Reloading
Trying the RCBS Lube-a-Matic
It has been a long time coming, but I finally bought a serious bullet lubrisizer, and I could not be happier. I’m kicking myself for not taking the plunge sooner. I started lubing my own bullets back about 2014. I went the cheap route. I picked tumble lubing. That is, I’d put the cast bullets in an empty sherbet tube, squirt in some lube, and swish it around. That was fine while I was doing small batches with a single-stage press. However, when I started working with my Hornady LNL Auto-Progressive, I had to stop way too often, clean lube … More . . .
The Auto-Charge– Two Years On
Two years ago, I got a Hornady Auto-Charge from Natchezss.com. At the time, I likened the transaction to dragging a topwater lure over a largemouth bass repeatedly. After repeatedly presenting it the bass, the fish strikes just because he’s sick and tired of seeing it. The question I want to answer is this: Did I have buyer’s remorse? Let me give you a bit of history: I started reloading in December of 2000. At that time, I started with a RCBS Uniflow powder measure and a RCBS 5-0-5 scale. Over the next 20 years or so, I did a lot … More . . .
Trip to the Farm
The weather was going to be ideal, so I took the opportunity to ride down to the farm and get some chores done. Most of the weekend was spent dealing with the water system. I ended up replacing the shallow well pump and some plumbing in the cistern, but I did get a chance to get out and do some shooting. It is that aspect of the trip that I want to detail. The Ruger American Predator in 223 Rem I have not had the chance to really wring out the Ruger American Predator in 223 Rem. I bought it … More . . .
Crawling out of the Basement
It’s been a little over a year now since my retirement. The Chemo kept me from reloading most of that time, and I just got back to it after New Year’s. Mostly it was about stamina and to a certain extent the neuropathy in my fingers, but I kept doing the exercises and eventually achieved a threshold where I could spend useful time in the Shamanic Secret Underground Reloading Facility (SSURF). Once I was past that, I have been spending many hours a week catching up on projects. In between jobs cranking out new loads, I have also been attending … More . . .
Pan Lube: A Detective Story
This is a bit of a detective story, but there is no dead body. There is no crime. I’m the perpetrator. This should be easy, but it has been tough. The Chemo last summer left me with some holes in my memory. It’s all just little things, but I’ve had a devil of a time picking up the pieces. It makes for a fun diversion, waiting out the winter. The first clue that something was up, was I was digging through a pile of unopened online purchases– things that I had bought at some point, expecting it to fit into … More . . .
Powder Coating for Dummies
From E-Mail (name withheld on request) Oh, High and Lofty Shaman! . . . I notice you have several pictures on your site of rounds loaded with green-colored bullets. I take it you do powder-coating. How does that work? I see all over, but it all looks way too complicated for ordinary mortals. How do you do it? As with many of my reloading projects, I start out very conservatively. I get good results and then don’t push it any further. I find that this allows me to keep my face and fingers intact. So it was with my experiment … More . . .
More on Bess’ Balls
The first attempt to cast balls for the Brown Bess ended with mixed results. The Lee .69 cal mold cast perfect balls for what would be standard paper cartridges, but that assumes that the shooter would be jamming multiple rounds down the barrel without any cleaning. For precision shots, I wanted a larger ball that would fit tighter. The other mold I tried on the first experiment was a Dixie Gun Works mold whose putative diameter was .75, but turned out to be more like .76– way to big for the .75″ barrel of the Pedersoli Brown Bess. Lee Precision … More . . .
Brown Bess– First Chance to Play with My Balls
Today is looking like the first really good day in a while. The snow is almost completely gone. It’s heading towards the low 60s today. I had reasons not to go to the farm, but I did have time to get my two new molds out and cast balls for the Brown Bess Musket. The first mold is a .735 brass mold I got from Dixie Gun Works. This produces a tight fit with the thinnest patching, and I’m figuring that this will produce the most accurate loads. The other just arrived in the mail this morning: a Lee Precision … More . . .
.35 Caliber Bullet Casting
I got some feedback over the previous post asking for clarification on my 35 caliber bullet casting project. I went back through my previous posts, and realized I never really wrote this up in any detail. I guess it is time I do. Mind you this is not a end-all article with step-by-step instructions. I am not here to teach bullet casting in this missive. This is more of a checklist. The Basic Premise Back during the Obama years, I decided to see how much of my firearm inventory I could feed using cast bullets. For a proof-of-concept, I picked … More . . .
