL:
Remember the .380 I traded for 9x19 with you? The amount is 20 times of that from the last bucket I have been using my late father-in-law's RCBS .223 dies for quite a while (they're late '70s vintage dies) without problems, but I also feel that Hornady's dies are a good path to take. Between the tapered expander ball and the floating seating unit, I've been quite pleased with my Hornady rifle dies. My reloading work tonight was limited to finishing up the connectors on my light and video system and installing it back on the press. It works great. I have a little bit of a kluge in place to power the 9 volt camera while I wait for my 12 volt camera as it comes from China via small row boat...
In reinstalling the system, I got a bunch of stuff off the bench (tools, the monitor bracket, etc.) and re-looked my shelf plans. Then I said to heck with it and took a break. I'm looking forward to actually using my lit-up and video-monitored press soon! |
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Posted: 5/19/2017 12:51:34 AM EDT
[#19]
I set up my new Lyman Cyclone tumbler. First I cleaned 300 .45 Colt black powder cases. They needed more time as the primer pockets weren't as clean as I'd like in 1-1/2 hours. 2 hours worked better.
Then I cleaned about 400 .45 ACP cases. I used 1/8t Lemishine, about 1t Dawn liquid. ran these for 2-1/2 hours, beautiful. Look brand new. The Hornady case dryer works good, not happy about the low ridge on the inner hole, they could have made it a tad taller so cases don't fall through the middle. |
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Posted: 5/19/2017 1:01:25 AM EDT
[#20]
Bought two pounds of BLC-2 and 250 plated 9mm 124grn bullets.
I could have swore I had both, but couldn't find them! Then when I got home, I found the two pounds of BLC-2. Still looking for the 250 bullets though. Also tested some loads of 9mm and .223 today. Success! Found my sweet spot for both. |
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Posted: 5/20/2017 8:33:39 PM EDT
[#21]
loaded some AUG mags with some loose .223 rounds for range trip tomorrow
made another .223, stripper clipped a handful focus was mainly on 9mm Neighbor is going to range with me and doesn't reload so I gave him opportunity to try the Dillon 650 which was already set up for 9mm. He made 100 rds under close supervision and only made one screw up of not seating a primer which lead to the powder leaking, the powder checker buzzing, powder all over the shell plate. Easy enough to fix with small shop vac, clearing the shell plate and determining which round has to back to each station. During the session a 9mm MAK snuck in, those are hard to spot During the case gage check of the finished rounds I caught one with a split case, he found a .380 ACP. So showed him how to use the kinetic bullet puller, I pulled one of the rounds and he pulled another. So tomorrow he'll be shooting his first reloads 
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Posted: 5/20/2017 11:22:45 PM EDT
[Last Edit: boman250]
[#22]
Went to the range, made some brass. Found that my new AR likes 23.1g of CFE223 under the 77g SMK. Got a 9 round group of .69". 10th round was a called flyer.
Got home, sorted todays brass, tumbled some 556, 22 tcm, and some 300 rsaum. Then resized, deprimed and trimmed the 556, then the 22 tcm. It is tumbling clean again now. Then, I neck sized the 300 RSAUM and it is in the wet tumbler. I am thinking it needs to try some 200g bullets. Never loaded anything that heavy before, but I have tons of them. |
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Posted: 5/20/2017 11:55:05 PM EDT
[#23]
Deprimed swaged and now tumbling some LC 5.56 brass I pick up at the range today.
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Posted: 5/21/2017 12:20:29 AM EDT
[#24]
Switched my 650 back to 9mm and loaded up 600 rounds.
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Posted: 5/21/2017 5:54:05 PM EDT
[#25]
Sized trimmed and tumbled in corn cob the LC brass I picked up yesterday. Got a batch of grungy 9mm pick-ups going in the wet tumbler now
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Posted: 5/21/2017 5:56:40 PM EDT
[#26]
Resized and trimmed 1500 .223, love the RT1500
Washing brass now in da FART.
