I had another 29 cases of .223 with 1.73" OAL, decided to load them up, next time trim will be to 1.755".

However, I loaded up those 29 cases and seated bullet deeper as was recommended before, below is a pic, together with the standard factory ammo in the middle:


Now I think bullet seating looks correct, and it has a light touch crimp.

Still sorting brass, down to about a 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket, if I keep at it I can finish today.

I checked my remaining unused Zero 148gr wadcutters, they mike out at .3575.  I pulled several bullets from the batch of ammo that leaded up my bore and determined they were actually Precision Delta 148gr wad and they miked out between .354 and .355 consistently, looks like I found the source of my leading. I should have checked them before loading but got in a hurry, purely my fault. I don't have any of these left so I can't check any remaining unused bullets.

I have about 1K of these loaded, really don't want to pull down that many so I'll just use these for practice over the next couple weekends before the nationals. Fortunately I have enough factory ammo to get me through the nearly two weeks of competition I have coming up in September.

Worked on getting 500 pieces of once fired 2016 LC 223 brass turned into 7.62x40WT, everything is formed and this time the shoulder is in the proper place. They are currently in the corncob for a half hour or so to get the lube off before I trim to final length then in for a SS pin bath for a few hours to get the bling.



First 100 trimmed using the new trimmer I picked up last week.. not a bad little trimmer for very short run work.



Now a quick final inspection (100% case gauge check and visual case check) and then off to the wet tumbler.

Been doing a bit of this almost every day. 

Finished sorting a couple of 5 gallon buckets full of 5.56 brass by headstamp.
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Loaded 1001 Berry's 147 grain 9mm with 4.7 grains of Power Pistol.
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I am going to load some 300 BLK later.  125 grain Sierra Pro Hunters with 18.0 grains of Win 296.
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Last night I dusted off the Lee Turret Press, and put together some 300 Blackout.  147gr .308. over 17.2 gr of Lil-Gun.  I hope t go out and test them today.  The bullets were at a good price so I'm trying for a good all around round that excels at plinking on the cheap.

Casted up about 300 more 130 gr RN for 9mm this evening.

Dusted off the 'ol 650XL and loaded up 1500 rounds of my favorite 9mm NATO clone load.

Goal is to load about 5k more before switching to .223 and .308 case prep. This in theory should only take a couple of months working on it here and there. (Come on cooler weather!)

Once I have the .223 (10k) and .308 (5K) prepped, I'll switch the 550 over to load the .308 and the 650 over to load the .223.  It will be all 55 fmj and 147 gr FMJ type loads.

THEN, I'll work on loading up the 5k of 230 gr FMJ iI've had sitting around for like 6 years. You can't have enough 45 ACP!  

I'll post as things happen.....

Your crimping is never going to be good on casings that short because you are using the Lee FCD. I explained how the FCD works in a reply on one of your other threads.

It a one piece design. It applies the crimp the exact same distance from the shell holder every time. That distance is machined to work best with brass trimmed to "normal" trim length give or take probably .010"

So on your short brass the crimp is always going to be out on the edge of the mouth.

Depending on how much your brass actually changes size when sized it could take 3 or more sizings before that brass grows enough to even come close to needing trimmed.

Why don't you just stop crimping like most of us do? At least try it.

Motor

Loaded some test loads using 69gr BTHP Sierra's for the 22-6mm AI. I'm out of 75gr A-Max and want to save my 65gr Game Kings for hunting in the .223

I had zero expansion with the 69gr BTHP when used in the .223 on groundhog which I expected but I'm not too worried about that in the 22-6mm AI. I think at MV at or just above 3600 fps they'll probably expand or deform in some way.

I loaded up some 174gr RN .312" for my M39 just in case I get to deer hunt with it this coming season. The wood is pretty bare so I don't take it out in wet weather.

Also loaded up some what I call 360gr wadd cutters. These are Lee hollow base almost flat nose 50 caliber muzzleloader bullets that I powder coat and size to .501" then load in 500 S&W. TALK ABOUT METPLAT

Motor

Sized and trimmed 231 cases of .223


..so, I was messing around with my new tool, RCBS Precision Mic .223, and I was measuring every of 231 cases after passing it through Lee sizing die. And each of them was sized to 0.000" (+/- 0.001")

After that, I passed them through the Giraud Tri Way trimmer, and it turned out that all rounds measure around 1.753" (with some variation of 1.751" to 1.756")

I guess that is a good thing! It means that dimensions are right and I get a consistent sizing and measurements are good.

