I was productive today

Posted on by

This is just part of the ammunition I reloaded today:

20191208_174417

Major power factor loads using 180 grain bullets chambered in .40 S&W. These will be used both for practice and USPSA matches.

Share

15 thoughts on “I was productive today”

  1. 1100 rounds, not bad. What press do you use? How often do you check the weight of the charge thrown?

    I’m relatively new to reloading, I’m at the place where I’m using a turret press, throwing the charge with drum style, then weighing each charge before putting it in the case. It slows me down to about 100 per hour. But I only do a 100-150 rounds per week of shooting, so 2 hours a week slowly builds up my stock.

    • I love my turret press. Get a good powder measurer (RCBS, Hornady, etc.), and mount it on one of the stations. That should push up your volume.
      Looks like fun Joe! I like reloading as much as shooting….. Almost.

      • I have two powder measures. One is a lyman on a separate stand. The other is a Lee Auto something or other. I’ve attempted to use the Lee on the turret press. It fits the through the die powder die.

        And I had very poor results. I had issues with light charges, no charge and a few other scary things. I ended up with a squib load that left a round in the barrel.

        Since then, I’ve wanted a 100% verification that powder was thrown to the right amount. So I went to my current process:

        * De-prime with universal de-priming using only one station of the turret.
        * Wet tumble to clean, then food dehydrator to dry.
        * Inspect and lube 1000 or so cases.
        * Resize on up stroke, station 1
        * Prime on down stroke, station 1
        * Expand on up stroke, station 2.
        * Throw powder and measure (weigh) then pour through die at station 2
        * Seat bullet at station 3
        * Spot measure every C.O.L.
        * Crimp at station 4

        After 50 have been done, gauge with Wilson gauge all fifty then transfer to range box or long term storage.

        I’m pretty sure I could attach that lyman to the turret, but I’m a scaredy cat at this point

        • One thing to remember is that you can see everything on a loaded round that could be wrong. Except the powder charge. So your fears are justified. As you found out the hard way. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying; A proper tool for a proper job? Go spend the money on equipment that works. The RCBS or Hornady both tread into the press, and have different throats that can be attached for caliber size your loading.
          A Dillon 650 is a five station progressive that you can put a powder check on.
          You’ve set all the steps in order. Your doing good. I feel you just need the equipment to back you up.

          • Well, I am using a Bridgeport Mill to trim my cases. Does that count as buying the right equipment?

            (shell holder in vise, put case in shell holder, center cutter over the case, touch off on known long case. Measure case. Raise table till exact length is achieved, power trim 50 cases in about 5 minutes, all within 0.0005 of an inch the same)

            Regarding the right tools for the right things. The Lee auto powder gizmo seems to be designed more for the progressive or single stage loader. The yanking around on the turret seemed to affect its consistency. Even with a much better powder measure I’m not sure I would use it on a turret press. If I upgrade to a progressive, I will get a powder verification gizmo of some sort. It seems like a no brainer. At the same time, I’m not positive I want to go to a progressive.

            I do love watching the dudes that have the auto shell feed and auto bullet feed and all the rest of it. Pull the handle, out pops a finished round, pull the handle again, another finished round. just make sure you keep the feeders feed and magic.

    • Sorry for the late response. Very busy day at work.

      What you see is just from the first session. For the entire day I loaded 1407 rounds.

      For .40 S&W I currently use a Dillon XL650 (as seen here).

      I check the charge weight before the start of every session. Plus, the 650 has a powder check stage which will warn you of a double charge or empty case.

  3. What die do you use for a taper crimp? I’ve had good success with a Lee Factory Crimp die for my pistols.

    Thank you.

    • I use the Lee Factory Crimp die. I’m having good luck with that on everything except BERRY 230gr round nose. That seems to be an issue with C.O.L. and the length of the nose. I’ve switched to RMR bullets which are a bit more expensive but no more issues with bullet seating issues.

  4. Therefore,
    I use both a RCBS measurer. And an old style hand pull No Dillon on my Redding turret press. They work perfect as long as I do my part. The Dillon is great for pistols calibers because it has belling/ powder drop adjustment in the powder measurer.
    Like I said before, your doing everything right. If your powder measurer isn’t working on your press, it’s the measurer that’s the problem.

    • MTHead, I went back and looked at my logs. I did try the lyman measure on the press but was having issues with clearence and a couple of other things. So I got the stand alone to do powder throw.

      Much of this is me falling back on safe choices and not worrying to much about speed at this point. It is something I do that is relaxing in a way that day work is not.

      Thank you everybody for the feedback, it has been very useful. Even if Joe hasn’t told me/us what type of press he uses.

Comments are closed.