BRShootingJournal .357 Magnum / .38 Special Reloading

Starting to reload some .357 Magnums

2012-02-06T00:04:00.002-05:00

I shot well over 100 rounds of .357 magnums at the range last Friday, so I finally freed up some cases to reload. As usual, the cases went directly into the tumbler when I got home, making it possible to examine the cases for cracking and defects.

As you can see, it really doesn't take a lot of equipment to get into reloading. In fact, you can start with a lot less than this. A Classic Lee reloading kit goes for only about $30, and all you'll need is a rubber mallet, a scale, brass cases and bullets. For well under $100 you can step it up to a single stage press, which speeds up the process considerably. For not much over $100 you can move to a Lee turret press as the one I'm using, and that makes the process move even faster. For the price of about 4 boxes of cartridges, you could be up and running.

Tonight I started by changing the die adjustments from .38 Special to .357 magnum, which involves backing out the bullet seating die and crimp die two full turns to account for the .357 Magnum's increased case length. I wasn't in the mood tonight to look up load data, weigh powder and the rest, so I decided to just focus on the first die; resizing the cases, knocking out the spent primers and reseating new.

Note that I have my Maximum Eyewear goggles on. When I'm seating primers, my face is very close to the case, so for safety I usually wear goggles. I've never had a primer go off in this press, but there's always a first time and it only takes once.

On the left are the tumbled cases with spent primers still seated. On the right are the resized cases seated with fresh primers. I'm using a Lee Turret Press.

This is what I'm looking for when I examine my cases, and why I always tumble the brass prior to reloading. Dirt and soot can sometimes mask a defect, and a split case like this could prove disastrous. It's my usual practice to scrounge around for spent cases on the ground while there's a target change. You never know how many times a case lying on the ground has been reloaded, and if it has been abused with high pressure loads. Many people refuse to use found cases like this, but I think it's OK as long as the cases are closely examined. In total I found 3 cases that I ended up tossing tonight. This was the worst. One case was slightly crushed at the neck, and likely could have been used but why take the chance. Another had a small split at the neck, likely caused from over crimping which thins and stretches the brass. I picked up at least 50 pieces of brass at the range, so discarding three was no big deal. Considering the price of brass, cases picked up at the range can often offset the price of that day's range time and will save me a trip to the gunshop to purchase another bag of brass. Finding good brass is like coming across hidden treasure, and I find it fun in itself to do.

Later this week I'll be deciding on load data and getting down to business reloading. I'll post more as that happens.

Reloaded 150g cast lead bullets

2011-09-23T16:24:00.000-04:00

Today was a vacation day and it's pouring out, which limits my options for fun things to do. Most small game hunker down in lousy weather, so that option was out. I've been needing to do some reloading, especially since I just installed the new Skinner Peep Sights on the .44 mag. and .357 mag. Henry rifles and they need to be sighted in soon. Dirk had given me a bag of 150 grain round-nose lead bullets that he cast, so I decide to reload them today. These are .38 Special cartridges charged with Bullseye powder. Dirk suggests using 3 - 3.5 grains, but the last time I loaded these bullets, 3 grains proved to be too light. This time I loaded 3.4g using a .37 AutoDisk. I only have Winchester small pistol magnum primers, but Dirk said that they will work fine in the .38's, especially as the temperature outside begins to drop. These cartridges look quite beautiful, don't you think? I'm looking forward to putting some down-range via the Henry... if it ever stops raining. When that happens, I'll bring a camera along and post a report on the ammo and the new sight system.

Reloading 150g cast lead bullets

2011-08-07T18:09:00.003-04:00

My buddy Dirk cast a batch of lead bullets recently and gave me around 70 to reload. I went through my Lee reloading manual but couldn't find any load data, so I emailed Dirk for info and he sent me the following pages from some old manuals.

I'll be loading with Accurate #9, and this chart shows a started load of 12 grains and a maximum of 13.5 or 15 grains.

I first looked for an intermediate load for Accurate #9 between 12 and 15 grains (the starting and maximum loads according to the chart above). On the AutoDisk chart, I looked for a load near 13-14 grains. 13.4 grains is on the list, so I went up the chart to the AutoDisk number: .88.

This is the .88 Lee AutoDisk hole.

Dirk's 148 grain cast lead bullets and Accurate #9. #9 is a ball powder which meters quite accurately and consistently in the Lee AutoDisk.

Here's the powder in the hopper, so you can see the consistency. It's actually so fine that some always leaks out at various joints and ends up on the bench. The .88 AutoDisk setting actually dropped 13.1 grains in the case, and that was close enough to what I was shooting for.

A few finished cartridges.

Always keep an eye out for split cases. Here's one I came across while reloading tonight. Check back to see how well these cartridges grouped at the range.

Hornady 140g Cowboy

2011-08-06T23:04:00.014-04:00

I swung by a local gun shop today to pick up a magazine for the Ruger LCP and discovered that they were selling for almost $30! Cabela's had them for $24 last week so I decided to pass it up and instead took a look at their bullets. I was surprised to find that they had a few 350 count boxes of Hornady #10078 .357 mag cowboy bullets on the shelf. The last box I loaded came directly from Hornady, and I haven't seen them anywhere since I started reloading. The price seemed a little high, but I bought them anyway because I like the way these bullets shoot with 4 grains of Unique (see my previous test) and they are still a lot cheaper than any jacketed bullets out there.

I looked through my Hornady manual to see if I could find load data with a powder I already have on the shelf. They had data for Unique and American Select. Since I already ran a test with Unique, I decided to load tonight with American Select. I found a midpoint load that I could hit with my AutoDisk: 3.9 grains with the AutoDisk set at .57. I loaded 50 rounds tonight and as soon as I shoot them, I'll post my targets and comments.

Here's my previous 25' target shot with the Ruger SP101. That's a decent group, so I think I'll load 50 more with this recipe (4.0g UNIQUE - .49 AutoDisk).

Don't be a brass whore

2011-08-06T08:35:00.007-04:00

Ya, it's a little rude, but it makes the point. Someone just posted this term on my facebook and I thought I'd pass it along. He was referring to people who pick up brass at the range that they don't plan to reload. I would explain them as people who can't get enough at the expense of others. Brass is expensive and often in short supply. People who bring a bucket to the range and scoop up every piece of brass are no better than those who bought up all the powder and primers during the Obama shortage. Remember the 'Golden Rule', "Do onto others as you would have them do unto you". Take only what you really need to reload. Just because you reload .357 magnum doesn't mean that you need to have 5 gal. buckets full filling up your basement.

If that's what you've been doing and have had a change of heart, why don't you simply give some away? You'll make some new shooting buddies as well as feeling better about yourself.

I found another winner yesterday from Accurate

2011-07-08T15:11:00.000-04:00

For years now I've been using Accurate #9 in my .44 magnum reloads and I've been very pleased with the results. Until recently I didn't realize that #9 was also recommended for some .357 Magnum loads. I like to reload with #9 because it's a ball powder and it flows consistently through my Lee AutoDisk.

Last week I loaded 50 rounds using Hornady 158g GR XTP bullets with 10.8g of Accurate #9. It was in Hornady's reloading manual so I thought I'd give it a try. I couldn't believe the results. At 25 feet from a standing position, the Ruger was putting multiple bullets through the same hole! I was amazed how well the RSP101 was shooting with this combination. I then put the target out to about 50 yards. Of course the groups weren't as tight, but the elevation and windage were right on target, with holes evenly circling the bullseye. On the other hand, when I switch to a load using 4.7g of Unique, the rounds were hitting 4" low and on center. I'm sold on using #9 in my Ruger.

Here's some Autodisk info:
10.8g AA#9 = .71 Autodisk
4.7g of Unique = .57 Autodisk.

The AutoDisk was consistently throwing powder from about the 3rd round through the 50th. That isn't true of Unique, which can be much more inconsistent. I strongly suggest weighing every load, or at least very 5th or so.

And the winner is...!

2011-06-06T10:37:00.008-04:00

I sent over 300 rounds of Hornady 158g SWC-HP bullets down-range today at between 30 - 40 yards, loaded with various amounts of Unique in order to establish a favorite load for both rifle and revolver. The result: 4.4g

The girls try out my Hornady/Unique loads

2011-05-15T11:13:00.003-04:00

This weekend I had the opportunity to introduce my daughter and her friend to the fun of shooting (the full story and video is on my RANGE PAGE). The girls had the opportunity to try out 8 or so handguns of various calibers from .22LR to .357 Magnum. I was surprised that they were even willing to shoot the .357 Magnum, never mind saying that it was their favorite gun of the bunch.

All of the .357 Magnum bullets shot were Hornady 158g #10428 SWC-HP, and the powder was UNIQUE. I loaded 100 rounds with 3.5g, which was a good starting load for the girls, but I was very surprised that Sarah had no problem shooting 4.7g loads (5g being the max). Since this was their first shoot, I was more concerned about them being comfortable with the handguns than with accuracy. As you can see, at 25' they didn't shoot all that bad. Previous posts show that this bullet/powder combination has proved to be quite accurate, and with 1.7g between minimum and maximum loads, I need not be super critical with my powder measurement. The Lee AutoDisk does an excellent job quickly loading the cases.

If you look closely at the photo of Sarah shooting, you'll see a highlight in front of the barrel. That's actually the Hornady bullet leaving the barrel which was caught by a single frame of my video clip!

The girls did a heck of a lot of shooting yesterday, so it looks like I'll be spending the rest of today reloading. A perfect thing to do on a rainy day like today.

