Author Topic: Reloading ammo.  (Read 4326 times)

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Offline tauruck

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Reloading ammo.
« on: April 11, 2016, 11:50:40 AM »
Any of you guys into reloading?.
Got a Lee reloading kit for the "30 odd 6"?.
Need advice. :-D

Offline Elmo Rodge

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2016, 12:14:18 PM »
Mike, I have a friend who is. What do you need to know? Wayno

Offline JamesJ

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2016, 12:26:49 PM »
Ya, what do you need to know?  I would check out a forum for it.  We reload lots of 9 for $ reasons and then load 308 and 6.8 for accuracy... 

unless you have an old MG then I guess your reloading for accuracy, remember you will most likely spend more then getting good shelf ammo, I would buy some new brass to start.  Once fired brass does not mean that i was only fired once... 

Get a good die, its fun and interesting.

Try and use a powder that you can easily get when you need it.

Offline bbarn

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2016, 01:25:16 PM »
In the odd six round you can get carbide dies. They are probably 4 times as expensive but much, much, much nicer to use. You don't need to do all the lubrication steps that you do with steel dies therefore your bench work is much cleaner. (Most pistol cartridges are readily available in carbide dies. Rifle are harder to come by outside of the .223/5.56 or 7.62x39 flavors)

RL15 is a real good powder for '06, may be harder to get in your neck of the woods. IMR 4895 and Varget are also decent powders and more readily available.

Don't be in a hurry! Get a good (REAL GOOD) powder scale and powder trickle. Measure and keep trimmed to dimensions. If you've never reloaded before it can seem intimidating but after a session or two you will understand the process. Some people even enjoy it.

Me? Nah, I have a progressive loader and do mostly .45 and .308 rounds. The .45 for competition the .308 to feed the "fun gun".
« Last Edit: April 11, 2016, 01:51:11 PM by bbarn »
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

Offline johnneilson

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2016, 04:05:44 PM »
unless something has changed in the last couple years, /06 carbide dies are neck sizing only.
this is fine for using brass in one gun chamber only. If two or more rifles, you need to full length size the brass and that means lube.
many competition shooters will segregate the brass to a specific gun/chamber and neck size only.
in my case, I made a set of neck dies that have interchangeable bushings to minimize the amount of movement in the brass.

30/06 is a good round, just not that efficient, after all, it is 110 years old design.

J
As Carroll Smith wrote; All Failures are Human in Origin.

Offline tauruck

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2016, 03:55:16 AM »
Guys, thanks. I'm helping my friend Peter.
We go to the range to unwind, crazy as that might sound.
We can't reload 303 stuff. The 06 is in great condition and
we'll only be loading for that. He got a complete Lee reloading setup
with scale from the US along with dies. I guess he thought that paying 8 bucks a round
beats 40 from the store. I do know that the ammo we used was from the US and new.
There a cap feeder that sits on the press and we got instructions but I'm battling to figure
out how it all goes together. Safety in this case is a big issue so I'm taking things very slow
until it's a smooth working set up. I'll post pics of the problem stuff soon. :cheers:

Offline bbarn

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2016, 10:25:35 AM »
If it was "military ammo" expect the primers to be crimped. These are difficult but not impossible to remove. Expect to break a few decaping pins. Once that is done you need to re-size the primer pockets. After that it is pretty much the same process as any other ammo.

Get on a loading forum, there are tons out there. If you are looking for guidance on your first reloading task you can find some of it here but there are tons of reloading/shooting sites that already have the info posted.

It's funny, they have these locations out on the internet where people can go and ask experts any kind of questions they want. Most of the time the experts will respond and share their ideas with you freely. In fact, there are sites that have a complete devotion to a single subject! Quite a concept, I hope it catches on.... :-D :-D :-D
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

Offline tauruck

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2016, 10:03:15 AM »
Got 100 shells primed. All cleaned prior to installing caps etc.
Weighed out the powder as per the guide and it looked like it
was way too much so we pulled a new round apart and weighed the
powder. Same result. Spoke to an expert and he suggested tamping
down the powder. :roll:
I'm nervous but everyone came up with the same answer. I thought
this would be quick thing but it is going to be time consuming.

Offline bbarn

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2016, 10:52:15 AM »
Got 100 shells primed. All cleaned prior to installing caps etc.
Weighed out the powder as per the guide and it looked like it
was way too much so we pulled a new round apart and weighed the
powder. Same result. Spoke to an expert and he suggested tamping
down the powder. :roll:
I'm nervous but everyone came up with the same answer. I thought
this would be quick thing but it is going to be time consuming.

What powder are you using, I can confirm for you if the data is correct. I need the bulled type/weight too. Most powders that are "Compressed" loads have a "C" somewhere on their loading data. It is not rare to have a compressed load, but it isn't the "normal" either.

You are also weighing in Grains not Grams? There are 437 GRAINS in one ounce/7000 in one pound. Also, you are measuring by weight not volume? (You said you weighed it out so I am assuming the use of a scale to measure the weight of the powder)

You also cannot judge one round against another unless you know the powders and bullet weights you are dealing with. Some powder may only need 80 grains to match another powder that requires 90 grains for the same bullet and velocity. Unless you know for sure the powder of the round you disassembled is the same powder you are using it is an inaccurate measurement. Apples and oranges my friend.

Notes on compressed loads:
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-education/reloading-beginners/compressed-loads

Check out the photo below, this will show you how it is indicated. The "C" next to the powder will let you know the bullet will compress the powder when loading.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2016, 11:14:48 AM by bbarn »
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

Offline hotrod

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2016, 08:18:41 PM »
Some powders flow better than others.

You might also need to gently tap the brass after the powder is poured in for it to settle down into the cartridge enough to seat the bullet without crushing the powder. Many recommended loads come close to filling the brass and are not really compressed loads but the powder needs to be given enough vibration to get the grains to settle down into the small voids between grains as they pour into the case.

I agree with the above, unless you know for certain exactly what powder was loaded in that cartridge you tore down, you are comparing apples and oranges. There are several powders which look much alike but have very different burn characteristics. Also commercial and military rounds often have "custom" propellants which are similar to standard propellants but they test each batch and load accordingly to get the exact performance they are attempting to reach.

Offline tauruck

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Re: Reloading ammo.
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2016, 01:29:35 AM »
Thanks for all the info.
I'm using a Lee Safety Powder Scale and we're weighing in grains.
For the 30 odd 6 they recommend 53 grains and the propellant is
Somchem made by Denel. The container has a label that reads
Class 3 Division 1
Category ZZ Group 1.
It's slow burning extruded smokeless powder for rifles.

We know the scale is correctly calibrated but like you've both said
it's apples and oranges so I need to investigate this further. Shawn
reloads and I think my boy Peter needs to get him to come over
and have a look. :wink: