Posted: 8/14/2007 3:13:34 PM EDT
| Hey. I'm new to reloading and was wondering if any reloaders are in my area. I'm stationed at Ft. Sill. I'd like to get some pointers if possible... |
|
Tell us what calibers you are reloading, what equipment you currently have, and what your intent is i.e. blasting ammo, target ammo, accuracy loads, hunting loads, or general purpose rounds. Chuck1911 is starting the reloading part of shooting, is in your area, but may be out of touch for a couple of weeks. IF you have specific questions about any one thing, I'll be more than glad to help if I can. I"ve been at it for a few decades. Don't use that statement to make any old fart jokes, you jerks! 
|
hell I been at it for a few decades myself, wait......what's the question again? nah man, if you've got a question, ask it, somebody around here will most likely be able to answer it, there's a reloading forum also, but your gonna want to take some info with a grain of salt, and don't be trusting anybodies load info, always follow the load info you've read in the load manuals. |
|
Hey all. I'm mostly worried about setting up my dies correctly right now. Here's what I've got. Rock Chucker Supreme Press 5-0-5 Scale Uniflow Powder Measure Deburring tool Powder Funnel Hand Priming Tool Case Loading Block 2 Ammo holding cases Speer Reloading Manual Lyman Relading Manual 45th Edition Case Lube Pad I bought a bag of Remington .223 brass, IMR 3031 Powder, Hornady 60GR. V-Max bullets, and a box of Remington 6.5 primers, though I now think I need to get a different set of primers for the load I'm looking at. My primary interests right now are accuracy rounds and blasting rounds. 99% of my shooting is target, though I'd like to get into match shooting. Glad to know there are locals here. I got my supplies at Bass Pro Shop in OKC. They seem to have a good selection. Is there anywhere else I should be aware of? |
That's mine, that photo is a few months old, the old Lyman press on the right has been retired and now a MEC shotshell reloader sits in its place. The Sportsman's Warehouse has the best selection of reloading equipment and accessories in the OKC area, Outdoor Outfitters has some as well. www.outdoor-outfitters.com/ You will probably find 3031 is a pain to work with in any caliber in the 22 class, that old extruded powder just doesn't go through the 22 neck size very well. Most of us reloading 223 are using ball powders, if you wanted to stay with an extruded powder Varget will flow better than 3031. With the right rifle and the right loads 223 can be an awesome performer. 
|
|
After you get your dies set, load only one round then chamber it in your rifle to see if it will work. If not, readjust your dies. Overlubing the case will make the case stick and collapse the shoulder in places from suction when you pull out the case. Under lubing and you'll stick the case in where you won't get it out with the press. It'll pull the cartridge rim off, Also, use your deburr tool lightly - you just want to knock off the rough edges on the case mouth, inside and out. Your best bet is to load just a few rounds at a time, then try them on the range. The loading manuals should have excellent how-to instructions. Read them and you'll do OK. |
|
I know the speer book has a section on loading for accuracy, it's pretty informative, as to the primers your using, as long as they're made for small rifles they should work fine, some powders recomend using a small rifle magnum primer, but I've never noticed a difference on the target, so I'll always just used the standards, I've also never used the remington primers, so I can't tell you what they'd look like, but primers should set a little lower in the pocket than the rim around them. |
As Ndenway says, any manufactured primer that says small rifle will work. Extruded powder works fine in many cartridges. I've run IMR 4895 in the last few 223s I loaded and that gave good accuracy. If you get other calibers, other powders, only have one set up on your bench at a time. Don't put two different types of powder or primer on your bench at the same time. That way you'll never make the mistake of intermingling the two. If you used a small pistol primer in a 223, you might rupture a primer and cause some gun problems. And mixing up loads with different powders can have some really bad results. |
|
I don't know if they will even let you return powder....... most places won't even take ammo back.... if you ever want to push a 52gr hpbt smk(siera match king) H335 (27 grains) is the place to look with cci small rifle magnum primers ......... it produces a laser It's the acuracy load given in siearas book and theirs a reason why 