Setting up the Lee Auto Disk Powder Measure

2011-05-07T23:11:00.002-04:00

Find your bullet and starting load (3.3g of Unique)

Locate powder on AutoDisk chart

Locate grains you wish to load

Go up the chart to find correct hole to choose

Locate the correct hole on AutoDisk

Turn the hopper 'ON'

Get your powder

Use drier sheet to remove static charge

Add powder

Weigh empty case*

Zero scale to remove the weight of the case

Charge a case with one lever pull

Weigh the case with powder charge. We're .2g low.

Chose a larger hole

Reweigh. We are +.1g, which is good.


50 completed cartridges

*My daughter may be shooting with me next weekend, so for obvious reasons I didn't want to take any chances with these loads. To be safe, I decided to weigh the powder in each case individually. Don't think you can weigh one case and take it for granted that they all weigh the same. As a test, I weighed 10 cases and not one of the 10 weighed the same. Here's the results in grains:

83.8

83.6

83.1

84.1

84.4

82.0

81.8

83.7

82.3

83.9

There's a big difference between the weight of some of these cases, so be sure to zero your scale for each case before weighing the charged case.

Reloading .357 Mags with the Lee Turret Press

2011-05-06T22:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I turned the camera on while reloading some .357 mags. I've only used the Lee Turret Press a few times, but as you can see it's very easy to get up to speed with it. I had previously run these cases through the sizing die on my Lee single stage press and seated the primers, so I removed the Lee Safety Prime and skipped the sizing die* in the process, which is the first of the four dies. Unique is a flaky powder, and I've found that the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure sometimes had difficulty consistently charging the cases. That's why I checked the load so many times on a digital scale. I've gotten suggestions to help with this from my friends, including wiping the inside of the red canister with a drier sheet, and taping a vibrating phone to it. I found that if I pull the press's handle with a bit of force both up and down, it jolts the Auto-Disk enough to keep the powder flowing consistently. Weighing the charged case is a good way to see when your technique is working properly. I didn't have this problem with Accurate #9, which is a ball powder that flows very easily. This is something you need to be aware of, because too little powder can be as bad as too much.

If you have a squib fire and the bullet lodges in your barrel, the following round in a double-tap could blow your gun apart. Always keep this in the back of your mind when you've loaded your rounds with powder that could be inconsistent. Pay attention to the recoil from each round, and if one seems too light, stop and check to be sure your barrel is clear. Also don't use non-magnum primers when magnum primers are called for, and visa versa. Better safe than sorry. At the gun club my buddy Dirk belongs to, there's a handgun framed on the wall that was blown to pieces. Someone used modern powder in a black powder gun. I've seen this happen first hand last year at the state range. Steel flew everywhere, and it was a miracle no one was injured. As I said, these malfunctions were the result of using the wrong powder in muzzle loaders. The same can happen if you shoot a round with an obstructed barrel. Pay attention. Earlier in the week I loaded around forty rounds after work when I was a way to tired. I began running on auto-pilot, like when you drive to work and realize that you've driven a few blocks that you don't remember how you got where you now are. This can be a disaster when reloading. Rather than taking a chance, I got out the bullet puller, pulled every cartridge apart and started again when I was rested and could pay complete attention. Though reloading is a relaxing hobby, it can also be a dangerous one for someone who takes it too casually. Stay safe.

*Note that in the still photo the Lee Safety Prime is installed and in the video it has been removed and is sitting on the table.

Hornady lead bullets with Unique Powder. Ruger SP101 with new replacement barrel and front sight

2011-04-23T14:37:00.004-04:00

25 FEET

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 3.5g UNIQUE
(Holes outside the orange were the first shot when I was getting a feel of the gun)

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 3.5g UNIQUE

140g Hornady COWBOY - 4.0g UNIQUE (.49 AutoDisk)

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 4.0g UNIQUE (.49 AutoDisk)

50 FEET

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 4.0g UNIQUE (.49 AutoDisk)

140g Hornady COWBOY - 4.0g UNIQUE (.49 AutoDisk)

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 3.5g UNIQUE
(X's indicate holes from another gun)

158g Hornady SWC/HP - 4.3g UNIQUE
(X indicate holes from another gun)

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY AND MORE VIDEOS

The Lee Turret Press

2011-04-16T23:33:00.003-04:00

I'm very pleased to report that my Lee Turret Press has arrived. I'm holding off posting videos until a get what's known as an 'Auto-Disk Riser' for my Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure. I'll go into 'why' in a few minutes.

INSTALLATION AND SETUP

The press would have been easy to install if someone had warned me about what I'm about to bring to your attention. If you have a standard table top, which is like a 1" thick surface supported by 4 legs, you'll be fine. The problem is if you have a table like mine, which is basically a box with the edge of the table being flush with the front of the cabinet. When I first installed the press, I screwed it in as close to the front edge of the tabletop as possible to give the lever and linkage as much clearance as possible to swing when the handle is pulled down. I quickly discovered that the setup didn't work because the linkage hit the front surface of the bench. I had to unscrew everything, then figure out a way to position the press about an inch in front of the bench. I did it by cutting an old acrylic cutting board in half and screwing it to the table so it projects about an inch beyond the front of the bench. I then screwed the press to the board, putting 2 screws into the board (one left and right at the front of the press), then screwed the back screw through the board and into the table top. That worked.

Setting up the dies is similar to setting up the Single Stage Press, except that the close proximity of the dies to one another limits the finger room required to turn the locking nuts. Not a big deal, but it makes me glad that once this is set up, it rarely needs to be done again. Follow the instructions that come with the Lee dies, screwing them in minus the Breech Lock units. Dies screw directly into the 4 hole turret. Additional turrets can be purchased for $12.98 to making changing calibers easy and eliminating the need of Breech Locks.

One problem I had and still have involves the installation of the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure. Be sure that when you order your press you also order an Auto-Disk Riser, which is a simple tube which raises your Auto-Disk a couple inches so it clears your Lee Safety Prime. If not, you'll be like me, placing the primers into the Primer Arm Assembly one at a time until your Riser arrives. Without the riser the Auto-Disk will slam into the Safety Prime as the turret rotates. If you have a Safety Prime for your single stage, it should work on the Turret Press. If you don't have the Safety Prime, I suggest ordering one. It makes primer seating safer and quick. I've discussed this before, and it wouldn't hurt to mention it again. The Safety Prime separates the canister holding the primers from the primer seating operation. I was always concerned that should a primer detonated in a hand-held unit, it could blow the entire canister of primers right in your hand. With the Safety Prime installed on your press, a single primer is removed from the canister and deposited in a pocket in the Primer Arm Assembly, which goes into the ram and under the shell holder. It is now separated from the other primers so should it detonate, I think it would be almost impossible to start a chain reaction.

A Turret Press is a step between a Single Stage and a full-blown Fully Automatic press which loads one cartridge with every pull of the lever. The turret press deals with one cartridge at a time and requires 4 pulls of the arm to load one cartridge. Each pull rotates one of 4 dies into position, and almost as quickly as you can pull the lever 4 times you can load a cartridge. A comparison might be between a bolt action rifle, a semi-auto and a full auto. For the most part a semi-auto will do the job quick enough for most people.

THE PLUSES OF A TURRET PRESS OVER A SINGLE STAGE

The obvious reason I bought the turret press was to speed up and simplify my reloading operation. Since I am dedicating this press to loading .357 Magnum cartridges, once it's set up very few adjustments will be required between bullet changes. Setup time eliminated, and reloading becomes faster and more consistent. There's another plus that I hadn't considered until I began loading cartridges today. If you are like me and enjoy making small runs of test loads, it's a cinch with the turret. Put a case in, pull the lever 4 times and the cartridge is done. It takes no more or less time per cartridge if I load 1 or 100. Not true of the single stage press. To load just one cartridge, the time required to swap out the dies is the same as to run 100. That becomes very time consuming and unpractical for very small runs.

Tonight I'll go on the Lee website and place an order for the Auto-Disk Riser that I need. When it arrives I'll readjust my Auto-Disk, install the Safety Prime and start posting demonstration videos. I'm happy to say that so far this press is living up to and surpassing my expectations. I just wish I had bought one sooner.

Staightening out the Ruger SP101

2011-04-11T21:23:00.000-04:00

If you've been following my .357 Magnum reloading page, you're aware of the heck of a time I've had trying to get the Ruger SP101 to shoot straight. After trying everything, I finally emailed Ruger and they gave me a call. Ruger said that they stand behind their products, and asked me to take the gun to my local gunshop and have them call Ruger for shipping instructions. The gun shipped and Ruger picked up the tab three weeks ago today.

Ruger said that repairs sometimes take 6 weeks, but they would have mine returned in one. After a week and a half I called Ruger and they said that the front sight was replaced and they were sending the gun to the range for testing. I'm guessing they were as surprised as I was to see a gun that looked straight shoot so far low and to the left. This was obviously not a one week job as they originally had thought.

Today makes three weeks, so I gave Ruger a call and was told that a new barrel is on order because the plant no longer keeps barrels in stock. Their testing proves that contrary to what most people have said, the issue wasn't with my shooting, but rather with a product defect. I extensively researched this issue on the Internet prior to working out a fix and contacting the manufacturer. Surprisingly this is a common problem, and most responses to posts by owners is that it's a handhold issue, not the hardware itself. At least in my case they were wrong.

I realize some people would prefer to have the gun replaced, but I'm satisfied that they are changing out the barrel because it saves me transfer fees and all the paperwork involved with making two handgun transfers. It really will be nice to finally have the SP101 shoot where it's pointed. This gun is a blast to shoot and I'm looking forward to having one that preforms up to my high expectations. I thank Ruger for their assistance and for standing behind their products as they said they would. I'll let you know how it turns out when the gun arrives.

Tested out two Hornady bullets w/ Unique powder

2011-04-10T10:06:00.001-04:00

Saturday I had the opportunity to test out two .357 Magnum bullets and loads. Hornady 140g Cowboy w/4g of Unique, and Hornady 158g SWC/HP w/3.5g of Unique. The firearm used was the Henry rifle. Check out the story on my Range Journal by clicking HERE.

Selecting a powder and the Lee Auto Disk calculations

2011-04-02T22:29:00.001-04:00

Coming in April...

2011-03-27T12:47:00.011-04:00

Ready to Rock!

Next month I plan to get in a lot of reloading time in preparation for the opening of the state shooting ranges. The plan is to create various loads using Hornady 158g #10428 SWC-HP for the .357 Magnum. I was hoping to use Accurate #9, but the powder manufacturer recommended that it not be used with this bullet.

I'd like to be able to demonstrate the creation of the new loads on a Lee 4-hole Turret Press, which will be a learning experience for me since I'm only familiar with the Lee Single Stage. It appears to be easy enough, and once set up it should crank out cartridges much quicker than than what I'm now capable of. I'll also be demonstrating the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure on the press. Check back soon for an update. Hornady has supplied a new reloading manual so I can give you the latest load data. Thank you Hornady and Western Powder for your support.

I've contacted Western Powder to get load data for Hornady 158g SWC-HP with Accurate #9 and as I said earlier, they don't recommend the powder with this bullet because #9 was created for full power loads utilizing hard cast lubed bullets. The bullet is also untested with their powders. That means that I'll need to use something else that I have on the shelf that's also in the Hornady Reloading Manual. Two powders are listed; American Select and Unique.

I've noticed that Edition 8 of the Hornady Manual has 357 Magnum reloading data for both rifle and handgun. The rifle loads are hotter, but since I want to be able to exchange ammo between the rifle and handgun, I'll stick with the lighter handgun loads.

LOAD RANGE:
American Select only has one grain between the starting load and the maximum load, which doesn't give much room for error. It also makes it more difficult to refine the load, so a much better choice would be Unique. It has a starting load of 3.3g and a max. of 5.0. That's a 1.7g range. AA#5 has a 1.8g range, which is very close.

BURN RATES:
Let's look at the Hornady burn rate chart (1 represents fastest burning and 142 is slowest). American Select's burn rate is 12, AA#5 - 24, Unique - 26, and AA#9 - 52. As a general rule, Hornady says, "Best results were obtained with high powder weight to case volume loads." Faster burning powder means that you need to put less in the case. So a more moderate burning powder is the better choice. AA#9 is near the middle of the chart but since AA#9 is not recommended, Unique is next in the running due to its moderate burn rate. It has a good range between starting and maximum load, making the load more controllable. So Unique appears to be the best choice.

Unique's starting load is 3.3g and the max is 5.0g. I'll do some calculations with the Auto-Disk Powder Measure, then I'll weigh the nearest load above 3.3g. That's where I'll begin. I enjoy loading with Accurate #9, so I'll work up some loads with that powder using jacketed .357 Magnum bullets over the summer, and also loads for the .44 Magnum, which will be posted on my .44 Magnum reloading page in upcoming months.

No More .38 Special Reloading

2011-03-21T13:12:00.002-04:00

I've decided to hang up reloading .38 Special and simplify life by limiting myself to .357 magnum. There's numerous reasons for this decision. Since I traded my .38 snubby, .38 Special rounds are no longer necessary. The only reason I might want to continue to load them would be that brass is always plentiful.

On the plus side...

Getting rid of the .38's mean that I no longer have to keep adjusting my dies between the 2 calibers. .357 Mag require 2 extra twists of the die to compensate for the longer case. That means that I'm never quite sure what caliber my dies are set at so I'm constantly resetting them.
Separating .38 Special from .357 Magnum brass can be a bit of a pain. It's an extra step and involves different bits for case trimming.
I can load .357 Magnum to shoot as light as a .38 Special if I chose, so that's not an issue.
No more worrying about having to buy small pistol PLUS small pistol magnum primers. One primer will do, and I can leave them in the canister without the fear of mixing them up.
Less load data is required. Storage boxes need not be marked.
And last but not least (though I'm sure there's more), the short .38 Special cartridge will no longer lead my .357 magnum cylinders. Shoot some .38's out of your .357 Magnum, then load .357 mags into the cylinders. The last 25% of the cylinders will be so gunked up that it will be very difficult to seat the cartridge all the way in. The brass at times will also hang up when ejected.

So there's not much positive that makes me want to stick with the .38 Special cartridge. If you think I'm wrong, please let me know.

'The Consistent Crimp' Product Test

2011-01-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

About a month ago I came across this interesting product in a reloading magazine, so I contacted the company and asked them if I could product test the device. It's called 'The Consistent Crimp', developed by 'Precision Accuracy', which is a micro-click torque wrench designed to generate consistent and very controllable crimps. The company agreed to send me the product to test and review. The torque arm installs in only minutes, and is simple to remove and reinstall with the push of a spring-loaded pin. Over the past few days I've been playing around with crimping pressures, and have been very please with the results. Tonight I made this quick video to introduce you to the product.

(L-R) 10,15,20,25 ft lb

For more info on 'The Consistent Crimp', CLICK HERE. The company also has good product videos for you to watch.

PRECISION ACCURACY COMPANY LLC
Precisionaccuracycompany.com
scott@precisionaccuracy.com
(952) 200-8309

Charging .357 Magnum cases with the Lee Auto-Disk

2011-01-08T22:24:00.000-05:00

If you've been following this blog, you know that I have had a problem quickly and accurately charging cases. I think I found an inexpensive solution; the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure that sells for around fifty bucks. Watch the video I shot today. The Auto-Disk took me about a half hour to figure out and install, and minutes later I shot this video. Check it out.

I've reloaded 200 rounds of .357 Magnum tonight in the time it would have taken me to reload 50 rounds using a digital scale or scoops alone. The 'Lee Auto-Disk' works great and is very consistent. I weight the load every 10 rounds and it was always within 1/10g. I told you in earlier posts that the 'Lee Perfect Powder Measure' is far from perfect, so I hope you believe it when I report that the 'Lee Auto-Disk' works.

Hornady Bullet Test

2011-01-08T20:14:00.002-05:00

See my .44 Magnum reloading page for the first part of this post...

I put away the Henry .44 Magnum lever rifle and took out the Henry .357 Magnum. This target consists of groups from two different loads. The first was from a Hornady 158g 10428 SWC-HP w/ 4.3g of Unique. Every round from that load went into the X-ring.

The send group consisted of the holes outside of the X-ring. That group wasn't bad at all, but not quite as good as the previous. This load was a 125g Hornady jacketed bullet with 14.9g of 2400. Where the more accurate load felt like I was shooting a 22 Magnum, this load had a real kick! This was a heck of a lot of fun to shoot. It I were just plinking, I'd prefer this load but if I were hunting and shooting for accuracy, the 158g w/ Unique would be the way to go. I was very pleased with this test.

I also was getting 2" groups using the 240g Hornady 11118 w/ 6g of Unique, but I'm sorry to say that I must have forgotten to mark the target. You'll have to trust me on this one.

So all-in-all, this was a fun and productive day at the range and I'm very pleased with these relatively inexpensive Hornady bullets.

Loaded and ready to test

2011-01-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

Some bullets I plan to test in the Henry's this month (left to right):

Hornady 44mag 300g HP-XTP
Friendswood 44mag 240g LC SWC (not new - for comparison)
Hornady 44mag 240g SWC-HP
Hornady 357mag 125g HP
Hornady 357mag 158g SWC-HP
Hornady 38Special 158g SWC-HP
Hornady 38Special 110g HP
Hornady 38Special 140g Cowboy

Basic Reloading - Sizing, decapping and primer seating - .357 Magnum

2010-11-07T22:33:00.001-05:00

Today while I was reloading, I decided to turn on the camera to show people who are considering reloading how easy it is to get started. This movie shows the sizing die process, which includes: sizing the case (bringing it back to its normal shape, decapping (knocking out the old primer), and seating a new primer. Basically these 3 steps are done with a single pull and push of the lever on a single stage press. It's very simple. Just watch the video.

Raising the SP101's POI a few inches

2010-11-06T19:51:00.008-04:00

Last week when I shot the SP101 it was shooting about 3" low and to the left. I'm not use why, but I wanted to see if I could correct the problem by modifying the load. If you read my previous post, you'll better understand the objective to today's shoot.

I loaded 20 rounds with standard small pistol primers and 20 with small pistol magnum primers. This is the first time I've ever shot non-magnum primers in a magnum load, and I really didn't know what to expect. I also switched my powder to Accurate #9 because it has a slower burn rate than the other powders I've been using. Hornady gave me a starting load and it was actually lighter than the Hornady reloading manual lists for a starting load with a very similar bullet. I was a bit concerned that the load would be too light.

I couldn't have been more wrong. That light magnum load kicked my ass in plain English. The recoil caused the revolver to slam into the inside of my right thumb and it was downright painful, even with leather shooting gloves on! After 3 rounds I was ready to put the gun down. This was a new experience with this Ruger because no matter what I had previously loaded, .38 Special or .357 Magnum, they were all pleasant and very manageable. I actually had no trouble shooting 150+ rounds, including +P defensive rounds. This was different and downright painful. I had to force myself to shoot 40 rounds for this test.

