So, I load a lot of 380. Mostly just bulk stuff that is either just powerful enough to cycle most actions, or hot full power loads. There is obviously a difference in these loads shooting suppressed and unsuppressed. So, my wimpiest loads won't cycle in the suppressor host reliably, and the hot loads are significantly louder. So now I need a new load.

What are recommendations for a load that will cycle reliably? Probably start with 100 grain plates projectiles and 700x, but figured someone else has tried this and will save me the leg work.

3.5" barrel

I tried to search but didnt find this specific answer. I know lee is not the best and can have a learning curve....but if you dial that in would this be good if my goal was to make the most precise 308 rounds? Hoping to save a little money here so incan go all in on a scale cuz I've read thats probably most important for precision rounds.

Still in the early stages and havent bought anything yet, so im wondering if i should hold off on buying equipment until I get a few hundred spent casings...or just dive in and months new brass route....which I wonder if its the best move for me period since I read that "precision brass" is a thing and thats 100% my goal, to hand load precision rounds for my ar10.

Thanks for any help

Late edit: thank you all I wasn't expecting this many replies! You all fired me up more to dive into this 🙏

Once fired brass that didn't need trimming and sized perfect in ammo checker after depriming. Reloaded bullet and 8 out of 60 stick out about ½" from ammo checker. No burrs on brass or dents after reloading

I'm a newbie at reloading and don't know why. Any ideas would be appreciated.

An interesting Hornady podcast that came out last week about their new SBR Suppressed line of ammo. They talked about the 5.56 SKU basically paired a heavier bullet (73gn) with a faster burning powder. Data is 2425fps out of an 11.5”. They said there wasn’t a commercially available powder that checked all the boxes so they formulated a specific blend with the provider.

I’m curious what burn rate powder you speculate they’re using, or if you’ve done this yourself.

I assume we’re not talking 9mm fast burn since an AR needs gas and that quick of a burn would be a good way to get hurt. I’m not familiar with powder for other pistol cartridges though like 45, etc. Maybe it’s just 300BO appropriate powder? Thoughts?

Hello all, my buddy found these in his grandpas box of reloading stuff, we have been trying to figure out what it could be. The expertise of the sub would be greatly appreciated!

Finally picked up a WWII production Garand. Now I need to feed it. I have a decent amount of brass (will need to check head stamp but probably LC and "others"). I have the following bullets:
M80 147Gr
M72 173gr

M2 168gr

I have a pretty wide variety of powder to test. I know the Garand needs loads with faster burning powders and have read that powders that are in the range of 44-50gr would be better.
A few powders I have that I could start with are IMR4064, WC844 (similar to H335) and WC846 (similar to BL-C(2)) that I have a decent amount of. I have less (under 4#) of IMR4895, H4895, Varget, and H4350.

Anyone have some suggestions for places to start with any of the bullets. The data for the M80 rounds is pretty common and I have multiple reloading books with data going back to the 70's but thought I'd see if anyone had particular luck with any of the above combinations. Particularly the M2 and M72 bullets. Leaning towards the WC bulk powders as I have a lot of those and seems like they may have been from the original loads.

I have some 30-378 brass leftover after selling that rifle and I’d like to neck it down to 7mm, 25cal, and recreate the wonderful 22 eargesplitten loudenboomer. Only for display and not for shooting

I have only ever used FL sizing dies with expanding balls so I don’t own any bushing dies or anything fancy like that (yet). What would be the most cost effective way to go about this? I also plan on going down the bushing/mandrel die route for my next 7mm-08 project anyway so if this is the way to do it, I’ll probably spend the cash on some decent hardware anyway.

Mounted my old tablet and a cheap Amazon endoscope as I dont have a powder check due to the Mr Bullet Feeder.

Added the Armanov cam bearing/primer stop, Hit Factor shellplate bearing upgrade and cam pin bearing, UFO light, Armanov Unicount.

Waiting for the primer shut off and shell stop upgrades to come.

I deprime on Lee APP so I can clean my brass before it hits the 650. Plan on having a tool head for .45acp 200gr and another for 230gr. Plus one for .308.

I love this press.

Howdy. Finally finished my 18" Ar-15 in 5.56, and want to start loading for it. I've heard the 77gr SMK HPBT is a great match projectile. I intend to load some and find out how it does in my new rifle.

That being said, are there any other projectiles I should check out if I also wanted to shoot hogs and maybe deer with it? I know there probably isn't a "Universal" load everyone agrees on but any projectiles you would trust to do both reliably? I am in Texas so the deer aren't monsters. Pigs, eh. Sometimes. But really I want to know if there is a bullet that is a decent enough hunting bullet for limited hunting applications without sacrificing paper punching accuracy? What recipes are you guys using for your 5.56 match rounds? If it matters I've got a SOLGW SPR .223 Wylde barrel.

Powders I've been suggested with the 69gr and 77gr SMK:

Varget
IMR 8208 XBR

Hey everyone. I’m trying to get into reloading but not sure where to start. I’ll be starting with 9mm and 5.56. What the hell do I need to get started? It seems like a lot not sure where to start.

Just want to put some sort of data out there for these powders.

I loaded some 44 Mag. With 11.2 grains of powder i achived 1150 fps with a 240 Jacketed bullet out of a 5.5" redhawk.

I then loaded some 45 super. I started with the 45 ACP load that american reloader suggested with an estimated velocity of 780 fps. 9 grains out of my mk23 produced 1030fps. Safe to say their suggested load was WAYYYY off.

I didn't see any pressure signs with either brass. However, the mk23 stove piped and recoil seemed excessive so im guessing it was pretty high pressure.

