Reloading Pro Tips

[orangeusa]

I'm far from pro, but was astounded how powder scales have a big range of error. Even electronic ones that are supposedly 0.01 grams = .15 grain.

Tip - buy calibrated weights on Amazon to assure your scales are correct.

I even found one of the calibrated weights ($6) was way off ( because I bought two sets - who knew ).

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[oddjob]

I put Daisy BB's in my tumbler to help polish the brass. Bought them at Wal Mart for $6 or $7 for 6,000. I haven't figured out yet how to separate the BB's from the walnut media when I change out the media just yet.

[Bug Splat]

Just remembered another one. This tip improved my charge weight accuracy by leaps and bounds....

When measuring on a digital scale give your charged tray/cup/pan a little blow of air. This will cause the weight to jump up a few grains and settle back down. Sometimes the scales don't read correctly especially if you use a trickler. You can get a much more accurate reading if you blow on the scale a couple times and see if it settles back to your target weight. Do this from about 10 inches away and don't blow so hard that you blow out the powder. You only need a slight breeze to make the scale jump around. Blow like you would into your girl's ear or neck, soft and gentle

[damndave]

My favorite advice.....

• Safety first.
• Buy once, cry once.
• Prep your rifle brass in batches.
• Write everything down.
• Label everything.
• Do not rush.
• Attention to detail.
• Get a motorized case trimmer.
• Buy in bulk.

[Bug Splat]

My favorite advice.....

• Get a motorized case trimmer.
  

Still the one item I have not done yet. I have a Micro Mill that was given to me and I plan to gut it and turn it into a 3-way case trimmer. Been working on the frame to hold it all. Hope to to have something like a Giraud but for under $100 in parts.

[JagerDog]

Never have cold sweating drinks around your components.

I had to pull the bullets of 500 pistol rounds because the cup I was drinking from was dripping into my cases while in the case blocks. I had the cup across the bench and every time I picked it up to take a drink I passed over the loading blocks and it dripped in some of the sized and primed cases I had waiting to fill with powder. Only a handful of cases had water damaged powder but it took 2 squibs at the range for me to stop shooting and go home to investigate the problem. I had no idea why the powder was clumped up and it took a week before it dawned on me what I had done. It was a 2am "HOLY S**T, I know what happened" moment. I had to throw away all the powder from the pulled rounds and the primers too. Was a big waste of time and money and could have been very dangerous had I taken a guest shooting and he/she shot a round after the squib.

Proper hygiene would suggest you don't have any eats/drinks/smokes etc. at your reloading bench. Lead isn't good for you.

[Divernhunter]

No lead in many jackets bullets to get on your hands or with barnes/Hornady GMX/Nosler E-Tip bullets. People do load bullets other than all lead or large lead tip bullets.

[JagerDog]

No lead in many jackets bullets to get on your hands or with barnes/Hornady GMX/Nosler E-Tip bullets. People do load bullets other than all lead or large lead tip bullets.

Lead (and other toxic metals like mercury) gets a lot of places other than projectiles. Your reloading bench is not the best place to eat, drink or other hand-to-mouth functions. It's really that simple.

[Malthusian]

I put Daisy BB's in my tumbler to help polish the brass. Bought them at Wal Mart for $6 or $7 for 6,000. I haven't figured out yet how to separate the BB's from the walnut media when I change out the media just yet.

BB's are magnetic ( ferrous )

Just use a magnet

I have a Crossman BB gun, the end of the bolt has a magnet to hold the BB in place

[JamesY]

I use a dry erase marker on the outside of my powder drops to tell me:
Load type
powder type
Grains per drop
Bullet type/grains

I change powders a lot and this works great on my RCBS Load master and powder drops.

[afrancke]

My pro tip: make a loading setup you can take with you to the shooting range. Homework the night before is to prep a large enough quantity of brass to keep you loading and shooting the next day and to make a worksheet for your plan of attack (where you're going to start powder-wise, including conversion from charge weight listed in the recipe to "clicks", etc.)

Pro tip corollary: don't overestimate how much you can get done on one trip to the range. Take one powder and one bullet type.

[ivanimal]

Always have 3 or more sources for loads.
Never approach maximums for any powder/ bullet combination.
Don't be afraid to call a manufacturer for more information. Those guys have heard it all and want to help!

[shooting4life]

Always have 3 or more sources for loads.
Never approach maximums for any powder/ bullet combination.
Don't be afraid to call a manufacturer for more information. Those guys have heard it all and want to help!

I agree with multiple sources, but it can be frustrating as well. I was reloading 357 magnum the other day with 2400. One book listed the powder range 11-14 gr for 150gr lead another book listed 14-18 gr powder range for the same load. So I loaded 14 grains and it worked well. I really need to find some older books, newer books seem to be very restrictive with the loads.

['ol shooter]

Were those loads using the same primer, bullet profile and seating depth? These are all factors in load development. The most important factors in loading are attention to detail, and common sense, which can be very uncommon at times. You show good common sense by questioning the data. If you are loading what one book shows as a max load like you described, pay close attention to the primer appearance, you can learn a lot by interpreting the primer. Good shooting.

[afrancke]

I would also recommend buying QuickLoad. Yes, it appears to be a horrible VB program that requires an emulator or WINE to run on a Mac. Yes, it's a bit behind on the latest powders. Yes, it's just an interior ballistics simulator - so garbage in, garbage out with respect to the data that drive it.

All of that said, very, very useful for exploring what different powders might do, finding powders that fill the case and combust nearly completely and so on. And of course, avoiding overpressure. A really neat tool.

Has anybody here ever bought and used a chamber pressure gauge? I'm thinking of the kind with stick-on strain gauges that you apply to the chamber area of your barrel.