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Rookie Press Operator Prepares to Blow Things Up

meanstreak said:
Cadd, you might just be onto another career . Just about anything East of you would be friendlier as far as firearms go. I'm impressed, although not surprised how you have taken to the reloading .
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I'm surprised at how I've taken to it! Particularly after telling my buddy Bob I wasn't interested, for the past 30+ years.

But I am a target shooter, and reloading is just the natural progress of that. I'd just never thought about it much before.

As for another career, thanks but no thanks. I'm done working. It's time to realize that and move on.

I'm going to throw money at this like the hobby it is and enjoy myself as much as possible.
 
RCBS 2 is the case lube I got with the Rock Chucker kit. I also got a lube pad, which seems to put a lot of lube on the cases.
I'll lube one, then roll it with 2 unlubed ones on a rag, then wipe off most of the lube.

I'm trying to make them slick, but not pollute the dies.
 
I went back to Sportsman's Warehouse tonight and picked up a spare shellholder for my priming tool, and while I was there I realized that the Hornady American kit I had came with two spare decapping pins. This was good because they did not sell them at Sportsman's Warehouse.

I also picked up a Lyman's reloading manual and a box of 9-millimeter Luger.

They had actually a good deal on Luger ammunition and they had almost no 9mm bullets of any type. They also had no small pistol primers left. They had about 40 kinds of powder available, but since they had no primers I just passed on the pistol powder as well.

The .223 bullets were picked over as well and I could find no 69 or 70 grain of any shape. They did have several flavors of 65 grain and lighter.
 
This the day that I shoot the new .223 for the first time. The range opens in 45 mins, but due to a flooded creek it might not be possible to get in.

If that happens I will drive up 15 mins more to the BLM land at Jose Basin, hike off the road 50 yds, and shoot up some cardboard boxes.
 
what rifle you shooting your 223 through ?

and as I skim other posts.....

I load mountains of 223, brass of all kind . I have always just taken the crimp off with my deburr tool.....At first did it to get by, then it turned fast , effective and cheap and you only have to do it once

I can show you how to make a stuck case remover ......again had to improvise and just never bought one ......used it probably 10 times in the few years I created it .
 
oli700 said:
put on your glasses and hit it with a hammer , you'll do it once but worth it
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I hit it 3 times with a center punch and a ball peen hammer! Not a spark.

I'll give it a whack with the 8-pounder.
;)

I got two more FTF primers today, but I already oiled them so they could be decapped.
 
oli700 said:
what rifle you shooting your 223 through ?

and as I skim other posts.....

I load mountains of 223, brass of all kind . I have always just taken the crimp off with my deburr tool.....At first did it to get by, then it turned fast , effective and cheap and you only have to do it once

I can show you how to make a stuck case remover ......again had to improvise and just never bought one ......used it probably 10 times in the few years I created it .
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I bought a stainless steel Savage Model 12 low profile varminter.
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So how do you get a case stuck? This is from trying to press a case that's too blown out?

I've only loaded 40 rounds so far but I haven't had any hint of sticking cases.
 
cool gun what is the twist rate on the barrel ?

stuck case from being in a hurry and not lubing good enough most of the time .....when you do it you will be like pissed off because its a process
 
I feel every round that goes in the press to make sure that it's slick and smooth. I hope to never get one stuck.

The savage is 1-9. And the coolest part is watching this gun in the store drop in price over and over for a year-and-a-half, thinking $1,200 was way too much money....and nobody bought it. It fell to $800 and I had the cash in my hand, so the rest is history.

:)

Nobody bought it from a local gun store because it's a fancy city-boy gun and this is a rodeo town. These Cowboys don't want flashy (in the modern sense), and this gun is definitely flashy.

( of course the non-Cowboys here were all busy buying ARs. ;) )
 
You'll stick a case eventually. Just like you'll drop a charged case, and spill powder. Or drop a tray of primers. Or break a decapping pin. The stuck case remover isn't anything complex. Basically just run a tap through the case head, run a hardened machine screw through a spacer, and use it to draw the case out of the die.
 
So you're telling me the shell holder won't be able to draw the case down out of the die?
 
Not if it's bad enough.

The shell holder will pull the rim off of the case. Or at least mangle it up so bad that the shell holder won't grab the rim anymore.

Ask me how I know.
 
Well I went to Sportsman's Warehouse (the store I love to hate) and I bought 5lbs #4 buckshot, 250 115grn Luger bullets, and another 100 Hornady 75 Match .223. Also picked up some more small rifle primers but there were still no small pistol primers except Magnums. I'm pretty certain this will work OK with the Luger cases, but I'll have to ask around first.

I also picked up some HS-6 pistol powder, which should work for all my pistols.

No Hornady manual at Sportsman's Warehouse so I may end up having to order one.

By the way somebody hacked the Hornady online load data page, and when I went there I wound up with the Google redirect virus and had to reinstall Chrome.
 
Well....Chrome seems to be working OK and so I went to Midway online to order the Hornady manual.

They wanted $10 for shipping and I decided I'd wait until I order a new scope for the Savage 12. I found a beautiful front focal plane Steiner on the Shelf at Sportsman's Warehouse for $2028. Same price at Midway.

Claimed to be suitable up to 50 BMG!

Weighs a ton, 34mm, so perfect for a target rifle. I just have to be careful telling my wife it cost $2,000, as I still haven't coughed up the $ for her kitchen remodel. I'll poke around and see what I can find on sale before I spend that much.

But I'm pretty convinced I'd like a 1st focal plane scope, if I'm going to attempt shooting over 200 yards.

I'm not convinced I should spend $2,000 quite yet but I'm continuing my policy of taking money out of the stock market and putting it into Hardware. . . . And the kitchen.
 
Actually...... second focal plane is better for target shooting. Reason being, as you zoom in to the target, your crosshairs become thinner and narrower in relation to the target, giving you a smaller point to focus on. Whereas with first focal, if your crosshairs appear an inch wide on the target at 3 power, when you zoom in, they will still appear an inch wide at 9, 14, or 24 power.
 
Midsouth shooters had hornady #9 manual back just before Christmas on clearance for $10 because the new manual just came out.

You could check with them to see if they still have any left. Unless you just have to have the newest release. Not much is going to be different between the two and probably not a lot of changes or additions for what you're going to be loading. They're pretty common and have a ton of loading info for 223 and 9mm.
 
Thanks, but I see no more unfortunately. But I did get very good prices on a Lee manual and a Hodgdon manual.

I already have a Lyman and a Speer, and I can borrow a Hornaday #8 from my buddy, so I should be set.

I also ordered some Chip McCormick .45 cal magazines, and in the end I paid no more for shipping than that one book from Midway.
 
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