Reloading general/share advice thread

Buy used dies when possible. Check Gunbroker, eBay, gun shows.

Lee dies are made to a good standard and set the bar as far as quality goes but there are better options out there. In my experience I prefer in order: Reading (there is a premium for these dies), Pacific (company was bought out by Hornady years ago), Hornady, RCBS, Lyman, Lee. I really do like Lee factory crimp dies though and I have them for all the rounds that I shoot (as long as Lee makes them).

For case lube, I use imperial sizing wax. I shoot some big bore black powder rounds and I have not had a stuck case because of the lube (I have had case heads completely pop off but that is a different issue). I used to use Hornady one shot spray lube and that worked OK but I had some sizing issues with large rifle cases (which is 90+% of what I shoot).

For powder I mostly use IMR4064 but your results will most likely vary. I use whatever primers are cheapest when I am looking. I look for cheapest loadings, not accuracy so staying loyal to a brand is not an issue for me.

I have a Lee press with a Lee priming system (and I really love it) so I can't give you advice when it comes to priming systems.

Reloading is not as hard as some make it out to be (excepting extreme accuracy reloading) but you can kill/maim/destroy your guns easily. Buy reloading manuals.

I am a totally new to reloading. Looking for a good balance beam scale, is there and recommendations or names I should stay away from? So far I found out people don't like the Lee safety scale... I'm starting out with shotgun 12ga and .410. Just looking at a hobby to quit smoking haha

>>32453839
For scales, any balance scale except Lee should be fine. Most shotshell presses have a bushing for powder anyway. I had a Lyman digital scale that went crazy after a while (wouldn't hold a zero and was off by like +/-250 grains at the end).

Shotshell reloading isn't really cost effective for 12ga unless you have an odd (small) chamber size or shoot skeet/trap/clays constantly. I don't know about costs on a 410 (I don't own one) but I have seen set ups for metallic (normal) presses.

And I think it goes without saying but I will say it anyway, don't smoke around gun powder. Kaboom issues.

>>32453815
I've been loading pistol rounds for a few years now so I have the just of it. Not really into super accurate shooting yet. Mostly uspsa, plinking and maybe some 3 gun in the warmer months to come.

>>32454769
If you are looking to reduce costs when it comes to shooting, you may also want to look into casting. It is not too hard but has it does have a decent startup cost.

Has anybody here tried to powder coat bullets? If so is it the new miracle Jesus thing when it comes to casting bullets?

>>32453976
Thank you for your response. Not really looking to save money just an excuse to not smoke. I've kinda but the cart before the horse here by picking up a small stash of reloading items. Wanted to see if it's possible to make semi accurate sabot slugs and maybe a turkey load for spring turkey(which I have never hunted before)

>>32455311
If you want to go full crazy reloading to kill a bad habit, you might as well get into casting too. I think Lee makes a 12 ga slug mold, melting pots and other casting supplies. They also make a good shotshell reloading press.

>>32455234
I've thought about it for pistol rounds. I'll need a new barrel first, because glock

>>32455245
I've re coated some other coated bullets that would lead up my glock. The tumble and dump method worked surprisingly well. I don't even have a bullet sizer though... It's at least worth the couple of bucks for a tub of harbor freight red and a crap old toaster...

>>32453568
Could you explain your sizing issues with the one shot? Im reloading .270 and havent noticed any issues reguarding inconsistent sizing, this is with Hornady dies

>>32455485
OK. Guess I will give it a try then.
I have been having leading issues with my Tokarev, even following all the anti-leading tricks.

>>32455524
It's more rough sizing, press jumps like not enough lube is used on larger cartridges with Hornady one shot spray case lube (not Hornady dies). I liked the convience and never got a stuck case because of it. I just converted to imperial sizing wax when I made 577/450 cases and never looked back.

It all could come from combination of press and lube (Lee press). It also could be because the lube was exposed to extreme heat and cold being in my not climate controlled garage and it broke down and was no longer effective.

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Retard who just got his first gun here.
S&W SD9 VE

Can someone recommend a good magazine reloader? Will this one on amazon do?
https://www.amazon.com/MAKERSHOT-Custom-Caliber-Magazine-Speedloader/dp/B01CLTLF9M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1482879854&sr=8-2&keywords=magazine%2Breloader%2B9mm&th=1&psc=1

>>32456327
Use your hands.

