automatic relaoding
- Thread starter Hamburgler
- Start date
I have yet to purchase any brass since my range doesn't mind us taking a little extra.
I recently purchased a Savage 10BA rifle (.308)
I purchased one box of ammo for it and I've collected 500 pieces of once fired brass for it.
I've been shooting a little less than a year and I have over 10,000 9mm, 5,000 .40S&W, 3,000 .45ACP, 5,000 .223, 500 boxer primed 7.62x39, 500 .308, and 300 30-06
CRAFM sells Dillon
Yes.
Did your pricing include tax?
If your prices are tax in that means that you're paying $35.50/lb for Vihtavuori which is unheard of in these parts.
I paid $46.00 +tx/lb.
Depends on the caliber and the load, but the short answer is forever.
If you run higher pressures, or happen to have a fairly generous chamber, you might split cases or see them bulge at the base beyond your dies ability to resize.
In practical terms, they last until you loose them.
I generally recover all my brass from practice, but depending on the match I'm shooting, I may just leave it on the ground. (or snow or mud)
I've been reloading for 20 years. It's not so much a case of needing the capacity. I'm just tired of making excuses for using the wrong tools.
I won't be quitting this sport any time soon.
I won't be using brass that's never been offered with crimped primers.
I don't shoot cast lead bullets.
I might have OCD tendancies, but not Autism, so there is nothing soothing about filling up 20 primer tubes before loading.
The arthritis in my neck ain't going away, so slamming on the handle 1200 times an hour isn't going to help me in the long run.
While I may have overspent on tooling by some standards, I look at it this way. How much does your favourite competition gun sell for? What's the cost of the ammo it will use in it's lifetime? My tooling is amortized as a portion of that total cost of ownership. I get paid back interest in the form of time.
This only holds true for straight walled cases.
It also doesn't apply for pistols with unsupported chambers such as Glocks in .40S&W and .45ACP
There are tools out there to straighten out what are normally referred to as "Glocked" cases but they all advise you not to reload the cartridges for use in another Glock.
I don't own any pistols with unsupported chambers so I'm just going by the manufacturers recommendation.
As for bottleneck rifle cartridges the necks should be annealed after being reloaded several times to prevent the necks from splitting due to the brass getting work hardened. Some benchrest shooters anneal the necks in as little as 2 firings.
Well it makes sense. If your going to do something, do it properly. You don't have to deal with BS cheap crap or have something that works ok and you just deal with it. I admire this. Hopefully one day I can do the same as right now, it would be far too much money for me to spend on a auto-reloader.
Unsuppoted chambers is Glocks have been a thing of the past for at least 6 years. I have a G35 and the chamber is as supported as most and better than some.
This chamber is 5 years old.
My setup is the same as Canuck233's sans the Auto Drive.
The bullet feeder almost doubled the speed of reloading for me. 1800rds per hour - 1rd in 2 seconds - so for me, it was a good investment.
If you go Dillon, don't waste your money on the carbide dies for rifle, you still have to lube the cases.
Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
brass life
Just to clarify, I've seen some questions asked and answered about brass life, Cannuck 223 you said forever.
I've been reloading rifle for a few years now, and that certainly isn't the case at all.
While I'm as yet unfamiliar with reloading straight walled pistol cases, surely they don't last forever, do they?
Could you please provide a bit more detail on what you mean?
Higher pressure, loose chamber, I understand. But even with a tight chamber and soft loads, your brass will eventually wear out and fail, no?
Loosing the brass I understand. Would never happen with my bolt rifle rounds, but pistol, especially when running and gunning, I can see how that might happen.
Last question, for the high speed automated system guys, do you still sort your brass into lots, and what kind of reloading records do you keep?
Just to clarify, I've seen some questions asked and answered about brass life, Cannuck 223 you said forever.
I've been reloading rifle for a few years now, and that certainly isn't the case at all.
While I'm as yet unfamiliar with reloading straight walled pistol cases, surely they don't last forever, do they?
Could you please provide a bit more detail on what you mean?
Higher pressure, loose chamber, I understand. But even with a tight chamber and soft loads, your brass will eventually wear out and fail, no?
Loosing the brass I understand. Would never happen with my bolt rifle rounds, but pistol, especially when running and gunning, I can see how that might happen.
Last question, for the high speed automated system guys, do you still sort your brass into lots, and what kind of reloading records do you keep?
Pistol brass gets 10-20+ loadings and as Canuck223 said, you will lose it before it fails - mostly.
Rifle cases last anywhere from1 reloading to 20 reloading. I have some Lapua brass in .338LM that has 16 loadings without any sign of failure. I've also had factory .308Win brass fail before getting reloaded.
I only know how many times my rifle brass is loaded but not pistol. FWIW I have a batch of 38 Special brass that been in use for 25 years and it's still GTG.
Rifle cases last anywhere from1 reloading to 20 reloading. I have some Lapua brass in .338LM that has 16 loadings without any sign of failure. I've also had factory .308Win brass fail before getting reloaded.
I only know how many times my rifle brass is loaded but not pistol. FWIW I have a batch of 38 Special brass that been in use for 25 years and it's still GTG.
Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
Is there ever a need to anneal 9 mm pistol brass? or is that mostly a bottle neck case thing?
No, just bottleneck rifle.
Sorry, I was basing my comments almost exclusively on pistol brass,as the origional thread was based mostly on pistol vs rifle.
Loaded to standard pressures and fired in a reasonable dimentioned chamber, the same pistol case will progressively become shorter in OAL and fatter just ahead of the extractor groove. Loaded long enough, it will become unusable and need to be scrapped.
However, odds are good that before you time out a piece of brass, you'll lose it. Between cases lost, cases found, and cases scrapped because they didn't pass the smell test when they came out of the tumbler, I expect to see my brass supply shrink by 10% a year.
As for keeping records, I record everything. Every single piece of brass is electric pencilled and a seperate file exists in the database. Every round has a log entry for each firing.
Oh, wait. No I don't.
My brass is sorted according to a time honoured system. I have pails marked;
1) Once Fired / range brass (Which must go through the swager)
2) Practice brass (Which has already been swaged)
3) Match brass (sorted by headstamp and generally 1-2F)
4) Decent brass (Mixed headstamps and firing, in good shape but won't shed a tear if it's left in the snow/mud)
My match ammo and my practice ammo is identical, aside from the cases. I generally practice with practice ammo. I generally shoot matches with match ammo. However, all is loaded to the same specs. I trust my match ammo to be a little bit more consistant, but i don't waste components loading questionable brass.
This is about right for cost sourced around the GTA:
$100/1000 Zero brand 125gr jhp-c projectiles from doubleTap + tax
~$30/1000 CCI small pistol from lebaron tax in
~$19/1 lb titegroup from lebaron tax in
brass I assume you already have, or if you buy 1F, its about ~$40/1000
I have the LNL but not the bullet or case feeder. If you had to pick just one, which one would you go with??
Go with the case feeder to start... if you do go with a bullet feeder later defiantly go with the Mr.bullet feeder it is far superior to the Hornady (I own both) and rightly so as its more than twice the cost...
if you want to try it out and are in my area you can come over and give it a go anytime...
if you want to try it out and are in my area you can come over and give it a go anytime...
As already stated go with the case feeder first since it can do both pistol and rifle (plates sold separately)
Hamburgler
Member
- Location
- Nanaimo,BC
Is there anyone near ottawa/orleans who owns a 650 that wouldnt mind me stopping by and checking it out first hand?