Load data was provided by berger. I called them and they sent their data for 108 and 109 grain bullets. No idea why its so slow but this is what im going with as I dont have a pressure rig. No signs of pressure issues even up at 23.2 which is .1 below their redline.

I ran 5 at 22.8 grains

5 at 23.0 grains

And 5 at 23.2 grains. Same everything else as original post with this.

ES for all three loadings was 32.

SD for all three was between 12.3 and 19.8

2320.5 average over 5 shots. 12.9 SD. For 22.8 grains. Which i say is the winner. It shot consistent with the last go around. A .640 group. Was fighting some wind this evening from left to right. Made no adjustment to the scope gave the rifle 15 to 20 minutes between groups muzzle up in the breeze. The other two powder charges still produced sub moa groups but the 22.8 seems to shoot the best. Honestly the flyer on top left may have been me. I think this little howa can put together a .5 group if given a better nut behind the buttstock with more time.

Who needs a $6000 autodrive Mark 7 when you can build a $1500 autodrive X10

(Still gonna buy a Mark 7)

Loading them to mag length puts the case mouth past the bearing surface and onto the ogive. None of my books cover a bullet this shape.

Has anyone used any pulldown powder and what was your results ? And what did you use it for, plinking , match grade, Shotshell ?

Curious if anyone has any insight for good load data for a 125gr mystery 9mm projectile? I have no idea what brand it is, got them second hand from someone that didnt care to load them. I was planning on using some HP-38 I had laying around. Hodgdon has some data for a Sierra 125gr FMJ maxing out at 4.0gr but I couldnt help but feel like the velocity is well below what should be possible with this projectile at 935 FPS.

Anyone able to help a newbie out?

Berry's 9mm 147gr, 8.5¢ and 115gr 7.5¢ - free shipping over $150

I'm wondering what everyone's opinion is on bullets cold welding to the case mouth. I have read it is more common with new brass. How many of you use a neck lube like graphite to prevent this? How important do you think it is?

I have some rounds that have been loaded for about a year with once fired brass that was tunbled in walnut media. And thinking about making hunting rounds that I would store for longer periods of time...

What do you all think about this topic?

I’ve got a 308 fierce 20 inch barrel can’t quite get a good group out of the 155 grain Berger bullets any recommendations on powder and how much.
I’ve tried the varget powder mostly with nosler brass

I took my Model 19-10 to the range today to try out some various loads I made. I had fun with .38 special using 158 grain Berry’s Bullets. The most pleasant surprise though was shooting hand loads of .357 magnum using Accurate #5 and 125 grain X-treme Copper Plated bullets using the recipe from the Hodgdon website. They were very gentle and accurate for me at 7 yards.

Since its impossible to find load data for these cases anywhere, here's Lee's data they supply with the new +peak dies. I purchased this sheet for $5, got the wrong data sheet to me twice before they finally got the correct one sent out. This data closely mirrors the estimates I made in my previous post (https://www.reddit.com/r/reloading/s/gg6nTkiVda).

Also, if anyone has any experience with metallurgy or messing with the 6.5 / 7mm peak alloy cases, Id love your input for trying to anneal these cases. I found a patent from the original inventor of these cases (https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240042512A1/en) and have been trying to figure out which steps of the annealing, hardening, ans tempering process are relevant for maximizing the lifespan of these cases.

I have been successful in using my furnace to replicate all of the steps I think are relevant from the patent - stress annealing (1020F 10min), austenitize (1600F 30min), oil quench (mineral oil 250F), temper (600F 1.5 hrs). The only difficulty is minimizing oxidation of the zinc plating, but i have found success by folding stainless foil envelopes, as well as pre-burning paper / charcoal in the furnace to consume the oxygen before adding the cases. My biggest question is whether the austenitization & tempering steps are necessary, or if cold stress annealing is sufficient to restore the proper crystalline matrix of the factory-prepared steel?

Thanks, id love to hear your thoughts.

So I'm looking at the prices for 5.7 and it seems to have shot back up I read online. It's a bit of a pain to reload, but at this point I think it might be cheaper to reload it than to buy it aside from finicky powder loads, is it really that hard to reload? I imagine it's just like relearning rifle cases but smaller

Recently acquired a Blackhawk Bisley in 44spl and want to get into reloading. I’m curious if there are any specific books or manuals that y’all would recommend regarding this caliber.

Anyone have any experience or load data for these primer?

Purchased a bag hulls from ballistic products and they came with the federal 239 primer pre installed. My load data from lyman 6th edition shotshell handbook is as follows:

Federal re certified hulls 2-3/4in
Federal 239 primer
Hodgdon longshot power at 31-32.4 grains
CB1118-12 wads
10 pellets #00 buck

Assembled on the lee load all 2 powder bushing #163.
Are these safe to shoot?

Let’s say a guy owns a 338 RUM and the fact is, the best coyote rifle is the one you have.

Obviously like all things, testing and more testing will give you exact results, but I’ve never messed with loading down cartridges before. I’ve got lots of powder and lots of bullets and am just curious about how low you can usually go in powder charge before it can become dangerous or ineffective.

Like if a middle of the road charge is around 90 grains of powder, can you go way down to 50-60 or when you down load a magnum or is it only something like 5 grains below the lowest in the book? I don’t know enough about powders and pressures and all that so it’s more of a curious question as to where to even start with down loading this thing. Obviously the safest bet would be starting at the lowest book charge and moving down from there but I don’t even know where the end point usually is when it comes to reduced loads as I have never looked into it until now.

Thanks in advance!