[merlin]

Howdy, I just now am collecting the equipment necessary to reload and was wondering if anyone out there could answer a question about brass. What is roll sizing and if brass can be bought for about 4 cents a pop roll sized and cleaned, ready to load, is that a good deal? Thanks for the help and keep your powder dry!:usa:

 

[Geno]

I have not heard of "roll sizing", there is such a thing as a roll crimp when the bullet is seated on the case and driven into the last die or seating die. Usually used for revolver cartridges and provides a firmer hold on the bullet than taper crimping.

Four cents for once fired brass is a good price and you can find alot of 9 or 40 brass at that price. More uncommon calibers will be more expensive.

 

[Edward429451]

So what color equipment you pickin up? Got a load manual or two yet? Lymans manual is prolly the first one to pick up.

Is she makin you keep it in the closet like mine did at first? I'm up to 2 whole rooms now for my reloading room aka 'The war room'.

:cannon:

 

[merlin]

Well I would have liked blue but just could not afford it so I ended up with a used green one with most everything needed. It's a single stage to start with and later on I will probably move up to a progressive.

Now I have to buy brass, bullets and powder. I'm loading for my forty five first off and later for a 357 and Nine.

I picked up a new Sierra manual and a use Speer and Lee as well so I should have all of the info I need that way.

I'm a little ahead of the game as I have a shed to work out of now and plenty of room to grow.

I'll have to update after my first loads!

Let the games begin!:usa:

 

[Edward429451]

Sounds like you startin off better than I did. My first outfit (still in service, 16-18 years?) was a Rockchucker press, 45 dies, Lyman book, and a RCBS scale. Poured powder in a cereal bowl, used spoon to tap tap tap powder into pan till it came up to weight, then filled case. Every one.

I started out with Unique powder for 45's but graduated to WW-231 cause the results are the same if not better and it burns a whole lot cleaner than Unique.

I 'heard' that 9's are kinda persnickity to load for. Dunno for sure.
Settled on a load yet?

 

[merlin]

I haven't yet started to load, still collecting. Now I have to get some brass, bullets and powder. I'll take into consideration the powder you recommend. Cleaner is better as far as I'm concerned. I've got plenty of load information so I should be good to go! Now I've got to clear an area in the garage for bench and supplies. Say, how sensitive to cold is the powder and equipment going to be? I haven't worked out a heating scheme yet. I've got the press, an RCBS special, RCBS

 

[merlin]

I haven't yet started to load, still collecting. Now I have to get some brass, bullets and powder. I'll take into consideration the powder you recommend. Cleaner is better as far as I'm concerned. I've got plenty of load information so I should be good to go! Now I've got to clear an area in the garage for bench and supplies. Say, how sensitive to cold is the powder and equipment going to be? I haven't worked out a heating scheme yet. I've got the press, an RCBS special, appropriate dies, RCBS powder measure and an RCBS 510 scale. Misc. loading blocks, reamers, primer fliper and hand primer installer, Lee I think. What else do you really need? I'd appreciate any tips in that area. Thanks :usa:

 

[dvdstdg]

You need a good set of calipers and eventually you will need a case length trimmer.

 

[Edward429451]

Ditto the calipers. I got away without using them for awhile cause I seated my bullets to where they'd work reliably through my Colt mags, but they're mighty useful for checking many measurments.

I've never trimmed any 45 cases. They don't grow but conformity of case length will give you real nice looking rounds.

I'm not positive about keeping powder in the cold. I know its supposed to be cool and dry but full blown cold extreme would probably not be good, I think. A visit to a powder manufacturers website may give you actual temperature ranges that are acceptable for storing powder. Personally, at least until I got the info from website etc., I'd keep it in the house where the temp stays more even. By all means empty your powder measure between loading sessions, as it will etch the plastic hopper from a chemical reaction. That happened to me once. It seems that powder measures are not made for storing powder. Dillon and RCBS both told me the same thing.

 

[dvdstdg]

If you are reloading for the 45ACP, this caliber's chambered depth is on the case mouth which makes the length of the case critical. I have not noticed my 45 cases growing either but I still measure a few each time I reload.

 

[Edward429451]

Headspace of the 45ACP has always been a grey area for me. I've always been told that it headspaces on the case mouth, but thinking about it I wonder if it doesnt headspace on the extractor in a practical sense. If the case is too long, it wouldnt chamber fully and go into battary. If the case is a little on the short side, it would have to be held by the extractor, being unable to reach the headspace 'ring' in the chamber, correct?

Wasn't trying to say you was wrong, just putting down my thoughts according to my experiance. If you know more than I do, by all means enlighten me. I can learn!

 

[Edward429451]

Say what? Westerville? I'm from Columbus, born and raised pretty much. Howdy neighbor!

 

[merlin]

Ok, a caliper and case length trimmer. Is the trimmer used for hand gun brass or just for rifle? and as for the caliper, digital or dial? I tend to agree about how the round chambers, It just seems that a round would have to seat and be held by the extractor. Seems a bit on the flimsy side but there may be a clue as to why an extractor breaks unexpectedly. Thanks for the tip on powders, sheesh! I guess I could have figured that one out. How about this, might be a dumb question but here goes....what do you think about these auto primer mechanisms and are they applicable to a single stage press as opposed to a hand primer? Thanks again and I really appreciate all the feedback! Don't have any loading buddies around hear and the closest gun shop is 50 miles away so this is great!!! Thanks:usa:

 

[Edward429451]

Is the trimmer used for hand gun brass or just for rifle? and as for the caliper, digital or dial?

