What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[MuddyWaters62]

I was going to tumble about 2,000 45ACP and 45 Colt the other day. I hit a snag on my 1st load, the belt broke on the Thumbler Tumbler. Of course, didn't have a replacement. I ordered a bag of 10 belts online. They came in this PM. Replaced the belt and poured out the cold water and put hot water and Lemminshine and Dawn back. Now I'm back in business. Only took 5 days for USPS to get from NC to TX. Package was unmolested!

Muddy Waters 67

[Grunt67]

Well, I was going to say I had some extra belts I would let you have, but I probably couldn't beat that time. LOL. Unusual for USPS to
be that quick.
Have fun, enjoy your day.

[MuddyWaters62]

Thanks a lot, Grunt. That's what I truly like about this Forum. Good Folks!

Muddy Waters 67

[Grunt67]

Put primers in 100 pcs Starline 45/70 brass this pm. Waiting on the weather to cooperate , especially wind, so I can shoot my experimental loads I've got ready. Looks like this make be a while, weather getting worse, not better. Oh well, only a couple more months 'til spring weather. LOL.

[ruhler]

Ive been tumbling, sizing, trimming and putting primers in brass whole week after work. Always tries to make all these timeconsuming work offseason so I can focus on rangetime and hunting when in season.

[gpraceman]

I've been doing boring stuff like reorganizing my reloading supplies. Counting bullets and finding some reasonable storage solution (which still eludes me). I'm going to get some cheap plastic ammo cans from Harbor Freight to store them in. Floor space is limited, so I need some type of cabinet or shelves that can hold the weight of a bunch of lead.

[Grunt67]

If you have the wall space, build yourself some shelves or cabinets.

[Hatchdog]

I got the 500 .223 cases that I wet pin cleaned and dried yesterday all annealed today.

Do you find that pins can get stuck in the flash holes?

I've had it happen on 9mm & 40 S&W. Dont recall any on rifle brass.

Yesterday I tumbled about 70 cases, mostly 300 Sav but some 357 and five .223. Out of these I found one 223 and three 357 cases with pins in the flash holes. None in any of the 300. I don’t think that if I ever miss one that I will set off a primer when seating it since after cleaning I still have to size. My sizing dies still have the de-cappers in place so even tho I de-cap with a Lee Universal De-cap die prior to cleaning the sizing step would remove the pins. (I hope)

D20A8701-F1DB-42A6-BB54-6572623DF2BE.jpeg (104.06 KiB) Viewed 2224 times

[Oldbrass]

Not a damn thing, taking the day off !

[NHshtr]

I took apart a few rounds (of a batch of 60) that were given me by a friend. His friend that reloaded, passed away and left him his stuff. The rounds he gave me, were 7mm-08 which he doesn't shoot.
Trouble with these 140 grain Nosler BTs in a .308 Win case necked down to 7mm, is they were still trimmed to 2.005 (.308 Win case trim length). That's 0.020"short. They were loaded with an extruded powder (looks like IMR4350, but who knows?) and I measured 45.5 grains in the ones I took apart.

Don't like the shortened neck, but not sure it's a problem. Since they're long bullets, they seat well into the neck. But I'm also leery of shooting loads I don't know everything about, so I'm planning to disassemble them and use the primers and bullets. It'll be a pain doing 60 of them - but hey the primers and bullets are worth it!

What would you do?

[runnin n gunnin]

Great Idea OB, I am taking your lead!

[Grunt67]

Do you find that pins can get stuck in the flash holes?

I've had it happen on 9mm & 40 S&W. Dont recall any on rifle brass.

Yesterday I tumbled about 70 cases, mostly 300 Sav but some 357 and five .223. Out of these I found one 223 and three 357 cases with pins in the flash holes. None in any of the 300. I don’t think that if I ever miss one that I will set off a primer when seating it since after cleaning I still have to size. My sizing dies still have the de-cappers in place so even tho I de-cap with a Lee Universal De-cap die prior to cleaning the sizing step would remove the pins. (I hope)


D20A8701-F1DB-42A6-BB54-6572623DF2BE.jpeg

Hatch, the experience I've had with stuck pins, is they are usually stuck pretty tight. While you may push them out recapping, the decap pin may just move to the side.
Another scenario to consider, although the primer probably won't detonate, the little pins may damage the anvil.
Can't guarantee any of that, but I wouldn't risk it myself.
My stuck pins, I remove with needle nose pliers, or sometimes drive them out. BTW, all flash holes aren't the same size.
Good luck, pardner.

[Hatchdog]

NHshtr,

If you don’t have one already check out the RCBS collet style bullet puller. It has a body that resembles a die which screws into a single state press and used a collet to pull the bullet. You simply run the cartridge up into the die, turn the collet handle to grab the bullet and then lower the ram. The bullet stays in the collet and a simple turn of the handle releases it. Doesn’t’ score the bullet or in the case of a soft point doesn’t deform the tip like a kinetic style puller does. You could process the 60 7-08’s in 15 minutes.

Recently I was given a zip lock bag full of old 300 savage ammo and I was leery of shooting it so I pulled the bullets, removed the primers and will reload the cases. I would recommend you do the same including removing the primers.

https://www.rcbs.com/bullet-pulling/sta ... -9440.html



Grunt,

That’s what I do also. Sometimes I have to use a small drift to press the pins above the primer pocket far enough to grab them with the needle nose. I don’t know if I ever had a pin in place when seating a primer but I haven’t had a miss-fire from a mangled anvil. I switched from the dry media vibrator type cleaner to the wet tumbled pin type about two years ago. More work and a bit of a pain rinsing and drying but the results are well worth the effort.

[Grunt67]

Agree on the rinse & drying. Love the results tho.
I do the same with the drift & pliers.
If I had found wet tumbling & a Co-Ax press years ago, it might have added 10 yrs to my life, LOL.

[Hatchdog]

Agree on the rinse & drying. Love the results tho.
I do the same with the drift & pliers.
If I had found wet tumbling & a Co-Ax press years ago, it might have added 10 yrs to my life, LOL.

I used to work for a company that had a Co-Ax press mounted on a bench for the employees to use. Loved that press, should have bought one when I replaced my Reloader Special with a Rock Chucker a few years ago. There also was a Belding & Mull powder measure available that I used to load 1,000’s of 7-08 ammo for handgun silhouette shooting. Best manual powder measure ever I believe.

[NHshtr]

Hatchdog,
Thanks for the note. Ordered the puller and collet. Got the puller from Amazon, and the .284 collet at Midway. Not many calibers in stock anywhere.
Wanted a .308 as well, but none in stock, but I can wait for that.
Must be lots of reloaders pulling bullets!!!

[Grunt67]

I used to work for a company that had a Co-Ax press mounted on a bench for the employees to use. Loved that press, should have bought one when I replaced my Reloader Special with a Rock Chucker a few years ago. There also was a Belding & Mull powder measure available that I used to load 1,000’s of 7-08 ammo for handgun silhouette shooting. Best manual powder measure ever I believe.
[/quote]

I've still got my old Belding & Mull powder measure I bought back in the late 60s. As you said, it was accurate. Eventually moved up to the RCBS micrometer measuring system. That old B&M cranked out a lot of rounds tho. Still in the bottom drawer ( just in case ), LOL

[bandit1250]

I got the wood/coal burner all fired up to heat the basement and my room. After getting it nice and warm I remembered today is my birthday and I decided I am not going to do anything all day. When my wife gets home I will spend my birthday evening with her.

[NHshtr]

Bandit1250 - Happy Birthday!

[Grunt67]

Happy birthday Bandit, hope it'll be a good one.