i have purchased a single stage press, the dies, and shell holders, slowly but steadily, i am getting set up,
a few more questions, a scale, digital. or manual, balance beams etc.
how to remove the primers that are from military brass, or rather the crimps that hold them.
do i have to use a certain primers for ar-s?
is that a sensitivity issue as i was told?
do i need to seal the primers and bullets from moisture, since i live in humid minnesota?
i do intend to read more on this, but since all you in this forum have invaluable info in this field. thanks so much
A ballance beam will do fine but a digital works better.The difference is how much you want to spend,auto,cutoffs costing way more than a BB. The best way to go is buy a decapping die and a primer pocket reaming tool and use a tumbler after you have all of the preparation work done.This means you must check for media before priming but only the one time when you take the primer crimp out. Standard small rifle primers work fine. You dont have to seal primers and bullets unless you plan on using them in military conditions or get too clise to LeftyO up there and he sabotages them.Great to hear you are getting into reloading.There is a lot to learn but it is a self gratifying hobby and you can save,the more you reload the more you save.Others on here are more into molitary brass and will come up with more info and better ideas.I have and do use military brass for the .223 and outside of reaming the primer pocket (and I weigh and seperate by weight)they work the same as civilian brass.Other cal.s I just dont think it is worth using mil,spec brass.In powders, altho they show some fast burning powders that work in .223,I advise using something in the AA2230,IMR 4895 range which fill the casing better and are more consistant on the chronagraph.Others will help more but keep reading too. sam.
I just put my new RCBS chargemaster combo to work last weekend and I am so glad I did. I had loaded 50 rounds of .45 ACP with some lead round nose bullets. I had never tried them before.
They didnt chamber in the 1911 pistol so I pulled the bullets.
Those 50 were loaded using a Lee balance beam. I thought I loaded 10.8 grains of Green Dot. I screwed up big time and threw 18 grains! I pulled every darn .45 round I had loaded in the last six months. All others were good but that was an easy mistake on the Lee scale. Better safe than sorry.
My Lee scale now has a new home in the land fill.
SnakeBite- That wasn't the scales fault! Fess up! Sam is on the money once again. Just when I think I have a tidbit to add, he covers it. He's one of the few on here I listen too all the time! I've been reloading 40+ years, and Moose and Sam continue to amaze my "Not So Young A__"! Read and Heed! They are both so kind and generous with their time, you should not waste it! And when they DISAGREE, which they seldom do, Katie bar the door! (LOL) You're both work a huge steak at my house, ANY TIME you careto stop by!!!!
__________________ I keep tellin ya Doc, I'm in pretty good shape considerin the shape I'm in !!
The Lee scale isn't any harder to use than any other balance-beam and can be just as accurate. There are a lot of folks out there that will disagree with me on this, but I've proven it to friends many times. It isn't as sturdy or fast as the more expensive models, but it is built on sound principles that work if you follow the directions and double check your calibration before starting to load.
Joegun94 I too live in the land of 10,000 frozen lakes Just east of you I have loaded thousands of .223 and never sealed any primers, if you want to store them for 20yrs then you could but otherwise not needed. If you are just loading for your Ar you could get the NATO spec primers but I've used standard CCI for years with no problem. I have seen the NATO spec. primers at places like Sportsman warehouse in ST Cloud if you decide to go that route they are a little harder is all. But i've never pierced a primer yet with my AR with standard ones. Ps to remove the pesky crimp there are a couple ways
1. Get a reamer and twist it in the pocket till you have removed the ring(crimp)
2. Get a swedge to push it out (Dillon and others make them, you need a lot of military brass to be worth the added cost)
3. Get a hold of me and come over some time and borrow mine.
The balance is more accurate. The digital is way faster to use. I personally don't find enough accuracy difference to warrant not using a digital. But I guess I'm a little anal, because I have both. Every once in a while I bounce them against each other.
i have purchased a single stage press, the dies, and shell holders, slowly but steadily, i am getting set up,
a few more questions, a scale, digital. or manual, balance beams etc.
how to remove the primers that are from military brass, or rather the crimps that hold them.
do i have to use a certain primers for ar-s?
is that a sensitivity issue as i was told?
do i need to seal the primers and bullets from moisture, since i live in humid minnesota?
i do intend to read more on this, but since all you in this forum have invaluable info in this field. thanks so much
seems like others in here have covered it pretty well,as for primers I don't know?i'm using cci 34's for my M1A do to the possibility of slam fires I never owned a AR15! you might want to do some research and see if Ar15's have the same reputation??
I have 2 RCBS scales and a Lyman. I don't like the lyman and I wouldn't buy a Lee. The Lee scales I tried simply took too long to settle. Several of my friends tried the digital scales but don't use them very often, I don't know why. I recommend the RCBS but I imagine there are many other good ones out there.
I am trying to find reload bullets for the 30-30 cartridges sold by Hornady, they call it an evolution cartridge, but have been unable to find the reload bullets.
Anybody have the answer?
