Reloading Thread

[BomberJosh]

well competitive pricing for already polished 556 brass is doing pretty good. just squeaked out a 5k lot on GB for 550. yeah its still 11 cents per brass but thats not bad compared to seeing some auctions in the 25-40 cent range for unpolished brass. im keeping an eye on the gov auctions for the next couple days. some lots are already bid up to 7 dollars a pound ... ridiculous ... hopefully i can spend some tax return money and then i can start my ecommerce brass business too.

[Azatty]

Originally Posted by Attila175

I just ordered a Dillon 650 with a casefeeder and also ordered a Mr Bullet Feeder for it. It will be my first press. Dillon is backed up 4-8 weeks on presses and it has been two weeks since I ordered.

Dirty little secret about Dillon is that if a customer is in the store and sweet talks them right, they'll pull a press off the line for the in-store customer "immediately" (could be a couple hours), and their online orders get bumped back one.

[TunnelRat]

Received my order from Pat's Reloading last week. Turnaround time was around six weeks. Opening up that flat rate box full of bullets was like Christmas!

[BomberJosh]

Well I just ordered 10k Hornady 55gr FMJ bullets from grafs(dot)com for 860. gotta say of all the places i have seen so far they offer good bulk prices on everything and no matter how much you buy its 6.95 for shipping and handling.

They allow back order...cant promise when it will ship...but customer service picked up the phone pretty quick as well. They wont charge me until it is ready for shipment so that's good too.


Now lets hope that my other massive powder and primer order from personalchoiceoutfitters comes through for me. I have seen some bad reviews of them on the web regarding 3 month plus ship times. Doesn't matter to me im in AStan so ill just enjoy my good prices.

anyone order from these two lately?

[Suwannee Tim]

I started reloading over 40 years ago at the tender young age of 14. Funny thing, I began reloading because of the unavailability of ammo........for a 14 year old. I could not buy ammo but could buy components so I got into reloading. The guy I bought from, Steve Thomas of Curry Thomas Hardware is still around, still buy stuff from him but he is a lot older. If a 14 year old can do it......you get the picture. Read, take your time, pay attention, double check your work, except powder type and charges, that calls for a minimum of triple check. I never loaded a bad round until about a year. I loaded 1000 rounds of 40 S&W. At some point the powder measure quit measuring powder and I made about 100 duds. They went "pfffft" instead of "bang!". I knocked the stuck bullet out with a hammer and wood dowel, over and over until I had shot up the whole thousand. Then I re-reloaded the bullets and shot them again. The moral of that story, I wasn't paying adequate attention.

[BomberJosh]

Just a heads up about PCO intl. The company alluded too in previous posts. i ordered 10k rifle and 10k pistol primers and 6 jugs of powder through them. After 1.5 months they finally sent me an email today saying they cancelled my order since they are having problems filling it and are not going to be selling primers or powder for the near future.

[The Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by BomberJosh

Well I just ordered 10k Hornady 55gr FMJ bullets from grafs(dot)com for 860. gotta say of all the places i have seen so far they offer good bulk prices on everything and no matter how much you buy its 6.95 for shipping and handling.

They allow back order...cant promise when it will ship...but customer service picked up the phone pretty quick as well. They wont charge me until it is ready for shipment so that's good too.


Now lets hope that my other massive powder and primer order from personalchoiceoutfitters comes through for me. I have seen some bad reviews of them on the web regarding 3 month plus ship times. Doesn't matter to me im in AStan so ill just enjoy my good prices.

anyone order from these two lately?

I ordered and received 10k large pistol primers from Grafs. Took several months but they arrived.

[MAZ]

If you guys reload and shoot pistol, check out S&S Castings out of Flanagan, Illinois. They sell all lead bullets that are already lubricated, nothing jacketed. I ordered .45 ACP bullets up on Friday and they were received on Wednesday. Good casting, not soft. I have shot them for years with zero issues. However, if you need brass, they are temporarily out.
Here's the link: http://www.snscasting.com

[BomberJosh]

Originally Posted by The Fat Guy

I ordered and received 10k large pistol primers from Grafs. Took several months but they arrived.

thanks for the heads up. Just placed orders today on top of the previous for 5k 9mm 124gr Hornady bullets, 40lb h335, 40lb w231, 10k lpp, 10k spp, and 10k srp. that rounds me out for what PCO screwed me on plus a little extra. Paid a little more but Grafs seemed like a better venue especially after they answered all my questions professionally on the phone when I ordered the previous stash.

im ok waiting 6 months or whatever since I am in A-stan. I just want my cache to be complete for when I finally come home

[Fox33C1]

A little something I just learned about... if you have mil brass not only will you want to do

Annealing your brass

a lot of the lake city stuff needs it to keep reloading it and make it last

here is a good explanation from the net .... //www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

[Starlight]

100's of Kg of Lead for casting, plenty of English flints and the legal limit of Swiss BP.

