Sized 1500 357 Mag brass to prep for trimming.

Teaching two guys to reload. One guy is loading 9mm, the other is prepping brass for .223. Letting  an experienced loader try the Giraud trimmer for the first time is priceless.

Recap-

Cranked out 500 rounds of 9mm for new shooter.

Demonstrated Giraud and 1050 for shooter#2.  Sent him home with 100 rounds of .308 175 SMK, 42.7 RL15, FGMM primer in new Winchester cases.

PLanned a small 3 person group buy of .223 bullets.

Making plans for huge .223 brass processing event

Ran 50 .35 Whelen cases through the RCBS Ttim Pro.  Then primed, loaded with IMR4895 and 158 gr Hornady XTPs.  

Then I set up the Trim Pro for 6.5x55, and ran 150 6.5x55 cases through it.  I still have 100 more Swede cases to trim.

“Reduced Recoil” .35 Whelen loads:
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Far more pleasant to shoot than the 250 gr loads I worked up.

Bunch of 230g XTP rounds ))  Found the bullets on sale cheap )

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Spent the morning sorting brass for our local IWLA range.

Came home and cleaned the reloading bench off so I can do some 9mm reloading in the evenings after work this week.

Looked at ammoseek.com to see how much 9mm costs so I can have a huge smile on my face as I leisurely load 1000 rounds across a few evenings.

I ordered the Hornady Lock n Load Ammo Plant

Prepped and primed the stray 6.5 Creed cases I had to add to the bucket of ready to load brass. Got the LnL set up for .45ACP. Need to start picking up pistol brass at the range as I’m getting low.

Bought another 800 pcs of Lapua brass (mixed .308 & .223) along with 1K 200gr Dots (RMR).

Decapped 1300 7.62 LC

Loaded up 100 9mm because I shot about 50 of them today. Gotta keep them going.

Purchased 10k small pistol primers from Powder Valley, picked up 1k of small rifle primers, 1k of large rifle primers and a jug of IMR 4350 from Sportsman's.
Loaded 500+ .223 today and blew the dust off my 44 .44 Spl/Mag and set them up to start loading tonight.

I recently picked up a bunch of old small pistol primers so I made a batch of ammo. For now I’ll keep them separate in case the primers have issues. It will just be range plinking ammo.

I have 38 Special brass in the tumbler as I write.  I just finished priming 400 pieces of .45 auto.  

kwg

Found out a large order of 9mm & 45ACP from The Blue Bullet that I placed on 7/15, won't be delivered until at least the first week of September.

So just placed an order with Black Bullet International. They are saying while they are still trying to ship within 48 hours, they can't guarantee it. Coupled with extended shipping times, expect about 15 days.

Ordered 5k of Win Small Pistol primers the other night from Midway when I happened to look at something else and thought what the hell- checked and they had both those and SP Mag primers.  Limited 1 box (of 5000) each, so thought I would do 1 small pistol, 1 small pistol mag.  By the time I looked to see if anything else was in stock, the magnums went to out of stock.  So then I was stuck paying the hazmat for just one case...frustrating.  Decided to do it anyhow as they were a decent price.  Shortly after I pulled the trigger and paid the small pistol primers were sold out as well.  

So they are out there, if you catch it at the correct time, it is just frustrating to not be able to stack things together to get the best value for the shipping and hazmat fees.

If stored right those should be just fine.  I loaded some stuff with 70’s era primers and they all worked great.

I finished trimming the 1500 357 Mag cases.  Now to load them

Ordered a used RCBS single stage press off e-bay.

The intent is to set up a bench outside in the shade so I can carry the press out and enjoy the view, the sunlight (cool days), the shade (warmer days/mornings) and be close to the dogs when I let them out.

I already sit outside to inspect, trim and prime brass.  I set the vibratory and tumbling brass cleaners outside when I run them.  I'll only have to be in the shed looking out the window when I'm putting powder and bullets in my reloads - or if it's raining/windy outside.

I cleaned up my bench.  I'd been doing stuff other than loading on it, and it needed to be brushed off and organized.  After the basic cleanup and arranging tasks, the organization bug got to me, so I got out my label machine and labeled a bunch of things.  Here's an example:

Yes, that's a plastic tab from a loaf of bread, and it turns out that those gadgets do a great job of holding onto small cables, like this one.  Which makes it easier to tell which end is from what power supply.  I labeled the Inline Fab power block for the "Sky Light" in the press the same way.  The opening "bites" into the strain relief of some plugs, while it just holds onto thicker cables.

Then I got looking at those bread tabs and something struck me.  The one thing that's really fumbly about the XL750 is the locator buttons.  They are small and smooth, and my fingers are anything but smooth.  So folks buy 3D-printed tabs to make it easier to handle them.  But most 3D printers have a fairly large minimum print thickness, so sometimes the tabs keep the buttons from working correctly.

Here's what I did.  I cut some bread tabs in half so they would fit in the locator button spaces, then I drilled a hole near the end.  I did this for a number of cut tabs at a time, of course.  Since I didn't have the pieces perfectly aligned, I goofed the holes on a few, but that's OK.  Here's my first attempt.  They worked pretty well.


But they weren't Dillon blue!  So I tried again with blue tabs, only this time I added a square of tab material to the back end of the tab to make it a little easier to grip.  And I smoothed them up a little, removing burs and easing corners.  Counting figuring out what drill size to use (9/64) and sanding, I think the whole process took 30 minutes.  That does not count time for the cement to dry - these things are styrene, so model cement works great, but old modeling habits die hard.  There were no issues with the buttons doing their jobs in my testing.  And hey, these bread tab things are free!


