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Thread: Reloading?

  1. #1
    Team Gunsnet Silver 02/14 - Moderator recon's Avatar

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    Reloading?

    Okay might just start to get into this. So what are the best loaders,powder,etc to get?
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    Senior Member NAPOTS's Avatar

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    I like hornady equipment. Powder depends on what i am loading

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    now thats a loaded question. depends a lot on your motives and objectives for loading.

    as a hobby, or just because you want more ammo, or because you want more accurate ammo? pistol, rifle?

    i dont reload for volume, so i dont use a progressive press. i do a lot of precision rifle rounds, that are best done on a single stage, or short runs of "plinking ammo" if your just looking to turn out bucket loads of one caliber for plinking, a progressive is the way to go

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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Good one deth502, loaded question.

    That said to best be able to provide useful information we do need to know what your goals are in doing the reloading, essentially what deth said.

    I've loaded on Single Stage presses and a "progressive" reloader. Makes you think of Liberals, but I digress. I have a Dillion 550B progressive press. I don't shoot benchrest but I have done 600 yard Service Rifle and High Power competition using loads produced on the Dillon. These machines can produce very accurate ammo, though I wouldn't go to a Benchrest match with ammo from one. Still my 69 gr. Sierra Match King with Varget Powder loads will easily shoot under 1/2" at 100 yards from sandbags. This is .223 / 5.56 ammo btw.

    Loading on a single stage press I was not able to do more than 60 rounds an hour starting with trimmed cases. That would entail; case lubrication, full length resizing, powder insertion, bullet placement, bullet seating with a roll crimp (for handgun ammo). I get about the same result with rifle rounds like .30-06, but no roll crimp. With the Dillon 550B I can easily crank out 300 rounds an hour, even more with a full load of primer tubes already filled.

    Powders come in different burn rates; fast, medium, slow, very slow (Magnums). Also there are; rifle, pistol and shotgun powders. Powder comes in different shapes; extruded often called "stick" powders, Ball and flake. There are SC, Short Cut Stick Powders, usually for rifle cartridge reloading. These flow through powder measures better than normal "stick" powders. Ball powder flows like water and is more or less round in nature hence the name, Ball. Flake powders are just that small round flat flake shaped granules. This type usually ends up in handgun cases and shotgun shells. They can clump sometimes, but usually meter through a powder measure well.

    Oh and primers, they come in different types; rifle and pistol, small and large, regular and Magnum grades in the 4 basic types.

  5. #5
    Team Gunsnet Silver 02/14 - Moderator recon's Avatar

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    I guess I would want a progressive loader. Mostly for 9mm,5.56,308,45,maybe also for shotgun ammo 12g.
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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    shotgun reloading is going to be a whole 'nother press.

  7. #7
    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    shotgun reloading is going to be a whole 'nother press.
    Yep, shotgun shells and metallic brass case type ammo in progressive reloaders are never on 1 machine. MEC is the old golden standard in shot shell reloaders. I have a little Mec JR. press. I've loaded thousands of rounds on it, got it when I was 13. Dillon the maker of the 550B press makes a shot shell reloader but holy hell it is expensive. All the components are super expensive compared to what I am use to. Yep, I'm so old I complain about what stuff costs now. As a kid we would get a 25 LB. bag of Lawrence Brand chilled lead shot for about $15 bucks. Last bag I purchased in min 1980's was about $25 a bag. I'm scared to look what it brings now.

    Back to metallic cartridges, the 550B can load anything from .32 ACP up to 45-70. This is why I own that model as it can handle such a wide range of ammo reloading. If you didn't want to do anything larger than .223 the Dillon Square Deal press can handle all basic handgun cases. http://www.dillonprecision.com/ link to Dillon's web page. It is every bit the duplicate of their catalogue. Changing caliber on the 550B can be as quick as about 5 minutes if you have extra tool holders with the dies already set up in them. The only real complaint with the 550B product I have is it does not do stick powder well, it lies ball or flake OK. Short Cut (sc) type stick powders seem to work OK for the most part if their diameters are small. 4065 sc powder has run reasonably well through the measure. Ball type powders are the best though for use in the 550B measure. They do have an adapter system now that will allow any measure with 7/8-14 threads to be mounted. However, it isn't linked into the press stroke like the 550B measure is. You'd have to remember to pull the handle on a non Dillon measure to drop a load of powder into a case. Still it would be better than what I do when loading Varget powder in my match loads for .223. I have to size and reprime them at station 1 and then pull them out and accumulate them in a loading block. When I have 20 ready I then run them under my Redding BR30 measure to fill them. Then I have to put them at station 3 on the left side of the press and put a bullet in for seating, then indexing to station 4 for the taper crimp to be applied.

    I've never had a part break on my Dillon press, had it since 1992. They carry a lifetime no BS guarantee as they put it. Should any part fail under normal use they'll send you a new part.

    Reloading equipment to avoid if you plan to load more than 1 box a year (IMO) is Lee. All their stuff is very light duty, especially their bullet molds. I wore one out in 2 casting sessions, never purchased another. They do have a thing called a "Hand Press" http://leeprecision.com/breech-lock-hand-press.html I use one of these to take to the range and make loads up there to find that "accurate" load. I'll take sized and primed cases with powder and bullets to the range. I have done a calibration on the measure in advance with the powder in question. My Redding press has a micrometer spindle with numbered graduations so a set point can be exactly duplicated. I'll start at the bottom of the charge size scale and work up in .5 grain increases.

  8. #8
    Team Guns Network Silver 04/2013 alismith's Avatar

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    Scheutz, I've used Lee molds for years and never had any problems with them (of course, the only molds I have are for muzzle loader round balls and one for a maxi-ball).

    One thing I did find out, after reading the directions for the first time ever, is that the mold has to be coated with beeswax in order to function properly. Regular oil and candle wax won't work. I'd never done that in the past, but did manage to find some beeswax and am going to coat them properly and see how that works. So far, I've never worn any of my molds out.

    All my reloading stuff is Lee and I haven't had any problems with any of them.
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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    I don't know ali, maybe I just got a bad one or something. In my case it was a .40 cal. round ball mold. I ran off about 600 balls through it and the two halves got out of registration. The result was mismatch between the right and left sides. On bullet molds most of mine are Lyman, but I also have RCBS and a couple of Rapine. The Lyman molds are in the majority round ball molds. I probably have a couple dozen molds total.

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