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What did you do in the reloading room today?

What I did today. Well yesterday evening, put some 6GT brass in the cleaner. today, getting rid of some 6.5 reloads. Can’t sell them and would not want to if I could. Looks like I am getting out of the 6.5 business so, no point in saving them. So, off to the local range to unload them the fun way.

Only, some of it was not so much fun. Now, nothing bad happened. But wow, some of these were rounds that were loaded for a rifle I sold three years ago. And some of them hit the berm but not much else. Shooting at only 300 yards, there was no idea of where they would hit. Some, were spot on, some flew into he grass and left not a trace. Fun shooting, but technically, at times, it was not shooting; it was missing.

A lot of dirt died today, but Wait! Dirt is already dead.
 
I bought a pound of Benchmark this morning to try in some 5.56 loads under 77 grain SMK's for my AR.

Deprimed some 5.56 and 45aarp brass when I got home. Now to get it tumbled when I have time.
 
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Loading some 25 creed and prepping some 223ai
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Finally got a chance to crack open that new pound of Benchmark, and started loading some test loads under 77 grain SMK's.

Started at 20.5 grains, and went up .3 grains each step, loading three rounds of each. Got to 22 grains and ran out of time. Max load is 22.8, so I may just go test what I have before I go higher.
 
10mm I forgot to post a couple days ago. Set up the 550 for these two months back and finally got around to test fire the load. Worked well so I jammed out 250 of these. Gonna run some Missouri bullet 200gr next with Longshot (fav best mm powder).
 

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My 24yo niece:

“Uncle Al, my mom said you might know where I can find some machine gun bullet belts for a Halloween costume I wanna make? “

Me:
“No honey, I don’t have any machine gun belts, but I can prolly make some for you.”

I don’t think she realizes how heavy these are gonna be…..

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Once fired Federal brass and unknown orphan 150gr bullets….
 
Rather busy day.

After church, we got lunch and birthday cake and watched a good part of the USGP. When it was kinda apparent that Max would win again...

I went up to the shop and began scouting around for bullets to load in the 9mm and 38 Special. I have to participate in a once every five year CC training so, needed ammo for the test shoot. Got everything set up and loaded 50 9mm rounds using the Berry’s Bullets. That was pretty swift with the Dillon Progressive Press. After a supper break and a short walk with the cats, we came home to a potential house fire. We left a fire under a pan and it was smoking hard. We spent a good part of the afternoon, hooking up fans to do our best to get the smoke out of the house. Later, I went up to the shop to load the 26, 38 Special rounds I needed. Next, I worked on the 6GT cases. Got those resized and the primer pockets cleaned out, and the necks deburred. Put them back in the cleaner to remove the sizing lube.

I created a spreadsheet for the 6GT Berger Hybrid bullets. Finishing that, I went up to the shop, got the GT cases out of the cleaner and annealed them.
 
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Cleaned off the single stage pedestal to get ready for load development of the 221 Fireball with Mono-metal bullets. Cases are already cleaned, sized, and deprimed. Need to load pressure/velocity ladders for the 2 bullets and 3 powders.
 
Rather busy day.

After church, we got lunch and birthday cake and watched a good part of the USGP. When it was kinda apparent that Max would win again...

I went up to the shop and began scouting around for bullets to load in the 9mm and 38 Special. I have to participate in a once every five year CC training so, needed ammo for the test shoot. Got everything set up and loaded 50 9mm rounds using the Berry’s Bullets. That was pretty swift with the Dillon Progressive Press. After a supper break and a short walk with the cats, we came home to a potential house fire. We left a fire under a pan and it was smoking hard. We spent a good part of the afternoon, hooking up fans to do our best to get the smoke out of the house. Later, I went up to the shop to load the 26, 38 Special rounds I needed. Next, I worked on the 6GT cases. Got those resized and the primer pockets cleaned out, and the necks deburred. Put them back in the cleaner to remove the sizing lube.

I created a spreadsheet for the 6GT Berger Hybrid bullets. Finishing that, I went up to the shop, got the GT cases out of the cleaner and annealed them.
Glad to hear the fire was avoided.