New Storage Bins
With all the hoo-haw last summer, I got way behind in my projects. One of the first left to do was constructing some storage bins for the Shamanic Secret Underground Reloading Facility (SSURF). I originally built SSURF when moving my base of operation back in 2013. It houses all my reloading supplies, my reloading bench, my gunsmithing bench, and my deer rifle collection. I had originally planned a horizontal gun rack with drawers for firearms I wanted to keep in long-term storage, but there was not all that great a need at the time, and I put it off. As … More . . .
Hornady LNL AP — Just checking in
Some folks were asking about progressive presses the other day. I started telling about my luck with the Hornady LNL Auto-Progressive, and by the time I was done, I realized I should probably let you guys in on it. In 2017, I decided to buy a progressive reloading press. I was not looking for industrial-strength volumes. I just wanted to make my weekend reloading sessions a bit more productive. I picked the Hornady LNL AP. It was half the cost of a comparable Dillon. It had 5 stations– the Dillon only had 4. Doing multiple chamberings was cheaper and easier … More . . .
Update on the Auto Charge
Covid hit the family, and knocked the snot out of me. I was down for the better part of a week, and I’m just starting to feel like myself. Yesterday was the first day I had to actually use the Hornady Auto Charge to load rifle rounds. The results were mixed, but generally positive. This is an update on my review of the Hornady AutoCharge from a short time ago: Hornady Auto Charge I did 25 rounds of my sons’ 30-06 deer loads. The first 5 took quite some time to do. Most of that was my unfamiliarity with the … More . . .
Hornady Auto Charge
You know how you can keep pitching a topwater lure back in the lily pads and after enough casts that ol’ bass will suddenly explode?A couple minutes later you and that fish are looking eye-to-eye, Sometimes I have real empathy for the bass. This is one of those instances. Folks have been dragging little green boxes, little red boxes, and even a little grey box past me for the better part of 20 years. For 20 years, I’ve kept to my little green RCBS 10-10-10 beam scale and thought I was happy. I was on Natchez Shooting Supply and saw … More . . .
M1 Garand Gas Plug
I’m starting to get ready for the upcoming shooting season. One project I’ve had on the back burner for quite some time was fine tuning my M1 Garand. It’s a 1942 vintage Springfield. One addition is a gas plug. A few years ago Moose wanted to take the Garand out for some plinking. I let him do it. I later found out he had run 180 grain Hornadys through it– very bad Ju-Ju. It did not bend the operating rod up, but you need to watch your loads with the Garand. It was tuned to M2 Ball, which was not … More . . .
Update: Hornady Concentricity Tool
What do you do when you’re middle-aged, and the internal alarm goes off at 0400 on a Saturday morning? After a massive infusion of coffee, I headed to the Shamanic Reloading Cave to mount my new Hornady Concentricity Tool. By the time KYHillChick was up, I had it all fixed up on its own moveable carrier. I had tested some 30-06 for the Hawkeye in it and found similar results to the 8X57– overall not bad. I measured .001″ to .004″ with a couple of flyers. Adjustments knocked that down to a max runout of .002″ This is significant because … More . . .
Hornady Concentricity Tool
KYHillChick was looking for that special gift that says how much she loves her favorite outdoorsman, and lookee what I found on a flash sale at Natchez Shooters Supply. This is the Hornady Lock-N-Load Concentricity Tool. What the hell is that? Look, I’m no expert on this. However, I have been on 24HourCampfire.com particularly on the Ask The Gunwriter’s section for quite a while now. John Barsness (Mule Deer) is a real wiz at this sort of thing. He and the other rifle looney glitterati agree that after you’ve conquered the basics of rifle reloading and gone as … More . . .
Angus Reloads
Angus and I passed an important milestone today. This is the first time one of my grown sons has taken it upon himself to reload ammunition with his own components. They all came down to the bend to help Dad when they were small, but their interest has waned. Angus wanted loads for his AR, and wanted to learn how to do it all by himself. It all started with a huddle at 1100 ET to figure out what exactly he wanted. We settled on a 223 REM load for his AR that would cycle the action, but not rattle … More . . .