Good to go...

[glockcqc]

Reloading, is the way to go...if you shoot, hunt or carry.

You open up an entirely new spectrum of accuracy, speed, and terminal ballistics that you just can't get off the shelf.

Black hills just released a .223 62gr Barnes TSX load. Been using that for yrs for deer & pig hunting w/my SCAR MK16S. Like hitting an animal w/an outboard speed prop.

For my 10mm Glocks, I can run 135/155gr mouse fart loads for Steel Challenge comps to 200 gr Lead WFNGC loads @ 1300 ft per. second that will penetrate a 250 lb hog & crater the berm on the other side for a DRT (ie Dead Right There) hunt.

9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, same deal. Whether your cutting paper or looking for terminal effects. Reloading, is the way to go.

Good shooting.

[SpudWrench]

I just picked up my first piece of reloading equipment, a Dillon 550b.
This is going to be an expensive pursuit.

[The Fat Guy]

Your heavy lift is over. The 550B is a great press and will last you a life time.

What do you intend to reload?

[The Fat Guy]

I have some Winchester 748 I have started to use for .223. Nothing serious yet, just some 55grn fmj practice loads.

Has anyone used 748? Any good recipes for it? I am currently throwing 23 grains under a 55 grn fmj with a Wolf SRP.


Anyone have a good source for it? At 23-26 grains, it does not last as long as pistol powder.


A light load, but cycles my Colt. On to the POF.

[EchoFiveMike]

748 is very similar to TAC, which is my go to powder for mass 5.56 loads. 55gn loads should be up around 26gns for similar to M193 performance.

I use 27.0 under 50gn V-max or Nosler BT for varmints. It moves out smartly.

Sorry don't have a current source, used to buy from Powder Valley on line. I bought two cases of TAC when it was on sale a while back and I'm set for a bit. S/F......Ken M

[SpudWrench]

Originally Posted by The Fat Guy

Your heavy lift is over. The 550B is a great press and will last you a life time.

What do you intend to reload?

.357 Mag/.38 Spl and 5.56 primarily. Maybe some .45 ACP, but I just don't shoot it enough to justify the changeover just yet.

I've started my book collection with the latest from Barnes, the Lyman 49th and the ABCs will be next when I get back to the States.

Defensive ammo (for the wheelguns) will be factory loads. The reloads will be strictly for practice.
I have a piston AR (PWS), I'm hoping that it will tolerate the reloads without a problem.

I didn't get the caliber conversion kit with my press, so I believe I need two of those. I also need dies (that deprime), a cartridge holder, and I think that's it for each caliber.

A tumbler, some casing gages, trimmer and expendables. I'm sure that's not it, anything else you'd recommend?

[Forestboy]

If you don't have dial calipers you will need those. You will also need case lube and a scale, digital is the way to go.

With the 550 you will want the tool head for each caliber, unless you want to back the dies out each time you switch calibers.

I use unique for all my pistol loads, 9mm/38sp/357/40/44sp/44remmag/45 acp and 45 colt.

[SpudWrench]

I've been looking into the quick change kit, maybe later for that one.

How do you seasoned guys work up a load? More specifically, if I carry factory round X on the street, how do I find and test a combo that matches the ballistics of my favorite boxed ammunition?
I've already noted post #56, for when I start loading 5.56.

I'm getting into this because of the ammo shortage, not so much the need for hyper-accurate handloads. I just can't get my hands on enough factory stuff to maintain honest proficiency.

[diverescue]

Start with the bullet. try to find the same bullet, or at the very least, one of the same weight and shape. Then go to the chrono with your factory loads. Once you have that data, pick a powder (hopefully one you can use for multiple loads or calibers) and start with at least 10% below max. load recommendations. Then work your way up 1/2 grain at a time. Once you are close, you can experiment with primers to get it almost exact.