What have you reloaded today?

[Egghead]

How much was that 50 round case gauge? I use a 100 round one from Shockbottle. I do use EGW for 223

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=shockbottle+45&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-34000-13078-0&mkcid=2&keyword=shockbottle+45&crlp=_&MT_ID=&geo_id=&rlsatarget=kwd-77103310683485:loc-190&adpos=&device=c&mktype=&loc=45948&poi=&abcId=&cmpgn=301084832&sitelnk=&adgroupid=1233652106764680&network=o&matchtype=b&msclkid=05f50158353d1884b858617a9f2cb82c&ul_noapp=true

I really couldn't tell you other than I got an excellent deal on here. Somebody was selling 5 gauges, 223, 9mm, 45acp from egw. The other two were shockbottle 9mm and 40. for 300 bucks plus shipping.
Mid last year I bought the 223 from egw for 200 bucks alone! So it was an excellent deal. Looks like that 45acp gauge is 100 bucks off their website (not in stock).

https://www.egwguns.com/case-gauge-ammo-checker-45-acp-50-hole

 

[Bulldog Man]

40 s&w 180 gr fmj with 6.1 of Accurate No5

 

[Tracer847]

Single staged 100 180xtp’s over 10.5 grains of blue dot for my ruger.
I think I have my Lee auto disk tuned perfectly for this load. Never had luck with culver type measures with coarse powder like blue dot. I don’t shoot a lot of 10 mil and never bothered with a conversion unit which I’m sure would be a lot easier.
A little sandpaper and an undersized drill bit shank along with trial and error....and I’m there. Good thing about Lee products.. cheaply replaced...or they were a year ago anyway

 

[DickyRivers]

Loaded up some handcast 105gr SWCs over 3 gr of bullseye for some fun little .38 paper punchers. These might make a good small game load one of these days if I ever happen upon a .357 lever gun. Hoping my back ordered mold to cast some 158s comes by the end of the month like it says it will. I’m down to about 500 bought 158 gr SWCs and 148 HBWCs each. I’d like to just cast all my own .38/.357 at this point.

 

[thevalueman]

View attachment 3105339View attachment 3105338 Loaded up some handcast 105gr SWCs over 3 gr of bullseye for some fun little .38 paper punchers. These might make a good small game load one of these days if I ever happen upon a .357 lever gun. Hoping my back ordered mold to cast some 158s comes by the end of the month like it says it will. I’m down to about 500 bought 158 gr SWCs and 148 HBWCs each. I’d like to just cast all my own .38/.357 at this point.

you using a "roll crimp" no that reload??

 

[DickyRivers]

you using a "roll crimp" no that reload??

Yep. It’s roll crimped in its upper groove... but not super tight. I don’t have a huge amount of reloading experience but for these I did chrono them and found that a bit firmer crimp than my first attempt seemed to help keep the velocity spread down. Shooting 148s and 158s for what few types I’d loaded didn’t seem to have the same problem. I’ve done a batch earlier at 2.8, 3, 3.2 and 3.5. I haven’t really settled on what my new (to me) 627 prefers, but given my modest ability to shooting offhand accurately, they fly straight enough to where anything off the bullseye is all me. It’s my first mold to experiment with casting.

I’ve only ever loaded .38s and .308. I did get ahold of a few hundred 357 brass and some 2400 powder... and want to try casting a heavier bullet and see how that goes. Just waiting for the new mold.

 

[thevalueman]

SWEEEEEET!!!
I've not gone the cast bullet route....just bought....mainly Missouri bullets!!!
BUT your are looking good!! good luck with "casting" it's an art!!

 

[DickyRivers]

SWEEEEEET!!!
I've not gone the cast bullet route....just bought....mainly Missouri bullets!!!
BUT your are looking good!! good luck with "casting" it's an art!!

I like Missouri bullets a lot and have bought a few batches of them. I’ve never tried their coated bullets but if I ever tried to powder coat some myself... I’d probably buy some of their first for a “how it should look” example.

My dad passed a few years back but when he taught me to reload as a teen he mentioned he used to get wheel weights and cast bullets when he was younger... long before I came around. I kind of got on a kick to do a few random things I remembered him mentioning these last few years. It was surprising easy to do. Even with fumbling around and dorking up my first several batches as struggled to get/keep the mold hot enough, I made nearly 1000 bullets in maybe 3-4 hours from cold lead to when I was shutting off the pot. I might be able to do double that now that I got the mold seasoned a bit, properly lubed and figured out the rhythm to it. I bought a .358 resizer I don’t really need as they drop about at that already... but I also got a .357 sizer and sized and gifted a batch to a friend who wanted to load 9mm and was having a hard time finding bullets to buy right now. Still waiting to hear back on how that went. I do think these came out ok.

They’re somewhere around 10-11 BHN using a pencil-test. Next batch I’m going to try a few different things to see how it affects hardness. It really is a bit of an art... and I’m still in the “amateur doodler” stage of learning.

I do most of my shooting on a hunting lease I paid into... and there’s a lane we shoot down. I filled a cardboard box with rubber mulch and attach my targets to that. I’m sure it’d blow up if I hit it with a high powered rifle but it’s stopped up to full house .357. So... all the lead is still in there to be remelted and cast later. You’ve just got to tape up all the holes now and then. I’ve got a couple mom and pop tire shops that have given me wheel weights... so it’s turned out to be relatively inexpensive for material once the initial $100-150 or so for the fancy pot, first mold and little odds and ends to do it. I probably don’t shoot enough to hardly make it all worthwhile money-wise.. but it’s been fun and with the present shortages, it’s actually worked out well recently.

 

[Keith16ga]

Two flats of #8..same as ive been doing for years, although its getting harder to find components..i’ll be glad when this ridiculous infatuation with ammunition components is over.

 

[Dirty J]

Today... was some PCC ammo.

115gr Berry’s HBRN projectiles sitting on 3.7 grains of Alliant Sport Pistol. Around 1150fps

The RL1100 makes quick work of it.