Henry Rifle Forums

Okay, I'm on the way down the slippery slope, picking up speed as I go. In a few minutes, I will have 200 rounds of 357 magnum loaded.... and it's not enough. I could make ammo all day long. I never realized how habit forming it would be.

ditto1958 wrote:Okay, I'm on the way down the slippery slope, picking up speed as I go. In a few minutes, I will have 200 rounds of 357 magnum loaded.... and it's not enough. I could make ammo all day long. I never realized how habit forming it would be.

Go on a prairie dog trip to Montana and Wyoming and have to load 2,500-3000 223 Remington. Glad you enjoy loading. I used to like it more than I do now but I still do it. What press are you using? I have a friend that does Cowboy shooting and he uses a Dillon loader. He loads around 3000 in a few days with it. One of these days I want to watch him load to see how it works.

I'm using a Lee Classic turret press. Has indexing, but is not progressive. Seems like a good middle ground.

That's what I use. Probably the best press Lee makes IMO. I wouldn't mind having a progressive, but can't justify the $$$.

ditto1958 wrote:I'm using a Lee Classic turret press. Has indexing, but is not progressive. Seems like a good middle ground.

When I bought my RCBS rockcrusher kit over the winter I didn't realize they sold the same kit with a turret press for just a little more money. Had I known I would have done that. I don't need progressive like a Dillon. Maybe if I shot a LOT of 45 ACP or similar. But like you said a turret seems like good middle ground. At the stage I'm at with reloading accuracy of each step is more important than speed by a long shot. I still have a lot to learn. I am thinking of buying a couple of more die sets though. Because of loading different bullets in the same caliber and the differences in 44 mag and 44 spl. It seems like a nice idea to be able to set a die for stuff you load a lot and then not touch it once you have it set.

Excellent points, Squatch. Eventually, I do plan to add calibers to reload. I will buy extra turrets, and as I buy and set up new dies, I will just keep each set on its own turret.

I think one evening last winter I reloaded around 350 rounds of .357. It was like I just got on a roll and couldn't stop!

I try to reload in the winter so I can shoot all summer.

My son-in-law and I are currently reloading .357/.38, 9mm, and .45 ACP. We also have .40 S&W, .357 Sig, and .44 mag/.44 spl firearms, but we are not reloading those calibers yet, but we would like to.

I just got done prepping a bunch of 45/70 cases. These are now 3 times fired and this time around I noticed they seem to be settling down. They have stopped growing. When I put them on my Lee Hand held case trimmer nothing happened. No need to deburr either. Even though I do resize the effort require to work the lever is minimal compared to the 1st time. It's kinda funny but the 1st couple of times it seemed like some of them wouldn't last with the working of them by the dies. Now the dies don't have to do much and the just seem like they have lots of life left in them. I guess they have formed well to my rifle now.

Tomorrow I hope to load up 3 levels. More 10 gr 300's. A test bump to 12 gr for the 405's. and I think I'll load 20 with some umph. I have some new 350 gr Berry's and some Hodgens 5744 to try out. The Berry's claim to be good to 1,700fps. I won't be pushing them that fast for sure.

ditto1958 wrote:Excellent points, Squatch. Eventually, I do plan to add calibers to reload. I will buy extra turrets, and as I buy and set up new dies, I will just keep each set on its own turret.

Ditto, I feel ya, I tell people all the time, I'm not sure if I load to shoot or shoot to load.
that's the same one I have, and now have eleven turrets with dies.
The 41 mag is what got me started because of the cost of factory ammo prices, and the lack of availablity.
Now I load for almost every caliber I own, exception is 9mm as its still relatively cheap and available.
Enjoy buddy.