Both loads used a Hornady SWC-HP lead bullet with 10.5g of Accurate #9. The only difference was the primers used as stated above.

Target 1 wished standard Small Pistol Primers

Target 2 used Small Pistol Magnum Primers

Target 3 used a totally different load, which I call my 'QuickLoads'. This used the Hornady Cowboy bullet w/ 3.5-3.7g of American Select.

The result was that the primer seemed to have the most influence on the POI, raising it about 2-3" as I had hoped. Point of Impact between target 2 and 3 were similar, so it seems that the slower burning powder didn't change things much. My next test will be to take my most accurate load and this time load it using the non-magnum primers. As you can see, the new load didn't group well. I think that primer delay which cased the bullet to leave the muzzle late definitely hurt the gun's accuracy. So I guess there's a trade-off.

All said and done, something must be wrong with this handgun. I just watched a YouTube video where 2 guys shot a similar SP101 and they were getting good groups where they wanted them. Even though I may be able to correct the elevation with the load, that doesn't help me with the windage. Next week I'll be picking up a new Henry GoldenBoy 17HMR to test for Henry Repeating. When I go to pick it up, I think I'll bring my revolver to have the gunsmith take a look at it. I'll let you know what they say. Until then, if someone breaks into my house, I guess I'd better aim for the ear on the right side of his head.

Quick .38 Special Hornady Cowboy loads

2010-10-26T22:25:00.001-04:00

It's not always necessary to get loads exact, as long as they are within the reloading manual's range of safety, which is somewhere between the minimum and maximum load. In this case I'm charging my .38 Special cases with 3.5-3.7g of American Select powder. Since that's somewhere near the middle of minimum and maximum, I can be a bit over or under without having to be concerned.

I can quickly achieve that by heaping a .5cc Lee scoop and dumping it into a pan on my scale. With a 140g Hornady Cowboy bullet, the 'starting load' is 3.2g with a 'maximum load' of 4.9g. 3.5-3.7g is safely in the middle, which should be perfect for an afternoon of plinking or handgun shooting practice. This will be followed with the seating, then the crimping die. The entire procedure to create 50 loads took about an hour (note that I previously sized the cases, seated the primers and flared the case mouths ).

Considering that I can easily blow through 200 rounds in 2 hours at the range on Saturday, it would be crazy to spend endless hours precisely weighing powder to create the prefect load. This should be a safe, moderate load and considering it's just a single scoop, throwing powder is fast and simple. You can do the same with a powder measure if you regularly weigh your loads to be sure that the measure is throwing the correct amount of powder.

Ready to test out 2 Hornady bullets

2010-10-25T21:31:00.002-04:00

Hornady 158g SWC-HP #10428 w/3.5g American Select

Starting load: 3.2g / Maximum load: 4.2g

Hornady 140g FP-Cowboy #10078 w/4.3g Unique

Starting load: 3.7g / Maximum load: 5.2g

Seating primers

Ronnie on Picking the Correct Bullet and Load

2010-10-12T22:55:00.003-04:00

Hi Bob
Bob you might want to slug the bore on the Ruger, my old BlackHawk likes a .359 dia. lead or cast bullet the best anything smaller doesn't shoot very well. With lead and hard cast bullets, bullet to bore dia. fit is your first consideration,then you need to know what BHN or bullet hardness your bullet measures this will tell you the pressure your load will need to generate to cause obturation or the bumping up of the bullets dia. to seal the bore. If this doesn't take place several things can happen, one the hot gases can and usually will leak around the bullet this can cause leading of the bore and loss of muzzle velocity, second if the bullets doesn't obturation/bump up it want engage the rifling fully and may not stabilize the bullet in flight fully in some cases you will get what is known as key holing the bullet turning sideways in flight and leaving its profile on the target, which is not an issue your having.
I would suggest that you try some of the Unique powder and push the MV up in the 900 fps. range and see if that improves things. Clays & TiteGroup is also a very good powders and are pretty clean powder compared to many other pistol powders, I just purchased some TiteGroup to try in some 357 and 9mm loads. Look forward to hearing what you find out from Ruger and the further testing your going to be doing...

...On the subject of lead or hard cast bullet size, .001 can make a world of difference, in general you want your non jacketed bullet to be .001 to .002 over the groove to groove dia. of your bore. I'm just assuming that Hornady is thinking that with the cowboy bullets like you have which are just soft swadged lead and are going to be shot at MV's under 1000 fps. that the pressures there test loads generated with powders used were sufficient to bump the bullet up enough to seal the bore, however there data wasn't tested in your brand of revolver so you may have some variations that affect how the bullet reacts in your revolver and the loads/powders your using.
Lead alloy bullets are rated in BHN/Bullet Hardness Number as the hardness of the lead alloy goes up it requires a certain amount of PSI or CUPS pressure your load generates to bump up the base of the bullet to seal the bore, if the pressure generated for the bullets BHN is to low it want bump the bullet up enough,if the pressure is to high and the bullets BHN isn't high enough to withstand that pressure it will start to melt the base of the bullet and lead the bore. You can have several other problems related to mismatching BHN, bullet size and load pressure, a good manual such as the Lyman cast bullet handbook has lots of information on all these topics...
On bullet size and fit the .359 bullet should be fine I shoot bullets as large as .360 out of my 357 revolvers and have no problems loading them in the cases or in the revolvers cylinder, your particular set of dies could be sizing the case smaller and giving you a tighter fit on the 44's I have Lyman 38/357 dies that are 25+ years old so it hard to compare what another brand die would do or is doing to a particular case. I use Lee dies in several other caliber in both rifle and pistol and don't have that issue with them...

...As I stated lead and hard cast bullets are just different animals than jacketed bullets. About any jacketed bullet will shoot well in a 38/357 revolver provided you find the sweet spot it likes, jacketed bullet are not affected in the same manner as lead or cast bullets although they do bump up to some extent when the bullet enters the forcing cone of the barrel it's very mi-nute compared to the lead/cast bullets.
Copper jackets are much harder the BHN of a copper jacket bullet is close to 300 BHN vs. the high hard lead bullet which is in the high 20's those bullets are usually made from Linotype or water quenched wheel weight or other hard lead alloys. The heat and pressure generated by your load even the MAX load when your using a jacketed bullet want melt or deform the copper jacketed bullets base and since the jacketed bullet is harder it can engrave and can hold onto the rifling much better than a lead/cast bullet of the same dia. This is why it's important that lead/cast bullets be slightly oversize by .001 to .002 over the bore dia. your basically squeezing the over sized bullet down to the bore dia. as it enters the forcing cone of the revolver, matching the correct pressure to the lead/cast bullets hardness does this so that it fills the bore completely which seals the hot gases behind the bullet eliminates leading and being the bullet is filling the grooves of the bore completely it can grab and hold the rifling the same as the jacketed bullet would and better stabilize it.
As I mentioned you need to slug the bore on any firearm your planning on shooting lead or cast bullets in to see what the dia. is across the grooves, and pick a bullet that is at least .001 larger in dia. which most hard cast bullets are some can be as much as .002 larger and that is fine as lng as it doesn't give you any issues in chambering the rd. in the cylinder or chamber of the rifle I haven't found that to be the case with any firearm I load lead or cast bullets in but you know strange things can happen sometimes.
My friend Andy who I cast bullet with, reload and shoot with a lot,shoots nothing but S & W handguns of about every model and I shoot a Ruger and Taurus, with some bullet designs and dia. and loads all the revolver like them and sometime the other bullet design/size and load one might shoot it well and the other revolvers doesn't like it as well and the groups open up and we have to tweak the load to find the sweet spot they like,it usually just a matter of adjusting the load or changing the type of powder that bullet like in that particular revolver bullet combination. Lead /cast bullets can be frustrating at times especially when you looking for accuracy. Being that your using a fixes size bullet that you can't change other than stepping up the powder charge somewhat to bump up the bullets size by increasing the pressure I would give Hornady a call and and discuss your bullet powder selection,it would also be a good idea to contact Ruger and get some info on the firearm you using as far as barrel twist rate vs. the bullet weights you using and see if they can give you some idea of what the bore dia. is of course slugging it yourself will also tell you that. You may or may not also be aware of certain thing like the rifling in various revolves is not the same across the board in some makes the lands and grooves can be different heights and depths,the barrel twist can be different and the number of lands and grooves in the bore can be different also the forcing cone has a different angle between S & W and Ruger revolvers so the bullet when it enters the cone make require more pressure or less pressure to squeeze the bullet down, Ruger revolver tend to shoot and identical load in identical length barrels just a little bit faster because of the angle on the forcing cone...

"The process of slugging the bore is to determine the correct size lead or cast bullet that best fits the bore dia. of your rifle or pistol."