|
|
Hey all. My primary rifle right now is a 14.5 in XM15 (Bushmasters version of the AR15) It's a 14.5 in barrel with either a 1/7 or 1/9 twist ratio. I'll have to look as I can't recall off hand. I read somewhere that shooting a 50G bullet through a 1/7 puts the bullet at something like 300,000 RPM, which sounds like WAY too much. I realize that a 14.5 isn't made for accuracy, but so far it's doing really well. I'll look into a ball powder. I didn't realize 3031 was extruded until you pointed that out, and I wasn't sure if it'd matter. If worse comes to worse I'll just use it up and get something different next time :) As far as mixing powders, I sort of figured that mixing would be a BIG no no. I may be army, but they haven't robbed me of my common sense just yet  The box of primers I have are Remington Small Rifles. The reason I thought they looked shallow was because there is a BIG difference in the depth of the primer and the depth of where it goes. All the ammunition I've ever bought has been relatively flush with the casing, and I didn't know if that was the problem. The Lyman's book recommends 6.5 or 7 primer. Are there different sizes? What does that number refer to? I've been going through the forums and my books like a madman. Sorry if these questions are stupid. I'm new ALSO! I'm thinking about purchasing the following. Crits anyone? Frankford Arsenal Electronic Caliper 6" Stainless Steel Lyman E-ZEE Flo Universal Adjustable Powder Trickler PACT BBK 2 Electronic Powder Scale 750 Grain Capacity 110 Volt I'm also looking for a case trimmer. I don't think I need a powered one just yet, but does anyone have any suggestions? |
|
Wicked, I don't even keep track of primer numbers, they are either small or large rifle or pistol, standard or magnum. I haven't had very good luck with Remington primers accuracy wise. I'm very partial to Federals but they are like gold now. As far as 3031 is concerned, I've used it in 30/06 to 45/70 and in 30/30. 3031 and 4895 have been good midrange powders for all types of rifles. So try it out. What ACman said about H335 - it's an excellent ball powder for the 223. Before you buy anything else, use what you have and see how it works out. Or else you'll end up with all kinds of stuff you don't use. |
I"ve never used the gear above, so I can't say how well they'd work, sure they'd work fine but I just don't know, I've got a set of stainless steel calipers at harbor frieght, cost like $35, they've got cheaper and higher sets, but the ones I've got are good enough for my reloading needs; I use a rcbs cast metal hand powered powder trickler, cost like $6; as for the electronic scales, I haven't had much luck with them, thought about the lyman dispenser/scale and almost bought one last year, but I couldn't bring myself to spend money to replace a lyman beam scale thats worked well for me for the last 20 years or so; as for a cheap and easy trimmer, the lee pilot trimmer is hard to beat, for the case pilot, case holder/cutter they'll run approx $9 for one caliber, and all you need to buy for the next caliber is the case pilot and holder which runs approx $4 each, you can chuck the holder up in a drill and do them a bit quicker. |
It doesn't matter. The 30/06 is a .308, the British 303 is a .311, the 38 is .357, etc. Just the way they name them to for whatever reason they name them.
|
|
.223 were used in the 22 centerfire cartridges in the old days, I think up to the late 40s early 50s, a couple used .227 dia, then they went to the .224 as a standard dia., some manufacturers still make .223 bullets for use in hornets,jets etc. but current barrels will use the .224 dia ones. |
|
You won't be able to test the true dimensions of the shoulder with dial caliber, especially the shoulder angle. If your die is not properly set, the round may not chamber. Check your first cartridge in the rifle to see if it will chamber. Then adjust your dies if necessary before reloading any more rounds. You are no doubt full length resizing. When you lube your rounds for resizing, see that the mandrel on the decapping stem is also lubed by lubing the mouth of your cartridges. Because case mouth wall thicknesses are not necessarily even around the neck, and grunge builds up inside the case mouth if you don't clean your cartridges after firing them, you can feel the cartridge stick as you are pulling the case out of the die. It is sticking on the sizing mandrel on your decapping stem. If it sticks hard enough, it can actually warp your shoulder to where it won't chamber well. So lube the insides of your case mouths.