Opens flames and high heat are no joke if left unattended. I have to get after my girlfriend about candles all the time when we leave.
 
Today I contacted an online retailer to start a shipping investigation with UPS to find out where my order of 5K BR-4’s went. Such a bummer.
 
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Spent the last few days processing 5.56/223 LC and FC brass for
reloading on the RCBS Pro 2000.
Used the Dillon Swage tool to remove the primer crimp,
Giraud trimmer to set the case length.

Have one more box of 2k LC & FC brass from gibrass.com to do next.
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I really never thought I'd get excited about grabbing a jug of powder but here we are...

Got some more tools ans such in. Loading trays, Inline fabrication qc plate for the dillon 650.
 

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Can't complain as of late. Gotten coax, sac die, some powder, some primers and just snagged 1k 105gr hybrids. Annealed brass from hide member is coming in tomorrow. Got barrel torqued on action so I can start dialing in bump. Good winter activities.
 
what is AUTODOD

It started out as the "IDOD". A manually run neck turning lathe that turns the inside and outside of neck. It's progressed to also able to trim/chamfer/deburr, as well has being run with a CNC controller/motor and an auto eject system. He is working on bullet trimming/pointing add ons as well as an auto feed.

So, it's essentially turning into a full on ammo prep lathe/station. Though it does come with a substantial price.

Likely won't make a difference for most shooters. But we have a niche portion of our customers that want the best brass prep they can get or the best ammo we can make. And we just like nerding out on this stuff as well.
 
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Likely won't make a difference for most shooters. But we have a niche portion of our customers that want the best brass prep they can get or the best ammo we can make. And we just like nerding out on this stuff as well.
You state 'won't make a difference to most shooters" . What gain do the "niche portion of our customers" receive from this brass ?
 
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You state 'won't make a difference to most shooters" . What gain do the "niche portion of our customers" receive from this brass ?

You know full well the arguments for and against neck turned brass. There's no need to get into that in this thread.

Nice try though.
 
Was setting up AUTODOD for .300prc Lapua. Tossed a 212 ELD-X in with the SAC Infinity Die. Pretty impressed with the Infinity Die so far.

Might have to go full screen to see the movement. It's there.

Lapua .300prc comes quite thick in the necks. Over 0.015". Turning down to .012 - .013 drops seating force down to more "normal" levels.

 
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You know full well the arguments for and against neck turned brass. There's no need to get into that in this thread.

Nice try though.
Nice try ? :rolleyes: Why not answer the question , it can not get an simpler ? It's not about debating neck turning or not , it's about what gain do these niche customers get from this machine compared to the NON-NICHE customers not gaining a thing ?
 

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Picked up a workbench from Sam's. My regular bench was just too crowded with pistol and rifle gear. Still getting organized...


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Aren't we all bud, aren't we all. I will be so glad to get my new room painted and lights and floors in. Then starts the job of putting all my boxed up crap in there.... it will great when it's done but man I'm tired of working on it.
 
I loaded some test rounds for my AR using 73 grain ELDM's, CFE223, Lake City brass, and #41 small rifle primers. Stepped up in .3 grain increments, three rounds at each step.

Hopefully I can make it to the range tomorrow to test them.
 
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Loaded some 6.8 spc. Trying to get some Hornady 110 bthp going. Got my nodes now just get them to group.
 
Mine got painted today, so that's huge. Lights and floors next week and I'm in there baby!! Hallelujah!

I also got these dillon tool head racks that will go directly in my slatwall. He color coded to match the color code I have on my dies already. He embossed em too. I'm thrilled. He makes a few different ways to keep them with peg board or just sitting on a bench. Really good dude I found through fleabay.
 

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Resized all my 6br fired brass. Whatever chamber they were shot from was a bit looser than my chamber. Some would still not close and took some extra effort in sizing. Using a sac die in a coax. Checked each one..all 600+ bolt close now. Will start chamfer and load testing soon
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I sorted my 5.56 brass to separate all the Lake City cases, tumbled them, then annealed them. They were already deprimed.

Next time I'm out here will be sizing, trimming, and cutting the crimp out of the primer pockets.