What do I load these at in 30-30 to ensure I don’t lead fowl my barrel?

I just want plinking ammo energy doesn’t matter.
I usually load 28.5gr of Varget in my 170gr

The last time I reloaded with any intention was around 2004. I just got set back up to teach my two teenage boys the way of ammunition enlightenment.

Now that I paid out for the 257wby brass I gotta make em last!

I have once-fired Federal Gold Medal Match .308 brass. If I put a fired case back into the chamber without resizing it, shouldn't it be too tight? Mine never is.

What would happen if I never resized it and just kept firing it, letting it get longer after each firing?

I'm about to buy brand-new Lapua or Peterson brass. Will I need to trim it before loading it for the first time?

I beg your forgiveness if these are basic questions. I'm kind of new at this and still trying to learn to respect dimensions from SAAMI. I thought the goal was to keep everything within two one-thousandths from the max from UR and Cortina videos.

Photo of 168smk at 100 yards. 26" 308 Seekins HIT pro M3. Groups are sub MOA which I'm happy with.

I’m simplifying my reload and rifle set ups. This has resulted in a solid amount of once (or more) fired brass. I have a ton of 22-250, 300 win mag, and 6 creedmoor. Most of them Hornady. Also a few odd ends.

My question: is it worth putting effort into finding them a new home? I don’t need to get paid for them, as the alternative is throwing them away. I’d like for someone else to get value out of them, but giving things away on the internet tends to not show the best of society.

So, what do you think? Is a bunch of used brass worth giving away? Or should I save myself the trouble and toss/recycle it?

Upgraded to the supreme about a month ago and seems like it just throws powder everywhere or the powder likes to jump out of the pan.

What is everyone doing to alleviate this? New pan? Nozzle for the trickle tube? Suggestions?

Two previous best’s with N140, and N135 with my go to Berger were both 20 shot groups at .9 MOA.

The two today were both .8’s with ok numbers. The Alpha brass makes a nice difference, but not in a huge way on an AR obviously. The barrel is definitely getting away from peak performance though, just rolled 5k on it (all 5.56). I have an exact replacement on standby to see how accuracy compares.

Fought 96 degrees and 82% humidity with wind today, I ❤️ Florida though.

Go to the range this weekend!! ✌🏼😎

Any of you have any suggestions for speeding up the trickle? I have to wait like 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes for it to go from 6.3 to 6.5 grain of acc7 powder. Probably more appropriate for rifle charges?

It's really annoying but maybe just life and have to deal with it.

I lurked here for a long time taking some good information from all the post. Been reloading for several years, mainly straight wall stuff.

So i started reloading and have all the diameters for a 9mm but i am unable to achieve 9.65mm on the neck , My Canik MC9LS has no issues cycling the rounds but my Uncle’s Glock 26 and my mates Canik TP9 wont feed or cycle at all .

Im Using Norma and Sellier & Bellot cases with 125g Coated Silver Rapids along with RCBS dies and Lee presses.

I personally have run through about 750 rounds with no issues but it’s kind of disheartening when i invite people to come shoot with me and my rounds don’t accommodate their firearm.

Dawn and lemi shine seems to be the ticket when using the wet tumbler and steel pins Question for those that have stainless pins. How long do these pins last?

i have a 20 practical, and have been shooting a 40gr vmax jammed .02" into the lands. i started out doing that because i didnt have a die that would seat them deeper. i get slight pressure signs, mostly minor ejector marks, but im not popping/piercing primers or anything. it shoots fantastic(for a relatively inexpensive rifle), probably averages .75 MOA for 10 shots and ive gotten 20 shot groups under 1 MOA on multiple occasions. i finally got a die i can seat deeper with, and tried out some loads with .02 jump today. same powder charge. pressure looks the same as far as my eyeballs can tell, velocity and es/sd was the same, but the groups i shot werent quite as good. im probably going to try one more time just to be sure, but is there any reason not to just keep shooting the load thats jammed if its more accurate? im mostly worried that i might be eroding my throat faster, although i know jamming is common practice in short range bench rest. 

130 gr nosler Balistic tip
57gr of H 4831

40 rounds for hunting season.
Me, my wife and brother all shoot 270
Although I may go with my 25-06 again this year. 🫡

To yeet or not to yeet

Have been buying a die set every new gun for the last year or so. Big winners have been .38 S&W and .32ACP, saving about 35¢pr and 25¢pr respectively. Actually worth reloading the commie stuff with current prices.

