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Exactly what the title says. What did you do today for reloading?


I just got done prepping 250 pieces of 308 brass. Looking forward to priming them and getting them loaded.

Share your pictures and your favorite calibers to load. :)
 
I really need to get into reloading, especially since I'm getting into precision stuff :)
 
I have found reloading to be very relaxing. I enjoy my time in the shop doing my thing. Its really getting to the point I need to go shooting more often. :rolleyes:

I believe it! Those sort of precise but repetitive tasks are great for unwinding.
 
Haven't comingled powder with brass in many a moon. Planning to load-up a dozen of my .358-caliber mildcat rounds and have a bigmouth shoot them from his shoulder on a rear bag and a front rest. The load produced a 3/4-inch group at 100 yards through a $50 Walmart scope, but I have no idea what is the muzzle velocity. The recoil is brutal. I'm only good with it for about a dozen rounds. After that many, I can't rip one off without a major case of the flinchies. The load is 60.0 grains of IMR-4320 with a 250-grain Hornady pointed soft-point. The rifle weighs nine pounds. If anybody has a ballistics program, maybe you can tell us what is the recoil energy at, let us say, 2600 fps. The round produces 4000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy at 2684 fps when using the 250-grain bullet. I figger that's enough to flatten just about anything walking, swimming or crawling on Planet Earth. The round is what the .35 Whelen would look like if the Whelen had been built on a .532" case. Shoulder angle is the same 17 degrees 15 minutes we see on the '06 Springfield and on the .35 Whelen. Case capacity to the mouth is 89.0 grains of water...

358-Sierra-Stomper-shell.JPG
 
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If you started reloading, you would love it. Best thing I ever did.
Yes, indeed. A 20-round box of .30-06 shells is around thirty-five to forty dollars, and the load is a ballpark load that is supposed to work in many a rifle. Handloaded ammo works best in your rifle because you developed and tailored the load for its best performance in your gun. Factory ammo uses proprietary powders; we consumers have no idea what is the mixture of this first powder and that second powder and maybe a third powder that gives Remington or Winchester the advertising numbers they want. The big guys ain't gonna tell us, either. Handloading allows us to experiment with a wide selection of powders, bullets, primers, seating depths and even case manufacturers. Case mouths crimped or uncrimped; flash-holes beveled inside the case, too. I reload .223Rem for about as much as I can buy the stuff, and I do it on a single-stage press. I just enjoy the process...
 
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Yes, indeed. A 20-round box of .30-06 shells is around thirty-five to forty dollars, and the load is a ballpark load that is supposed to work in many a rifle. Handloaded ammo works best in your rifle because you developed and tailored the load for its best performance in your gun. Factory ammo uses proprietary powders; we consumers have no idea what is the mixture of this first powder and that second powder and maybe a third powder that gives Remington or Winchester the advertising numbers they want. The big guys ain't gonna tell us, either. Handloading allows us to experiment with a wide selection of powders, bullets, primers, seating depths and even case manufacturers. Case mouths crimped or uncrimped; flash-holes beveled inside the case, too. I reload .223Rem for about as much as I can buy the stuff, and I do it on a single-stage press. I just enjoy the process...

I have a load worked up for my 308 bolt gun that will stack six shots on top of each other at 100 yards. It happens to be the same load that the Army uses for there snipers. Amazing round. I can post the data if someone is interested.
 
Loaded five each of my .358-caliber mildcat round with 60.0, 62.0 and 64.0 grains of IMR-4320, the 250-grain Hornady #3520 bullet and WLRM primer. Mouths were not factory-crimped. Cases have never been fired. These rounds will be fired over a chronograph and statistics calculated to tell us the mean and median velocities, and the Standard Deviation. The SD interests me because it is a number that represents how "similar" the velocities happen to be. The lower the SD, the more consistent is the ammunition. The more consistent is the ammunition, the more we can expect better groups if we make the effort.

The 60-grain load has been demonstrated to produce a nice group at 100 yards. I figgered I'd push the envelope and go to 62 grains, with 64 grains being the maximum I'll try before I can expect the bolt to start sticking. That has happened before and it can end an afternoon at the range quite quickly. To avoid such a catastrophe, I purchased a 3/16" by 36" brass rod to push the fired cases out of the chamber after having raised the bolt handle. I have had to use the rod several times over the past several years I've had it, and it works fabulously. Stuck cases punch out with little effort, and there's no chance I'll break off the bolt handle...
 
Nice!! Do you find the 55 grain V Max to be a good round for all your AR's or are they for one rifle?

They have been pretty good in all my 223's. Not necessarily tack drivers in any of my guns but very acceptable in all. I should also mention that all my 223's are either 1:8 or 1:9 twist barrels. I do load a couple of other bullets in 223 but the 55 grain VMAX is just seems to be the one bullet that is always available and fairly affordable. Yes, I could do FMJ for cheaper but I like always knowing I have a good varmint bullet ready to go. Realistically, if I am not shooting targets with 223, a varmint bullet will take care of anything else I am shooting at.
 
They have been pretty good in all my 223's. Not necessarily tack drivers in any of my guns but very acceptable in all. I should also mention that all my 223's are either 1:8 or 1:9 twist barrels. I do load a couple of other bullets in 223 but the 55 grain VMAX is just seems to be the one bullet that is always available and fairly affordable. Yes, I could do FMJ for cheaper but I like always knowing I have a good varmint bullet ready to go. Realistically, if I am not shooting targets with 223, a varmint bullet will take care of anything else I am shooting at.

Since I am just getting rolling into loading .223 is my next project. Well I might do 300 black out first.
 
Cast up 100 9mm 124gr bullets earlier, just got done powder coating them, will prep brass and load them up tonight. Also cast 46 .490 round ball for a buddy, might turn the pot back on later tonight after dinner and cast him up some .440 round ball as well. :) Then as the night progresses, I will begin brass prep for .223, small base deprime and resize, trim, chamfer, swage the primer pockets, expand the necks and then prime, ready for another load of H335 and Hornaday 55gr soft point bullets.
Just some plans...
 

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