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Posted: 5/21/2017 6:28:14 PM EDT
[#27]
Got a member coming over to bulk load some 9x19 147 FMJ's to run out of his Gen3 G17 with an AAC Tirant
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Posted: 5/21/2017 6:45:57 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By scorps:
I noticed that you tried 8208 a couple of pages back. How'd it go? I use Varget for most things, and was using a popular 77 SMK load above max and had to drop because of the crunchies (still compressed). 24.5, CCI450, 2.260 single feed in LaRue Stealth 16" LW-50, 2548 fps ave with V3, slight swipes. Those smarter than I recommended to back off, so I went with with 23.8 and mag feed w/ 2.250, 2455 fps. I tried 8208, and found a null in the velocity from 23.0 - 23.2 (recommended max), so stayed with 23.1 at 2.250". 2590 fps from 16" / 2718 FPS (5 shots) from a buddy's 20". Above 23.3, the velocities started to take off, and I have heard that it gets twitchy with more powder, so I'm happy. For me/buddy, this load is very accurate Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By scorps:
Originally Posted By lokifox:
Varget is once again the king of powders. Shrunk my groups in half or better out of the new ARP barrel vs. other powders I have tried. Consistently under .5 MOA at 100 yards 5 round groups. 77gr SMK, LC brass, CCI #41, 24gr. Varget, 2.26" COAL. May tweak it up a bit to get minor compression and see if that changes anything. I use Varget for most things, and was using a popular 77 SMK load above max and had to drop because of the crunchies (still compressed). 24.5, CCI450, 2.260 single feed in LaRue Stealth 16" LW-50, 2548 fps ave with V3, slight swipes. Those smarter than I recommended to back off, so I went with with 23.8 and mag feed w/ 2.250, 2455 fps. I tried 8208, and found a null in the velocity from 23.0 - 23.2 (recommended max), so stayed with 23.1 at 2.250". 2590 fps from 16" / 2718 FPS (5 shots) from a buddy's 20". Above 23.3, the velocities started to take off, and I have heard that it gets twitchy with more powder, so I'm happy. For me/buddy, this load is very accurate Going to try some Alliant AR-Comp to see if it does better. Varget doesn't meter that great and has a tendency to stick in the neck of .223 cases causing a mess on the Dillon... Back on topic... Shot my first hand loads with 66 gr. of the new Alliant RE26 out of the 7 Mag with 150 SMK loaded to 3.295". By far the most accurate load I have found for my X-Bolt (I love that rifle). I think RE26 is going to end up being a wildly popular powder, I already like it better than H1000. Anectodal evidence shows it as producing better velocity at 66 gr. than H1000 does at 71 with less pressure. Need to chrony to be sure. Other than that did a bit of organizing in the reloading room. Going to try and burn a couple boxes of crappy Remington 7 Mag to make brass this evening. Pretty sad when you can buy factory seconds loaded ammo for cheaper than brass. Side benefit is they are get fire formed for what is essentially free. |
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Posted: 5/21/2017 8:19:09 PM EDT
[#29]
Built my first annealer based on the $100 annealer thread and video. Things went well, ran some 22 tcm on it. Then it started slowing down. I think the heat got to the motor and messed with the speed of the motor slowing it down to the point of it almost not moving. So now its time to deal with the heat issue.
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Posted: 5/21/2017 10:17:54 PM EDT
[#30]
Loaded 600 rds of .40 S&W, tumbled some 9mm and .556 brass, reset the 550 to 9mm and loaded about 200 rds. I'm about to begin a production run of 9mm using 125 grain Precision Delta JHPs.
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Posted: 5/21/2017 10:33:46 PM EDT
[#31]
Friend stopped by and forgot to bring powder
so he used mine and will replace it when he see's me next.
We made 500 147 9x19's for him. |
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Posted: 5/21/2017 10:34:48 PM EDT
[#32]
I attempted to cut up this massive lead ingot that was given to me,.. 30"x9"x7"
but my log splitter said,.. NO!! 
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TX, USA
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Posted: 5/22/2017 9:21:27 AM EDT
[#33]
That's a big hunk of lead!
Saturday I prepped 39 cases of 7mm Mag with my new Headspace gauges. Took me about 2 hours to get sized, trimmed, and primed cases as I was getting the feel of the sizing with gauges. 19 Hornady brass cause I still have 1 shot of the factory load left, and 20 WW Super. The Hornady brass sized much more consistently than the WW super. |
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Posted: 5/22/2017 9:41:08 AM EDT
[#34]
Picked up 1k of each .38,40,45 berrys bullets on sale at cabelas. Same prices PV sells them for.
Too good to pass up. |
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MO, USA
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Posted: 5/22/2017 10:38:51 PM EDT
[#35]
I made a bunch of empty brass that will soon be loaded!
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Posted: 5/22/2017 10:40:12 PM EDT
[#36]
Last 2 days wet tumbled 8 loads, 3 more to go.
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Posted: 5/22/2017 11:06:51 PM EDT
[Last Edit: GSL]
[#37]
Decided that I am going to get a Frankford electric brass trimmer and Amazon has it on sale right now too
Also decided that I am going to take the plunge and get a rotary tumbler too. Tonight I will do some researching on what would be the right one for me. |
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Posted: 5/23/2017 8:20:49 AM EDT
[#38]
Last night I set up my fathers old RCBS JR3 press to use as a dedicated cast bullet sizer. I switched it around and flipped it upside down so it now sizes on the downstroke when mounted upside down. I then made a crude chute to guide the newly sized bullets down into a large Akro bin I have under my B&D Workmate. I used a left over piece of 3/4 PVC. I used a torch to heat the end and made it slip fit over the end of my Lee sizing die, and then made a slight bend in the lower section to make the bullets go where I want them to. I then added a touch of white spray paint late last night before bed.
