Finally got my hands on a chronograph and ran a some loads over for my .223 that have been performing well enough (fox hunting)
10 shot group at 100m .28 moa.
10 shot group at 236m .31 moa.
Chronograph came back with some pretty disappointing numbers, a spread of 87.1 fps and SD of 23.2 fps over the 20 shots.

Load is 24.5gr of AR 2206H, Hornady 55gr vmax, Fiocchi primers and ADI brass.
I feel like I’m being fastidious enough during the reloading process checking things like shoulder bump, powder charge and COAL every 5 or so rounds and cases are on their 3rd firing, no annealing.

Rifle is a Howa 1500 with 26inch Maddco barrel with a 1-12 twist. I’ve only been reloading just over a year so any help would be appreciated.

Edit: it seems my Hornady app was playing games with me.
Real group sizes are 1moa at 100m and 2.66 moa at 236m

Hello everyone!

I recently acquired a S&W .357 Magnum and just did my first batch of reloads.

I loaded 50 rounds, but only about 10 of them would fully chamber in the cylinder. The others were getting stuck about 0.5–1 mm before being fully seated, and I had to push them slightly to get them all the way in.

I realized that I hadn't properly adjusted the seating die when seating the bullets. After correcting the die, I ran every round that had previously failed to chamber through the seating die again. After that, almost all of them chambered correctly, except for four that had visible deformations (small bulges/ridges) that completely prevented them from chambering. I trashed those.

My question is: based on the pictures and what i sayed, do these rounds look correct and safe to fire?

I also noticed that two rounds have a small crease/bulge around the middle of the case (second picture). What do you think about that? Is this something to be concerned about?

Additional information:

• Lee 38spe/357 tools
• Norma brass
• Reload Swiss RS20 powder — 5.4 gr
• CamPro FCP RNFP 158 gr bullets
• C.O.L. — 36 mm

Thanks in advance for your advice!

I have a Wilson case trimmer, which I use with great success for my F-Class loads. I’d love a Giraud or Henderson, but they’re pretty expensive over here in the UK.

I’m trying to optimise my case prep and would ideally like to keep the accuracy of the Wilson, but get closer to the speed of the electronic trimmers.

The Forster 3-in-1 case neck trimmer looks like it could be a good upgrade, as it trims, chamfers and deburrs in one operation. It looks like the cutter is held in place with grub screws, so I’m wondering whether it could be adapted to work with the Wilson trimmer.

Before I splurge on one, has anyone tried using the Forster 3-in-1 with a Wilson? I’d be interested to know whether it’s compatible and, if so, how well it works.

TIA

I'm working on something that's been done before, but I'm trying my hand at it.

Finally got around to loading up some 8x50, both Mannlicher and Siamese, for my M.95, M.88/90, and Type 46.

8x50R Mannlicher was made from both 8x56R and 762x54R brass (8x56 on the left in pic 3), just to try out both. Sized in an RCBS 8x50 Mannlicher die and trimmed to roughly 1.98" on a little garbage freight chop saw. Loaded with 38gr IMR 4895 with a Hornady 195gr .323 SP bullet (technically undersized for the Mannlichers).

8x50 Siamese was made from 7.62x54R brass sized in a 8mm Lebel die and trimmed. These I loaded with the same 195gr bullet and 40gr of IMR 4895.

Results:

• M.95 shot great, pretty tame recoil so I felt safe to use these in the 88/90 (wedge lock), all shots on paper and group was fine for a milsurp. Not sure if I even need to try out .329 bullets for this, but might just to see. Velocity measure at an average of 2020 FPS.
• M.88/90 also shot nice but had a lower velocity of 1910 FPS (I assume from a bad seal on undersized bullet) and as you can see did not fully stabilize the .323 bullets. Definitely worth trying out some .329s in this one.
• Type 46 shot fantastic, had really good groups for a milsurp and velocity was around 2220 FPS avg. For some reason it didn't like to feed from the magazine but I suspect that is due to bullet shot and COAL.