>>32456367
>
I should've known 4chan would scoff at something like a speedloader.

I'll just have to ask reddit

>>32453186
You got a rock chucker for Xmas? Loser, that's worse than a carton of smokes and 3 scratch off lotto tickets.

>>32456327
Don't cheap out get the uplulu.

>>32456374
It's your first gun, you have two magazines. I don't care how many magazines you've already bought, buy another one instead of a mag loader. Use it to buy ammo. Hell, use it to buy targets.

>>32456420
>instead of reloading your mags, just buy a new one with ammo in it

>>32453186
I like RCBS hand primer. I had a new lee primer, but it was garbage, the primers would keep flipping upside-down because the the top of the ram and the primer tray weren't on the same level. I had an old lee hand primer from the 80s that I absolutely loved but it broke earlier this year. Redding or RCBS powder measure gets my vote

>>32456415
what makes it better

>>32455363
Don't believe that bullshit.
A bullet with proper fit and hardness will not lead a polygonal bore any more than it would a regular one.

>>32456502
I thought it was a fairly well known thing that Glock rifling just doesn't like cast bullets.

>>32456486
It will last forever.

>>32456560
That was always bullshit.
Polygonal barrels are no worse with lead than any other design.

>>32456581
It's accuracy issues, not leading. I get keyholing with cast lead bullets in my G19. The lack of sharp edges on the rifling makes it much harder to stabilize the bullet.

>>32453568
>lee
>setting bar
for shit tier tolerances
kys

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>>32455234
$60 for a lee bottom pour pot, $20 for a two cavity lee mold and $20 for a push through sizer. My lead pot paid for itself within the first hour of casting.

>>32455245
Yes, coating bullets is way way better than tumble lube or grease grooves. It takes a little more time but your gun and hands stay much cleaner, reduced lead exposure, no chance of leading in your bore. I have some 357 mag loads getting 2,000fps from a 16" barrel with a 164gr bullet. Bullet is cast from standard wheel weight alloy with no signs of leading. fuckers can put a decent little dent in 3/8" ar500 steel. I highly recommend it.

>>32455363
That's a bs myth associated with glocks. as another person said, as long as your bullets are of proper size and hardness, they will properly obturate and grab hold of the rifling. Powder coating takes out any guess work.

>>32456560
bunch of bs. a glock barrel works just like any other barrel. before I started powder coating I found glock barrels the easiest to develop a load that left zero leading after 500rds.

>>32456633
harder and/or a larger bullet. have you slugged the barrel?

>>32457599
>reduced lead exposure
What am I supposed to use to sweeten my wine?

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>>32456451

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>>32457599

Greetings friend. I just got this new mold today and am excited to share it with everyone.

700 grains of buttfuck all in a 500.

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>>32457940

Hmm, wonder why it flipped? Being a phoneposter atm.

>>32457948
You should get a shoulder stock for the gun and hunt with it at this point, what I would be doing.

That and making a custom pistol that takes .50 BMG projectiles loaded onto .500 S&W

>>32458059

I had a 50-70 contender barrel throated for old 50 pulls once. That was a fun gun.

>>32453186
Maximum recommended loads are for pussies. Fill that sucker up with some high burn powder and have fun. Compressed loads with this are even better.

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Has anybody who knows what they're doing read pic related, and is it worth buying? Got a bunch of old reloading equipment over the weekend and I want to put it to use.

Also, do you need a neck ream die? I have dies for three calibers, two sets are just resize/deprime dies and seat dies, while the third is a resize/deprime, neck ream, trim, and the seat die. I think my grandfather was using the trim, and neck ream dies to make .243 brass from .308 brass, but I'm not sure and when I asked him he didn't seem to understand what I was asking since he started on about how to remove brass stuck in a die.

>>32458100
you only need a neck reamer if your brass is too thick, which can happen in case conversion. I make my own 300 BLK brass from 5.56 brass. In my experience, it's far easier to simply pick brass that converts easily and has the correct neck thickness instead of neck reaming each case, but sometimes that's not an option.

Most reloading manuals will give you a basic primer on reloading and I recommend getting several. However, I learned most of what I know by watching and talking with other people. Youtube is also immensely helpful.

