do y'all reload??

I bought what I could when I owned mine. Which I didn’t shoot most of. Just followed the crowd and stacked it deep.
Ended up selling it separate from my M1 and got a nice return on investment.

now I need to follow through with my retro AR build and have food for that on hand. I wanted a common caliber but also I like collecting firearms with history like my M1 and Mosin. My retro AR won’t have history attached but it’s still cooler than modern day ARs with their red dots and bottle opener attachments

 

Best advice I ever got was to pick one caliber...preferably rifle and start there. Research everything based on that one gun/round. So that is what I did. I chose 30-06 because it was my go to hunting rifle and I had picked up a Marlin XL7 ultra light in 30-06 cheap (under $200 @70% off) when a local sporting goods store went out of business. I ultimately wanted to develop a hunting round for the Marlin. I did a ton of research online and paper manuals. Started at minimums and slowly worked loads up. Went with proven powder and projectile combos and took good notes. Once I got comfortable with the process and established a reloading routine with reliable and consistent results I moved on to the next caliber from there. Worked them one at a time. I now load several pistol and rifle calibers. 38/357, 9mm, 40sw, 223, 243, 7mm-08, 30-06, and now 30-30 which I never used to load for but can’t find the ammo in the store. I only share this as it was the thing I needed to hear in order to move forward. Others may do it differently but this, though time consuming, was what worked best for me. Good Luck...stay safe.

 

Here's a vein of internet reloading gold including pertinent details from semi like minded Yoder offroaders.

Pet hand-loads | IH8MUD Forum

 

@Gearheadesw the one thing you might need or that's not pictured is a dial caliper for measuring lengths.

 

If wanting to load for 223 Remington there are numerous powders that work well. Hodgdon CFE223 is a good performer, also I use Benchmark, Accurate Arms 2230 and 2460. Don't over think it. Another good tool to keep handy is a good flashlight. I like to inspect all cases for powder charge with my flashlight.

 

I'm still slugging away, can any die be used in any press? i.e.. Lee dies in my Lyman equipment?

I'm really trying to get this going at the worst of times, nothing to be found ring now, sucks.

Still looking to mount my stuff, figure out how with the room I've got. Still having fits trying to figure out the order of steps, all 900 of them.

 

Most if not all die sets use the same standard thread diameter and pitch. My Lee single stage press on the other hand requires their quick change bushings to work. The quick change bushings saves from having to adjust the die every set up. I'll post a picture shortly.

 

Given some thought, most die sets probably have a set screw in the lock nut so this die bushing thing most likely a evil market gimmick to sell bushings at $4.00 each.

 

You can really take advantage of .357 in the long barrel .

 

I have a .44m lever and would like to load some hot ones for it one day.

 

Totally agree and understand, it’s tough to get started but once your running smoothly and have everything dialed in it’s totally worth it. I used to shoot 20-30k per year (USPSA) and really liked having my loads tuned to the gun and just above power factor

I strongly recommend the Speer loading manual. They have some good basic loads that you can use as a safe start point and tweak from there.

 

OK this isn't funny anymore. Stop just stop damn it I am down to ~2K W209 primers. Would have thought from the powder shortage a few years ago would have learned my lesson and stockpiled everything. Well I did but guess everyone else has too and beat me to the punch with 7 million new shooters out there in the last few months.

Do want to say with shortages across the board DO NOT substitute components just because you read someone else did it on the internet. Stay with published loads. Or send them out for testing on your dime. It is a reasonable fee, at least to me.

Yep I used a solid core door on sawhorses in this house when I moved in 20 years ago, as a temporary measure. LOL still use it. Along with an old Air Force desk with extension they were throwing away back in the 90's when I was on recruiting duty in NC and thought that would make a great reloading bench. I have a lot of presses mounted on plywood bases and clamp them down to whatever I am using.

I love Hodgdon clays and go through a lot of it. The empty 8 pound kegs work great for storing used motor oil.



Haven't changed my oil myself since got the Taco 7 years ago and just toss the empty kegs in the recycling bin now. Ever wonder what the person that separates recycling thinks when they see them

Clays was so successful as a powder that Alliant jumped on the bandwagon and came out with Clay Dot to gain market share. Hodgdon took them to court ~15 years ago because of it and the judge ruled in favor of Alliant. I don't need no damn judge to tell me right from wrong. So when Hodgdon decided to return the favor and come out with IMR Red, Green and Blue in retaliation I switched from Green Dot to IMR Green when I kicked my last keg of Green Dot.

And I used to buy a lot of Alliant powder. That is a 12 pound keg of Red Dot my first Toller pup is sitting in my avatar that I purchased in the early 80's.

^^^

I can't imagine not having one. For making sure you are in pressure limits to accuracy with your rifle.

Some overlook the effect crimp depth has on shotgun shells, it isn't just rifle and pistol. I had a plastic RCBS caliper from the 70's that I cut a notch in so that I could measure overall length and then slide it over to the notch to measure the crimp depth.



Wasn't about to cut a notch in my Starret calipers LOL.

Eventually the RCBS ones gave out and I replaced them with a digital caliper. With my eyes being as old as they are I could no longer read the Vernier scale or even the dial accurately without 3x reading glasses anymore

Here is a chart showing the effect of crimp depth on increased pressure using Clays powder.



Published data from both Alliant and Hodgdon is based on a crimp depth of .055"

 

I’d be just as lost as you. But that’s a good place to start. Lost is better than clueless. If you’re clueless, Just sell it all to me for $100

 

Another advantage of using reloads over factory ammo. With a lever action most factory ammo is going to be flat nosed. Using pointed bullets in the mag tube can cause a pointed bullet to hit the primer in the next round to hit the primer and cause a discharge of the next round.

Years ago used a 444 mag in a Marlin 336 as my bear gun while salmon and steelhead fishing in Wa. State, bears used to be considered a varmint back then and there was no season on them. First round was a pointed bullet in my guns.

Back then there was a lot of development in bullets, heavy skinned game like African game and Barnes bullets or Speer and Hornady when they tried to follow suit. Eventually they skinned the jacket down on the "H" jackets for most game in North America. But there was jacket separation when they were trying to figure it out.

It worked. My grandfathers thirty thirty still works well with pointed bullets.



According to my Speer and Hornady reloading manuals the 30-30 has accounted for more venison than any other round due to American's love afair with the lever action action. Think John Wayne. If you are old enough....

Most of my hard copy manuals are from the 70's and many of the powders are no longer available.

 

Good point. Down here in the woods we don’t have anything big enough to need much more knock down. A little more oomph to get through thick brush would be nice. Hunting anything further than 100 yards means you’re on a high line and packing a scoped bolt action.

 

I use Speer in my Marlin 336 30-30 with max charge of Hodgdon LeverRev. Using data from Speer which is a little higher than most others. No signs of abnormal pressure and good groups.

 

My latest reloading debacle is trying to get 88gr Hornady to shoot decent out of my .224 Valkyrie. This particular rifle will shoot factory Federal 75gr TMJ very well but I'm getting the feeling that might not have fast enough twist to shoot these 88gr. I hate to waste the bullets so I've removed the tip on several so I can load them out farther. I've compared with ogive gage and still below the factory length ogive wise to the 75gr Federal.

 

60g Nosler, 88g Hornady ELD Match and same 88g with tip removed. My friend been shooting the factory Federal 60g Noslers said 7 rounds at a 100 yards little more than a ragged hole. He bought his upper receiver right after I bought one, now he wants to buy mine from me...

 

.224 Valkyrie is 1/7 twist

 

The 88g bullets weren't making key holes so I'm not giving up yet.