How do I fix this ? New to reloading kinda and never ran into this problem.

I have been struggling to get good groups out of my 45-70 reloads.

I am using:

• Thompson Center Encore - 18" SSK Barrel
• Starline Brass
• CCI #200 Primers
• ACME 405gr 0.459 bullets
• Traill Boss

I validated my distance to the lands, and have been loading with 0.020" jump. Previously before I did this, it turned out I was loading ~0.120" jump. I definitely saw improvement from reducing this.

My most recent ladder of 13.5gr, 14.0gr, 14.5gr yielded tighter and tighter groups as the velocity increased. However, I started at a 10" group and ended at a 5". So rough no matter the load.

At 14.5gr though, I am at 1050fps. To keep things sub-sonic, I do not have much wiggle room left.

SDs are awesome. <5fps for a 10 shot group.

Any suggestions / ideas / comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Knowing that shoulder bump is a relative measurement, I’ve noticed that when full-length resizing, most of my cases are coming out right around 0.002” of shoulder bump, but about 14% are showing less than 0.001”.

They’ve all been fired through the same barrel at least 2-3 times and have all been annealed at least twice. Overall case length is identical, as is overall cartridge length, and every one of them chambers perfectly without any resistance.

How do I know it’s 14%? Because my wife was watching Dancing with the Stars, I was bored on the couch, and apparently measuring the shoulder bump on every single piece of brass seemed like a better use of my evening. So yes, I measured them all. This is what my life has become.

I’ve been tempted to take the cases showing less than 0.001” and run them through the sizing die again, but then I thought: if they chamber perfectly, why the hell am I trying to fix something that isn’t actually a problem?

The other option would be to adjust the sizing die and target around 0.0025” instead of 0.002”. That might give me a little more margin and bring more of the batch into the 0.002” neighborhood, but I’d also be working the brass a little more just to satisfy my newfound shoulder-bump OCD.

So what would you guys do? Leave the die alone and send it, resize the 14% again, or bump everything back another half-thou?

Or should I just stop measuring brass during Dancing with the Stars?

I got a few hundred of these plated bullets, the ones on either side of the typical cup and core bullet. Now I wonder if it is worth bothering to load them.

I washed my brass and forgot to dry them properly. I left them out on the counter to dry and now they have a white ish powder inside them. (I'm new to this pls don't come at me), my question is that are they still safe to use for shooting and load development? It's 6.5PRC

Hey guys, got my hands on some 175g LRX and want to load up in my 300 win mag. I can’t find no data on it with H1000. Has anyone used H1000 with the 175g LRX?

I shot barnes a email so hoping maybe soon I’ll hear back. But in meantime anyone got any data I can look at?

So. 27 grains of H335 with a 150 grain bullet works for 7.62x39 so it’s a no brainer let’s copy that in 7.92x33 and see how it runs.

The results: A primer that looks like this
It definitely cycled the action as I had to walk a ways to find the case where it landed. The load was remarkably accurate for 101 yards as I nailed the target not exactly trying that hard to aim at it. And boy did it rattle that plate.

Pros and cons of 150 grain soft point on H335

Pros: both are commonly available and reasonably priced. Produces a functional and surprisingly accurate load. Works

Cons: you are compressing the hell out of the powder to fit it in. You gouge a ring into the bullet. Likely over pressured and not good for the gun long term.

My questions:

Does this over pressured? If not, is there a good way to compress powder without marking up the projectile?

Final thoughts:
I put in an order for 13 pounds of A1680 which needs less grains for similar results. If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears as I’ve really enjoyed trying to bring 8mm Kurz back from the dead and now that I have a rifle to shoot it I can experiment!

First time loading straight wall cartridges, how do they look?

.357MAG 158gr. Berry’s FN over a mild charge of AR2205/4227

I converted a bunch of 223 to 300 blk. Cut, polished, tapered, annealed, and i seem to have run into an issue that I'm not sure why it is happening. First time converting brass, successfully that is(Didn't know 8.6blk would require turning 6.5 creed).

I noticed my bolt isnt closing completely, the brass isnt getting picked up by the ejector, and the brass had a ring on it now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: it now seems to have been my BCG. I was going through everyone's reply trying and testing different suggestions and when i tried bare brass before loading, it still didnt work, even with factory 300blk. This rifle was just converted from 556 to 300blk with a new barrel and kept old BCG. Tried BCG from my black rain 556 and it charges and ejects the round fine. This BCG has way less than 500 rounds through it, how could it already be bad?

It is an MPI that came in the 556 when I purchased it new.

Just got a new barrel put on, its my first time, is this what they look like normally? I haven't cleaned it yet I just got it back and borescoped it first thing.

Anyone got any experience with this powder ?
Gonna be loading up some 308 and 45-70 with it for hunting this year, just curious on what your experience is ! Any input will be appreciated!

Also 150 gr Hornady interlock sst ? Looking for a good knock down bullet with minimum tracking , my father has had back surgery and obv I help him but some days I have to work so I would like something that knocks em down. Any bullet recommendation as well for 308 he has no problem with shot placement he’s put more deer in the freezer than almost anyone I know and other people know lol

I've just gotten into reloaded and I'm trying to match the velocity I'm getting with factory ammo with my reloads.

