What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[BigAl52]

May load up some 40's today. Had to work on the Dillon press yesterday to get it running right.

[fortyshooter]

May load up some 40's today. Had to work on the Dillon press yesterday to get it running right.

What happened to your Dillon?

[fortyshooter]

Going to load up some 45 Colt today using the MB 250 gr. RNFP with 6.0 of Red Dot. Good accurate plinking load. I have a bunch of .45 Colt ammo in various Unique powder loads.

[BigAl52]

May load up some 40's today. Had to work on the Dillon press yesterday to get it running right.

What happened to your Dillon?

I have 3 only bought one of them new. The others were used. One is a later model the other is an older model like the first one I bought. The Square Deals have auto rotate on the shell holders. There is another adjustment to it besides the adjustment for the auto prime bar. The shell plate was over traveling causing it to go out of aline with the hole for the priming bar. It was misaligned and munching primers. In order to adjust that you need to take the center block out of the loader to get to the shell plate rotation arm to adjust how far it rotates the shell plate. I need to get a parts kit from Dillon and do some updating on it perhaps. My oldest machine has been to Dillon for a rebuild quite a while ago. Now they charge for that where they didnt use to.

[Rifletom]

Cleaning up guns and some brass from desert shooting yesterday with two new shooters. I only shot my Pietta, while those two shot a LOT of clay pigeons with my Moss 500 and tossing clays. I brought all the guns: Henry .45 Colt, Pietta .45 Colt/.45 acp, 39A and the 500. One wants to get a lever .22, while the other wants a Moss 500 12ga. These guys goy hooked fast! I had as much fun watching them as they did shooting. Everything was safe right out of the gate. Made my day easy.

[Hatchdog]

Isn’t it great taking new shooters out? A few years ago my wife’s cousin from Southern California and her adult son visited us and the son wanted to go shooting. We went to the public land shooting area and shot rifles and handguns and then my son and I took him to a long distance range and he was able to hit a IHMSA sized chicken steel target at 720 yards. Of course we helped him calling shots and dialing in the scope but he made the shot. Now last I have heard he is the proud owner of a Glock and a Mini-14.

[Rifletom]

Hatch, you got that right! After a little talking things over, they took to it like a duck to water. They were both hitting tossed clays 50% of the time.
Not bad for first timers. And they can't wait to do this again. I'm in.

[RanchRoper]

I have been delinquent with my reloading for awhile, need to get back to it now that the cold weather is here. I have lots of supplies and still have lots of ready made ammo. Reloading has been a real good thing for me, don't know why all you guys tried to talk me out of it....

[BigAl52]

Finished up 500 40 S&W this afternoon. Not sure whats next getting pretty well stocked up.

[RanchRoper]

It sure is a nice feeling to see a cabinet well stocked.

[fortyshooter]

Only have 50 of standard LP primers left and the rest is Magnum primers for large and small. The Magnums seem to work fine with Unique but maybe not so well for 2400. Don't know about Red Dot or Power Pistol.

[Team Roper]

Mag primers worked great in my 44 mag yesterday with 2400. That's a 2 inch group at 25 yards. Had to use my left eye as my right eye has a cataract on it.See, even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in awhile.

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[BigAl52]

TR
Did you use mag primers by choice or is that what the good book said.

[fortyshooter]

Interesting what I found in my Lyman 49th on .357 Magnum load data... ALL their load data for that round used ONLY CCI mag primers no matter the powder used. Saw Unique which I know now isn't primer sensitive from my tests..along with Power Pistol..2400 and others.
Called Lyman this morning and tech told me all their load data tested fine and within pressure limits with the Magnum primers. Some of that load data was higher in grs. for max loads than what was listed in my No. 13 Speer manual with their loads using Standard primers!

I wanted to load up more of my .44 Mag 180 XTP loads using my 2400 data and had read to be cautious at near max loads with Magnum primers and 2400 powder. Maybe back it down 1/2 gr. and do a compare test.

[Team Roper]

TR
Did you use mag primers by choice or is that what the good book said.

I used them by choice since that was what I already had cases primed with because I was going to load up my Henry 44 mag loads with them but needed to shoot my Ruger yesterday. Since 18.5 was the stated starting load in the Lyman book, it proved to be safe in my revolver. Near max and I would not have used CCI 350's.

[fortyshooter]

Got my 44 Carbine setup with the Magneto Speed to do the test with 180 gr XTP/ 2400 load using CCI 350 Mag primers.
Had to make up some .44 cal setup pucks for the rod and found out half of a clothes pin makes a great gap check gauge!

[Hatchdog]

Today I loaded up 49 cartridges for a buddies .308 AR he just built. I had the bullets left over from when I used to shoot .308 in matches. (Sierra 168 gr Matchking Hollowpoints) The best powder for this load is Varget but as I have less than 2 lbs on hand and use it for my .223 match loads I was stingy with it. I loaded 40 with WC844 which is a military powder intended for .223. It is also used for .308 but is not particularly accurate with heavier bullets. WC846 is a better military powder for .308 with heavier bullets I understand but I have never used it. I did load nine rounds for him with my precious Varget so we can compare. I use the WC844 for my bulk 55 gr .223 loads that is just plinking ammo.

I reached out to him to see if he wants to head out this week. We have a range nearby that has steel out to longer ranges which is what he wants to do. Unfortunately this range is only open from 2:00 pm until dark and with the clock change this weekend we will lose an hour of shooting next week.

Felt good to hit the bench again, with this crazy year I haven’t shot any matches so haven’t loaded much.

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[Rifletom]

Loaded 72 .45 Colt for my Pietta. Ohh whee, I do like shooting that gun. 7.7gr Unique with either 200 or 250gr rnfp. That seems to be an accurate load in that gun. Been cleaning guns, loading this afternoon; now its time for Dodger baseball! Hoping they can do it tonight. Beer and home made chile size for dinner. Yes sir!

[Rifletom]

Well, the Dodgers pulled it off, chile size was yummy, beer was better. Loading 50 more .45 Colt for the Henry and 100 .357 for the other Henry.
50 of 158gr coated rnfp and 50 180gr coated rnfp. Another desert trip soon.

[Rifletom]

Only have 50 of standard LP primers left and the rest is Magnum primers for large and small. The Magnums seem to work fine with Unique but maybe not so well for 2400. Don't know about Red Dot or Power Pistol.

Ohh, dang, that is not good. Maybe a little horse trading locally? Yeah forty, you need to find some LPP's ASAP. Good luck, its tough out there.