Just a useful tip for dealing with compressed loads.
We have all seen the asterisk (star) symbols in reloading manual saying “Compressed Load - Use with caution”. When you try these powders, and you load closer to the higher end of the range, you always hear a crunch when the bullet is seated, and sometimes the bullet will not seat to mag length anymore. COAL will also vary a lot now, which is really not ideal.
Found a (new to me) way to settle the powder and avoid the crunch: If you have an arbor press and LE Wilson seater, and an old discarded ultrasonic toothbrush (or even a drill), you can seat the bullets 80% of the way down (no crunch), turn them over in a plastic loading block, use the old toothbrush or the ribs on the chuck of a drill to vibrate the cases upside down (powder in all the rounds get settled at the same time).
The powder will settle in the space between the partially inserted bullet and the shoulder, the space normally not utilized by the standard seating method. Also the top of the powder column close to the flash hole should have settled fairly flat, leaving maximum space for the final seating operation.
Turn the seating die over, so it is upside down. Then maintaining the upside down orientation, drop the loaded round into the seater with the bullet still pointing down, and use the arbor press to complete the seating operation.
You should hear no crunch, and the COAL will now be much more consistent, within 1.5 thou.
Also if you use a bullet pulling die to extract the bullet, the powder should run out of the case freely. [The standard seating approach can sometimes compact the powder enough to the point where it will not run out of the case, and you have to tap the case pretty hard to dislodge it - which is a bad sign.]
We have all seen the asterisk (star) symbols in reloading manual saying “Compressed Load - Use with caution”. When you try these powders, and you load closer to the higher end of the range, you always hear a crunch when the bullet is seated, and sometimes the bullet will not seat to mag length anymore. COAL will also vary a lot now, which is really not ideal.
Found a (new to me) way to settle the powder and avoid the crunch: If you have an arbor press and LE Wilson seater, and an old discarded ultrasonic toothbrush (or even a drill), you can seat the bullets 80% of the way down (no crunch), turn them over in a plastic loading block, use the old toothbrush or the ribs on the chuck of a drill to vibrate the cases upside down (powder in all the rounds get settled at the same time).
The powder will settle in the space between the partially inserted bullet and the shoulder, the space normally not utilized by the standard seating method. Also the top of the powder column close to the flash hole should have settled fairly flat, leaving maximum space for the final seating operation.
Turn the seating die over, so it is upside down. Then maintaining the upside down orientation, drop the loaded round into the seater with the bullet still pointing down, and use the arbor press to complete the seating operation.
You should hear no crunch, and the COAL will now be much more consistent, within 1.5 thou.
Also if you use a bullet pulling die to extract the bullet, the powder should run out of the case freely. [The standard seating approach can sometimes compact the powder enough to the point where it will not run out of the case, and you have to tap the case pretty hard to dislodge it - which is a bad sign.]
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