>>32458196
Okay, thanks. Is the Hornady manual worth the money for the current edition? I was thinking of buying it and the Lyman book.

>>32458237
I have Lyman, Speer, and Hornady manuals and spend about $30 on each. I wouldn't spend much more then that on a reloading manual.

www.hodgdonreloading.com can also be used for their powder brands and it's free.

>>32458237
>>32458320
In my experience, the Hornady manuals also tend to be little conservative on powder charges. Often their max loads are well below the max loads of other manuals. It's good to have several books to compare values.

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>>32458320
>>32458355
Good to know, thanks. Just wanted something a little less dated than these.

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>>32458059
They make lever action and single shot 500 magnums. One is $4,500, the other $300. besides a 50bmg is actually .510 not .500". no chance that could ever work. The .50 Alaskan cartridge however is designed for a .510" bullet and you can use 50bmg bullets in some rifles.

>>32457940
Dude im jelly. Who is the mold maker? I got these from a very nice stranger on one of the forums. Its from some guy that makes them in Slovenia. It has some hp plugs and with the alloy he used, HPs come out at 645gr and the solids are 715gr with a gas check and lube. I haven't looked everywhere but I thought the guy in Slovenia was the only one producing the 700gr molds.

Anyways, this fellow was kind enough to send me 75 or so bullets and only asked me to pay shipping. Half were lubed, the other half I powder coated. Sadly the .003" that the powder coat adds to the bullet dimensions was just enough to not allow the bullets to chamber in my revolver. I like your bullet mold design because it looks like the nose end of the bullet is stepped in to provide a place to crimp rather than a tapered crimp groove in the bullet. This makes me think these would be a good candidate for powder coating and I also like that it isn't a gas check design. If you are willing to sell some, I would love to try them out. If you preferred trade I could always ship you a bunch of lead ingots. I have nice clean ingots both dead soft(stick on ww) and harder clip on only wheel weight alloys. Or I could send you some 440gr lee bullets if you dont already have that mold.

I would buy a mold but I could never shoot that bullet enough to justify buying one of the high dollar molds.

I've thought about buying one to start selling bullets but there is such a limited market for 700gr handgun bullets.


my pic is sideways too. turn your head. damn iphones.

>>32458750
to clarify, the mold is made in Slovenia, not the bullets I received.

>>32458750
Not him but look up the Cast Boolits forum, there's a couple mold makers who will custom make you one for 80-150ish

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>>32458750

I also have a good number of Mihec molds and have been trying to track down that exact one you have some bullets from for quite some time with absolutely no luck. But yeah, Mihec is a hell of a guy and makes my absolute favorite HP molds. Here's some of his 180 grain no lube groove 40s that I hi-tek'd.

My 50 mold is made by Accurate Molds, it cost about $85 for a one cav. It will end up being a big waste of money but weird bullets like that make great trade fodder. You can design your own bullet at Accurate or you can use one of his (many) already existing designs. Pretty interesting site if you have never checked them out. It's not my first Accurate mold but he's the only guy that will cut the 700 for you atm.

I'd be glad to send you a handful of bullets, just do a write up on them for me. My email is [email protected], just shoot me an email with your address. It might be next week before I can get a decent amount cast up.

>>32458823
Hmm, a custom wadcutter design in the 250-275gr range would be really nice for plinking loads with unique. Many praises man, I will shoot an email out here in the next few minutes.

>>32458992

Don't bother with a custom for that. Buy the Lee 250 gr REAL mold and size it down to what you need. Shoots very well. I use 12 gr unique.

Search for it and you'll see quite a few people are doing that.

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>>32453186
HEY, me too! Got the supreme rock chucker kit, I need a gonogo gauge, powder measure stand, dies, and some kind of priming tool. Also need to get a swager for like 2k once fired brass I have. Can't decide on a hand primer or a bench top tool. I plan to make precision 223.

I also have a Dillon progressive I make 45acp on

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>>32457599
god damn those are so pretty.
>just stop it you make me want to pour my own

>>32459110
get some sort of desk mounted primer if you cant prime on your press. the amount of hand pain from priming and priming and priming.....

although all i reload right now is pistol and i reload a couple hundred a sitting so, thats just my opinion for what its worth.

also amazon has gages for like $20, and dies for around $30. i got mine there.