The process of slugging the bore is to determine the correct size lead or cast bullet that best fits the bore dia. of your rifle or pistol. Jacketed bullets just have to engrave the land enough to stabilize the bullet and are not adversely affected within reason by any hot gasses that leak around the bullet into the grooves like soft lead or hard cast bullets will be. The soft swagded or cast lead bullet needs to engrave the lands, the raised portion of the bore as well as fill the grooves the area between the lands to cause the bullet to bump up and seal the bore and eliminate the hot gasses from leaking around and melting the bullet which will cause leading.
The way I do mine is go to the local WalMart and find an egg sinker that is a few thousands larger than what the suspected bore size of my gun will be I use a #9 sinker for about everything. If I need it to be a little fatter so it fill the bore good I stand it on a hard surfaces and give it a few taps to fatter the dia. up. Next I run a oiled patch down through the bore and grease the lead slug with some gun grease, place the end in the muzzle end of the gun and tap it down with a plastic hammer till it's flush with the muzzle there will and should be some excess lead that forms a ring around the slug as you drive it in. Then take a wooden dowel or brass rod that is smaller than the bullet dia. and drive the slug through the bore. Once it's out wipe it down and measure across the two highest points on the slug this is the groove to groove dia. of your bore, regardless of what the Mfg. specification state it may be right on or it can be different and not all firearms in same caliber are identical it can vary +/-.001 sometimes as much as .002 in some firearms.
One thing of note in some revolvers like S & W because of the number of lands and grooves in the bore and the twist rate it not always possible to measure across the grooves with a standard set of calipers because there not aligned directly across from each other. You need a special set of three side calipers to measure these slugs or take it to a gunsmith and let him either slug the bore or measure your slug. Once you know the groove to groove dia. you will then have an idea of what size lead or cast bullet will best fit your bore,personally I have found that a bullet that is at least .001 larger than the groove dia. works OK but I take one thats .002 if I can get it some guns prefer the .001 and some like the slightly over sized .002 dia. bullet.
Remember this over sizing of the bullet only applies to lead or hard cast bullets because they're soft and can be squeezed down by the guns bore relatively easy with no issues. Jacketed bullet on the other hand are usually .001 to .002 smaller than the groove dia. of the bore because they can be squeezed down as easily and it results in high pressure problem.
One thing I would like to correct Bob is that I mention BHN is stand for Brinell Hardness Number I believe I referred to it as Bullet Hardness Number, sometime I tend to type like I refer to things when I'm around other bullet caster.
As always Bob I try to give you the best info I can based on my experience and info I know to be correct on the net, everyone has different ways of doing things so it's always good to ask lots of question. Anything i can help you with or point you towards someone that can always fee free to let me know.

Later ~Ronnie

Preparing to test the Cowboy!

2010-09-28T20:55:00.005-04:00

Top Row: .357 Magnum / Bottom Row: .38 Special

Cases charged and through the expanding die.

Bullets seated

The Hornady Cowboy

Packaged for the range

130 rounds in 13 various loads ready for range testing

Yesterday I loaded the Hornady 158gr Semi-Wadcutter Hollow-Point and today the Hornady 140gr Cowboy.

Each bag has a business card inside which contains all important load data. The bags are marked with a number which will match a target with a corresponding number. That number and the load data is again recorded in a log book. I will shoot bag one at target one, bag two at target two and so on. The plates will be photographed and posted on this blog along with the load data from each load. As well as being a test of Hornady's bullets, it will also be a test of American Select powder, which I've never had the opportunity to load. Once this test is completed I'll do the same with some new 44 Magnum loads and Hornady bullets (with other powders). This was a lot of work!

NOTES ON THE TEST

Last weekend my buddy Dirk invited me as a guest to his range to run some .357 Magnum reload tests (see my 2010 range page). I set the targets out at 50 yards, and I immediately could tell that 50 yards at his range was further away than 50 yards on the state range. At this 50 yard line, the plates were so distant that the ball on the front sight* of my Henry almost covered the entire plate that I used as a target. It was impossible to get enough precision to get meaningful test results. After 150 rounds, none of the groups were all that good, though some were better than others. I've decided to pull the test off this site and rework it at a later date. One solution would be to run the test in a revolver at close range rather than using a rifle. I hope to have some new test results posted over the weekend, though I won't run the entire test right now.

*The front sight on Henry's is better suited to Cowboy Action Shooting than to precision target shooting. I believe Henry has chosen these sights because they are great for plinking, and good enough to take out a coyote at 100 yards without losing the historic feel of the rifle.

Reloading Hornady 10428 bullets w/American Select powder. 3 loads in both .38 Special and .357 Magnum.

2010-09-26T18:48:00.009-04:00

As promised months ago, I've begun reloading in preparation to test some new Hornady bullets, beginning with 10428 158g hollow points (10428 38 CAL .358 158 GR SWC/HP). This is also the first time I've been able to load with American Select powder, so I'm very interested to see how these loads perform. Tonight I loaded 60 rounds, (30) .357Magnum and (30) 38Special. I loaded 10 rounds of .357 Magnum with the following grains of American Select: 3.2, 3.5, 3.9, and then loaded 10 rounds of .38 Special using the same powder with the following loads: 2.8, 3.2, 3.5.

Each load was a slight variation of a Lee .5cc scoop. Some loads required me to heap the scoop and others required less. Don't get excited Lee. After filling the scoop, each scoop was dumped onto a tray on a digital scale to confirm the exact weight. I discovered a fast way of doing this today:

Loaded cases prepared for bullet seating and crimp
I laid out 3 business cards (back side up) and wrote the number of grains on each card (i.e.: 2.8, 3.2, 3.5). I then filled the scoop and weighted the powder. If it was 3.2, I filled a case, pushed a bullet into the brass and put that cartridge with the card that read 3.2. That way if I was a bit over, instead of removing powder, I just put that load in the pile with the higher number of grains. If it was in between, I usually trickled a bit of powder to bring the load to the next higher number. That greatly decreased the amount of time that was required to load the ammo.

(Bullets seated and crimped)
I went to AC Moore about a year ago (a craft store) and bought a bag of very small zip lock clear plastic jewelry bags. The business card fits perfectly into the bag along with 10 cartridges. I added bullet weight and powder type info to the card before putting it in the bag. Once sealed closed, I fold over the top and put in a staple to keep the bag from opening. Now I have 6 neat and organized bags, 10 rounds each of cartridges with various loads, each clearly marked. Before going to the range, I'll take a marker and number the bags, and make corresponding numbers on the plates (my targets) so I can easily keep track of which plate had which load. Over next week I hope to set up another 6-12 bags with other loads, which should give me plenty of ammo to test over the weekend. 10 rounds per target should give me a good feel for how this ammo is performing. Check back next week for the results.

Upcoming .38 Special/.357 Magnum bullet tests

2010-09-16T18:57:00.021-04:00

I was notified by Hornady today that they will be sending me the following bullets to run tests on. Check back in October to see the loads I come up with and how well they group.

10428 38 CAL .358 158 GR SWC/HP

Here's the load data I'll be using:
.357 Magnum / Powder: American Select
3.2g---3.5g---3.9g---4.2g

.38 Special / Powder: American Select
2.8g---3.2g---3.5g---3.9g

10078 38 CAL .358 140 GR COWBOY

Here's the load data I'll be using:
.357 Magnum / Powder: American Select
3.4g---3.7g---4.1g---4.4g

.38 Special / Powder: American Select
3.2g---3.6g---4.1g---4.5g---4.9g

*Red indicates the loads I'll be working up

Case Trimming

2010-07-25T20:28:00.002-04:00

Case trimming is a very simple procedure once you see someone do it. I had around 200 cases to size after last weekend's shoot, so I decided to turn on my camera once I was almost finished. The Lee bits that you need come to around $15 and you can use a standard household drill, or even do it by hand if a drill isn't available. I bought a battery-powered drill with adjustable torque and speeds for around $30 at HomeDepot. The nice thing about it is that it has a flat-bottom battery pack at the base so the drill can stand up on its own. In the video I discuss why case trimming is important.

I just reloaded 100 rounds at 357 Magnum using that Winchester 296 that I've had kicking around since I began reloading. I'll be posting load date and range results in upcoming weeks.

.357 Magnum Decapping and Case Resizing

2010-07-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

Tested Three 38Special Handgun Loads Today

2010-07-03T23:38:00.001-04:00

Revolver: S&W J-frame airweight 38Special w/ 2" barrel.

Distance: 25 yards

Bullet: Hornady 110g 35700 HP-XTP

Powder: Bullseye 4.2g
For some reason this load consistently shot low, though not low enough to matter much if you were using the load to defend yourself with.

Bullet: Old 148g wadcutters pulled from Roger's old cartridges.

Powder: Bullseye 2.8g
Not bad considering that the bullet puller likely distorted the lead.

Bullet: Dirk's 150g roundnose cast bullets

Powder: Bullseye 3.0 - 3.5g

This group isn't as bad as it looks. I usually shoot single-action when I'm testing, but after shooting about 10 rounds, I began shooting double-action. By the time everything was fired off, my thumb was bleeding, even with leather gloves on. Considering that I usually can't even hit the plate with commercial ammo, I'm extremely pleased with all of today's loads. Check out last weekend's loads and targets. They were even better.

WARNING: Use this load data at your own risk. Always check anything you get off the web against a good reloading manual.

Reloading .38 Special, Hornady 100g / Bullseye 4.2g

2010-06-27T09:17:00.000-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Question...

2010-06-22T17:30:00.000-04:00

What do you think about using a faster burning powder when shooting a short barrel rifle? Would that insure that all the powder burns before the bullet leaves the barrel, and would the Henry's be defined as short barrel rifles? Please post your thoughts to the 'Comments' section. Thanks!

.38 Special / .358 magnum reloads test

2010-06-20T17:58:00.012-04:00

I took both the .357 Magnum Henry and the .38 Special S&W to the range today. It was miserably hot and humid, but I had a great time shooting for a couple hours. I couldn't have been happier with the results of today's shoot. Everything shot today was a reload, and what a difference from commercial ammo!

