I had the morning and early afternoon to myself, so I had a reloading party.

I use a SDB to load 9mm. I also have SDB's for 357 mag and 45 ACP. I use a 550 for 223 and 7.62 x 39.

Link to how I got the 9mm SDB.



Gathering up what I will need for a 1k run.

Win 9mm brass, tumbled and mouths deburred. Most people don't debur, I do.

Montana Gold 115 gr FMJ. OAL to be 1.100.

CCI-500's. Can't see price tag in picture. Funshow find 2-08, $15. Those were the days.

Reloading data checked, and my notes show that I worked up to 4.5 grs of TiteGroup with this bullet.

TiteGroup, my charge weight will be 4.4 grs. I believe Vini also uses this load.

Loading primer tubes. I only have 8 (note to self, order more, as all self respecting progressive loaders have 10 min), so will have to load a couple twice.

SDB cleaned and lubed.



Loaded first 10 single stage, adjusting powder charge and seating depth. Bell and crimp remain unchanged.

Checked all 10 with case gauge, GTG.

Took me about a 1/2 hour to fill primer tubes and adjust PM and seating die.  

Time spent here will pay off later.



Close up of case gauge.



Case gauge and OAL.



100 rounds loaded. When the primer low warning goes off, time to refill.

Every 100 rounds I weigh the powder charge. Notice scale at top of pic.

Reloading block and funnel used to return powder to case that powder charge is being checked.



Half way done, short break, and back to loading.



Finished loading. Montana Gold does not short you on your bullet order, 10 extra. Did not find 1 bad bullet in batch.

Loading process, going at a comfortable pace took 4 hours.

At one point I timed myself at 100 rounds in 15 minutes.

Breaks, refilling primers, and checking powder charges takes time.



These are the 9 rounds that the case gauge rejected.

Card with loading data goes into 30 cal ammo can with ammo.

Took me 1 1/2 hours to gauge 1k.

Upper left 3 cases had a burr on the rim, couple of light passes with a fine file and they gauged.

Upper right, can't see clearly in the pic, primer is upside down. My bad, must of happened when filling primer tubes.

Lower row of 5, case bulged about 1/2 way down. These would not have chambered.

Which is why I went to the trouble of gauging the whole batch. I am not perfect, but I want my reloads to be.

These 6 rounds I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder (reused), and resized.

I go real slow with light pressure on handle of press when decapping live primers.

Went extra slow and easy with upside down primer. Yes, I was wearing safety glasses.

I had no problems decapping, and I reused the primers and powder when reassembling these 6 rounds.

Second time through, all gauged good.

Took me about 15 minutes to fix these 9 bad rounds.

After putting everything away, spent rest of day with wife, had a couple glasses of wine, and watched fireworks.

My 4th included converting my DILLON 650 from 5.56mm to 45ACP.

I loaded up about 1000 rounds.



then burgers on the grill and small town fireworks.

Life is good.

My 4th involved teaching my cousin's kids how to shoot a 50bmg.  Good day.

My reloading room is gutted for a flooring project but I did light some more powder from pulled bullets and all the powder my shop vac has sucked up. Had about 2 oz and put it in a clean soup can.   Had a live primer in the mix too, sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, after about 5 seconds I heard a pop then the powder burned for another 3 seconds and petered out.

I've been preaching checking every reloaded pistol round with a case gage.  It's sort of ego deflating to find rejects but I turn that around and take pride in having 100% reliably loadng ammunition.





 

Well I listened. I never used to do all the rounds, just check a few here and there.

I joined the 100% club.

That's why I included the bad rounds, to carry on your our mission.

Very nice!  You sir are an ammo factory!

Yes, I also load 4.4 grns of Titegroup with a 115 grn Montana Gold bullet on a regular basis.  Great load.  I'm usually seating them to OAL of 1.095.

You've got a great setup there my friend.

Glad to give credit where it is due.