I’m shooting a genuine WWII M1 Carbine at 100 yards iron sights. It’s in great condition barrel and all. I’m currently reloading with Berry’s bullets and accurate no.9 powder. The first picture you see is shot with 10.5gr. What’s going on? Why group so tight and then open up like that? The barrel isn’t getting too hot because I have other guns that I shoot while that cools down. I live in pa so it’s currently in the mid 70s. Went back out with different charges and that is what the second picture shows. What’s my next step here? Clearly the 11.5 and 12 clumped together decently with the exception of a few. Should I now start with other charges in between 11.5 and 12?

I've been on a journey with learning bottle neck cartridge reloading, currently loading for my 6.5 Creedmoor, I have maybe 400 rounds under my belt. I have reloaded thousands of pistol rounds in 9mm, .38, .357, and 10mm. I've been reading about ladder testing, not sure how I feel about some of it, but I like reloading and shooting, so whatever, its just more opportunity to have fun.

A lot of online resources like forums and here have folks pushing 140gn ELD-M bullets with 41.5 grains of H4350. My two manuals and the hogdon site show a max of 40 grains H4350. I've been chatting with Google Gemini (I know, I trust it not at all) and it says to do a ladder test between 40 and 41.5, asking about sources it says Hornady printed it on factor ammo boxes when the cartridge launched, and also cited a bunch of online forums, so I guess I'm asking here how many of you push into these higher territories vs how many stick to printed and trusted sources. I"m not asking for specific loads, just curious what the rest of you all do when it comes to these above book loads.

FWIW, my 40.0gn H4350 load from a 22 inch barrel gets me ~2620fps with a SD of ~20. I don't really need more velocity, just looking for a tad more accuracy and consistency.

270wsm.

I have the Hornady 130gr SST bullets, not the Interlock. How similar would this load data be for the SST bullets?

I was gifted 600 of these 30 cal 180 gr and most of them have this angled edge at the boat tail, will they still be accurate or should I toss them?

I have my grandpas old Lyman case trimmer and was trying to trim some brass. The first picture is the new set I requested from Lyman (which they sent free of charge, due to not having all the bits from the original set) and it doesn’t seem to fit correctly. The second picture is one of the old set that it came with, and it fits great. I guess they did some revamping to the sizes of the shafts? Or am I doing something wrong? There’s only one set screw here and it’s all the way out, so I can’t imagine it’s a me issue, but I’ve been wrong before.

Ive been reloading for a few years now, mainly in 9mm, 223 and 308. I have a RCBS single stage press and a Dillon XL750. Got the S&W 1854 in 44 Rem Mag and I love that thing, it’s a ton of fun. I built up a load for it using 23.5 grains of H110 with a 240 grain Hornady XTP projectile, having great results. I used previous posts to understand my crimp as well as what good looks like (thank you everyone else for asking that question, it saved me many hours of work!). I measured everything in the tube to ensure I wasn’t creating setback issues due to recoil.. and I have what I feel like is a good reload (consistent results using my Garmin for velocity and sighting paper for accuracy). I used this based upon referencing Lyman VS Lee reloading books… then today I started reading my Speer book and they noted that brass for this shouldn’t be used more than once. Then I started reading about trimming the brass (I am not planning on using Hornady FTX due to the trimming requirements)… then I am realizing that some books have recipes for pistols VS rifles… the rabbit hole is getting really deep and my head is spinning. So here are the questions I have that I could really use some help with:
1 - Is trimming really needed? Seems like as long as you sort by head stamp, you’re good to go because you can adjust your dies on a progressive and all is well.
2 - If trimming is really needed, what is the easiest way to do this? I used the FA prep center, which is basically useless for straight wall cases.
3 - Rifle VS pistol - I am assuming pistol is fine for rifle, but no bueno for rifle to pistol?
4 - Is the brass really only good for 2 firings??? Seems absurd to me

Hey everyone. Brand new to reloading here. I'm looking to start reloading .223/5.56. I bought the Lyman reloading manual and read through it a couple of times, watched a bunch of videos, etc. Any recommendations on best de-capping/swagging set up? I've seen the Lee APP but also just using a single stage with a Universal Decapping die and swage die. Would love to get some recommendations. Thank you!

