who's reloading tonight?

[zfk55]

No full reloading, but I did another full prep on 50 more LC/LR cases and trimmed meplats on 100 175gr SMKs getting them ready of impact coating.

[todd51]

It's raining, the wind is blowing, and the threat of storms is in the air so I went to the man cave and loaded up 400 rounds of 9 mm. One of these days things will dry out and if the storms haven't destroyed the range I will get to do some shooting.

Rem 124gr. FMJ
Win. 231 4.2gr.
CCI #500 primers
C.O.A.L. 1.12
Mixed cases

Still have to run 300 through the factory crimp die to finish off. Was going to finish that off but the door bell rang and my neighbor came in, the next thing I know the beer is all gone and it is 9:00 PM. Hmmmm Sam Adams and pretzels for supper, not too bad.

Todd

[gdmoody]

I've got some .380, 9mm, and .357 brass tumbling right now, but we are under Tornado Warnings so I will just stay in the house t0night.

[garydude]

Todd,
You shame me with your reloading setup. Wow, my stuff looks old and in disarray compared to your reloading suite! But I can still get some functional rounds out of what I have, even if most of the equipment is over 30 years old.

I have been relegated to the garage for the most part, and let me tell you it's not where you want to be this time of the year in AZ. But a guy needs to shoot, and the way I prefer to shoot is with hand crafted reloads.

I loaded up 200 of Berry's 200 grain SWC over 4.5 grains Bullseye, OAL of 1.240 this morning. Here's my setup, 2nd pic is of the rounds before final tumbling for about 30 mins, and the last is the finished product before boxing it up. Near perfection, except I'm using up some Winchester primers I bought last year that are somewhat tarnished. CCI from here out.

[JLA]

I like the berrys SWCs better than HDYs..

[cycloneman]

I am cutting grass. This is what i should be doing, sitting in the ac reloading.

[the wolf]

hey todd.. nice reloading bench.. this gave me some ideas for mine soon.. mine just a table bench..
I hear ya cycle... here is in the 80's nice.. going fishing tonight... will be back at the bench next week after a pal shoot up his trial 221 fireballs reloads I made for him.

[todd51]

Thanks fellows. Man I do like those pictures of large piles of fresh rounds like Gary and Josh have been showing. Looks better than a big bowl of candy.
I reload in the basement and with these hot days I really enjoy it down there. Stays about 68 degrees and I am becoming a real wimp when it comes to hot weather and my weather is nothing compared to what some of you are having this summer.

[JLA]

Ill put it this way todd... Ill trade you weather and toss in ALL my piles of shiney ammo as a sweetener.. Shoot if I was in a cooler clime Id have buckets of shiney ammo in no time..

[cpttango30]

No reloading for me YET. I am waiting on my 200 Lapua 308 cases to get here on MONDAY.

I am going to be loading 200 175 gr SMK's for my 308 to shoot in an upcoming F-Class match. It will be my first one I am hoping I hit the target 50% of the time.

I am going to be sweating my boohookie off as I don't have AS in my reloading room.

[todd51]

Can't do it Josh. When I retired in 1988 I moved to Toledo Bend lake, Louisiana/Texas border. I had been going down there fishing since 1970. Great people and made many fine friends along with fabulous fishing but I could not take the summer heat so after five years living there I moved back to Ohio. This has been a rather hot summer for us here with many days in the 90's. But we have been getting our share of rain along with your share of the rain. I see the temps you are having down there and see pictures of the low lake levels and I think I will just stay here and bitch this winter when the snow comes. Most home up here have full basements which stay cool in the summer and make great work shops, rec. rooms and reloading rooms, ha. My Louisiana contractor didn't know what a basement was, ha.

[Zhurh]

I just came in from the rain too, so I'm going to clean up and go down stairs and work on some 6.8's I got to get around 150 done before 10th august when caribou starts, my kids fill all our subsistence tags I do the reloading.

My problem is that it takes so much time. I should have gotten a dillon, but with all the fiddlin with brass, how can ya get any faster. I've only been at it for a year you see.