Only thing left is to maybe lube the cases better...cuz sometime I had to give it 2 pulls on a ram to get a right sizing.

Motor1: This time cases are trimmed to a normal length as you noted

Ordered 1000 Ni Starline 10mm cases from Midway.

Ordered a FART, media separator and some RCBS Competition Dies.

Yesterday I loaded up some 55gr rmr fmj's over some TAC. First time using that powder and I was going for 5.56 pressures and velocity. This morning I got out to the range and tested the loads I worked up. 

I tested the loads in my 11.5 sbr and 14.5 block 1.5ish clone and 27 grains of TAC worked the best. In the 11.5 the avg fps was 2838 and 3036 fps in the 14.5.

I also tried my hand at a mk262-ish load with tac and 77gr nosler cc's. For now I settled on the max listed charge at 24.8. Velocities were 2482 fps in the 11.5 and 2644 fps in the 14.5.

Today was a good day.

I totally destroyed an LC 7.62mm case.  Seems I forgot to lube inside the neck...  The expander on my die stuck hard in the neck and shoved the shoulder sort of inside out.  Ugly.

Me and Mr. Dremel took the case apart well below the end of the expander, and I took advantage of brass being more elastic than steel, working the expander out by essentially hogging out the junction of case neck and shoulder, fortunately without hurting any part of the expander or its stem.  The cutting reminded me that brass gets HOT when you cut it.  No damage was done to my fingers, but I got a strong reminder about this.

Oh, until I goofed, I'd sized a bunch of LC cases to prepare for test loads.  I have 89 cases ready for my initial test loads.  I really hate odd numbers like that.  This whole thing should teach me a lesson...

Used some quick steel putty and a 22lr casing with the rim cut off to make a 22 caliber pellet conversion for my 22 TCM 1911. Backyard fun shooting cans and a steel target.

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I may load up some more stuff this afternoon. I need more 556 and 300 RSAUM loads built.

In a sign that I should have gotten married I was bored enough this morning to start weighing bulk 55gn .223 FMJBT bullets to see what kind of weight variance there was compared to something like Hornady.

Spent the morning casting more 130 gr RN here.

Within the last couple weeks completed the remaining 308 brass I had on had and loaded them up, 150FMJ with Varget and 4064.  Converted press back to .223.  Prepped several hundred .223 cases.  Primed a fifty tray of 223 LC brass and was getting ready to make a ladder load test with 8028XBR but discovered I'm out of 75hpbt.  Placed order.

This is what I've been casting the last couple of days. It's the NOE #358-128-RN.


Should be a little over 1400 in this box (27 lbs). Theses end up weighing 130 gr for me when cast from clip on wheel weights, powered coated and sized .358

Shot the 50 and found two more bad ones.
Several of these had loose primer pockets, as in primers seated with no resistance, but not a single one fell out.

These have been loaded over a dozen times.

I started putting away the .308 stuff, as I need bullets to move forward, and I haven't decided on which ones yet.  I got out some of my .30 Carbine stuff and started cleaning dies and such.  My LE Wilson .30 carbine gauge turns out to be only a case length gauge, which surprised me.  It needed cleaning too, and I waxed it instead of oiling it before I put it away.

I have 2k cases and at least that many bullets for .30 Carbine.  I still need to get another brick of primers and to get at least 4 more pounds of powder, but I can have the brass ready to load.

Bought:

100 Hornady .45 Auto 185 gr XTP bullets
Lee universal decapping die
Lee factory crimp die for .223 / 5.56
RCBS three-die set for .44 Mag/ .44 Special
Hornady three-die set for .40 S&W / 10mm
Hornady three die set for .38 Special / .357 Magnum

That let me have separate tool heads for .44 Special and .44 Magnum, .38 Special and .357 Magnum and for .40 S&W and 10mm.

Also cleaned, de-capped and swagged 300 .223 cases.

Didn't get as much done this weekend because I had to build a retaining wall

But I did get my new Forster Co-ax temporarily mounted and set up, super excited for it.