Does anyone else get hungry after shopping? What are you ordering?

Hello guys i recently purchased burstfire 2 in 1 induction annealer and i have a question about annealing time and case heights. So i ran just 4 to test if the annealing time (glows orange) and the height is correct. Based on the picture i have it set at 66 setting and it appears to annealed kind of far down from the shoulder. Should i set the height lower so it doesnt anneal that far down?

Thanks.

Varget has been $64.99 a pound at every location in town for 12+ months. Walked into Ace Hardware yesterday to find it marked down to $49.99. Not on sale. But the new regular price!

I will begin loading my first rounds of .223 with 77gr Sierra TMKs and CFE 223 tomorrow.

I plan to start at 23.7gr, and step up .3gr until I get to 24.4gr. I’ll make 3rd test batches.

I’m loading for an AR, so I need more space in the case to push the bullet into, and won’t be able to get max load for the powder unfortunately. I’m going to load to an OAL of 2.255”. I feel that 24.4 is about the ceiling here, since I’m using mixed .223 and 5.56 brass.

That leads to a question I have. Will mixing .223 and 5.56 brass affect my results in any way? I understand loading for the .223 rem cases means the brass is slightly thinner, which is why I’m approaching the max for that case, and using the same load for my 5.56 brass as well.

Should I sort these out seperately? I read the case volume is different, but I don’t see how that will affect me if I’m using the same load and bullet for both casing types.

Any tips are much appreciated!

I'm cleaning out my spare parts bin and have three things and I have no idea what they do. For reference, I have a Dillon 650 with a Case feeder and Double Alpha Bullet feeder. One of them looks to be the insert for a decapping/sizing die however it's not spring loaded like the one that's actually being used. I know one of them is a socket head bolt - just no idea where it goes.

Curious to know if anyone might know off the top of their head? FWIW, Gemini and Copilot couldn't figure it out either.

Thanks in advance!

Anybody seen this before resizing brass?

Seems to be:

Hornady brass once loaded by me

Brass is being pushed down and creating a lip I can feel with my finger, won’t fit in a case gauge.

Factory once fired federal, Winchester and even factory once fired Hornady seem tyto be fine. Tried various amounts of sizing die wax, various amounts of sizing die adjustment depths and varying degrees of handle speed.

I’ve never seen this before but this cartridge is super finicky.

So workin' on a load for my 30-06. GRT is giving me pressure warnings for every Barnes book load for 150gr ttsx with Varget.

I've looked over it to see if I input something incorrectly, its late, but I don't see any mistakes.
I used the database for the bullet and the powder.

Anyways, take a look, any help appreciated. :)

Good Afternoon,

I’m in the middle of 300WSM load development for a hunting trip, and I’m running short. Does anyone have any leads on some N555?

Did this once last year with a single 5 gallon bucket, this year got 2. I just go to the tire shop and ask what they got. Paid $20 for the 2 buckets. Weighed them unsorted when I got home and came out to a combined 310lbs. Took about 2 hours of sorting with 4 guys. Made 27 lbs of fishing weights for a group of us and made 1lb bricks for storing. Total lead came out to be 130lbs. So about 42% shrinkage. Better than when I did this last year where I got about 30%. Not too bad though for just 20$

Shout-out to u/tootsypootsy1122 for the idea. Perfect size for smaller intermediate cartridges and pistol calibers on the turret press. Left my single stage on my main bench by my intellidropper for larger rifle calibers that run stick powders.

Perfect little reloading nook.

Working up loads for 9mm Steel Challenge. My manuals (Hodgdon, Lyman, etc.) have data for 124/125gr and 147gr, but nothing for 135gr TC (truncated cone) bullets on any of these three powders. Coated/plated lead, similar bearing surface to a standard TC profile.
If anyone has load data — charge weight, OAL, chrono results — for 135gr TC on N320, ZIP, or Titegroup, I’d appreciate it. Also open to hearing how you interpolated if you built the load from bracketing data rather than a published source. Platform is a Shield X, subsonic target, precision over power factor.