Finally built this. Had to rebuild the cheap motor from china because the bushing was too tight on the output shaft. So, a little 1000 grit sand paper and a drill bit and she is opened up good now.

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After I got it going, I annealed about 1/3 of my cut down 556 blanks and then turned them into 22 TCM. It is much faster with the trim die and the RT 1200 than it used to be on the lathe trimmer.

Then, I fired up the annealer and annealed the rest of the blanks I had left. Almost ran out of propane...

Loaded 20 6.5 Creedmoors for my PSA10 with an X-Caliber barrel on it.   Finding that it really likes 129-130 grain bullets.   So I am playing with loads with Hornady  129SST and Sierra TMK 130.  Thus far some Varget, CCI BR primer and 130 TMK are really starting to shine.  

Have also prepped a bunch of .223 to load 77 Sierra for my 1/7 barreled AR.  Going to start with Varget and see what happens.

Decapped and SS tumbled 400 .38spl cases.

Hornady case cleaner and lemon shine seem to do pretty well together. First time w/lemon shine.



In the sun light

loaded another 200 .223

Noticed I had about 2.5 gallons of .223 brass that's been tumbled but not prepped yet

So set up the Rockchucker and sized 2.5 gallons of .223.  Had about 12 rejects: splits, beyond repair body dents, smashed case mouths

Tossed the good cases in a plastic bucket, need to tumble the lube off, then will use the primer pocket uniformer on all the primer pockets

Was going to finish the session by resizing some once fired Wolf steel cases, the previous ones I sized were boxer primed.  After I lubed all these cases went to size one and found out this batch was all berdan primed



Tumbled some 40SW and 9mm and 38/357

Made empty brass and verified My blasting load as good to go. Now I need to make a mini AssualtRifler type run.

I'd like to run off 3000 or so. Also have a WC-844, Wolf projectile, Wolf primer load I need to test and make up a few.

The case of 1,000 I had of 200 grain wad-cutters turned out be way more than just that. Loaded most of it last night and finished it up today.

Tumbled some .308 and .45 ACP and primed more .45 ACP. Will process today's tumbling tomorrow.

Finished sizing and trimming the rest of my cut down 556 blanks to 22 tcm. Tumbling the lube off now.

Started trimming the necks down when I decided that I should call it a night.

reload 20rds of 45-70
         20rds of 300 blackout
         60rds of 30-06 (M1 Garand)

My seating die was so full of lead from the 200 wadcutters that I could not raise it or even lower it anymore due to the heavy build up.

This was the first and last time I will ever use lead projectiles.

What is everyone using to lube it after the clean up with a wire brush?

Just clean it like it's a pistol barrel and keep it dry

I only apply a small film of oil, CLP, for storage.  Won't use WD-40 again, it gums up

Got tired of stuff not selling here so moved it to another forum.

Cleaned and listed more stuff for sale. Started unloading one of the workbenches in the loading room.

Got another Lowes Kobalt bench to match the other one in the loading room. Now they will both be the same height.

Got the Mr. Bullet Feeder set up and mounted to the 1050. Soon!!!!  Going to run 45 in it first. I have 1400 projectiles and a 5 gallon bucket of brass.

Posted some .223 brass on the EE and tumbled some 9mm brass. Got the 9mm polished up and a batch of .40S&W is now tumbling. Need to start belling and priming .45acp brass in preparation for a bullet delivery.

I took some pictures of my video system all set up and running (finally!).  I'll do a new thread on that once I get a chance to upload the pictures.

Then I changed my powder measure's powder through expander from the .355 one for 9mm to .357 for .38 special, and adjusted the measure's lower assembly for something close to the right height for .38 cases.  I'll dial that in once I really get started.

I dug out my stash of 148 grain flat/bevel base wadcutters to make sure I had plenty for my project; I still have part of a box of 500 from Brushy Creek Bullets I bought in the late 1980s.  Wow!

Then I grabbed my notes on my wadcutter loads and verified the powder and amount: 4.5 grains of Unique.  Since I have a bunch of CCI 550 (Small Pistol Magnum) primers, I was thinking I'd run 100 with CCI 500s (Small Pistol standard) primers, and another 100 with the 550s to see if there was any difference, and even run the loads over a chronograph to see what they're actuall doing.  So I dug out a bunch of loading manuals and things started slowing down.