REVOLVER TEST (S&W Airweight snubby) - 25 yds

WINNER! .38 Special / Hornady 110g / Bullseye 4.2g*

.38 Special / Dirk's 150g RN / Bullseye 3.5g

.38 Special / Hornady 110g / Unique 5.5g

.38 Special / Dirk's Wadcutters / Unknown

RIFLE TEST (Henry Big Boy .357 Magnum) - @40 yds

.357 Magnum / Hornady 110g / 2400 16g

.357 Magnum / Hornady 110g / AA#9 13.6-9g

Note that I'm shooting to the left. I haven't bothered to adjust the windage on this rifle because Henry is sending me a adjustable rear sight to replace the existing. No sense taking a hammer to the rifle if the sights are coming off in a few days.

*I am absolutely stunned by the results of the revolver test. In the past I have shot commercial .38 Special and +P ammo and more times than not I wasn't even on paper! It's like shooting a totally new gun with a barrel inches longer. I can't imagine what results I'd get if I was able to turn on the Crimson Trace laser and could target with a laser dot!

**I don't ever remember shooting a centerfire group as good as this with iron sights at about 40 yards. I'd love to see what this ammo/rifle combo would do with a scope mounted.

.357 Magnum: Faring case mouth and seating primers

2010-06-01T22:15:00.003-04:00

I know you've likely seen this step before, but I was able to get a better angle tonight with my new little video camera. This is the same brass that I shot at the range last weekend. As soon as I got home, the brass went in the tumbler and ran for about 3 hours. Tonight I ran all the brass through the sizing die to resize and deprime the cases. Next I flared the case mouth and seated the primers in a single step, and that's what's in this video. Once that was complete, I seated the bullets and then crimped the cases in the final two dies.

38 Special: Bullseye w/ 110 gr Hornady

2010-05-16T21:07:00.014-04:00

110 gr Hornady 35700 HP-XTP
4.2 gr Bullseye

Today I picked up a box of 110 gr Hornady 35700 HP-XTP hollow point bullets to reload some .38 special cartridges. I looked at the Hornady reloading manual and Bullseye has a starting load of 4.2 gr with a maximum load of 6.0. A good place to start is at the starting load. I'm starting out by loading 25 rounds, so instead of setting up the Lee Powder Measure, which always takes some time to calibrate correctly, I decided to try a Lee scoop to see if I could get close. I was very pleased to discover that the .5cc scoop hit the nail on the head, exactly 4.2 gr! That was easy!

Since I had my cases all set to charge with powder, reloading tonight was a breeze. I charged 25 cases, dumping one .5cc scoop in the pan on the scale to check each charge. Though .5cc = 4.2 gr, a few were still over a few tenths of a grain, so I dumped the powder out of the pan and started over. I want these rounds right for testing, though with Bullseye there's some room for error since the maximum load is 6.0 gr.

Once the cases were charged, it only took 15 minutes or so to seat the bullets and run them through the crimp die. It really does pay to prep your cases in advance; resizing, priming, and flaring the case mouth, so that when you need to quickly knock out some rounds before hitting the range, the time and effort required is minimal. Note that you might not want to flair the cases in advance if you don't know the type of bullets you'll be seating. Lead bullets require more of a flair, and if you flair the cases in advance for lead and end up seating standard commercial bullets, you might find that the bullets are falling right into the cases.

Where to get reliable load data for cast bullets

2010-05-16T18:20:00.012-04:00

I sent Ronnie an email asking him where his source of reliable load data for cast bullets comes from. He sent me this in-depth letter which I'd like to make available to you. Thanks Ronnie!
Hi Bob

The Lyman manuals have cast bullets info by mold number and design and data for them listed for each caliber in there standard reloading manual,they also make a separate Cast Bullet Handbook that only deals with casting bullets and load data specifically to there molds,they will have a new 4th Edition Cast Bullet Handbook coming out this summer it will have all the Lyman molds and reloading data along with certain RCBS and Lee molds as well. I use the Lyman data for all my cast bullet loads even though there cast from Lee molds and when I bought commercial cast bullets as well. The only exception is some loads I use in my SKS and Mosin rifle that were developed by Ed Harris who designed those molds for Lee.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13453
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13425

RCBS makes a separate reloading manual for there cast bullet molds and data for them as well,there standard reloading manual only list jacketed rifle and pistol bullets along with there line of pure lead plinking pistol bullets.

The Lee manual just list bullets as lead or cast by weight but they don't state if it is Lyman or RCBS or there own Lee mold the bullet is cast from.

Basically you can use anyone's data all you need is a similar bullet style and weight and if it uses a gas check or not to select what load data you want to use. Cast bullet are much softer as compared to a copper jacketed bullet. On a BHN hardness scale cast bullets at there hardens point are 30 BHN which is very hard and not really useful for general shooting,a copper jacketed bullet is 300 BHN, that's why you can't shoot cast bullets as fast as a copper jacketed bullet they just can't handle the pressure the load generates with copper jackets,you can get close by using gas check and certain alloys but you still going to end up in the 2000 + fps ranges regardless which is fine they shoot as good or better,cost a lot less per bullet and kill both small and large game just as dead.

The main thing you have to think about first is where is your alloy going to come from,can you find free or cheap lead based alloy such as Wheel Weights or Linotype or even pure lead that you can mix with other alloy to make your bullets from. If you can't secure a good cheap supply of alloy first,like several hundred pounds your better off buying commercial cast bullets than paying full price for alloy you buy online which right now runs about $2.40 a pound http://www.rotometals.com/Bullet-Casting-Alloys-s/5.htm for Lino #2 or WW alloy which make all around great bullets.

If you can secure the alloy your casting equipment is next Lyman, RCBS and Lee each make all the necessary equipment, I use Lee it just cheaper and fits my budget and it works but that's a person choice you have to make. My Lee pot two molds and one push through sizer to apply the gas checks with cost me about 100 bucks. The Lyman and RCBS molds or even some custom molds will run you $75 and higher just for the bullet molds itself and the pots for melting you alloy are twice what the Lee pot is.

Here is some good info that will cover lots of your questions...

http://www.lasc.us/IndexBrennan.htm

REGARDING USING WHEEL WEIGHTS

A couple other things about wheel weights, some of them contain Zinc which is bad metal for making cast bullets. You can easily sort them from the good ones several ways,one is the ones that contain Zinc just feel much lighter than they should for there size,you can also check them with a pair of side cutter pliers. The good one will be soft and cut easy the ones that contain Zinc will be hard like steel and hard to eve mark with the cutters. You may also get what is know as stick on weight in the mix,those are generally flat thin bars that are segmented for braking off to adjust the weight and they have a sticky backing those will be pure lead and should be separated from the regular WW. You can mix the stick-ons with the good WW alloy later on when you make your ingots or add one part TIN to either ten parts pure Lead and make 38 plinking bullets. If you find any Zinc weights you can take those to any recycling center and sell them and make a little cash for your hobby,most scrap yards or recycle center buy scrap lead in various forms also so that might be a good place to look for lead,it want be free but it's much cheaper,around here lead scrap brings about 30 cents a pound. I haven't bought any as of yet,I've been blessed enough to find several sources for free wheel weights and lead in various forms,I have a couple hundred lbs. melted into ingots and several five gallon buckets to melt. You can figure how many bullets you can make the same way you figure how many loads you get per lb. of powder just divide your cast bullet weight into 7000 grs. most of my bullets weight around 160 to 170 grs. so I average 40 bullets per lb. of alloy or 4000 bullets per 100 lbs. of alloy.

Reloading my first .357 Magnum Rounds

2010-05-09T09:10:00.005-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

Reloading 150g Roundnose 38 Special

2010-05-03T05:43:00.004-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

My shooting buddy Dirk cast a bag of round nose 150 grain bullets that he gave me when I just started reloading. Since I'll soon be getting a 357 Magnum rifle from Henry Repeating to field test, I thought this would be a great time to load up some cartridges to have ready when the rifle arrives. Tonight I loaded 55, and shot some video of the process.

RELOADING SAFETY

Common Sense

Always protect your eyes.
No smoking
Keep your work area clean and organized
Keep kids away
Develop a reloading routine so you'll be less likely to make a mistake.

Primers

Do not use Federal Primers in the Lee Auto-Prime Tool.
Keep primers in original containers. Don't dump them all together in a jar unless you're trying to make a bomb.
Don't mix up small pistol primers with small pistol magnum primers. Keep them in their original packages.

Powder

Only bring out one bottle of powder at a time so you don't mix up what you're using or return powder into the wrong container.
Never mix powders. If you mistakenly mix two powders, throw the entire container away.
Separate powders from primers when you return them to storage.
Never store powder in an ammo box or gun safe. You've made a bomb.
Return powder to their original containers. They are made to keep the powder fresh and for clear identification.
Don't mix powder from different batches.
Keep cool and dry, and if it smells strange, toss it out.

Loads

Don't create a load below the minimum. That is as dangerous as loading too hot.
No reduced loads with Winchester 296.
Identify your loads by labeling everything.
Get your reloading data from a reputable manual and not from the Internet or friends.
Visually inspect your charged cases prior to seating bullets to be sure you didn't miss a case or double charge another.
Keep your loads at least 10% below the maximum.

Clean-up

Sweep up or use a wet towel. Don't vacuum.

Cases

Inspect all cases and discard any that are less than perfect.

If you have any tips to add, please post them to COMMENTS. Thanks!

