[runfiverun]

been boxing up some loaded stuff.
spent the day priming more 30-06 brass.
i snagged 10 boxes for them yesterday when i was down in Utah.
need about 10 more... LOL.

 

[blaster]

de-primed, tumbled, re-sized and belled the case mouths of about 3-400 pieces of .45 acp brass. today if I have time, I'll prime and load some or all of them.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Tried to get my 45 ACP dies that came yesterday. But the mail box is froze solid and I ran out of patience after 10 minute.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Took the Benzomatic torch to the mail box. Liberated my 45 ACP die set. With no uncontrolled fires. Sat it on my loading bench for set up later.

 

[blaster]

ended up with 467 large primer .45 acp cases which I primed. and about 40 small pistol primer cases which I dumped in a bag with all the others I've accumulated. since I am low on Unique (my favorite max load powder for the .45 and others) and I just wanted some plinking ammo, I decided to use an old jug of Red Dot thats been lurking in my powder cabinet. I loaded 200 rounds with 5.5 gr. of Red Dot under some 200 gr swc bullets. some were commercial plated bullets and some were my cast & powder coated bullets. if everything goes as I plan, tomorrow I'll celebrate Christmas by shooting them up.

 

[Moroco Mole]

The set I got was used and did not have a crimp die or a shell holder with it.
So just ordered a steel taper crimp die for the 45acp, so I can load cast lead in the 1911.
Midway always seams to come thru. I try to shop local but when it comes to brass tacks and loading Midway seams to always come thru at a reasonable price.

 

[writerinmo]

Loaded up 20 more test rounds for the Carcano TS, still hunting one with decent accuracy. Got closer with the last batch using CFE223 powder, got better at the higher end of what I had loaded but those were still well under Hornady's max charge for BLC-2, which CFE223 appears to be that powder with the copper fouling eraser additive. Already tried Varget but no satisfactory results with it so trying on down the ladder of powders.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Cleaned up the bench last night. Removed anything not reloading associated from the area. Organized my cast bullets, cleaned them de- primed and sized 100 45acp.
Loaded up 10 more Bushmaster rounds. To test.

 

[runfiverun]

hey Emmett.
the shell holder you got for the 30-06 will work perfect for the 45 acp.
i been gonna tell you that, but i forgot.
anyway they are the same so much so that you can make 45 acp brass from 30-06 brass with a reamer and a tubing cutter.

didn't do much on the bench today.
i did use it to hold the bolt from my 7-ICL while i was busy cutting it's stock out in the shop.
after a couple of hours of fiddling about i got it cut, added in some pitch, and got the recoil pad fit back.
plus the butt stock pad is on.
couple more things and it'll be upgraded and fit the way i have a couple of others setup.
when i get done i'll have 6 hunting rifles in different cartridges setup almost exactly the same.

 

[Moroco Mole]

The Bushmaster holder also works just fine.
Figured that out after I ordered the holder.
Oh well can't hurt to have an extra or two I guess.
However turning some of that old 06 brass into 45 ACP or even 450 BM sounds like a Good Idea.
Thanks Lamar

 

[blaster]

I've thought about cutting down .30/06 brass to make .45 Super brass. I never did it as I still have some unfired Starline brass. but its nice to know.

 

[BJung]

I trimmed resized 30-06 cases to chamber into my T99 today. The case length is substantially longer than the SAMI specs but the longer neck now allows me to seat bullets that can touch the lands and assemble 123gr bullets. Afterwards, I made labels for coffee bags. Some bags I use to store cast bullets only.

 

[455rocket]

I cleaned, sized, de-primed some of my once fired 300 Blackout and 5.56 brass today. I also sorted through all of my range pick up 9 mm and 40 S&W brass and got it tumbled and ready to start working on it too.

 

[runfiverun]

if you try it you do have to ream the final product.
the sucky/good thing about 0-6 brass is it makes great 44 caliber brass as is, it needs cut to make 45.

except 284 win brass.
that one is thin enough to make 45 caliber from till you get down to acp length, then the bottom half needs cut to accept the 45 bullet.

never hurts to have shell holders.
i keep the old number-3 by all of my presses, and another by the priming tool.
i do that mostly so i use the same shell holder on each press and my die adjustments never change.

trying to decide whether to load some 41 mag.
using gas checks and longshot powder.
or start working on some 124gr. powder coated 9mm's.

the 9mm brass is cleaned and waiting, the bullets are starting to gather dust, i just don't need anymore 9mm ammo.
or 41 for that matter, but i got the empty cases and i kind of hate to have empty cases just hanging around.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Finally got a taper crimp die for the 45 ACP so I can load lead swc's for the 1911.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Cleaned the bench, organized brass and bullets.Now doing some research to decide where I want to start with loading 45 ACP.
I am getting the brass clean, Ready to coat with my sizing lube. Setting up to size and de-prime.
Doing research on what powders I have that I can use. Taking stock of my 45 acp bullet samples.
I have 160 grain HP, 180 grain RN, 210 grain TC. 230 grain RNFP, and 250 grain TC. All powder coated lead.
Powders are Red Dot, Auto Comp. Long Shot, and Universal.
The Universal is getting light. So trying to save it for my 357 loads.

So educating myself on load data for load that will cycle in the 1911. Deciding where I want to start. Think I might just start with longshot or Red Dot since that is what I have the most of.
Found some Longshot loads with 180 to 210 grain in my books.

 

[455rocket]

Maybe I've been lucky but have never got a case stuck in the die until today. I was resizing some 308 brass with my Lee dies and managed to get the very 1st case stuck. With a little work and getting the die apart was able to get it out and then managed to get the 2nd one stuck on my de-primer/expander and shoved the neck down into the case. I had to take it all apart again and drive the de-primer/expander off the case neck.

I case lubed all of the brass with some Hornady One Shot and swabbed inside the necks before starting like usual, but it just wasn't my day. After that, all went well, and I made it through the rest of the bag of brass without any issues.

 

[BJung]

This week I cast pistol bullets and weight separated them. Of those 9-120 TC Lee bullets cast with my 6-Cavity mold, the bullets grouped: 124gr, 126gr, 128gr, and 131gr. Most of the bullets grouped in 126 and 128gr. I changed my PC and had bullets from last year I cast from the same source of range scrap. I decided to keep these and weighed them. They grouped: 124, 126, 128, and 131gr in the same ratio. I think that the cavities of my 6-Cavity are not all the same. Nontheless, I plan to use the 124gr bullets to load 9-124gr loads and use the 131gr bullets to load 38-131gr loads.

 

[Moroco Mole]

Sticking the brass in the die, yep.
If you load enough times, sooner or later it's gonna happen. If it never happened you have not loaded enough yet.

 

[BJung]

This is how I store my cast bullets. I have 4 bags: 9-120/126, 9-120/128, 40-175/182, and 40-175/185gr powder coated and sized