I like havin one or two of them orange/red MCM boxes full for every caliber.

[cpttango30]

Originally Posted by Zhurh

I just came in from the rain too, so I'm going to clean up and go down stairs and work on some 6.8's I got to get around 150 done before 10th august when caribou starts, my kids fill all our subsistence tags I do the reloading.

My problem is that it takes so much time. I should have gotten a dillon, but with all the fiddlin with brass, how can ya get any faster. I've only been at it for a year you see.

I like havin one or two of them orange/red MCM boxes full for every caliber.

I used to think the same way.

With a Dillon 550 without the case feeder I can do 450 rounds per hour. I just put some good music on and start pullin the lever. I have my cases in one spot and my bullets in the bullet tray. Once you get going and get in a good rhythm you would be amazed at how fast you can rip through 400 rounds.

I got so good at it I ran out of 45acp brass.

[garydude]

Well after seeing the beauty you guys were enjoying while reloading, I decided to finish restoring my reloading table I received from my father. It's an old table newspaper pressmen used for hauling around one ton rolls of paper. I did the legs about a month ago, and after seeing the pics of my stuff I decided that it most definitely needed some sprucing up. I was hesitant to paint the top, just in case I needed to haul something heavy that would scratch it up. But I figure, what the heck, I can always repaint it if needed. Here's a few picks of how it evolved.

[woolleyworm]

Originally Posted by garydude

Well after seeing the beauty you guys were enjoying while reloading, I decided to finish restoring my reloading table I received from my father. It's an old table newspaper pressmen used for hauling around one ton rolls of paper. I did the legs about a month ago, and after seeing the pics of my stuff I decided that it most definitely needed some sprucing up. I was hesitant to paint the top, just in case I needed to haul something heavy that would scratch it up. But I figure, what the heck, I can always repaint it if needed. Here's a few picks of how it evolved.

You did it RIGHT Gary, that looks amazing. A coat of clear epoxy would keep the top looking great for years to come. I think it will still be fine without it though, a little touch up isn't a big deal.

How much does that thing weight and how do you lock the wheels while you're reloading?

[garydude]

Thank you much Wolley- appreciate it. That table weighs about 100 pounds. It doesn't have locks on the wheels; sure wish it did. What I usually do is wedge two of the wheels in a seperation crack in my garage floor and it stays put. Even if I just leave it on perfectly level ground it doesn't go anywhere.

Amazingly the tires on the wheels are perfectly round without any bumps or divots on them. It makes me wonder why they can't make supermarket cart tires out of the same stuff! I always get the ones that go bump..bump..bump.

[Zhurh]

cpttango, Here's a story. About 4-5 years back, a buddy from Anch was leaving the state to hook up with some girl he had met online, believe it or not; he's still with her too. My buddy was into law enforcement but kept changing jobs, beating people up from time to time that he arrested and had to find new jobs every couple years. I got along fine with him and I always killed moose when he was around hunting together with me; and he never got nothing, ha ha. He thought I knew what I was doing and I thought he was my good luck charm. Anyway, he was about the most racist, arrogant guy I ever met, I always got a few laughs but he got on the wife's nerves, ha ha. So anyway, on way outta Alaska, he stopped and offered me a dillon 550 for $200 and it was set up for 3-4 different calibers. I didn't even know what a Dillon was. Oh my, did I mess up on that one. My dillon story.

When ya load on progressive press, how good is the loaded ammo in comparison to hand loading on a single stage press? I mean I have to get just the right amount of lube, here and there, got to do this and that just right; time consuming as all heck. I'm loading all rifle ammo, but have half dozen big caliber pistols too, just don't shoot them much.