My load came from Speer's 10th Edition manual, on page 359, with the range from 4.5-5.0 grains of Unique.  This load always ran fine in my S&W Model 19 and my wife's L-frame Model 586.  (My father in law gave her that gun, which is much heavier than the M19; the extra mass makes most .38 and .357 loads feel softer, and the trigger job he had done on it is SAWEEET!).  But all the newer manuals, if they offer a 148 grain wadcutter load that isn't for hollow base bullets, shows a MUCH lower range, some maxing out at 4.1 or 4.2 grains of Unique.

I'm still going to do the 100 with CCI 500s and 100 with CCI 550s, but I'm going to do more research first.  I have a quantum buttload of Unique (an unopened 4 pound jug and part of a 1 pound canister), so I really don't want to have to change powders from something that worked.  But I gotta know where these super low loads came from...

Finally pulled the trigger and got my first reloading press, so I can now post in this thread!

I hope to load up my first rounds sometime next week, in my 300 Win Mag.

Took a quick inventory of supplies.  Need to get 45acp brass, small rifle primers and faster powder for 55g plinking ammo.

Got the SDB up and running.  Taught my Dad how to set the press up and load 9mm.

It's good to have a reloading monkey.

Over the weekend I was able to test out more cast 223 bullets in my AR, narrowing down a nice plinking load.

I then wanted to try out a new and faster way to powder coat my bullets. I have always used airsoft BB's and then used hemostats to pick them out of the tub and stand them up on a baking sheet. I have seen others use a vibratory tumbler and dump them all in a wire basket and bake the whole thing. I got a wire screen from Walmart in the grill section, I formed it around my baking sheet that came with my toaster oven to maximize the space. Had a few issues at first but got them sorted out and the results are good to go. Much faster to coat my bullets. I picked up a nearly new FA vibratory tumbler off Craigslist for $10, it is now my dedicated tumbler for powder coating.

Loaded some 380 ACP - not sure on quantity, just what I had laying around.

100 GRN Berry / 4.3 Power Pistol

I have been processing the load development test data from my last two range trips.  

I have also been writing something to present the data and explain the latest evolution in my thinking with respect to reloading.

I am evolving into a bit of a curmudgeon or contrarian.

Tumbled about 250 .45 cases.  While that was tumbling, I decided to build a new portable bench.  It will primarily be used for my case trimmer and brass prep center, but may also see use as a portable stand for one of my rock chuckers.

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It's not 100% finished yet, I will probably add more bracing and a shelf, but it will do for its intended purpose.

Add a plywood shear panel.  This will prevent racking due to side loads (like someone leaning on it or pushing it sideways).

Replace the drywall screws with deck screws.  Drywall screws are brittle and tend to snap.

Pecked through a bin of mixed 9mm brass to extract exactly 18 pieces of R-P. Needed to round out some stuff I picked up at the range the other day.

Thinking about loading all 500 up with something different, maybe some 147 XTP with N320 if I can find some.

loaded 100 223 match loads with 90gr SMKs and Reloder 15. Suppose to go to range tomorrow but life has intervened, maybe I will make it by the afternoon.

Spent part of the weekend loading up 45 ammo. Test loads for softball accuracy.

Opened more boxes - just picked up reloading.

Did another 250 rds of .223, go figure

Noticed a lot powder crammed in the crack on the Dillon 550's strong mount and output bin bracket and my little ShopVac couldn't suck it up so took off the bracket and cleaned that area out

Popped open a new 8lb jug of AA2230 and dialed in the powder charge

Grabbed 3000 WSR blue box style SR primers from storage and made them available for consumption

Dumped the last of my 7640 rd Winchester 55 gr FMJ box of projectiles into the bullet tray of the 550

Good catch sir.  I had intended to use 3" deck screws for the frame, but I was using 2" to screw the top on so they wouldn't go through, and just went on auto pilot.  The screws were replaced this morning.  Thanks!

Lately it seems like all I do is load 45acp.

228 grain RNL cast from Lee 6 hole mold
Mix cases
5.3 grains of old formula Unique from about 1968
S&B primers

Started in on the 250 rounds of precision fp 9mm over 4.5 to regroup.
I must have 1k ready to go as this is prolly my 4th order

Loaded 300 .223 for the range.

Got some 124gr GDHP ready to load.

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3,000 147 FMJ's showed up yesterday. The mail lady was not happy

Cleaned out my 45 dies during lunch and reorganized some containers then went to Walmart and bought two more half gallon's. Need to bust out the label maker later.

Currently tumbling .223/5.56, 9x19, and .380 right now.

Going to put in the 9mm dies tonight to start getting ready for all of the 147's after I clean out the powder drop of 231 because Autocomp is going in next. After those get loaded I may very well be set for the rest of the year.



Glad you made it to this thread.

Cleaned up the loading room a little and processed ~1500 pieces of 5.56 LC brass to 300 BLACKOUT..

I decided that the lawyers weren't going to keep me from using a load that I know is safe, so I set up to load my .38 Special 148 grain wadcutters with my old and trusted load of 4.5 grains of Unique.  I ran through 100 rounds, but I had some issues.

First, my old bullets had some lube problems.  They had been stored in an outdoor shed for a while when I was overseas, so the wax-type lube had melted some of them together, or just clumped up a bit.  The bullets that had stuck together or had globs of lube hanging off of them I set aside.  I'm not too worried about accuracy with this load, since it's intended to be a plinking/familiarization round anyway.

The other issue was that I had a bunch of CBC cases in my range brass, and they seemed to have pretty poor bullet tension, even after a second sizing.  I started a new thread about that.

So when I got to a stopping point (100 rounds completed), I went through the rest of the container of prepped brass that I'm working from and culled out 55 more CBC cases.  While I was dinking around with looking at headstamps, I pulled all the +P cases from that bunch as well.  Who's ever run +P solid wadcutters for plinking rounds anyway?  .  After dinner, I'm going to run another 100 with a different primer.  This batch should go more smoothly though, because I'm not going to have those CBC cases giving me fits, and I've identified a couple of tweaks to make (like the amount of flare needed) for better functioning.

As for the press, my LnL AP gave me only a tiny bit of grief.  The case feeder tried to feed two cases at a time on two occasions, but priming went perfectly, as did case advancement.  Some cases had odd rims that hung on the ejecting nub, so I needed to tap them, but otherwise it was super smooth.

Added: I did the second hundred in about 30 minutes, give or take.  Handling those little cylindrical bullets was kind of awkward, so I slowed down on purpose.  The press, again, ran great, though case feeding was again a bit less smooth.  

I've figured out what caused the double feeds: my hand-carved adapter to get .38 and .357 cases to feed easily is a little too "generous" on one side of the opening.  I'm not sure if I'm going to do something to fix it, or maybe just make a new one.  It kind of depends on how much more grief the thing gives me.  

mounting my new toy

100 .308's
100 .223's

I cleaned up after my loading yesterday, including cleaning the shell plate.  The plate got a bunch of crud on it from the bullet lube and an occasional bullet shaving, so I sprayed isopropyl alcohol on it and wiped it thoroughly, removing almost everything that wasn't part of the plate.

With the few rounds I used in tweaking the press, I wound up with 215 .38 Special solid wadcutter rounds.  I'm looking forward to hitting the range.

Did a quick 200 round run on the 550 tonight of 147 gr 9mm

Knocked out 100 9mm 115 HAP start to finish on my Rock Chucker.  That's about the limit of my patience.

Sorted 2500 pieces of the 9000 pieces of 223 brass by head stamp.

Made work up 44Mag loads with Unique, Longshot, Titegroup, HP38, H110, and CFE Pistol for 240gr. PC cast bullets I made.

Now off to uncover the pool.

Been burned out for a week with the reloading.

Got back into it oh dark early this morning and primed 100 .380 and 100 9x19, then inventoried both to see where I am and where I need to be for my targeted goals before I start mass production.

Cleaned out the LnL powder measure of all the remnants of 231 and then assembled it back together and added Autocomp for the 9's that need to be done, and installed the 9mm tools to do them with.

Hopefully tonight I can get some more progress after the kids and my better half are asleep.

Between a class I helped instruct at the police academy, and shooting today with some friends who don't reload, it was a good day for brass. I only had to pick up a small percentage of it, had lots of help! 

Some of it looks gray, but that's from sitting in the rocks a while. It's all brass and nickel plated. 

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Sorted through an ammo can of LC brass and culled out a few FC and WCC pieces I found. Tumbling some of it right now.

I am still amazed to see brass from the 70's... I was born in 1985 lol.

Today was a day of cleaning brass. Also, much sorting. Hopefully tomorrow I can start a run of loading 308 hunting ammo.

made another 400 rds .223
ran out of the shiny Winchester 55 gr FMJ projectiles

Tapped into my emergency reserve of Federal 55 gr FMJ's.  They were heavily tarnished so wondered if I could tumble them to make 'em pretty.  So I tumbled them and they turned out prettty.

Ordered 500 nickel cases from East Coast Reloading and started loading 147 flat point FMJ's.