who's reloading tonight?

[cycloneman]

tonight i am doing the favorite, trimming, rats

[10 Spot Terminator]

About 50 rounds of single stage and individually weighed powder charges of .223 for my Tikka darling, and prepped another 50 cases for loading tomorrow as well as sizing and prepping 50 new Winchester cases for my Mosin Nagant. Tomorrow midday wind permitting will be proof testing 2 loads for the Tikka and one for the Nagant. After that maybe a box of .22 ammo in 2 different rifles . Less than 1/2 of what I would normally shoot on an outing. Not going to deplete my reserves at this time .

[cycloneman]

got about 50 cases left to trim. fingers are hurting now. if i still smoked i would br doing that right now

[cycloneman]

well the stuff i trimmed a couple weeks ago now is being charged, seated and crimped. that's what i got going on tonight.

[army mp]

You say your fingers are hurting, are you using the Lee, or the crank type trimmer. I don’t know why I’m asking. I have the crank RCBS, but when the arthritis kicks in nothing helps, but I do take and put medical tape on the fingers I turn the crank with. I had some guys do some concrete block work for me and the first thing they did was tape their fingers up. It helps when doing a bunch

[cycloneman]

Originally Posted by army mp

You say your fingers are hurting, are you using the Lee, or the crank type trimmer. I don’t know why I’m asking. I have the crank RCBS, but when the arthritis kicks in nothing helps, but I do take and put medical tape on the fingers I turn the crank with. I had some guys do some concrete block work for me and the first thing they did was tape their fingers up. It helps when doing a bunch

no. pinch nerve in the neck that gives me problems in the hands sometimes. The height of the table and the chair have something to do with it. Sometimes no problems. Depends on what muscles i pull earlier in the day or week.

[howlnmad]

Just got done sizing and primer pocket cleaning 975 9mm rounds. I know it sounds insane but I competition shoot with a local group. It sure burns up the rounds fast.

[BobMcG]

Yesterday was for shooting, tonight is for: Two tumblers going at the moment, one with a couple hundred .40 S&Ws and the other with a mix of .380, 9mm, & .38spl. Have also resized a separate batch of 308 rnds of 40 S&W after giving them a tumble.

[cycloneman]

just finished seating a batch of 223. had enough for tonight. crimp tomorrow.

[CJ7365]

Just got done depriming, deburing the military crimp, and cleaning the pocket primer on 500 .223 LC cases. They are all in the tumbler now, My index finger and thumb are a little sore, but the Lee chamfer tool works like a charm to get thoses military crimps out, especially for $5.00.

Because this was my first time doing this, I even primed one case just to make sure I was taking the crimp out. Good 2 go.

I am still waiting on my .223 dies. so I am at a stand still now, time for more reading and looking at the forum.

Heres some pictures

1. .223 brass w/ military crimp
2. .223 brass w/ miliyary crimp taking out w/ Lee chamfer tool
3. .223 brass w/ new primer

[cycloneman]

CJ

yea, i was where you are a month ago. i started with 500 and tonight ended up seating 462 of them. for different reasons i trashed some cases. seems like i go through a 2 week cycle. I hate the trimming stage. That is the slowest. just hate it. but one the + side all i have left for this batch is to crimp and i'll do that tomorrow.

Looks like you did a good job on the primer pockets.

[CJ7365]

Thanks cycloneman.

It felt pretty good seating that primer

I did measure a couple of cases, and all where within .001 of the 2.26, how many times (approx) can you reload a case before you have to start trimming???

[cycloneman]

its a strange thing. No real set of rules to follow here. it depends on the rifle and how hot you load the cases. the higher the pressure the more the brass moves. I hate to say it but you really need to measure a sample of the batch every time.

But some 25 years ago when i was plinking with a mini 14 i would just keep reloading till the necks burned. I think I got 6 reloads back then. the mini 14 eats anything. Not a picky rifle. At least mine wasn't.

buy the way i am not saying its ok to do this. i was very foolish back then. i certanly would not do this today becasue i know better. just becasue my mini 14 didn't give me problems, that doesnt mean that one day it still will not. I am sure glad I didn't have an ar style rifle back then becuase i fear what might happen with an ar style gas system and long cases.

[Bruce FLinch]

Nice job on the military brass CJ!

I need to go out & set up the 650 for some .38's. Dinner is a bit late tonight...

[CJ7365]

Thnx Bruce,

I guess it was to my benefit that my dies did not come with everything else, this has givin me time to really read and reread about reloading, so that I do it right the first time, and take my time.