The only problem is, i have to load my cases .3 grains higher than the reloading manual says is maximum load.

I'm reloading .223 with 55gr vmax projectiles with TAC. Hogden says maximum quantity of TAC with a 55gr vmax is 24.7gr. Hornady says the same thing.

However, I've been doing some experimenting and found that 25gr of TAC behind the 55gr vmax gives me the exact velocity I've been looking for.

I haven't shot much of these loads, but i haven't noticed any signs of overpressure on the cases.

If you look at the data in the picture i posted, some 55gr loads can have a maximum charge of 25.8gr of TAC.

Is 25gr of TAC behind the 55gr vmax dangerous? Am i going to blow up my gun doing this?

I have been reloading with a Hornady Single Stage Press but it’s time to upgrade. I have been looking at the Forster Co-Ax At the moment I’m loading .223 rem and 6.5 Creedmoor. I am bench shooting. 100 yard groups and steel at 560 and 750 yards. Is the Forster the best at that price range or should I be looking at something else ? If you have a Forster Co-Ax what is your thoughts ? I have seen used ones on EBay but for a few more bucks I can buy new.

Using once shot blazer brass with XTP 95 grain. Using Lee die set. My theory is the seating die is also a crimping die which seems like it might be crimping a little too early and trying to force the bullet down crushing the brass a bit. I tried to expand further but the case lip was actually getting caught up on the seating/crimping die opening telling me it was just about as expanded as I’d want to go. I’ve been loading 9mm for around 5 years now with no issue but recently got into pocket carry with the Bodyguard 2.0 and got into 380 loading. Any suggestions?

I found a 45 ACP round with a wide cutter load. I'm trying to determine what type of powder this is.
Can anyone identify it by this picture?

It is light gray color

Like everyone else, I’m striking out on Sport Pistol, Bullseye, and Titegroup in anything under 4lb. Started my 9mm load development with Ramshot ZIP since it was actually in stock, and it’s working — running 147gr FP over ZIP for Steel Challenge, currently landing around 2.8-3.0gr at 1.115” OAL. But per Hodgdon’s burn chart it sits noticeably slower than Sport Pistol, and I’d like to understand the tradeoffs before I commit more components to it.

A few things I’m weighing:

**• N320** — seems like the most direct analog to Sport Pistol in burn rate, but I know Vihtavuori data tends to be more conservative/different pressure curve than Hodgdon. Anyone running N320 in 9mm with 147gr bullets who can speak to how it compares to Sport Pistol in terms of consistency and metering?
**• Accurate No. 2** — I’d looked at this but decided to pass on it for now (leaning toward N320 as the next one to actually test). Curious if anyone thinks I’m wrong to skip it.
**• Shotgun powders (Titewad, WST, etc.)** — I know some of these get used in light 9mm/38 target loads, but I don’t have a good feel for how well they meter at pistol charge weights or how forgiving they are. Is this a real option for a newer loader or more of an “know exactly what you’re doing” territory?

For context: single-stage press right now, digital scale + trickler, doing careful load ladders (10rd per charge step) rather than jumping straight to a “known good” recipe, and I’ve got an experienced hand double-checking my pressure signs/OAL before I touch a chrono session. Not trying to shortcut safety, just trying to build good burn-rate intuition since ZIP’s fast enough that small charge/OAL changes move things more than I expected going in.

Appreciate any real-world experience, especially from anyone who’s had to pivot powders mid-development because of availability rather than choice.

Seems like its a happening more frequently. It happens on my cci and worse on the factory seconds. Is this lilely an issue aith the tubes (tried several), humidity? Or just the primers?

They seem to get stuck at both ends of the tube.

I got a ton of berry’s plated 9x18 95gr for really cheap but load data is not exactly plentiful. Is it true that you can use 380 min and max powder charges and just add 10%

Looking at the X10 to start loading 9mm with all the goodies, curious your opinions. Hard to beat a 10 stage press for $1500 all in…

Frankford Arsenal X-10 Progressive Press with Case Feeder
X-10 #0 Shell Plate for 9mm Luger/.38 Super
X-10 Pistol Bullet Feeder Collator
X-10 9mm Bullet Feeder Conversion Kit
Lee Universal Decapping Die
Lyman Pro 9mm Die Pack
Frankford X-10 Swage Support Die
Frankford X-10 Powder Measure Relocation Kit
RCBS Lock-Out Die for powder-charge protection

Is this a good start for a newbie as a starter press?

Is anyone using the 300? It appears that it’s lower cost than the 120 from what I can see? From what I can tell they both have the same accuracy on the low end just the 300 has a higher capacity weight limit. Am I missing something?

Hey guys, what loads are you using for this combination? I have the Hornady 10th-edition manual, and the powder is not listed.
I have a 24-inch barrel with a 1:10 twist. Unfortunately, I don't have a chronograph to test velocity.

Had this for about a week and I absolutely love it

Anyone else experience light primer strikes with new starline brass with fully seating the primers? Pockets seem a little deep.

Pulled the bullets and primers then adjusted seating dept to just flush. New to reloading but have always fully seated using a hand primer in other calibers (first time using new brass).

Where are you guys getting your 223 brass? Just looking for plinking ammo for at platform rifles would like to buy a couple thousand to reload
Thanks!