>>32459169
I'm thinking desk mounted too. I could prime on the press but I'd rather do it on a seperate machine anyways.

Hornady or rcbs dies?

I'm looking at getting into reloading. Would a rock chucker be a good first press? I'm seeing a used one on craigslist for $135.

>>32459184
i use lee, ive heard hornady is amazing, but i got a lee progressive so i got lee dies.

>>32459260
>>32459260
what are you reloading?

I use a hand primer and scale with funnel or the built in primer system and case activated powder drop on my Hornady LNL AP.

>>32459041
email just sent. thanks a ton dude. I just ordered that 250gr mold. That is perfect. Not sure how I haven't heard of it yet, guess I haven't been looking very hard. I've been loading the lee 440's with 10gr unique as a plinker mostly for other shooters but I also like some light loads every once in a while. 2 more grains of unique will save me 200 grains of lead per load. Cant argue with that when your only goal is to put holes in paper.

Came up with a fun loading for some really nice hard hitting airsoft shot shells.

Rio valu-hull

2 of this wad stacked tightly:
http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Powder-Cup-Gas-Seal-12ga-250_bag/productinfo/3221223/

12-13gr Titewad

.25g solid airsoft bb's filled to crimp line

Provides 1/2" to 3/4" impacts in solid wood trim, nice loud bang and cool fireball. Occasionally some unburned powder in the action, but not very much.

I've been trying forever to get a good cheap airsoft shell to work well, this loading is way better than what I've produced prior. Used to get a lot of unburned powder and flames using several different combos of wads and gas seals.

>>32459277
5.56, .300blk, .308

maybe pistol in the future, but rifle seems more economical

>>32456374
>>32456451

I mean, shit dude, you asked up a question.
A mag reloading tool is something that only really earns it's price tag once you have a bunch of magazines and are at the range with a bunch of ammo.
Since this is your first gun, we're assuming your young and broke. There are better things to spend your money on, and your fingers are fine.

>>32459631
this, also, reloading slows you down for a better learning experience.

unless you have some kind of hand dexterity issues, in which case, a mag reloading tool would be a godsend

>>32459627
probably a single stage, lee rcbs hornady dillon, lots of old guys love dillon.
honestly i think its a personal preference. buy what you can afford.

>>32459842
Thanks for the suggestion

>>32456374
Yeah, good idea, fuck off back where you came from.

>>32459631
>>32459657
It's because my fingers get tired
Also I'm interested in the idea from a machine perspective

>>32457649
patrician post

>>32459110
Those Uniflow come with an allow bar that the powder thrower threads in to. I just fix it to my bench with a G-clamp.

Something to thing about instead of a stand. You can move it around and it's much more stable, but it depends what height you want it at.


>>32460701
Look at the Lee Classic Cast. Amazing press for probably less than 100 USD new. I'm wary about Lee quality but in this case it's not an issue, very well made and exceptionally strong. Deals with spent primers better than a Rock Chucker.

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Anyone ever had brass look like this after ultrasonic cleaning?

The cases are free of dirt, just...splotchy.

>>32461158
did you use vinegar or lemi shine in the ultrasonic solution?

>>32461169

Yes

>>32461226
I get the same when I use vinegar or lemi shine in my solution. I've taken to dropping the brass in a rinse of water and baking soda to neutralize the acid afterwards and then allow them to dry. After sizing, I also tumble them in walnut media to clean off the sizing lube and add extra polish.

>>32453815
I'm a reloader too but I never bought a single manual.
Obviously I have loading tables, but I prefer getting them directly on websites of powder manufacturers.

Reloading errors are mostly due the oversight of basic checks of what the reloader is doing, for prime example visually checking the loaded cases tray for double charges before putting the bullet, or checking every number of charges if the powder dispenser is doing an accurate job.

>>32461158

Ultrasonics are nigh useless for cleaning brass to be honest if you care about them being shiny.

>>32462732
Or buffed for making them size nicely in dies.

>>32459260
buy it if he is willing to take $100 and its in good shape. Otherwise you can have a brand new one shipped to your door for $145 from our friend amazon https://www.amazon.com/RCBS-Rock-Chucker-Supreme-Press/dp/B000N8LJ22