Plenty of brass on hand. I have 5 gallon buckets of mixed brass, mostly .223. Got the little factory set up.
1. Size and deprime case.
2. Tumble clean overnight.
3. Punch out the walnut chunk in the primer hole and clean inside for any burrs.
4. Trim to overall length.
5. Champfer and bevel case mouth.
6. Prime.
7. Measure and load powder.
8. Seat bullet.
I sort by headstamp so there are cut off milk cartons all around filling up with enough brass to make a box of bullets.
It's fun like anything: doing it yourself. I make some custom loads for other rifles and .45acp match ammo. I'm making my match .223 loads plus enough for the kid. I'm bad about passing out ammo to new shooters as well. Get 'em hooked. You have to handload to shoot serious rifle match scores. You just can't get good enough ammo cheap enough without doing it yourself.
Using a Harrell powder thrower, a Lyman scale, a Harrell press with rotating top and Sinclair hand priming tool. Once you get rolling you can crank it out, though I am weighing every load and using single stage equipment.
Thinking about adding some dies for the Swede Mauser and shoot it in Vintage matches. Just need sixty Norma cases and some 107gr Sierra 6.5 Matchkings. I already load 7.65 Argentine and 7X57 for my deer rifle. Killed a lot of deer with handloads.
I miss River Valley Ordnance. Maybe they will come back to life. I haven't had completely clean hands in a week. Either the gunpowder and brass grease mixed with Universal Wax lube or the jewelers rouge in the tumbling media get you.
Then you put them in the rifle, there's a CRACK! and your uncleaned, unprimed, unsized, untrimmed, unloaded brass is there in the grass waiting to go around again.
Wonder if my little factory is going to be a felony offense in six months?
Update: Comments asked about where to learn reloading. I'd start looking at some Youtube videos and buy Glenn Zedikers book.
Update II: I'm a simpleton who is made happy by the sight of a cut off milk carton full of shiny clean brass!
8 comments:
ok where did you LEARN to do this? I have bought some equipment, read a lot of stuff... gotten bogged down, confused and disgusted with the outcome. I am obviously a visual learner or something.
I have a gun guru, of course, and lots of folks around who are doing the same thing- making match ammo for .223.
Glenn Zedikers book is pretty good. In fact, all of his books are. I got that first.
Follow the instructions in the press set. Get a reloading book with all the loads for all calibers in it. That helps. Ask to see someones set-up is also helpful. it's harder to screw up than you might think. Just don't put pistol powder in a rifle case and you are good to go.
Scale, trickler, calipers, press, dies, powder....eventually you build up enough stuff.
Sinclairs Reloading Guide is also highly recommended, like zedikers Handloading for competition. Both will tell you a lot about how to make better match ammo than anybody really needs for anything but benchrest or long range shooting. U can do it with a good Dillon press too as long as u have the right dies and tools. Blackfork has the right dies and tools and has sources for the rest he might need.
You might give some thought to reversing steps 1 and 2. Keeps the flash hole clean.
Richie is right. I ought to reverse those two and start with cleaner brass. I was thinking that I got more cleaning action with the primer removed, but it's either negligible or offset by cleaner brass in the sizing die.
Next time.
How about staying with tumble cleaning before sizing. It should keep range grit on the brass from getting into the sizing die.
L. Long
Makes the brass run a lot smoother in the dies but you do end up with a little lube on the cases. Universal Sizing Wax is what I am using. Could do them twice, I guess, but there is a limit to my compulsiveness.
When did RVO go belly up?
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