My last task was to try to mount the fancy dipped Allen wrench Dillon toolkit on the press, but once I did, I couldn't get the Akro bin onto its bracket.  It was a hassle to get the press off the mount, and I had to do it again to take the kit's bracket off again.
Inline Fab makes an extended bracket to mount the toolkit on their Ultramount (and it works for both the dedicated mount and their Quick Change version), so I'm probably headed that way soon.

Brass ratting at the local range. 644 pieces mixed 9/380/40/45.

Shot some of the Federal Guard Dog 9mm bullets I posted in the deals thread a few days ago.

This is the most accurate, and best feeding 9mm defensive bullet I've ever encountered. They actually ran in a Remington R51 which is some kind of miracle.

1" group at 25 yards with a Glock on a rest (not a machine rest).

I highly recommend that you guys grab some while they are available.

Saw this thread, decided that I haven't done any reloading today. So, I went and ran 100 9mm on the 550 just to get something loaded.

Sorted some range brass and loaded 25 rounds of 500 JRH with some 440 FNGC from Matt's Bullets.  

I also ordered a miniature couch.

Tested my new ATV3 setup with the Lee Classic Turret to see if it was a good setup to load nuclear 10mm loads.

The ATV3 handles 800-X like a champ, only overthrowing 3 of 50 rounds while keeping 47 of the 50 thrown properly in under 10 seconds each.

I can still fine tune it I think, but I'm still getting used to it and will learn more as I go.

The turret press is giving me fits by not completely indexing on each handle pull, so I'll be doing research on that - Research complete. Was a simple adjustment. Works great now.

Loading ladders of 200gr Everglades Plated over 7.2-8.1 of 800-X.

Hoping for 1,200 FPS out of the 5.3" barrel of my XDM but we'll see if I get there. Going to go slow and careful.

Hopefully work lets up some and I can make it to the range and test them out.

This is not a question/comment thread.

Progress. Area cleaned up and ready to assemble the workbench.
Decided to keep the existing bookcase where it is.

Loaded some 129 gr Hornady Interbonds in some 6.5x55 cases to test ascending charges of IMR4350, then off to the range.

Every load shot good enough to easily be minute of deer, but a couple showed promise.  I came home, picked a charge and loaded up more to shoot a larger number group.  Also tinkered with seating depth.  Next rangevtrio I’ll shoot 6 round groups of identical charge, but different seating.

For my 9mm toolhead on my 650, I moved the Dillon Powder Measure to station #3.  I added both return springs to the PM.

So today I finally made it to the range:



For my .223 toolhead, I moved the PM to station #4.

Everything ran 100% and grouped well.

Finished setting up the little turret press for reloading 10mm.

Built a little ramp so the auto ejector just kicks it on down the slide into the container (Rubbermaid Take Alongs) which also sits on a shelf.




After that, finished the ladder for 10mm.

7.2 to 8.1 grains of 800-X under Everglades 200gr plated seated to 1.260”.



Hope to chrono them this weekend.

.357 , 158gr JSP over 15.2gr of H110.

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Loaded some .380 Gold Fots, then set up my press for 9mm.

Loaded 250 rds of .40 plated 165’s that I got in an assortment of stuff from an estate deal a while back:

I got about 4 k SP primers, a Lee progressive of some type, about 2k various bullets, 4 or 5 sets of Lee dies, some Dillon case gauges, a Hornady primer loader, some new brass, and about 8 lbs of powder, half sealed.  Plus some other stuff.  I paid like $130, so just the primers were worth it.  This was pre-Covid, but only by a couple days.  I was at an auction and bought a couple guns and an older guy asked if I was interested in some stuff he had inherited from his brother...he had tried selling on CL but his ads kept getting removed (because “guns are bad”)  Could not believe it.  All those primers are now loaded in reloads, most of the bullets loaded as well, and gonna give my kid the redundant LEE dies when I get him a press.  Gonna sell the LEE progressive at some point as well.

At the auction that day I got a Colt SP1 carbine- with original lower and aluminum stock, but with an aftermarket upper assy, for $900.  The stock is worth several hundred by itself, and a stripped lower is worth up to 1k.  (I am not parting it out- putting an SP1 upper and Brownells retro barrel on it).  I also got an Underwood M1 carbine in OK condition for 650, and a first year of the caliber Colt Police Positive in .22 WRF for like $140 or something like that.   That turns out to be worth about 600+.

The above is the reasoning I gave the wife on why it was all such a great deal.  The reality is I am keeping all the guns and most of the reloading supplies, so I didn’t actually make money on anything, just saved a bunch...

About 300 bullets of 510gr goodness each.  

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Nothing. Got funky one weekend last month and reloaded 1500rds.

Ordered a 9mm conversion kit for my 550 direct from AZ. Picked up a box of RCBS tumbler media.  

Made 3 rounds of 9mm.... 3.

Got started and got called that it was time to go to town. Thought I had more time than that.

Couple days ago I finished cleaning off the main bench and put my toaster oven set up in the shed. Planning to hit it in the morning since I cleaned up my greasy boolits.

It was informative reading page 345 and seeing that not everyone loads 1k or more of a specific load.

I've been working with my 6XC cartridges on and off for a couple of months, trying new powders, new primers and new brass.

I was struggling to keep track of dimensions for three different brands of brass.  I also want to compare them when firing (sticky bolt lift).  

So, I made this.



I'll be loading up the cases tomorrow.  A trip to the range is coming.

Unloaded my Graf's order of powder. Shopping for other deals. Waiting on my part from Hornady so I can complete my reloading of some 338WM.

Placed an order with BBI for 1K pills.