|
do you have the press/dies etc and are just wanting to begin loading rifle, or do you need to start everything from scratch? |
| Sportsman's has a decent supply of reloading equipment. We bought our reloader and accessories from Dillon and generally get bullets, powder, etc. from Powder Valley. Are wanting another so we can set one up for 9 and one for 40 and not be changing the dies all the time. |
do you want single stage or progressive? if you go single stage, go with something good, the rcbs ss presses run approx a c-note, but will last you, I've heard the lee classic press is decent also but I've never used one, it looks fairly heavy duty and is what is used in lee's 50 browning kit. if you want to go progressive, there the dillion 550 and 650 that will load both rifle and pistol and the hornaday LnL progressive, both run the LnL and 550 will run $450 with dies ready to load one caliber, for dies, you've got a large selection, I use lee, rcbs, redding and hornaday, I like the lee deluxe collet dies for rifle and carbide for pistol, they're damn good and affordable, plus they come with the shell holder, the others are damn good also, but cost more, and you have to buy shell holder separately; lee makes a challeger kit that'll get you started for approx $100, I started with one, but the press will break, so it's better to buy a good one to start with; but lets try and make a list of the basic neccessities, once you get aclimated, you'll add gear that makes loading quicker, prices are approx: -reloading manual(s), speer makes an excellent one, but you'll add books pretty often to keep up with newer load data; $15+ -single stage press; $100 for rcbs -dies for calibers you want to load; lee deluxe collet and carbide pistol dies $25/set -shell holders if you don't buy lee dies; $5 -powder scale; lyman beam $55 -powder trickler;rcbs cast $6 -calipers; $35 at harbor freight -priming system if press doesn't have one built in; lee hand prime $12 -case trimmer for the rifle cases, the lee pilot trimmer is cheap and works well, but is time consuming, cost for the cutter, case holder and pilot for one caliber is approx $9, then all you need is the pilots for other calibers which runn approx $4ea; -champher tool, lee's little thimble tool is approx $2, and works just as well an others; so for about $200 or so you could have the basic stuff to begin loading. then you all you need is brass, bullets, powder and primers and your ready to load, some people will tell you you need case guages and a tumbler, I've never used a case guage and have never had a full length sized case fail to chamber do to being outsized, so I don't bother with them, a tumbler is nice, but not absolutly neccessary, I went without one for 15+ years before I finally bought one, but they do clean cases and keep grit from scratching dies, you can also use one of the chemical cleaner solutions to clean brass, I bought a dillon 550 from sportsmans, for the basic press it ran $340, by the time I bought two conversions kits, 16 spare primer tubes and some other stuff + tax I walked out at approx $540 less dies, I use my lee dies and they work fine, then I bought a deluxe tool head kit and spare parts kit from dillon for an additional $150, so it's pretty close to 7 bills + cost of dies to load two calibers on my 550. most of this stuff can be found at midwayusa.com, less the dillon gear, you can order that direct from the factory or look in the EE there's several vendors selling NIB kit in there, also brianenos.com has some pretty damn good prices of dillon, sportsmans warehouse carries dillon, RCBS, hornaday and some redding gear, and occasionaly they'll have a sale on dillon 550 conversion kits, normal price is $35-$40 and sale price will be around $20, so it pays to look there everytime I stop by. hell I might have missed something so everybody feel free to jump in and add something. |
Do yourself a favor buy once cry once. Dillon is the way to go even with a reloading bench that looks like this i'm unable to mess it up  a friend of mine gave me the red press and a rcbs swaging dies to remove crimps   
|
|
Here's some good information about Dillon: www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=664 If you think we all started out with fancy reloading benches, this is my original loading bench, it was INSIDE a closet, attached to one of the shelves inside the closet, it's 3/4" ply with 2x4 legs. 
|