Soon to be reloading for the Henry Big Boy .357 Magnum Rifle

2010-04-26T19:53:00.003-04:00

I'm pleased to announce that I'll soon be getting my hands on a Henry Big Boy .357 Magnum lever action rifle and I'm guessing that most of this page will focus its attention to creating loads for it. This is a fun rifle used by many Cowboy Action Shooters, including JP Reno whom I spoke to today at Henry Repeating. I just set up a new page which will feature the new Henry (you can click HERE to visit it). Check back in a few weeks for posts on the rifle and creating loads for it. If you already reload for this rifle, I'd appreciate your comments and information posted to COMMENTS.

H&G #107A bullets and 1Balance 201 digital scale

2010-04-05T22:10:00.014-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

When I was reloading 44 Magnum, the scale wasn't a big issue. For example, when using a Hornady 240gr bullet with Accurate #9 Powder, the starting load was 16.3gr with a maximum load of 21.3gr. That means that if you really screw up, your margin of error is as much as 5 grains. In contrast, when loading a Hornady 140gr Cowboy 38 Special, the starting load with American Select is 3.2gr with a max load of 4.9gr. That's only a 1.7gr difference! 5gr vs 1.7gr. That means that when I'm reloading 38 Special, I'd better have an accurate scale or I could easily get myself into trouble. All of a sudden that Lee beam scale which was a little difficult to read but OK for loading 44 Magnum was getting a bit scary when loading 38 Special. I needed something better.

Today I picked up a digital scale for around $100 from a company called RIGHTONSCALES that I discovered through a Google search. They sell all kinds of scales at very good prices. The scale I picked up is called an 1Balance 201, which has a capacity of 200g x 0.01g. It also measures in 6 other units, has individual adjusting feet and a bubble level, backlit display, windscreen cover and all kinds of other good features. Immediately after unpacking it, I installed the batteries (though it runs off AC), calibrated it using the 200g weight that also came in the box, then began weighing bullets. It's easy to use and unlike a beam scale, very fast and accurate. This is definitely the way to go, and I can now weigh those lead bullets I have kicking around. It also has a lifetime warranty. You'll be seeing a lot of this scale on my reloading pages over the coming months.

By the way, RIGHTONSCALES had the package at my door in days. If you're going to pick up any scale, you'll want to be sure to compare anyone's prices with theirs. Check out the specials on their homepage. The first scale on the page is a digital for $17.50! I should have bought this scale months ago.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.rightonscales.com/web/home/
...and a link the my scale: http://www.rightonscales.com/web/ibalance.htm

Prepping cases; a relaxing way to kill a rainy afternoon

2010-03-22T14:19:00.008-04:00

What do you do when it's a rainy weekend afternoon, or when money is tight and all you can afford to do is hang around the house? Stop wasting your time in front of the tube and start reloading. Prepping cases is a relaxing and productive way to kill some time. I made a video to demonstrate case trimming, but Ronnie pointed out that I should have demonstrated the process using the locking ring as a method to check the case length. My way was fast, but not really right, so I've decided to pull down my video and replace it with one I found on YouTube that will teach you the correct way. Thanks Ronnie for keeping me honest.

Here's Ronnie's comments:

"Bob just watching you 38 reload video you posted. Not trying to be picky or anything but your suppose to use the Lee Lock stud that came with the cutter and the supplied locking ring that came with the case length gauge when you trim your cases. The top of the lock stud acts as a stop block for the pin on the gauge to cut all your cases to the same length. I guess you already know that and was just doing it on the video to quicken up the process. If you use the locking stud/ring along with the case length gauge and cutter you want have to measure anything, the combo presets the case length. If they trim any fine, if not just shoot them till they get long enough to trim.

If the case length gauge is tight in the cases a lot of the time, chuck the thing up in a drill and polish it where it fits into the case mouth with some 600 to 1200 grit sandpaper and a bit of gun oil,take it slow and measure often, find a case that it fits tight in and use it as a gauge when you have polished it enough to fit smoothly but not to loose. Would be nice if every brass maker made there brass all the same thickness."

This is the method Ronnie was talking about:

Where did he get that big wooden ball at the end of his cutter? I need to get one of those.

Getting addicted to pulling bullets

2010-03-15T20:58:00.002-04:00

Last year a guy at the range gave me hundreds of 38 Special and 44 Magnum cartridges that he loaded some 30 years ago. The reloads were unmarked and filled coffee cans. This guy experiments a lot, including trying his best to load the lightest round he can without having the bullet lodge in the barrel. I didn't feel comfortable shooting them, so they've been hanging around since the Fall. Money is tight and I'm out of brass and bullets, so I finally got around to giving that bullet puller a try. Once I realized I wasn't going to kill myself, I quickly became addicted to hammering out the bullets and ended up pulling around 300 rounds over two evenings. Now I have plenty of brass and lead bullets to experiment with in both 44 Mag and 38 Special. I'm guessing I saved myself at least $150 considering brass goes for around $.35 a case. The post is over on the 44 magnum reloading page if you'd care to take a look. There's also a letter from a bullet mold collector that you should find interesting.

Looking for your thoughts on powder scales

2010-02-22T07:00:00.003-05:00

One problem I need to resolve quickly is my scale. I was previously using my friend's beam scale, but switched over to the beam scale that came with Lee's Anniversary kit because is was magnetically dampered and didn't take all day to settle down. The problem is that it's plastic and difficult to read when measuring precision loads such as those needed when reloading 38 Special. It has a strange system of calibrating 1/10 grains which I really dislike because there are times when it's difficult to determine what it's really set at. I think I'll be switching to a digital scale if I can find something that works for under $50. I'd really like to know what you're using and what you'd suggest for me and people like me who aren't in a position to spend a lot of money on a scale. Concerns I have include battery life, especially when kept in a cold basement. Please write your suggestions in the 'Comments' area below. Thanks!

Reloading 150gr Roundnose Lead

2010-02-21T18:57:00.007-05:00

I took a trip to one of the area milsurp stores and picked up a 60mm ammo box that's about 3x the height of a standard ammo box. It's proved to be perfect for storing 50 and 100 round plastic boxes of reloads. Since they seal with a rubber gasket, I'm hoping it helps keep the moisture out of the cartridges while they sit on a shelf in my somewhat damp basement. There was also a sale on storage boxes; 50 round blue boxes going for $.65. I thought that was really good so I picked up a half dozen for the 38 Special.

(This is what 3 grains of Bullseye looks like)
When I arrived home, I decided to fill up one of those boxes with the 150 gr roundnose lead bullets that Dirk cast and gave me almost a year ago. He suggested using 3 to 3.5 grains of Bullseye, so I kept it on the low side at 3. I weighed every load on my scale, and it took just over a heaping .3cc Lee scoop to hit 3 grains. I guess it took about an hour to charge the cases, seat the bullets and crimp the cases. When I was done I was pleased with the results and took a few photos for you to review. I also got the idea to use the back of some old business cards to write my load data on, which I slip into each plastic case. I also keep a record of each day's reloading in a sketchbook that I bought. Keeping good notes and labeling your cartridges is very important. We need to know when a load is working well and how to repeat it, and also when something doesn't work so we don't make the same mistake. I'm hoping to get to the range in the next few weeks to let you know how these loads worked out. Thanks again for checking in, and feel free to add your comments and suggestions to the 'Comments' section below. Thanks again Dirk for the cast bullets.

Dan Gregory's bullet casting set-up

2010-02-19T23:05:00.006-05:00

Dan and I have recently crossed path's in facebook's Henry Repeating Arms group. Dan owns a gunshop in downtown Salem, MO, and he's into bullet casting. I asked him to send me some photos of his setup that I could post for you to see. If you check out Dan's website, click on his 'Astrophotography' links. He has some amazing photos of the moon that he's taken with his telescopes.~Bob

"I have just started carrying Henry Rifles in my store and I wanted to buy one for myself after I got a few in. The one I really like is the Golden Boy... They are calling for rain so if I cannot shoot then I will cast some bullets...

When I do the smelting, I do that outside due to all the smoke and smell but I cast in my garage. I have a window that is about 18" inches from my melter and keep a fan going all the time. I use wooden dowels to stir with and the smoke/fumes go right out the window. I cast only once every few months so I am not exposed to that much of it. I would think that I am exposed to about as much as one would be if they were shooting at an indoor range...

This is the outside set up. Pretty simple. Old turkey fryer bottom and a plumbers pot and ladle. I use aluminum muffin pans I found at yard sales for making the ingots. Melt/skim and pour. Let cool and turn the muffin pans over and they fall out. Be sure to wear long sleeves and gloves. Safety glass too.

The indoor set up. The window is just to the right. The lighter and can are not there when I am actually casting. I can make a bunch in just one afternoon if I have everything in place.

"D G Guns is located in downtown Salem, MO and specializes in all types of Firearms and Accessories. Come in today and check out our new line of Henry Repeating Arms Lever Action Rifles! I have a few cool gifts from Henry Repeating Arms and will include them with a Henry Rifle purchase."

Primer Seating

2010-02-14T17:39:00.007-05:00

This is a short video I made tonight seating primers with the 'Lee Safety Primer Feed'. It's a simple gadget that as you will see, works well. In my opinion the main feature of this unit is that it seats the primer while your hands and face are clear of the primer that is being installed. It's also away from the tray that's loaded with primers, so should you make a mistake and blow a primer, it won't set off a chain reaction, blowing the entire tray. Since you pull the lever which lowers that ram to seat the primer, you have a lot of leverage available which requires much less effort than if you were to squeeze them in by hand. This safety prime works with Lee's Classic Cast press.