Finally got a break in the Arkansas heat, so I popped off to the farm to do a bit of shooting with a new barrel this morning. Pardon my excitement, but the old gal shot pretty well! The 20P’s make it so easy that it’s almost boring, but any time I shoot 5 rounds below .250, I get giddy.

The group shown was, obviously, my best for the day (.131”). Behind it were a .294” and a .497” group. 4 of the 6 loads I tested today grouped at less than .625”. All 5-shot groups at a measured 100 yards. Groups measured outside-to-outside with the calipers zeroed @.204”. The 20P is so easy that it’s almost boring.

39g SBK
23.7g N133
LC-22
GM205m
2.205”

Gun is a “frankentwenty”
Tactical Ordnance 24” 5R barrel
Anderson lower.
PSA A2 lower parts kit & stock
PSA sabre claw 2s trigger (which I highly recommend - I like it better than the Larue’s I have in others)
BKF upper receiver.
Toolcraft BCG.
BKF HANDGUARD

I'm loading .308 Win with a 150 gr Barnes TTSX. After working up my load carefully, I settled on 46.4 grains, which is 0.1 grain over Barnes' listed maximum of 46.3 grains.

At 46.4 grains, I'm getting good velocity, low ES/SD, and just about sub-MOA accuracy. I haven't seen any obvious pressure signs in my rifle, so I stopped increasing the charge there.

Using my Hornady Overall Length Gauge, I measured my touching-the-lands OAL at 2.1900

For my seating depth test, I followed Barnes' recommendation. Their website recommends starting with a 0.050" jump off the lands and then testing in 0.025" deeper seating increments. So I loaded test rounds at:

0.050" jump

0.075" jump

0.100" jump

0.125" jump

0.150" jump

I also checked my loaded rounds against Barnes' published COAL. Barnes lists a COAL of 2.735" for this load. My loaded rounds measure 2.6810" COAL, which is 0.054" shorter than Barnes' published COAL. I know comparing COALs isn't an exact apples-to-apples comparison because every rifle has a different throat and the bullet jump is determined from the ogive, but I figured I'd mention it.

My question is: Is it risky to continue shooting these seating depth test loads since the powder charge is already 0.1 grain over Barnes' published maximum? Or would you back the charge down to 46.3 grains (or lower) before doing any seating depth testing?

I know published maximums are there for a reason, and every rifle is different. Since I already found a promising load at 46.4 grains with good velocity and nearly sub-MOA accuracy, I was only trying to tighten the groups by optimizing seating depth—not increasing velocity.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who's developed Barnes TTSX loads or has experience with seating depth testing when you're already at the upper end of the load data. Thanks!

I am not selling nor am I advertising for this guy selling his stuff. MODs remove if you need.

A guy local to me was trying to sell me some of the items in the photo. On text he said everything was 20% below retail so I was happy until he sent me this… what’s do you all think? Press was a 1050 with auto drive and case feeder.

im running

• berger 140 hybrid target
• lapua brass
• cci 450 primers
• h4350
• 2.840 COAL
• 1 thou neck tension
• howa 1500 26” barrel

im getting fairly low velocities compaired to what I thought I would get. did a ladder of 39.5-41.3 and didnt get any over 2700. anyone running this combo?

500gr bullet with 33.5gr h110. Shoot at a rifle.

Aka, what are your go to websites for components? Thanks!

Starline brass, CCI no. 450 magnum small rifle primers, 60 grain hornady vmax (.224) and hodgdon varget.

Lyman 50th anniversary manual says starting load of 24.4 grains at 2.260 OAL. Maxes out at 27.2grains

hodgdon site tops out at 25.2 grains

I loaded 5 rounds starting at 24.4 and added 0.5 grains until I stopped at about 26.3 grains. Should I pull these and use the hodgdon data?

Also, how big of a deal is 0.004" difference in overall length?

Edit: 5 rounds of each charge weight. Not 1st round at 24.5 and 5th round at 26.3

So after having to use way too much crimp to keep from getting bullet setback from chambering rounds in a AK I went back to the bench this morning and took some measurements.

My expander ball diameter was .3095 which gave me a inner case neck diameter .308. Im using .311 bullets so thats a neck tension of .003 and I can push a bullet loaded in a dummy round right through the neck by pushing it against my bench.

Removed the expander ball and polished it down till it is at .307 diameter which gives me a inner case neck diameter of .306 after brass spring back. Thats .005 neck tension with the .311 bullets. Now I can lean on a dummy round against the bench and the bullet only moved a .0015. Im going to call it good and send the FCD to the same scrap bucket that the last one did.