Thanks for everyone that has givin me some advice.

Now where are my dies at? LOL

It won't take that much time, to sample a batch, thmx for the sound advice Cycloneman

[RogerWilco99]

Nice job on those primer pockets, CJ7365 (Rob).

I've got a Hornady primer pocket reamer that I haven't used, yet. I have several thousands of .308 military crimp cases and several thousand more of .223 like also with the crimp.

Is it better to use a reamer than a chamfering tool? Or are they pretty much the same? Sorry if this question has been asked (repeatedly).

Cheers,
Bruce Lewis

[RogerWilco99]

I also meant to say that I'm reloading some more .308 tonight and tomorrow. I'm going to bump up the powder a step and load five then bump it up again and load five more up to the load _under_ the max load (four sets in all).

I'm using twice fired Winchester brass and Vihtavouri N150 with 150gr Hornady bullets.

I'm full length resizing and using a set of Lee Pacesetter dies with the factory crimp. That took a bit to figure out. But I like it.

I guess I'll probably have to trim these next time (maybe even this time).

Cheers,
Bruce Lewis

[Rembrandt]

Gonna be some long nights ahead sorting and separating....about 400lbs worth of pistol brass.

[Insulation Tim]

I do things in batches. Tonite I am tumbling 45 ACP brass and working on de-priming a Cleaned batch. My range is closed all week for the Mid America Shoot so I'll probably spend tom orrow after working powdering and seating the bulllets. All I do, at this point, is 45ACP.

[techoca]

Rembrant,
man am I jealous, look at all that brass.

[CJ7365]

Bruce,

Thanks for the compliment

Can tell you about the reamer, cuz, this was my first time, and I was using the Lee chamfering, and after I did the 500 rounds this weekend, I think it is getting dull or my fingers are just worn out, but anyways I did order the Hornady reamer and another Lee chamfering tool on Sunday, it looks like it will work and might be more forgiving on the fingers cuz its got a handle.

To make sure I was taking enough off, every so often, maybe after 50 or so, I would seat a old primer just to make sure i was taking enough off, I know the old primer would go in easier, but just using it as a guide.

I did find some .223 dies on Midsouthshooter supply, they are the RCBS, they will be here on Thursday, I just cant wait anymore, my Lee dies have been on order since March 4.

Well Bruce that is a lot of brass, you need a couple of kids helping you out, I got my son involved, he's 14, I gave him the easy task of depriming, of course I could not keep up with him

[RogerWilco99]

Originally Posted by CJ7365

I did find some .223 dies on Midsouthshooter supply, they are the RCBS, they will be here on Thursday, I just cant wait anymore, my Lee dies have been on order since March 4.

Well Bruce that is a lot of brass, you need a couple of kids helping you out, I got my son involved, he's 14, I gave him the easy task of depriming, of course I could not keep up with him

I'll look on the MidSouthShooter site again for 223 dies. I really like the Lee Pacesetter set. I have had a set on order from Lee since March 16. I sent them an email yesterday inquiring about my order status (and cancelling the 308 die set since I got mine from MidwayUSA). They responded within a couple of hours stating that did not know the availability of the 223 set and that they could not project a ship date, yet. (and that they had removed the 308 set from my order). They actually sent me an invoice with an order number on it. So, perhaps it will ship soon. Perhaps you should email them about your order, Rob?

I tried the Hornady primer pocket reamer this morning. It works but it does take a good bit of effort. I seated some new primers in the 20 that I reamed, cleaned and uniformed.

With all the brass I've got, I'm thinking of getting one of those motorized RCBS "Trim Mate" brass processor thingies. I have an RCBS crimp remover that will work with that, I think. That might be easier than doing it all by hand. I just don't want it to be able ruin primer pockets with a machine.

Does anyone here use one of those machines? Are they worth the money? Are they reliable? Do they work as advertized? Do they make a lot of noise? My wife hates "noisy" hobbies -- she already complains about the noise of brass tumblers.

Cheers,
Bruce

[CJ7365]

I figure I wont cancel the 223 dies I have on order from Lee, when they eventually come in, they will be backup.

I thought about the eletric trim mate as well, but I figure, If I go ahead and grin and bear it and do 1000 pieces, I should be set for a while, and in the mean time my fingers will recover

[cycloneman]

Well I havent reloaded in a few weeks but I helped a good friend of mine set up his press today and got him started. Poor fella he doesn't have a clue how addictive this is.

[Lotsdragon]

ROFL I hear that cycloneman! And it pleases you to no end when you get them just right!