Ohioans For Concealed Carry Discussion Forums

What primers do you use in your Lee pro 1K?

Small Pistol
Large Pistol

I've been using the CCI.

I see a big price difference in other brands (cheaper).

Richard Lee said in Modern Reloading, 2nd Edition, that CCI was the only primer to safely use 100 primers at a time with.

Waddya think?
Waddya use?

Jake wrote:Your numbers look pretty darn close to mine Evan.

I did have to shell out for my Lee Pro K's, but I have recouped that.

The savings for me has allowed me to shoot a whole lot more.

I like to participate in IDPA and PPC events. Pistol League I just shoot .22 LR from my S/W 22A with 5.5'' barrel.

I'm pretty stocked on 22 ammo for a while.

I've switched to buying lead bullets for 9mm and .45.

I have enough stock on hand to last me a while in FMJ bullets, but I'll be buying a couple after market barrels that will allow me to shoot lead in the Glocks. That will set me back a couple hundred dollars total.

Again, with the savings of reloading, they're all ready paid for, theoretically.

Jake, I have been reloadin g since 94 and keep track of every round I have ever loaded... I have over 30,000 rounds of 9mm lead that I have shot in my Glock with the factory barrel I have no leading and the barrel looks (to me) like the day I bought the gun.... As with all of my guns I reload for, I also load jacketed rounds... After I am done shooting I push 10 or so jacketed rounds through the gun which helps clean out some of the lead fouling and making my clean up alot easier...

I have over 30,000 rounds of 9mm lead that I have shot in my Glock with the factory barrel I have no leading and the barrel looks (to me) like the day I bought the gun....

How many rounds do you fire between cleanings?

shooterwolf wrote:Whirlwind06, how are the Wolf primers working out?
I've been meaning to try them.

I did try Magtech primers, they shot and loaded a lot like Win., no misfires.

Shooterwolf.

Don't know this will be my first buy of them.
Everything I have read says they are like CCI, a hard primer. CCI is what I'm currently using.

I use a Lee Pro-1000 for pistol, and a Lee 3-hole turret press (Pro1K without the "Automator") for rifle.

I use Winchester primers right now because that was one Lee recommends. I like them and they work well with all my guns. Powder Valley had Wolf for $85/5k plus S&H&haz, which is about the best deal I can find. I opened the 5k I bought; they look great, well packed. Look a lot like Win but the proof is in the use not the looks.

If it matters, I used to have many Glocks and sold nearly all of them over time, I always used lead in them since I was a poor college student and bought those Ultramax reloads from Vances back in the day, or the bulk 250-bag reloads they had a while ago. I cleaned after every range trip and never ever had a problem. I think they put the lead restriction because it is theoretically possible to lead up the barrel if you shoot a lot and never clean it and it is liability for them. Just like every gun manual says only use factory ammo (no reloads).
Remember this: Shooting lead won't damage the barrel, since lead is softer than steel. It just could possibly clog polygonal rifling and thus decrease the diameter of the barrel, causing overpressure. That means clean your gun now and then. But honestly leading is NOT a problem for me.
Try some lead first. See how it does. Save that $300 worth of bar-sto barrels until after you put a box of lead through it. Trust me, if you want, I'll put my money where my mouth is and let you run some lead through my G21 if you are nearby.

In general, most find that you do NOT save any money by reloading, you just get to shoot a lot more for the same amount of money.

I've been reloading for over ten years. In fact I got a deer this year with a .44 round that was loaded ten years ago.

If you can get a good supply of wheel weights, you can reload .38's for about the same cost as buying .22s.

One advantage of wheel guns is that you don't have to chase your brass and you have 100% recovery

Ken

Jake wrote:

I have over 30,000 rounds of 9mm lead that I have shot in my Glock with the factory barrel I have no leading and the barrel looks (to me) like the day I bought the gun....

How many rounds do you fire between cleanings?

I bought this gun new back in 1994 and I used to sling about 400-500 rounds per sitting with it... Now I typically will use about 100 rounds each time... I always fully clean each pistol after each use... I have NEVER noticed any lead buildup in my Glock barel where my other guns with regular rifling I have to scrub them pretty good as there is lead fouling at the begining of the barel. Again, pushing a few jacketed rounds after I am done shooting the lead does a decent job of cleaning up the rifling and reducing my clean up time...

I also load with Unique powder so my guns look like soot afterwards and need a good scrubbing anyway... I am still loading components I purchased back in 92 so when I finish up with my last jugs of powder I plan on making a switch to something cleaner burning...

evan price wrote:JU87: What does your lead cost you when you cast, do you need to pay for lead, flux, etc?

I'm pleased to write that my lead cost's nothing, or very little. I started out with "buying" or rather bribing a tire shop for four-5 gallon buckets of lead alloy wheel weights for $20 total . This equaled about 220 lbs.

For flux, I use old wax candles that would be thrown out.

I put out the word through family & friends that I am looking for lead. In 2007, a kind women gave me four lead ingots that weiged 50 lbs each! I had to cut these up, but the cost was free.

I use scrap solder,that I get free, to harden the lead in the pot.

You will be shocked at your results if you "network".

JU-87 wrote:
You will be shocked at your results if you "network".

Another potential source would be the dentist or any non-digital X-ray facility. The packaging the film comes in includes a small sheet of lead. My father collects them at his office for a guy that reloads. They add up quickly and a box of them more than I can easily lift.

Is it illegal for you reloaders to sell your ammo?

Not illegal AFAIK, but would likely open one up to liability issues. Maybe also financial/business/tax responsibilities. Most home-based reloaders will be glad to help someone get set up on their own, but not make rounds for others on any regular basis.

I believe that a certain class of FFL is required to manufacture ammo. for sale. AFAIK reloading also would fall into this category.

Colt45 wrote:Is it illegal for you reloaders to sell your ammo?

Colt 45 and all,

It IS illegal for someone to sell reloads without a Ammunition Manufacturing FFL.

A reloader can help a person reload, or share his reloading area, but the actual owner of the brass is supposed to do 51% of the work on his ammo to make it legal.

If you don't keep a reloader's brass straight and for them, if you mix all of the brass of one kind into a big batch and then provide them reloads based on the percentage of brass they provided, they you HAVE to collect excise tax on the ammo also. Same if you buy once fired or new brass and load it for someone.

Buckshot

I always used Win, Rem, Fed or even Alcan (yes, I still have a few bricks of them) in the cases until the primer pockets started to feel loose.

At that point I went to CCI, which fit a little tighter, and got two, three or four more reloads out of that set of cases before those cases had primer pockets loose enough to be thrown away.

Doesn't anyone do this any longer?

Buckshot