Reloading Problem: Failure to go into battery.

[willbird]

The bullet seater die is a wonderful place for "gunk" to build up, especially with lead/tin/antimony alloy bullets lubed with waxy-greasy stuff.

That is one very nice thing about Dillon dies, you pull one hair pin and you can take out the seater plug in the bullet seater die to clean it, and then put it back in without changing the adjustment .

To start I would recommend cleaning the bullet seater die at the beginning of each loading session, the amount of gunk you find will teach you if that interval is too seldom or too often .

My 1911 that I had built has a Clark barrel in it, against the advice of my pistolsmith I had him leave it as tight as it came from the factory in an attempt to get better accuracy, it was very very picky about brass brands and bullet dia. Once I let him open it up to where his years of experience taught him it belongs the gun is not picky at all.



Bill

[evan price]

...It seems like everyone starts reloading with the intention of retaining and using the bare essentials, but they soon discover that experience dictates that the bar of what is essential gradually keeps getting raised higher and higher...
...I hate to say this outright, as it might discourage budget conscious perspective re-loaders, but a case tumbler should almost be put on the list on necessities...

A BIG +1 on the tumbler.

When I started my first loading was 9mms without tumbling, I just rolled them around on a towel and started loading. What a pain in the ***, sticking in the die, ugly ammo, it very nearly made me stop reloading right there. However, pop the brass in the tumbler for a while, it is sooo much much more betterness. I leave them running "overnight" while I sleep- when I get up, nice shiny brass.

You *can* reload without a tumbler, but the end result more than justifies the expense of the tumbler. Tumbled, clean cases just glide into the sizer dies with that slickery greasy feeling- and then slide right out again.

For the budget conscious (like me!) eBay is a great resource for reloading kit- I got my Midway 1292 nearly new with bucket and media separator and 5# of corncob for $26 plus shipping. That was a good start. Probably the best money I spent towards reloading.

[BobK]

It seems like everyone starts reloading with the intention of retaining and using the bare essentials, but they soon discover that experience dictates that the bar of what is essential gradually keeps getting raised higher and higher.
I started reloading with a thirty dollar O-frame press that I got at a gun-show, and a fifteen dollar {deleted - JK} scale that lee marketed as a ‘safety scale’, or something to that likes.. . . the cash recovered was rolled back into my addiction.

Yeah, I started reloading with the idea that I could save $6.50 per box of 50 in .45 ACP. That sounded like a great idea, with the price of ammo going up daily.

When I first started buying stuff, I was figuring my breakeven point dictated I shoot at least 1200 rounds this summer. The last time I figured it out, my breakeven point had risen to 4,000 rounds.

If I get some casting equipment and start casting my own bullets, my breakeven point will drop back down to 3,000 rounds.

One thing that you do not want to do is mix calibers in the tumbler with the intent of sorting them later.
What tends to happen is that the .40s get jammed into the .45s, and the 9mms and the .380s get jammed inside of the .40s, and any combination thereof gets caked together by tumbling-medium working into the spaces between, some times so tight as to necessitate the use of a pair of needle-nose pliers to separate the mess.

Yep. I learned this the hard way the first time I tumbled. Now I am pre-sorting the cases.

[evan price]

Yeah, I started reloading with the idea that I could save $6.50 per box of 50 in .45 ACP. That sounded like a great idea, with the price of ammo going up daily...

Bob- what's going wrong?
Here's my current cost for .45 acp:

.45 ACP
230-gr RN, 4.7gr powder (1489/lb)
Projo: 5.45¢ Primer: 2.0¢ Powder: 0.85¢
Total Cost per round: 8.3¢
Total Cost per box/50: $4.15


I know I can't find .45 ACP for much less than $15 a box of 50 anywhere, and Lauhorner's was selling them for $22 a box this weekend.

I just TODAY found 2000 Win LP primers for $14.97/K so I can actually reduce that cost down to $3.90 per box (however since that is an obvious fluke, I am not updating my price to reflect it.)

What are you doing, and with what are you doing it?

If you are absolutely in love with those 200 SWC's try KEAD bullets, $54/k, and they ship 2K in one box for $11 S&H insured.

http://www.keadbullets.com/45_ACP.htm

That gets the bullet price under six cents each. Add 4 cents for powder & primer and you are at ten cents per round, or $5/box of fifty, using gunstore component prices. That's a ten dollar per box savings or more.

Or you could switch to 230-rn's which are a little bit more expensive but feed better IMO, as I mentioned on your THR post.

We'll help ya any way we can!

[shooterwolf]

Bob, It gets better as you get your gear and loads figured out. Don't let it overwhelm ya. The start up cost of any hobby is pretty steep. The first year will buy your gear, after that lots of cheap shooting.


Shooterwolf.

[BobK]

Bob, It gets better . . .

Thank you for the encouragement. It is sounding like I better switch to using the bullets cast by your friend in Zanesville.

[shooterwolf]

Bob, do you want to borrow about 100 of the 200 grn. lrn?


Shooterwolf.

[evan price]

Also, Bob, if you want to try some 230's, let me know.

[BobK]

Thanks for the offers, guys. I am going to try a new round of ammo this weekend that has more flare on the case, cleaned, dies, a better length, and new powder (Clays). I figure that is enough variables to tweak this round and we'll see how she shoots.