What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[5shot]

I formed some .360 BHMR from range pickup .30/30 R-P brass. Thought I was going to have to anneal them but once fired cases did very well without that. There were some R-P nickel cases in the bunch and I really didn't think they were going to tolerate such a radical forming. I was wrong!
These will be used in a light plinking load, 170 gr. SWC over 12.5 of BlueDot. About 1550 fps.

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[Hatchdog]

I worked on a project that’s been on the back of the bench only to have a big flop. A local guy had a bunch of .315 Hornady round balls that he gave me for a song with the idea of creating a gallery load to shoot in my Ruger SP 101 327 Fed Mag. I live in a no shooting community and thought these quiet loads would be a great way to break the rules and do some out the back door shooting.

So after gathering some 32 ACP brass I made a few test loads using 1.9 grs of Tite Group which is the fastest powder I had on hand. Bullseye is what is recommended but the Tite Group is pretty close in burn rate, just a bit slower. My set of 32 H&R dies which I thought would work for this project pretty much didn’t. I knew the seater die would not seat the ball in the 32 acp case due to length so I bought a 32 acp taper crimp seating die. Come to find out the expanding die wouldn’t get low enough to do its job. It is the Lee powder thru expander die with the floating expander piece in it. I had to put a bunch of flat washers in it in order for it to expand the case mouth.

So after all this I finally got a test load ready to try. It was raining pretty good so I stayed in the garage and took aim at a nearby stump. Pulled the trigger and……..”click”. Hmmm reset the cylinder and……”click”. Checked the primer and saw a very light strike. Just to be sure I tried another case with a seated primer and……”click”. Hmmmmm put this primed case in my little 32 acp and …….”bang”. Apparently the rim thickness on the 32 acp brass which is considered semi-rimmed thus able to be extracted/ejected in a revolver is too thin making it seat too deep in the chamber for a solid firing pin strike. Shucks.

So now I have nearly 500 .315 round balls I have no use for.


The fixings…


IMG_6477.jpeg

I may have snatched success out of the jaws of failure. Originally I chose 32 acp brass on the advice of the guy I got the balls from which made sense to me that such a light charge would probably be more consistent in a small volume case. I checked and the difference in the rim thickness between the 32 acp and 32 S&W is visibly noticeable. I didn’t have any 32 S&W short or long brass on hand but I did have some long ammo around. Some Federal factory ammo and some reloads that were given to me.

So I pulled the bullet from one case, re-primed it, charged it with 2.0 of Unique and seated the ball. Took it outside and fired it and was rewarded with a very quiet pop exactly what I was trying for. Thankfully the ball cleared the barrel, not sure where it hit as I shot it into the base of a Ponderosa Pine which has very coarse bark. So I pulled the bullets from all the remaining ammo, de-primed the live primers and the brass is in the tumbler now. I ordered some Lee Alox bullet lube, I think it might be a good idea to put a light lube on the balls.

Interesting the powder in the ammo while different in color were both charged to 2.0 grains. The bullets are 90 grain lead rn.

Once I get it all loaded I’m hoping it will have enough oomph to knock over a bowling pin. We’ll see about that.

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[CT_Shooter]

I may have snatched success out of the jaws of failure. ... I pulled the bullet from one case, re-primed it, charged it with 2.0 of Unique and seated the ball. Took it outside and fired it and was rewarded with a very quiet pop exactly what I was trying for.

Excellent job, Hatch. Congratulations. I look forward to the rest of the story.

[5shot]

Very interesting Hatchdog. Wondering what kind of accuracy you're going to end up with?

[Hatchdog]

Very interesting Hatchdog. Wondering what kind of accuracy you're going to end up with?

I don’t expect much in the way of accuracy. My goal here is to have a nice quiet shot to not “disturb” any neighbors. If I get minute of bowling pin at 15’ I’ll be very happy.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

noithing.............

[DsGrouse]

Cleaned my can and got it back in working order.
Finished up the 1k of berrys 148 hbwc.
Set up pro 2000 press for 9mm.
Futzed around with the work space.
And half my masyer bath is torn up.

[Hatchdog]

Busy day grouse. Another bathroom remodel, seems popular on this site these days. Good stuff!

[DsGrouse]

I loaded about 400 rounds of 9mm yesterday. 4.8 grains of 3n37, 250 147 grain berrys and 150 ish of 147 grain hp plated proof mark.

[DsGrouse]

Was out and about. Picked up a used set of 30-30 dies. A coiple packages of lock rings, and my new mini vacuum arrived. It's perfect for the bench.

https://a.co/d/03OlPbbO

[DsGrouse]

Loaded 100 or so of proofmark 147grn plated 9mm,

Mounted new scopes on my 6.5grendel and 6mm ARC.


Today I'd like to finish up the 9mm. But, the kids are visiting t
This weekend, it's the first time the grandbabies will be here.

Bathroom tile fix is done. It needs a day to cure. I need to call the shower door guys and see when they are bringing that back.

[DsGrouse]

Darn my post didnt upload.

Working on 125 grn tcfp fmj load using 3n37. I'm having a dickens of a time finding the right coal in the reloading books.

I'm seeing coal numbers all over the place in the books
1.035, 1.042, 1.075, 1.089, 1.105, 1.124, 1.142

Some of these numbers seem unrealistic. Anyone load a 125grn truncated cone fmj? What was your coal when done.

[Vaquero]

Haven't done a thing at mine all year, but I did just order a couple hundred 130gr. 30 cal. Speer Hot cor.
Going to try some in the ole Marlin 308mx and possibly a few in some 30-30 cases.

RP

[CT_Shooter]

I hadn't needed to reload for a few months, but it was finally time. My ammo safe was down to an inventory a half dozen boxes of factory 357s, which I bought before I started reloading and was the initial source of all of my brass cases.

I still have a dozen boxes of cleaned and primed brass on the bench, so I won't need to begin prepping any of the hundreds of already-fired cases that have been piling up for awhile. Yesterday I processed a box with 158 ZERO JHPs and 13.9 grains of H110 for 22₵ each.

[Vaquero]

RP

[Hatchdog]

I hadn't needed to reload for a few months, but it was finally time. My ammo safe was down to an inventory a half dozen boxes of factory 357s, which I bought before I started reloading and was the initial source of all of my brass cases.

I still have a dozen boxes of cleaned and primed brass on the bench, so I won't need to begin prepping any of the hundreds of already-fired cases that have been piling up for awhile. Yesterday I processed a box with 158 ZERO JHPs and 13.9 grains of H110 for 22₵ each.

gotta love $11 per box for 357.

[DsGrouse]

went out and shot 11 of my 125 grain test loads. Accuracy was great at 40yds. The test gun was an HK USP Expert. The average fps was 1157. This is 0.4 grains under max and not a +p load. I think that will do just fine.

[Hatchdog]

Yesterday was a rainout so I hit the reloading room. I’ve been working on a project using .315 round balls for muzzleloaders to create a low noise low velocity gallery type load for my 327 revolver. All the research and testing is done so it’s time to load up some for fun. I’m going to see if they will have enough oomph to knock over a bowling pin at 15’. I only have 60 pieces of 32 SWL brass so I loaded up what I have. 48 grain round ball with 2.0 of Unique and small pistol primer. Very light crimp, just enough to keep the ball in place while the cylinder is fired. It’s been a fun project with a few bumps in the road along the way. All part of the fun.

Here’s a link to my project.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17466

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[Ernie]

looks like fun.

[5shot]

Very interesting! I have to chuckle at the pricing stickers though. Can't help but wonder who was President when that tray was priced?