Also did my first batches of brass in my new Annealeez. Pretty slick, very easy to use.

Tomorrow, I hope to start load development using Nosler RDFs in my 6.5 Creedmoor. I already got a great load using these bullets in 308.

Today I decided to do something about optimizing case prep for .223
I bought a drill press and installed it on my bench:


Then I made a wooden pad, i drilled one hole .223 neck size diameter, and second hole right at it with .223 body diameter:


Then I made sure that I can place a case there and the drill press has some laser sight on it for centering, it aligns perfectly:


Anyway... after all that, I figured that the crimp removal operations are better now, my finger does not hurt after processing 250 rounds, all I have to do is place a case there, hold it with two fingers (with protection gloves), lower the drill with Hornady Crimp Removal tool inserted, and its ok.
My method is, aim inside the hole, hold the case, once case starts rotating, press a little and stop. It works.

After that I decided to do same thing with primer pocket uniforming tool... but it didn't work quite well for me, don't know, it was making a bad looking pattern on the primer pocket inside and was not consistent.

So... all this press helps me with is just primer crimp removal. that's it. but anyway I guess it works for now..

I also tried using Giraud tool with it  (with cases standing mouth up), but that didn't work out well either, case was rotating inside it a lot of times and not giving consistent results.

After that I used Giraud tool as usual with hand drill, and was getting very very consistent results of 1.753" (all my headspace was aligned properly this time).

So... I'll leave this press drill for crimp removal.. if I don't like it later.. I'll have a drill press, which I needed to buy anyway

I also washed the processed brass:


look how shiny and nice it is... but bad thing is, this shininess disappears after like few hours.. any ideas why? Also, the primer pockets get some darker color..and they are not that shiny anymore.
Another thing I noticed is.. brass was dirty inside and still had pieces of brass dust from trim operations! I did not expect that! I had to clean each case with cotton swab after that and blow out with compressed air.

So.. all I did is, put 250 rounds inside FA wet tumbler with just dawn and lemishine (no steel media), and I did that to delube and to remove brass dust from trim operation. Delubing obviously is done, but not complete brass particle removal.

and well, I also loaded 50 rounds with 25.3 gr of CFE223 with very light crimp, and another 50 rounds with 25.3gr CFE223 without any crimp:


25.3gr is 0.5gr more than minimum load, I was suggested here before to work up load.

<snip> use the tacked "where to find" thread at the top of the page. dryflash3

5 or so years ago I sold my only two .357's. I thought I was done with them and in the last 2 weeks have traded/bought 3 more.
Early this am I found my old notes and loaded 200 rounds of Hornady XTP 158gr .357 with 13.8gr of H110. Went to the range and had a great day of shooting.
Picked up 2 big coffee cans of assorted brass at the USPSA range, sorted and cleaned.

Sized and deprimed about 500 LC 5.56. Will probably do 500 tomorrow and then the following day. Now Im trying to figure out a quick way to trim them and take care of the primer pockets. After I get all the cases in order need to start doing some load research. Honestly Ive almost no experience loading .223/5.56. Its just not a round I shoot enough to make it worth my time reloading.

Bought dies, brass, and bullets for my new 6.5 Grendel upper! Really looking forward to doing some load workup

Dies - Forster full length resizer and ultra micrometer seater
Brass - Hornady 
Bullets - 123gr SST, 123gr ELDM, 140gr RDF

Received a custom die I ordered a long time ago. It has the wrong expander ball in it lol... Will call tomorrow to try and get the right one.

Loaded up some 7 Mag with Barnes bullets. Can't wait to try them!

180 rounds of 115gr 9mm

next up: working a load for .40

reloaded and shot successfully 250 rounds of .223 today with 55gr hornady bullet and CFE223! yay! It works.

Still working up my load. Need to purchase better contrast targets, because I believe that my precision is bad on those bright-red targets on a very sunny day, it gets blurred on a range of 100 yards.