On Being a 2-Powder Reloader
Back in 2006, I was in the process of pulling in my horns. There were signs they might close the plant. I wanted to get down to the bare minimum, expecting a layoff. One thing I bought was an 8lb keg of Hodgdon H4895. I was pretty well already set up to run with one rifle powder. The kids were still small, and I had been using H4895 for their Yute Loads as well as all my deer loads. See Making the Switch to H4895 It has been 12 years. I finished off that 8lb keg only a few years … More . . .
A Mooselette in the Reloading Cave
Two weeks ago Mooselette was begging her Dad to bring her over to Grandpa’s so she could go down to the secret room and pull Grandpa’s handle. Stop it. That ain’t nice. No, what she meant was she wanted to go down to the reloading cave and pull the handle on the reloading press. I’d promised her I would teach her to reload. Yes, at 6, she’s a bit young, but I had Angus pulling the handle at age 4. On her first lesson, we took a couple dozen rounds of 30-30 Winchester and ran them through the press, I … More . . .
Hornady LNL AP– Thoughts after the first year
My Hornady LNL AP has now been in service for a year, and I thought I would give you an update. This is a down in the weeds blog entry. If you have no interest in progressive reloaders, I would not mind if you skipped it. However, for those of you who have written me, asking for my opinion on the Hornady LNL AP, this entry is a compilation of a year’s worth of experience. All told, I have loaded close to 2000 rounds in the following chamberings: 357 Magnum 9mm Luger 223 Remington 45 ACP Overall, I think I … More . . .
The Big Book of Gun Gack
I spent Saturday reading in John Barsness’s book, The Big Book of Gun Gack. You have probably read the author, he’s published in a heck of a lot of magazines, and he’s got a slew of good books on Amazon.com. This one is a collection of articles about a select bunch of rifle cartridges for the hunter and John’s take on reloading for them. It is a book for the hunter that reloads.. Table Of Contents Working Up a Load in the 21st Century Modern Rifle Powders Rifle Primers Rifling Twist Pre-Testing Big Game Bullets Sizing Cases Straight … More . . .
Going Progressive — A final assessment
I just finished up my last major session with the Hornady Lock n Load Auto-Progressive before turning to my deer hunting loads. I thought I would give y’all an update. My goal over the summer was to start with 9mm to get my feet wet, switch to 357 Magnum and then finish off with 223 REM if everything else went well. This is not a formal review of the Hornady LNL AP. I am not nearly that presumptuous. Rather, I figured you would like to hear about my adventures with the LNL AP. Let me begin by saying that most, … More . . .
A Quick Update on the Press
First off, I want to let you know I have a growing admiration for the Hornady LNL Auto Progressive press. The naysayers complaints just have not panned out. Based on others’ comparisons to the Dillon 650, about the worst thing I can say about it, in my experience, is that that it has a red paint-job instead of a blue one. That may change, but poised to do my first big run of 9mm, that is the size of it. Grafs.com had the press and a stool for $450 back in March, and the price has dropped since then. … More . . .
Going Progressive– A new Bench and Press
Just before Turkey Season, I was shooting 9mm with Angus and the thought occurred to me that 9mm was a lot of fun, and it was a shame it took so much effort to load up a measly 50 rounds with my single stage press. That triggered a line of thought that ended up with me ordering a new progressive loader and building a new bench. It is my intention to fill you in on the process and document my progress. First off, let me take you through the reason for the new press. I have been loading a bunch … More . . .
Eight weeks and Counting
I just watched the countdown timer cross the 8-week mark. It’s now exactly 2 months to the start of Kentucky’s Modern Weapons Season. I stayed home from the farm overnight. It was going to be hot and muggy and thunderstorms have been moving through since sundown Friday. I’ve been busy down in the shamanic reloading cave all week, replenishing the larder. 25-06: 117 gr Hornady SPBT over H4831sc 30-06: Lots of 150 and 165 grainers over H4895. 30-30: 170-grain cast lead over H4895 — more green powder coated stuff 308 Win: 165 Grain Hornady SPBT over H4895 357 Mag: 125-grain … More . . .
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