What did you do in the reloading room today?

[Beautiful Mulberry]

I have used this method for the past 40 years.

Put a lead pot on the stove, open the kitchen window and set up a draw fan so you're not breathing the lead fumes.

Dip the case neck and shoulder into mica dust (motor mica) then gently holding the rim of the case with a pair of pliers, hold the case vertically, then insert the case neck and 1/2 of the shoulder into the molten lead.

Depending on lead temperature and the brass itself, the neck/shoulder will need to be in in the molten lead from 5 to 10 seconds, then immediately dropped into a bucket of cold water.

When shortening and necking 22 hornet brass down to .14 caliber, immersion time is 5 seconds.

When making 219 Donaldson Wasp brass from 30-30 cases, immersion time is 7 seconds.

444 Marlin brass necked down varies from 8-10 seconds...

And the purpose of the mica dust is to keep the molten lead from sticking to the brass.

It takes less than 45 minutes to anneal 100 pieces of brass.

This is impressive! I will have to try it

 

[undeg01]

Loaded some sub-sonic 300 blackout with some hard cast bullets from @swampratt

Jeff knows why they are labeled “werewolf killers.” We will see how they work at lower velocities and short distance.

I will be running these through my 8” AR pistol, thus the powder choice.

 

[User_3155]

Surfed the www okshooters web .com of course

 

[swampratt]

Dem bad boys gots silver in em.

 

[swampratt]

I have been loading .223 ammo with 50gr v-Max bullets and using my Lee PPM with the drum on the snug side.

I do not even bother measuring H335 on a scale anymore it is that good.
I dropped 45 loads out of it this evening with N133 as the powder and weighed every one of them on the 505 Beam scale.
26..... right on the nose 24.9 gr.
5.... 1/10 gr. too much which is 8 of those tiny sticks.
4....1/10 gr. too little.
6....4 tiny sticks under weight.
4... 4 tiny sticks over weight.

If this is a good node that variance should not make much difference.
Quicker than trickling from my lee scoopers into the 505 pan.
This was running the handle the same each time and not jarring or bumping the thing.

 

[undeg01]

Dem bad boys gots silver in em.

And if they work well, I may be coming to get more from you.

 

[swampratt]

May need to recover one or 2 if you can and see how they look for rifling contact etc.
@undeg01

Of course shoot paper with then and see if they keyhole

 

[undeg01]

May need to recover one or 2 if you can and see how they look for rifling contact etc.
@undeg01

Of course shoot paper with then and see if they keyhole

I will line up some water jugs and put a slug or two in them.

 

[swampratt]

I have done that with .308 and my 45acp.
308 would usually be finished at #3 and find tiny holes in #4 jug.
1 gallon milk jugs filled with water.
But shot through thick leather first, a wee bit thicker than a leather belt.

The 45 acp 200 gr cast 820 fps load went through 5 jugs and kept on trucking.
If the bullet stays together and does not tumble too much it can go a long ways.
200gr 45acp is almost as wide as it is long so tumbling did not really matter as it is almost a ball.

Found that out when i sent them too fast and they all hit the target sideways.
But the group was a wee bit better than the ones cutting perfect holes.
200gr SWC

 

[Mats]

My order from inline fabrication came in today so I took a break from studying to get everything set up. Going to test out some powdercoated vs lubed bullets for the .38 special soon.