What did you do at the reloading bench today?

[JBowen]

I ran my last 45 Lee 429-200 RF cast boolits through the .431 Lee sizer and then give them another coat of ALOX. These are going to be loaded into 44-40
brass loaded over 24.5 Reloader 7. I loaded some up last week like Bryan Austin posted about and they work really well in my Navy Arms (fancy Rossi) R92
rifle. I need to get the casting pot out and cast up a bunch while we are having mild weather.

JBowen

[JimT]

I loaded .41 Magnums with the 230 gr. NEI cast flat point over 6.6 gr. of Green Dot.

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[GunnyMack]

6.6 of green dot eh? I'll try to remember to try that load Jim.

I didn't load anything today but I did shoot 4 of my 20ga reloads this morning for 3 pheasants!

[JimT]

6.6 of green dot eh? I'll try to remember to try that load Jim.

I didn't load anything today but I did shoot 4 of my 20ga reloads this morning for 3 pheasants!

It's a SWAG load. Speer #8 has Green Dot loads. For the .41 with a 210 gr. cast bullet, 8.0 gr. is the starting load and 9.0 gr. is the max load. The starting load is listed as a bit over 1000 fps. I am using a bullet 20 gr. heavier and I want something around 800 fps, so I cut the starting load for the lighter bullet by 1.4 grains. I haven't shot any yet. I loaded 50 and will run them and see how I like them.

[GunnyMack]

I gotcha Jim, I have about 12 lbs of green dot, I use it in shotshells but if a nice easy 41 mag load falls in my lap I'll take it!
I also have an NEI 230gr mould, I got from brother Bill in Oregon.
Please let us know how you like the load.

[ollogger]

Loaded up 94 cases with 7 gr. of TiteGroup with the same Lee 429 200 gr. bullet
my 44-40 in the Ruger has to have them sized at 427, 429 & they wont fit the cylinder
yep its way out of wack, bore is tite at 417 dia. on the lands odd thing is it shoots
bout like any hand gun i shoot, yes this must have been a monday morning build
Friday was a 32-20 loading day, wind was wild out



ollogger

[High Desert Hunter]

My last loading session was 2 days before Christmas, a hundred rounds of 44 Mag with Longshot, both cast and jacketed bullets, and a box of 50 385gr HPs stuffed into 480 Ruger cases over Longshot. The 44s are for my Marlin, the 480s are for the Super Blackhawk.

[samsi]

Not today but Sunday. Sized, flared and primed 200 .32 H&R cases. Just getting over this year's run-in with the flu and that's all I had the energy for. Hopefully will finish them up with Titegroup and 95 gr RNFPs in the next couple days.

[ikocher]

I'm stuck at work but I did order the Hornady headspace checker and adapter for my new 30-30 cases. I just need powder and primers and I can get started.

[RIHMFIRE]

I looked at it....
Cleaning gutters and raking leaves!

[GunnyMack]

I looked at mine, yup still a mess!

[4t5]

Loaded some 9 mm with plated bullets ( never used before ) for my new Ruger 1911.

[Walt]

I had 250 Hornady 158 gr XTPs I wanted to get rid of and happened to have an equal number of empty brass in .357. I don't shoot much with jacketed bullets but my 6" Smith 586 shoots 158 gr bullets way too high but shoots 125 gr XTPs quite well. So, I won't keep any more 158 gr jacketed bullets but will continue shooting cast bullets in that weight in all my .357s except the 586 and a 686.

Later I loaded 100 .45 Colts with 250 gr RNFP machine cast bullets from S & S to get back up to fighting strength.

I'm loading 14 gr of 2400 in the .357s, 7.5 gr of 231 in the .45 Colts.

[High Desert Hunter]

I did buy a "few" primers the other day from Natchez. Winchester large pistol for $52/1000, hated to pay hazmat, but shipping was only $5.

[COSteve]

Dragged out some .45 Colt brass, changed to the .45 Colt toolhead on my Dillon 750, got out a box of 200 grn flat tip bullets, CCI LP primers and Unique powder. Then I proceeded to make up 350 loads for my Uberti 66 carbine and 73 rifle. Nice, relaxing time this morning and a good way to end up the year.