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Posted: 5/23/2017 7:48:32 PM EDT
[#39]
Had the day off and it was rainy so did some reloading stuff:
- cranked out another 400 rd of .223 - loaded up 5 more primer tubes with SR primers - installed my new Hit Factor 550B shell plate bearing kit with the longer bolt, my press needed the longer bolt so glad I got it with the kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HKL32HA?tag=vglnk-c102-20 This kit rocks, no more .223 case wobble, priming seems more precise - my .223 cases now set a tad lower which meant the powder bar wasn't going as far back as possible so had to adjust the powder measure die - powder measure bar looked like it was sticking somewhat so removed the bar and cleaned it with alcohol. Then noticed some burrs inside the powder measure housing where the bar travels and polished it with 0000 steel wool best I could |
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Posted: 5/24/2017 1:32:38 AM EDT
[#40]
Weekend before last I was finally able to swing by Dillon in Phoenix to swap out my broken 9mm shell plate for the 650. They have redesigned the shell plates and they are no longer a two piece plate, now machined out of a single piece. Was able to put the 650 back together today and ran off a quick 100 9mm and the machine is running as smooth as when new. Now idea how long the shell plate may have been in fail mode before breaking but it was definitely dragging based on the change in the feel of the press.
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Posted: 5/25/2017 4:20:04 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Detn8r-Red2]
[#41]
Went to my LGS and picked up a brand spanking used Rock Chucker press, which now makes 2. Then I came home and proceeded to load the rest of a batch of .38s on it. It's in even better shape than my old Rock Chucker.
ETA:Decided to reorganize my bench. Ghetto-mounted my second press with some c-clamps until my baseplate comes in. Also got my Uniflow set up. I was going to do some trial and error to get the right powder charge, but I lucked out and got exactly the right charge on the first throw somehow
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MT, USA
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Posted: 5/26/2017 10:53:45 AM EDT
[#42]
Loaded up some 17 Hornets with 20 gr Vmax using Lil Gun. Going to shoot a bunch of ground squirrels. Burned up a bunch yesterday and need to make sure I have enough ammo for today's shooting.
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Posted: 5/26/2017 4:49:03 PM EDT
[#43]
Primed and belled the mouth on 200+ 45 ACP cases. Getting ready to load up some test loads.
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Posted: 5/26/2017 11:33:55 PM EDT
[#44]
Picked up some Xtreme plated 100 gr RNFP bullets and loaded up 50 .380 to test with BE-86 powder.
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Posted: 5/27/2017 4:19:19 AM EDT
[#45]
Completed reloading a thousand 75g hpbt 223 with CFE223 and Varget.
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Posted: 5/27/2017 4:57:21 AM EDT
[Last Edit: GSL]
[#46]
Picked up another 500 230 grain .45 ACP plated projectiles. RMR shipped my 3.000 plated 149 9x19 match HP's today too. Was handed 8 pounds of Win 231, 1,000 200 grain lead wadcutters, and 300 230 lead projectiles plus 1,300 Winchester LPP's to do some loading for a good friend of this site of local arfcomers.
Still waiting on my 250 185 XTP's to show up out of 500 that me and a neighbor did a group buy on. I'm going to have a lot of loading work to do soon. Very much looking forward to it too. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 5/27/2017 8:28:31 AM EDT
[#47]
Took advantage of the free shipping and 10% off and ordered some Xtreme plated .45 bullets to make up some ACP loads for my supervisor at work.
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Posted: 5/27/2017 1:17:54 PM EDT
[#48]
This morning I powdercoated and sizes a couple hundred 147 gr flat points for 9mm
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Posted: 5/27/2017 8:20:53 PM EDT
[#49]
been cranking out .223 and stripper clipping them
sorted brass from last weekend's range session Tumbling some .223 now Might size some .223 tomorrow |
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Posted: 5/27/2017 8:25:23 PM EDT
[#50]
While not a fantastic deal like my last craigslist find - I picked up a Dillon Square Deal B with the tool kit/stand, plate/die set ups for 38/357 - 9mm - 45acp, complete powder set up and primer tubes (2 each) for small-large with some upgraded/extra parts.
Seems fair for 475 bucks? Now I can make more/faster reloads to make more empties to make more reloads to make more empties....... So that makes a blue to go with the red and the green machines. |
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