Reloading my First 38 Special Cartridges

2010-02-05T23:12:00.010-05:00

Load date: 148gr wadcutters | 2.7gr Bullseye powder

Visit Alliant Powder's website

PS: For a split second something strange falls from the ceiling to the floor 2min 8sec into the video, but when I searched for it there was nothing there. Is this another 'Haunting in Connecticut'? This isn't the first time this has happened.

Ronnie demonstrates his crimp method

2010-02-03T18:28:00.002-05:00

Bob this is the type of crimp I put on my 357 Mag. 158 gr. SWC it's considered a heavy roll crimp most often used when shooting cast lead bullets in revolvers and similar caliber rifles with this style of bullet. If I were using a Jacketed bullet the crimp would not be as heavy or the angle of the crimp as deep because the crimp groove /cannelure is much more shallow and doesn't require as much crimp.

Loading with Aliant powders

2010-02-02T19:24:00.005-05:00

I just received a letter from Alliant Powder Company and I'm happy to report that Alliant will be sending me some Bullseye, Unique and American Select to load with and test in upcoming months. I'll be researching and posting loads, and new reloaders can follow along as I post photos and video clips of the reloading process. If you have experience loading 38 Special with these powders, please feel free to share your knowledge by posting in the 'comments' area at the bottom of each post. Thanks Alliant!

Reloader's Guide: Alliant Powder Reload Recipes

Which load data should I use?

2010-01-31T18:47:00.009-05:00

It appears that I'm ready to moving forward again with the next step of my 38 Special reloading project. I'm grateful to have gotten quite a bit of good reloading data from various sources over the last couple of weeks. Being new to reloading, I get a bit nervous using cast bullets that don't come with loading data from the manufacturer. Where does a person begin?

To tell you the truth, since I've gotten back into hunting and shooting I've received a great deal of bogus information for experienced shooters regarding, ammo, calibers, firearm laws and more. I've discovered that wherever gun guys hang out, bad information is bound to be passed from one person to another. The nice thing about shooters is that most people are more than happy to jump into a conversation to lend some advice and share info, but often that advice is more rumor than fact. Some of that info may have been correct at one time, but laws, ammo, companies and things change over the years and some people don't keep up with the changing world. Since we're now dealing with explosives, I tend to be quite a bit more concerned. Who do you believe? How do I know someone isn't just passing bad info with good intentions? An experienced hunter/shooter I work with insisted not that long ago that 17HMR bullets can be deflected by a blade of grass, so he doesn't use the caliber. I told him I've been hunting with it for two years and have never had that problem. He still insists that he's right (likely because someone from his club who doesn't shoot the caliber was told something by someone who read something on an Internet message board). Verify everything before you begin, including anything you get from this blog.

My way of approaching this problem is to get info from as many reliable sources as possible and compare them. If there seems to be a consensus, then the info is likely good. Also, we should take into consideration whether or not the person giving out that info is actively reloading that caliber.

The first cast bullet I plan to load is a Wad Cutter. My buddy Dirk, who is an experienced reloader (and I've shot his reloads) suggests the following load: For 150 grain wadcutters use 2.7 grains of Bullseye. Ronnie who often comments on this sight recommends the same load for 148 gr Hollow Base Wadcutters. A reloading website said that the 'Classic target Load' is 2.7 or 2.8gr of Bullseye. And finally, the Hornady reloading manual says that for a 148 gr Wadcutter, the starting load is 2.1gr and maximum load is 3.0 gr Bullseye. So it looks like I'm safe using 2.7gr of Bullseye.

I also have Roundnose bullets that Dirk has cast. Dirk uses 3-3.5 gr of Bullseye for 150 grain bullets. Ronnie uses 3.5 gr Bullseye for a 158 gr SWC bullet, and he said they have a bit more punch than the wadcutters. Hornady recommends a 2.8gr starting load and a 3.7gr maximum load of Bullseye for their 158 gr roundnose. Since Hornady's starting load is 2.8gr and Dirk's starting load is 3gr, 3 seems like a good place to start since Ronnie claims that his 3.5 gr load is a bit hot. I'll start with 3 gr of Bullseye.

My basement is still as cold as a meat locker (one of the drawbacks of heating the upstairs with a pellet stove), so I'll wait till it warms up a bit before I begin moving forward with this. Until then, I still have 450 primers to seat, so I think I'll start that process tonight.

Two lead bullet manufacturers are considering sending some of their product for me to test over the summer. I'll let you know if that happens, and if it does, I'll post complete write-ups on the bullets with links back to the company's product pages. They both seem like good low cost alternatives.

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated in the 'Comments' area at the bottom of my posts. Once again I stress to use any info you find on this page at your own risk. Consider this site to be one source. It's up to you to find others that you can compare my load data to. Until next time, have fun and stay safe.

Some Additional Data
One Book / One Caliber has load data from various manuals.

Speer: 2.8 - 3.1gr Bullseye for their 148gr WC.
Lyman: 2.4-3.8gr " "
RCBS: 4.0-4.5gr " " (Why so different?)
Hornady: 2.1-3.0gr "
Does this sound good to you?

Read Ronnie's letter in the comments. He ends it with the following:

"...Just to clarify,the Alliant web site list a load of 3.5 grs. of Bullseye using a Speer LSWC at a MV of 850+ fps this is a MAX load using the Bullseye powder and the Speer LSWC which is softer than my hard cast bullet of the same design,it's also meant to be shot in a 38 Special revolver in good condition,in a 38 Special revolver it would be consider a MAX load using the combination listed,I shoot my 38's in a Ruger BH 357 mag. revolver it's a light load recoil wise and would be consider a mild load if I loaded the same 3.5 grs. of Bullseye and the Speer LSWC in a 357 magnum case. It's similar to shooting 44 special in a 44 magnum."

From Dirk:

"Sounds good to me. You will find none of the books have identical data. So you always start low and work your way up looking for pressure signs. With my girlfriends 38 which is the same as yours, the round nose I started at 3 grn's and it seems to like 3.4 with her doing the shooting. The wadcutters I gave you are 2.8. I didn't try 2.7 because my Lee Auto Disk only goes down to 2.8 ... 148 wadcutters and the round nose ones I gave you are 150 grain if they don't have the data use the data for the next heavier bullet. I use between 3 and 3.5 grains of Bullseye for the roundnose and 2.7 for the wadcutters. And yes I use the web to see what works for other people. There are newer powders that work very well but Bullseye and Unique are the old favorites and work well for me. They just don't burn as clean as some of the new stuff they say."

Checking case length

2010-01-29T22:26:00.003-05:00

I've had quite a few people get on my case lately for not trimming my cases, so I decided to sit down tonight with a micrometer and 450 38-Special cases and check them all. None of these cases are new brass. Most of it came from commercial ammo I bought and shot last year, and some came from Roger at the range who gave me a bunch of reloads which I've been shooting. Since I had no idea how many times Roger reloaded his cases, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to check their length.

I turned on the TV, plopped myself on the couch with my stuff and went to work. I was going to do it in the basement, but since it's 14F outside and only in the low 40's in the basement, it was a no-brainer where I was going to work. If my wife can knit in front of the tube, I can measure cases. I took 2 plastic coffee cans and marked one 'Good' and another 'Trim', then spent the next 45 minutes measuring every case with the micrometer. To make a long story short, when I was done the 'Trim' can was empty.

I have to admit that I'm beginning to see a bit of stretch in my 44-magnum cases, so I'm going to begin measuring them after my next shoot. I haven't been able to find any small pistol primers around here, so today my friend Dirk was good enough to lend me a box of 500. So I'm in business, and will begin installing primers over the weekend.

Reloading 38 Special

2010-01-17T21:13:00.004-05:00

This weekend I made the decision to begin reloading 38 Special cartridges. I went to Cabela's and picked up a carbide die set plus a crimp die and four breech lock quick change bushings. Everything came to $68.00.

Over the weekend I pulled out a coffee can of cases I've been saving for years, and tumbled, deprimed and sized 436 of them (120 being nickel plated). I've been doing some research regarding the difference between brass and nickel cases over the weekend. Opinions to which is better differ with each person. One plating company has run an extensive test and their results will be revealed at next month's Shot Show. Since they're a plating company, I guess we can be sure that nickel plated brass wins. I'm sure many of you have your own idea on this, so please post them on the comments section below. From what I've read, nickel slides in and out of the cylinders easier than copper, but they expand less when fired causing the case to recoil rearward slamming the bolt, firing pin and whatever else is behind it. Some say they don't wear as well as copper and must be discarded long before copper. Maintenance is easier and the cases rarely need to be cleaned. Copper and nickel also go through the press differently, so there's a lot to take into consideration when making the choice between the two. The top-end defensive 38 +P ammo almost always comes with nickel cases, and I'm guessing that's because the coating is more corrosion resistant.

I ran the 400+ cases through the tumbler in two batches. With the first batch, I ran the cases through the sizing die, knocking out the primers. The problem is that the cleaning media blocks up the primer pocket, requiring that every cartridge to be manually cleaned out. That is extremely time consuming, so in the second batch I ran them through the tumbler prior to depriming. It proved to be much easier, so until I learn that it's a mistake to do it this way, I'll set up a system of running them through the tumbler with the primers removes every third time they are loaded.

I'm working on locating an inexpensive supply of wadcutters and SWCs with loading data which I will be posting for you. If you have a bullet / powder combination that you'd like to share with us, please post it to the comments. That's a lot better than sending me an email because everyone can read it. Thanks!