Well, thats what were discussing. Dont know yet conclusively. I have never trimmed pistol brass, so think that its really only crucial for rifle brass, however, there may be more knowledegable people on board than I and I'm waiting to hear more thoughts on the subject so I can learn too.

As for the calipers I've used both digital and dial and prefer the dial because it does not need batteries and its what I'm used to. I also highly doubt that digital ones are any more accurate than dial types, even if they did add an extra digit.

I had problems with Dillons dial caliper and returned it. I've had no problems with the RCBS dial caliper.

 

[Edward429451]

what do you think about these auto primer mechanisms and are they applicable to a single stage press as opposed to a hand primer?

I used to just wash my hands alot and single feed the primers into the RCBS press (the oil from your skin can contaminate and deactivate the primers.) I finally got the RCBS auto primer feeder thing that bolt up to the press and dont know how I got along without it, its faster, cleaner and I like it alot.

If you wind up with the RCBS press mounted primer feeder, take note that you have 100 primers staring you in the face! Safety glasses are a must IMO, if one were to ever detonate (have heard of it happening), you would get sympathetic detonation of the whole tube right at your face. When seating primers you'll develop a sense of feel for when its seating right. Anything out of the ordinary in feel or sound means 'back off right now' and see whats up. Safety is paramount. Dont be in a hurry.

I've never used a hand primer but alot of people swear by them both the Lee and the RCBS so they are probably OK.

No such thing as a dumb question so dont hesitate to ask anything, its how we learn. HTH's

 

[dvdstdg]

Originally posted by merlin
Ok, a caliper and case length trimmer. Is the trimmer used for hand gun brass or just for rifle? and as for the caliper, digital or dial? I tend to agree about how the round chambers, It just seems that a round would have to seat and be held by the extractor. Seems a bit on the flimsy side but there may be a clue as to why an extractor breaks unexpectedly. Thanks for the tip on powders, sheesh! I guess I could have figured that one out. How about this, might be a dumb question but here goes....what do you think about these auto primer mechanisms and are they applicable to a single stage press as opposed to a hand primer? Thanks again and I really appreciate all the feedback! Don't have any loading buddies around hear and the closest gun shop is 50 miles away so this is great!!! Thanks:usa:

I am not a gunsmith so here goes. Everything I have read says the 45ACP chambers on the case mouth and in fact if you field strip your pistol, put a round in the chamber, and look down the barrel you can see the case mouth contacting the end of the chamber at the sholder where the barrel and chamber meet. Having said that, i suppose if the round were slightly under length, the extractor could keep the round from properly head spacing, however, it seems that this would also cause a lot of misfires (if the round were grossly under length) since there would be nothing to keep the round from being moved forward when the firing pin contacted it. On the other hand, if the case were too long the case mouth would contact the sholder where the barrel and chamber meet before lockup which could cause case failure, gas blowby, and other nasties since there would be nothing supporting the rear of the case (I am not sure this isn't the case with proper lockup as I have never looked down the magazine well with the pistor loaded so see how much the rear of the case is supported when the action is properly locked up( prefer my view to be from behind the damn thing) :>0 In any event I try to keep my 45ACP cases right at the maximum length per spec and that seems to work for my 1991A1.

As for the trimmer, you can use it for both pistol and rifle all you need are the proper collets (I think they are called, not real sure of nomenclature).

I am not into seeing how much lead I can get in the air at one time so I have never been concerned with setting up a reloading operation that lets me load hundreds of rounds per hour. That having been said, I use a Hornady hand primer as I like the feel it gives me about how the primers are seating. I have thought about an auto primer feed for my single stage press but have never tried one. You can buy them fairly cheaply and if you don't like them you haven't lost much. In fact, given the way some of the morons on ebay don't like to lose bids if you listed it you might get more for it than you paid.

 

[Edward429451]

Speaking of trimming, what kind of trimmer to you use? I've got the Lee trimmer kit that chucks in a cordless drill and the cutter rod tip bottoms out on the shellholder (through flashhole) to give you your length.

So far I've got the .223 & .308 trimmers. The problem is neither kit trims to 'trim to length'. they come out shorter than max and uniform (which is probably the most important thing) but I keep wondering if the fancy adjustable kits are really better.

They cost alot more.
If its adjustable, can it easily fall out of adjusment destroying uniformity of batch?
Are they any faster? (Not from what I can tell, its still one at a time)
Are they worth it overall?

 

[dvdstdg]

I use an RCBS manual trimmer that also converts to a neck turner. Not the fastest but then you don't trim or neck turn every reloading session either.

 

[Geno]

I have been using a Redding trimmer. It is good in having a universal collet that works for most calibers. Trimming cases is my least favorite reloading operation and I only trim rifle cases, pistol cases I throw away after a few reloads.