Buddy from Georgia is flying up in a couple days, comes up for 2 months at least every fall to hunt, I'm sure we'll be loading some too. As I new reloaader, I'm going to pick his brain. This guy got me to buy a 30-378 like he shoots and I found a used weatherby with macmillan stock, bedded, with a worked over trigger that's scary light, I like her and she holds a 1/2 groups all the time; wish all my guns were that way.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by todd51

Can't do it Josh. When I retired in 1988 I moved to Toledo Bend lake, Louisiana/Texas border. I had been going down there fishing since 1970. Great people and made many fine friends along with fabulous fishing but I could not take the summer heat so after five years living there I moved back to Ohio. This has been a rather hot summer for us here with many days in the 90's. But we have been getting our share of rain along with your share of the rain. I see the temps you are having down there and see pictures of the low lake levels and I think I will just stay here and bitch this winter when the snow comes. Most home up here have full basements which stay cool in the summer and make great work shops, rec. rooms and reloading rooms, ha. My Louisiana contractor didn't know what a basement was, ha.

Yeah, this summer has been bad, and they are saying the worst is yet to come. They are expecting record breaking temps this wednesday (over 110 avg).. just in time for the august 2nd apocalypse.

It had already been 118 here in my local area, most days seem to hang around 107-108 and a dusty breeze. Aint had rain in months, there are cracks in the ground big enough I can get my size 13 boot in. legbreakers for sure.. This seasons hay crop has been destroyed, all the local farmers and ranches are desperate for hay to feed their stock and horses..

[todd51]

Beautiful job on a great looking table, Gary. The family association just makes it better.

It was 92 today but I loaded up the mower and drove down to the range and gave it a sprucing up. With all the rain the grass and weeds are just growing like crazy. Tuesday is to be a shooting day or that is the plan.

[sting75ray]

Just came in from the reloading room. Loaded up 200 rounds of 7MM-08, 100 rounds of 30-06, and 500 rounds of 22-250. Now I just need a cool and calm day to shoot some pasture poodles.

[cpttango30]

Originally Posted by Zhurh

When ya load on progressive press, how good is the loaded ammo in comparison to hand loading on a single stage press? I mean I have to get just the right amount of lube, here and there, got to do this and that just right; time consuming as all heck. I'm loading all rifle ammo, but have half dozen big caliber pistols too, just don't shoot them much.

I use Hornady One shot (I know) and I just load like I am using a turret. I don't use the dillon powder measure for my rifle rounds.

I know a few guys who load ammo for F-class matches on dillon 650s.

[woolleyworm]

Originally Posted by Zhurh

So anyway, on way outta Alaska, he stopped and offered me a dillon 550 for $200 and it was set up for 3-4 different calibers. I didn't even know what a Dillon was. Oh my, did I mess up on that one. My dillon story.

When ya load on progressive press, how good is the loaded ammo in comparison to hand loading on a single stage press? I mean I have to get just the right amount of lube, here and there, got to do this and that just right; time consuming as all heck. I'm loading all rifle ammo, but have half dozen big caliber pistols too, just don't shoot them much.

Every bit as good and once the dies are set up in the toolhead, you don't have to fiddle with them other than minor adjustments for diff bullets and such.

I still prefer rifle on the single stage due to much less quantity and usually
20 -40 rounds doesn't take too long. I like the leverage that I have with my RC, athough the 550 has great leverage also. I prefer to size my rifle cases in-line with the ram, ie - when just sizing with the 550, the case is off center from the ram. I know it can be done just fine, but I like the feel better on the RC. While loading pistol cases, there's equal pressure on all positions once you get going. I really prefer the one pull - one bullet to the 3 or 4 pulls - one bullet of a single stage. Much less wear on my shoulder; it doesn't do well with repetitive motions for long periods.

[American Leader]

Gary, table looks real nice. Todd, love your loading department, but could have never left Toledo Bend, for sure, too many big fish there and I love that lake. And Zhurh, have loaded .223 & .30-06 on my progressive and worked real well, but prefer using my single, just me I guess. Load all my handgun rounds on a progressive, and like tango says, real fast!

[RustyFN]

I reloaded a couple hundred 223 tonight.

[gun-nut]

Just got done with 150 45 colt.