[JBowen]

I finally got around to finishing my 44-40 loads today. Put the 24.5 gr. Of RL-7 under my Lee 429-200 RF in Winchester brass with Federal 150 primers.

I started crimping with the Lee FCD die, but I noticed it was pushing my bullets in about .015. I wonder if it was because they are .431? I then took my seating die and took the seating plug out and crimped with it . That worked better. Has anyone experienced this before and what did you do to correct it?

JBowen

[Walt]

I no lomger use the Lee Factory Crimp Die on oversized bullets. I frequently size cast bullets for my SAAs to .453" diameter and the FCD pushes them down into the case.

[JBowen]

Walt, thanks for chiming in and verifying my suspicions on the oversized bullets.

JBowen

[LeverGunner]

Great thread idea JBowen. Hey, did you're 429-200-RF drop .431 from the factory or did you lap it?

The last I did was gas check a mess of RanchDog TLC432-265-RF for my Winchester 1892 chambered in 44 Magnum. Then I set back up for bullet pictures. I'll be using the Lee hand press for a good while unless I mount my bench press to a table on the porch or in the casting shed. I could squeeze it in the casting shed, but the bench I have is more of a light shelf. It's fine for casting, but it won't take the demands of a reloading press, so I'll have to rework it if I want to go that route.

[High Desert Hunter]

That RanchDog mould has become my favorite bullet for the 44 Magnum. Mine weigh 270gr checked and lubed and are quite accurate from my Marlin 1894.

Dave

[JBowen]

Great thread idea JBowen. Hey, did you're 429-200-RF drop .431 from the factory or did you lap it?

The last I did was gas check a mess of RanchDog TLC432-265-RF for my Winchester 1892 chambered in 44 Magnum. Then I set back up for bullet pictures. I'll be using the Lee hand press for a good while unless I mount my bench press to a table on the porch or in the casting shed. I could squeeze it in the casting shed, but the bench I have is more of a light shelf. It's fine for casting, but it won't take the demands of a reloading press, so I'll have to rework it if I want to go that route.

LeverGunner, this mold is factory. I am using straight wheel weights. They come out right at .431, but some of mine were a little oval, I am pretty sure I wasn’t holding the mold tight enough. I ran them through the .431 sizer just to true those up a little.
I would like to get hold of one of those RD TLC432-265 molds. It is rumored to be good in the .444 also.
JBowen

[JBowen]

Today I loaded 20 rounds of 30-30 with 10 grains of Unique under commercial cast 165 grain rf pb, .309. These are good plinking rounds in my old beat up Winchester 94 made in the 1970’s.
I also deprimed about 75 30-30 and put in the wet tumbler with stainless pins, Lemishine and Dawn for 3 hours. They usually look nearly new when done. I have a box of the Nosler 150 grain Ballistic Silver tips I want to try with some Leverevolution and CFE223. I will shoot these in my 1894-1994 AE with scope to see how accurate they are. With this gun I can usually keep the 150 grain Sierra’s with 34.5 grain of W748 under 2 inches at 100 yards.

JBowen

[marlinman93]

Since my reloading bench does double duty as my gunsmithing bench, I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up the wood chips, and dust from my forearm work for my Ballard. Still need to reorganize tools, and get all the woodworking tools off the bench and back in the cupboards!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

6.6 of green dot eh? I'll try to remember to try that load Jim.

I didn't load anything today but I did shoot 4 of my 20ga reloads this morning for 3 pheasants!

It's a SWAG load. Speer #8 has Green Dot loads. For the .41 with a 210 gr. cast bullet, 8.0 gr. is the starting load and 9.0 gr. is the max load. The starting load is listed as a bit over 1000 fps. I am using a bullet 20 gr. heavier and I want something around 800 fps, so I cut the starting load for the lighter bullet by 1.4 grains. I haven't shot any yet. I loaded 50 and will run them and see how I like them.

Speer #8 is not for the faint of heart. I've got a copy and there are quite a few loads in there where the starting load in #8 is more than the max load in most modern manuals.