First reloads - 30-06 (picture)

clvtch

clvtch

Member
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Saskatchewan
Well I got around to trying out the new Lee press kit last night, loaded 10 30-06 cartridges with:

- Winchester Primer
- Winchester once fired brass
- Benchmark powder, 44 gr
- Nosler 168 gr Ballistic Tip

Can you guess which was my first bullet seating?! I thought (stupidly) that the die would have an approximate seating depth set up from the factory, obviously I learned from that one. Is it safe to fire this round or should I discard it? I don't have a bullet puller yet. It will be firing out of a Savage 116 stainless bolt action hunting rifle.

Hoping to make more in 30-06 and some in .223 Rem before we go shooting this weekend!

 
Nice man,
I just bought a lee value turret press myself, and Just learnt that the disk powder loader is no good for rifle cartridges, what did you use to measure your powder?
 
Shred, I bought the cheapo Lee 50th Anniversary Kit for $126 or something like that. It came with a beam scale that kind of sucks but works for now, and a powder measure. I calibrated the powder measure with the beam scale, and just for good measure I checked every charge on the beam scale to make sure it was throwing 44 grains. I found it would vary +/- 1/10 of a grain but that's pretty good for a first time reloader (I'm sure I'll get more picky along the way). The Benchmark powder flows through the powder measure really well, I find.
 
Put some masking tape on it with what type of powder and bullet it is then put it in a ziploc bag. Some day it will be worth getting a puller when the bag is full.
 
clvtch said:
Can you guess which was my first bullet seating?!
Click to expand...

Laugh2

Take heart, we have all done it somewhere along the way. This is how beginner reloaders become experienced reloaders...;)

I back the seating stem out almost all the way, then turn it in a bit at a time to sneak up on the OAL you want. If you have a loaded round you can use it to set the stem position, but when starting from scratch you have to start well out and work in.


clvtch said:
Is it safe to fire this round or should I discard it? I don't have a bullet puller yet. It will be firing out of a Savage 116 stainless bolt action hunting rifle.

Hoping to make more in 30-06 and some in .223 Rem before we go shooting this weekend!
Click to expand...

Seeing as how the Hodgdon site lists 44.0gr of Benchmark as a starting load with a 168gr bullet I would just shoot it. Don't use it for a grouping, but it isn't going to blow your gun up.

FWIW, seating deeper often lowers pressures unless you are compressing the powder charge, because it leaves more freebore for the bullet to move through before it hits the lands and the pressure begins to spike.


Mark
 
clvtch said:
Can you guess which was my first bullet seating?!
Click to expand...

LOL!!

I did the exact same thing expect with a .40. Seated so deep it was below the neck. Pulled it out of the seating die and freaked a little as I thought the bullet got stuck up in the die. Looked at the case as I realized it was too heavy to just be a case. Had a good laugh about that. I was trying out a dummy round so no powder. It's sitting up on my shelf as a reminder as to how my first seating attempt went.
 
clvtch said:
Well I got around to trying out the new Lee press kit last night, loaded 10 30-06 cartridges with:

- Winchester Primer
- Winchester once fired brass
- Benchmark powder, 44 gr
- Nosler 168 gr Ballistic Tip

Can you guess which was my first bullet seating?! I thought (stupidly) that the die would have an approximate seating depth set up from the factory, obviously I learned from that one. Is it safe to fire this round or should I discard it? I don't have a bullet puller yet. It will be firing out of a Savage 116 stainless bolt action hunting rifle.

Hoping to make more in 30-06 and some in .223 Rem before we go shooting this weekend!

Click to expand...

Regarding Shorty, its a light load, it will go bang with no danger. Use it as a fouler.
 
I too, of course, would fire the deep seated bullet, only I would use it as an experiment. That is, I would fire it as one of a five shot group. Carefully fire the group, using the best rest you can get and ideally, hide it from yourself, so you don't even know which of the group it is.
My guess is that there will be no wild flyer in the group and the size of the group will be average of what you shoot with that rifle and the other cartridges you loaded.
Bruce
 
Wow thanks for the help everyone! I am so careful with this stuff so I wanted to be very sure, who better to ask than the guys that have been doing this stuff for years.

Thanks again
 
One thing you might want to consider for your next batch of test loads is to make up a dummy round.... same case, same bullet but no primer or powder.
That way you can set up your seating depth, and check to see if it cycles through your action cleanly. There's nothing more frustrating than having to pull a bunch of test loads because they don't fit in the mag.....

You can always keep the dummy for future reference - the next time you go to lad a batch, you'll have a starting point for you bullet seating adjustment.

Stan
 
clvtch said:
Shred, I bought the cheapo Lee 50th Anniversary Kit for $126 or something like that. It came with a beam scale that kind of sucks but works for now, and a powder measure. I calibrated the powder measure with the beam scale, and just for good measure I checked every charge on the beam scale to make sure it was throwing 44 grains. I found it would vary +/- 1/10 of a grain but that's pretty good for a first time reloader (I'm sure I'll get more picky along the way). The Benchmark powder flows through the powder measure really well, I find.
Click to expand...

Nice I got the Lee Value Turret Kit, it comes with a scale too, and a disk auto loader, but apparently its only good for handgun loading, and if you get the double disk kit, it will only load, minimal rifle loads, so I guess ill be in the same boat as you using the scale, until I pick up an lee sure auto loader or something.
 
Congrats on your first reloads bud. It's a really enjoyable and rewarding hobby.The natural venture for those shooters who are serious about accuracy as well as saving money or at least shooting more of the pricey or hard to find cartridges. As most others have said just fire that shorty and be done with it. A bullet puller should still be on your acquisition list though.
 
Welcome to the deep, dark world of reloading. Just kidding! Welcome. Reloading has always been rewarding for me.

Needless to say, take care. Don't get in a hurry, don't have more than the one powder on the table.

I would love to be able to say I've never screwed up reloading, but my nose would grow lonnnggg.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom