Adventures of a Rookie Reloader

[Kentucky Colonel]

A friend gave me my .303 British dies. Had them inactive for years. 
I can get a die for my M1 Garand, but need to make certain of the right 
load. There is often confusion here. I have bought from CMP all the time.

Your comments are appreciated.

If I manage to make gold out of lead, I will remember you! 

 

[patocazador]

I must plead ignorance when it comes to Garands. Don't they just shoot a generic .30-06 (or .308) cartridge? If that is the case, any corresponding die set should work although the shoulder height may have to be tinkered with due to chamber variances.

I shoot generic .30 carbine ammo in my WWII issue M1s with no problems.

 

[Whokalouie]

I think 4895 may be your best choice of powder for the Garand.

The M1 can take the pressure of the 7.62 NATO aka .308, but NOT recommended. I know, when we ran out of M1 ball ammo we loaded 7.62 ammo one at a time to fire it after a little boot help to close action. Went back to M1 ball ammo with no failures. The 7.62 ejected cases did not have a shoulder, I still have a couple somewhere.

John


Cases are different.

M1 ball ammo=30-06

 

[Old Smoke]

Regarding the venerable 348 Win:
1. I use 59 gr of IMR 4350 under the Hornady <a href='/tags/3410' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #3410'>#3410</a>.  Great load.
2. ALWAYS check keyboard hero load recommendations with a book or multiple other sources.   
3. You can get lead bullets from several sources, but you'll need to keep the velocity down.
4.  I've used several primers.  Did not make a discernable difference on point of impact, but I was only shooting 50 yards with irons.
5.  Buy all the bullet you want for a year when you buy them.  When they're gone, they're gone.
6.  Jamison brass is plenty good stuff.  On par with Win brass near as I can tell.

 

[Old Smoke]

One other thing:  No distractions when loading.  Focus.  Not chit chat time with the wife.  

One other thing:  Double check your powder twice.  Don't blow anything up.

One other thing:  Reloading is FUN!  But it is serious business.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Roger. No distractions.

I used my new favorite toy after it was delivered today. 
The Frankford Arsenal Quick N-EZ Case Tumbler 

Fun, effortless, visible results. Nothing threatens to explode if you get it wrong. It has a pleasant sound. The media even smells good. The directions were great! (Resist the urge to put it together upright! It goes together upside down!)

I also have indulged in an unexpected pleasure. 

I found .348 Win bullets made by a company in Australia. 250 grain. I had a great deal of fun ordering them. And, I know that no one else will have THIS load. I will have my very own brand! I don't know why, but that is all great fun.

More later...

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Rookie mistake. <a href='/tags/25' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #25'>#25</a> shell holder is wrong. <a href='/tags/390565' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #390565'>#390565</a> is apparently what I need. 
I am in shipping delay again.

 

[patocazador]

Just buy an assortment of shell holders. They contain over a dozen and cover almost every case made except for .50 BMG and some of the newest calibers with custom brass.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Just buy an assortment of shell holders. They contain over a dozen and cover almost every case made except for .50 BMG and some of the newest calibers with custom brass.

I will. My kit came with 5 and I bought a sixth. None will work so a 7th is now on the way. 
The shipping was three times the cost of the dang shell holder!

 

[Old Smoke]

Colonel, I skimmed all the posts but don't see which rifle you are shooting.  But here is a special FYI regarding the Browning Model 71 if that is what you are loading for.  I have read that the chamber is too short for some 250 gr bullets.  Be sure to check your chamber for use with longer bullets.  

How?  Well, you have to ruin one case. No primier and no powder.  Slit the case mouth with a drimmel tool or fine coping saw such that a bullet is easy to insert and move.  Push one of your 250 grs bullet into the mouth, leaving it way too long overall.  Chamber it easily and take it back out.  Measure the length of the cartridge.  Repeat this several times to be sure you have a consistently accurate OAL.  Your final loaded ammo OAL must be shorter.  Suggest it needs to be at least 0.025" shorter so there is no chance the bullet could engage the rifling before firing.  But some guys go closer for match accuracy. Anything shooting a 348 Win is not a match gun anyway.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Colonel, I skimmed all the posts but don't see which rifle you are shooting.  But here is a special FYI regarding the Browning Model 71 if that is what you are loading for.  I have read that the chamber is too short for some 250 gr bullets.  Be sure to check your chamber for use with longer bullets.  

How?  Well, you have to ruin one case. No primier and no powder.  Slit the case mouth with a drimmel tool or fine coping saw such that a bullet is easy to insert and move.  Push one of your 250 grs bullet into the mouth, leaving it way too long overall.  Chamber it easily and take it back out.  Measure the length of the cartridge.  Repeat this several times to be sure you have a consistently accurate OAL.  Your final loaded ammo OAL must be shorter.  Suggest it needs to be at least 0.025" shorter so there is no chance the bullet could engage the rifling before firing.  But some guys go closer for match accuracy. Anything shooting a 348 Win is not a match gun anyway.

Wow. Appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I received my shell holder today and tried to use it. 

It was WAY too tight for the rock chucker. So I used a small 
C-clamp to seat it. It went, but was way too snug to turn. 

The shell holder was made by Hornady. I DOES fit the shell. 
The set up is RCBS. 

What do I need to do?

PS. I ordered a Redding shell holder. Maybe that will fit better. 
RCBS is out of stock everywhere I can find so far.

 

[Old Smoke]

That's odd.  I thought shell holders pretty much interchanged with most (if not all) presses.  Go figure.

You MIGHT be able to chuck the shell holder in a drill chuck and polish the OD of the fit down a mil or two using some fine grit paper.  But maybe not.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I might. True. 

However, I found an 'Extreme Loading' website that sold the RCBS shell holder. 
It is on the way now.

Natchez, Midsouth, and Midway were all out.

And, I found a few boxes of pre-made cartridges. Maybe I won't wait for home-grown. 
But, I will still keep gardening!

 

[patocazador]

Maybe, with both being new (press and shell holder) all it needs is a little lubricating. When reloading, lightly lube everything except what touches primers or powder.

There is a spring in the top of the ram arm that allows the shell holder to snap into place. Sometimes they are rather tight.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Well, the Hornady shell holder is a definite fail. I did lube. Little help. IDK why. The specs for these things should be exact. 
I can tell you that the items supplied to me were NOT exact to each other. I am surprised. 

I played a bit. I used the Rock Chucker to size three cases without bolting it down whilst sitting on my couch. I am burly, 
but it was still not easy. I will not do this again. I drilled my table and sank the bolts because the RCBS shell holder was 
made precisely. I had to order that from a very specialist site.

So, I proceeded. And, GLORY BE! I have fifty neat shells ready for the next step! 

The pic is of the new resized cases and a factory made cartridge for comparison. 

I found this very satisfying and pleasant even though I should not have. IDK why. But, I am having fun. 
I still have a lot to learn.

Thanks for all the listening and for all the advise!

 

[Old Smoke]

looking good!  You got a load picked out yet?

 

[patocazador]

Colonel, you may find as you move along that the force generated in re-forming cases is stressing the edge of your bench. I put a bracket under the front edge of mine to hold a 2x4 whose end sits flush on the concrete floor. This kept my bench edge from snapping off when dealing with nickeled cases and re-forming brass to other calibers (eg: 30-06 to 7.65 x 53 Mauser).

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Good idea, Bob, thanks.

Smoke, I am gonna go with a low end load that appears in my Hornady book. 
(That Hornady Shell Holder did not fit in my hand primer, either. Bothers me.) 

This is what I am considering (comments welcome): 
Hornady FTX .348 Win 200 grain bullets w/ IMR 4320 46.6 grains (Velocity 2,200 FPS) 

:?:
2.250 is my case length. The book says Max Case Length is 2.255 with Case Trim Length 2.245. 
I AM all right with my length, yes?

I cut a small angle in the lip of the mouth of the case to aid bullet seating today. 

I primed all my cases today. It took a while because the hand primer exploded with spring and pieces 
going everywhere. (NO the primer did not go boom.) 

Putting it back together when I did not see what it was before it went higgley-piggley was time consuming. 
And, whoever designed this thing to need to be partially dis-assembled just to sit a shell holder needs to 
re-take engineering basics. (Hey.... I could do that. I wonder if it would pay?)

Once I got it back together, things went well. I only lost two primers to find 'the sweet spot' for correct 
seating pressure. I went WAY too hard at first and sank my primer well below level with the case. The rest 
went smoothly.

If you guys tell me my case length is OK, my next move is figuring out powder measuring and the powder trickler.

 

[patocazador]

Your case length is OK. When trimming the brass after several reloadings, go to 2.245 like they recommend. This will keep you from having to do it so often.

(Take a reformed case and chamber in your rifle without forcing it. Don't put a primer in this case. It will serve as your future reference.

If it will easily chamber, place a bullet in the case so it is very long. Insert the empty case with the barely-seated bullet into the chamber and slowly close it. This will push the bullet deeper into the case to give you the absolute longest measurement for bullet seating. Best accuracy is usually obtained when the bullet is backed off the lands by a small amount.

If the bullet sticks in the barrel and just the empty case comes out, take your cleaning rod and push the bullet out gently and seat it a bit deeper next time.)
This procedure is not mandatory, it just helps to get better accuracy.