Stopped at my Father-in-Laws house to assist him with some cleanup after the storms here in Texas. He told me to go grab the reloading stuff from the back of his car. He hasn't loaded in years and gave me the rest of his stuff

10,000 Winchester Large pistol primers
1000 Winchester small pistol primers
500  CCI small magnum pistol primers
Dillon D-Terminator scale
200 44 mag cases
Lyman check weight set
1911 mag
45 acp snap caps

Finished up my 22 TCM project. 899 rounds of converted 556 blanks, cut off with a chop saw, annealed, resized and trimmed with the RT1200, neck turned, resized again with a 22 TCM resizing die, then inspected closely round by round for splits or issues, then loaded with 9.8g of H110, CCI 500 primers, and a 40g armscor bullet.

Figured between this 899 and the original 500 I made from 556 blanks, I have saved $237.69 (Compared to buying the brass new and I didn't have to pay shipping).

But, I spent about $110 making an annealer, buying the $40 chop saw, and the $55 RCBS neck turner as well as my time, I didn't really save any money. But, I get to keep all the tools.

The next batch will be money in the bank.

Changed the 550 over to 9mm this evening.

Changed over my 650 to size/trim 5.56 brass, then started running bass through.

Didn't finish sizing brass because I ran out of lube. Ended up mixing about 150 lbs of 50-50 WW to pipe lead and pouring it into one lb ingots for the pot this winter.

I installed a 2 hour Intermatic timer on my SS pin tumbler.  

Now I can 'set it and forget it'.

FF2H Intermatic Auto Shutoff Timer
TP7010 One Gang Weatherproof Outlet Box
Skintop SLN NPT - 1/2 in cable gland (qty 2)

Bolted box to the base, looks good, works great!

<snip> off topic post removed. dryflash3

Loaded 41 more 7mm mag 140 tsx over Magnum powder. The chill in the air has me itching for elk season

@grimhollow: I have a question for youHere:

Yesterday I chamfer/deburred the 80 50BMG cases that I used my brothers' Bridgeport to trim on. I made a fixture to hold the case, clamped it in the vise and brought the 11/16'' end mill down on top of it trimming them to length. It worked better than I thought and held tolerance to +/- .001. Instead of having to buy a $130 special trimmer I bought a $7.00 end mill. I put that mush between my ears to good use for once.

After that I sized 300 158gr RNFP bullets that I cast a few weeks ago. I used a Lee Push-Through sizer. Now they are ready for PC and resizing again.

Then, I took apart the RCBS Reloader Special 2 press I bought from a friends' husband and lubed up the hinge pins and ram. Noticed it was made in 1983. If that's when the guy bought it then...it sat un-touched in the box for over 30 years. Now that it's seen the light of day I'll put it to good use. I think I'll use it to size those 158's after they're PC'ed.

Tried some of my blk loads. Same one I mentioned in the cast moa thread. This time I sorted by case manufacturer. Shot a crazy small group at 50 yds and then had one flier like 5 inches off. Happens to me almost every time and I can't figure out why 1 of 5 is always way off. Usually so far off Its not even on paper. I loaded up 8 more and inspected and weighed each bullet and case. Hopefully can eliminate the regular flyer. I'll take it to 100 once I figure it out. The group I had going today I think I can do the cast moa challenge with.

I finally bought a chrony.

Arrived today. Nothing fancy, just a Caldwell but it's cool.

I chronoed some of my pellets out of my 22 tcm converted brass and some non converted brass in my back yard

17g 22 cal pellet powered just by a primer through a 5 inch barrel does about 500 fps with the converted brass and about 400 fps out of the non converted brass. Pretty neat.

I went to the range and unloaded 350 9 mm cases. I brought home quite a bit more brass than I took. Also, a pox upon whoever decided to make small pistol primer 45 brass.  After getting home sorting out the brass, over half of the 45 went into my "trade for LPP brass" box.

Last night I got my WCT (world's cheapest trimmer) in 30-06 from ebay. I also got some frankford arsenal case lube (clone of Dillon case lube). I sized 54 pc's mixed military 30-06 brass. This was the easiest sizing iv ever done. I have tried imperial sizing wax but always got stuck cases. I was using one shot and it worked but it was tough sizing 30cal cases. The Dillon type lube is awesome.
After I tried my new case trimmer and it  trimmed my cases very quickly. I trimmed to 2.474. I trimmed my 54 military cases and another ~50 commercial cases that measured long in my other batch. I'm getting ready for my garand that coming from the cmp.