Warhammer4k
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Posts posted by Warhammer4k
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Your Co-Ax is not so coaxial, is it? Sorry you got a lemon. Here's hoping you can get a replacement without having to eat return shipping. Sending a heavy chunk of iron is not going to be cheap, whether through UPS or USPS Parcel Post (I've done both).
I need to stop reading threads like this, because I'd never heard of the Forster/Bonanza Co-Ax before and now I think I'm in love. I would not have wanted it as a starter press - but now that I have an RCBS Rockchucker and Hornady Lock-n-Load AP, I think a Forster Co-Ax could be a welcome augmentation of my setup.
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I ran another batch through the size die today. This time, I adjusted things so that I was only pushing the case shoulder back 0.005".
That should help brass life in the long run.
It will be a while before brass life is an issue, however. I have 1000 Remington .223 Rem cases and over 1000 Lake City pieces to work with. I still have hundreds of both that have yet to be reloaded.
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I haven't ever had a .40 S&W case actually wear out. But I have probably 3000 .40 S&W cases, so I've only loaded most of them 2-3 times, tops.
I don't load very hot, which I'm sure helps.
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Thanks. I'm also considering purchase of a secondhand single-stage press, for dedicated push-through sizing use.
A local shop has such used presses, and they're fairly cheap.
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Not one to be easily deterred, I'm going to try the push-through-Lee FC thing once again.
This time with an absolutely sloppy amount of lube. It's not like I have to worry about doing anything nasty to the case shoulder, with 10mm.
update:
It was a rousing success!
I got two "Glocked" 10mm cases through with liberal application of RCBS Case Lube 2 and slow, firm pressure. These cases (once wiped down) now drop loosely into my 10mm case gage, so I consider them "cured" of Glock-itis.
The remaining problem: I didn't like the amount of force I had to apply to my Rockchucker. It was way above what is needed for normal case sizing, and I don't think it would be a Good Thing to repeatedly apply such force over the long term.
This is as good an excuse as any to buy an arbor press. The only question is, how to fit the Lee FCD and shell holder to it?
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Is .357 Sig is another doomed niche cartridge, or is it gathering a reloading following that will keep it alive, if not wildly popular? That's pretty much how I view 10mm Auto. I know I wouldn't own a single 10mm gun if it weren't for reloading.
I don't own any .357 Sig guns, but I do like the idea behind it. Generally, a .40 S&W handgun can be converted to shoot .357 Sig with minimal swapping of parts, and that's elegant if nothing else. If you already reload for both 9mm and .40 S&W, it's probably a slam-dunk to add .357 Sig to your reloading setup. Sort of the way I added 10mm because I already reloaded .40 S&W.
I don't know how the supposed greater penetration vs. 9mm has turned out for real-world users. For all I know, we'll see the market flooded with former police/.gov-agency guns in a few years, if it isn't already happening.
All the pistol cartridges I reload (.38 Special, .40 S&W, 10mm Auto, .45 ACP) are straight-wall and thus require little case prep beyond tumbling. They all headspace on the case mouth, which is about as simple as it gets for reloading.
From what little I've read, data sources conflict on whether .357 Sig headspaces on the case mouth or the shoulder. Some sources claim both (!). Here's the first article I stumbled across on this issue: RealGuns.net article
It seems that, practically speaking, .357 Sig headspaces on the case mouth, and in many ways should be approached like a rifle cartridge.
That brings up some fun possibilities. I have never read of a .357 Sig revolver, but if one were to exist, I suppose one would want to do minimal sizing, as with a bolt-action rifle. Is there such a thing as a .357 Sig neck-only size die?
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Looooong time user here. I'm working on an 8 lb. jug of Bullseye, after a few 4 lb. cans and a few 1 lb. cans.
It has worked well for me in .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and even 10mm Auto.
Bullseye is quite economical. I've tried other powders over the years and liked them as well, including but not limited to: Titegroup, Blue Dot, Accurate #9, and Unique. I didn't buy huge bottles of them for various reasons: unavailability, more expensive than Bullseye, or metered like crap in my powder dispenser (I'm looking at you, Unique!).
I'm not convinced that Bullseye gets my guns any dirtier than factory ammo. I expect to clean them anyway, so what's the big deal about a little extra soot?
As for smoke, I shoot a lot of cast lead bullets lubed with a waxy material. So I'm used to a certain amount of smoke, regardless of the powder used. Sometimes it almost looks like I'm shooting black powder. I've asked my cast bullet maker to use harder lube on the next batches of .40 caliber bullets, so that they don't smoke as much in 10mm loads.
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I did use lube with my improvised "poor man's" G-Rx, but the case got stuck anyway.
It's possible I just didn't use enough lube. I'm skittish about using too much lube, since usually I only lube rifle brass, which can be deformed by use of too much lube.
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Another tip for you... When you set up your dies make sure you have cases in each position of the shell plate. If you try to set the dies with only a single case you will be out of adjustment when you start running the press.
I have a "dummy" round (no powder, no primer) set aside for each variation of a cartridge that I load on the LNL AP (different bullet profiles, varying OALs). When I've just started a batch of reloads, I insert the dummy round of the desired COAL in the final stage (taper crimp), just as the first new reload reaches the bullet seating stage. That way, the forces are as they will be later, when all stations are full with reloads.
I find that leaving two or more stations empty can cause rounds to seat 0.005" or more shorter than desired.
The dummy rounds are also a convenient way of adjusting the seater die. I put the dummy round in the seating station, loosen the lock nut on the seating plug and raise it several turns, then raise the press head. Next, I turn down the seating plug until it contacts the dummy round. Now the seating plug is within a turn or two of where it needs to be to load to that OAL.
These things keep bullet seating nice and consistent.
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Take the $100 you will save by passing up the Redding dies and buy a Hornady taper crimp die for the last station.
Thanks for the reply. Regarding your recommendation above, I'm confused as there is no available "last station". The RCBS Lock-out and Powder Funnel will occupy 2 stations and both the Hornady and Redding sets include 3 dies. Why is it preferable to have separate seating and crimping dies?
Primary goal: I'm looking for "Easy". I'm willing to pay extra for a given solution if it keeps me out of hell.
Because trying to seat and crimp all in one go is kind of a pain in the ass. There are inevitably several steps of trial and error involved before you find the right adjustment to get the taper crimp you want, along with the seating depth you want. Amount of crimp is controlled by height of the die body, where the seating depth is controlled by the position of the seating plug in the seat/crimp die body. So, change the seating depth, and you have to start over again with the crimp amount, and vice versa. It becomes very tiring.
With separate seat and crimp dies, the two adjustments are entirely independent. Life is much easier that way.
This may be one of those things that only makes sense once you have the press and have played with it a bit.
As for the stations, here's how I think you said you wanted to do it:
1) Size/deprime
2) Powder-through-expander (aka PTX)
3) Powder check die (RCBS Lock-Out, Hornady Powder Cop, or similar)
That leaves two stations, one each for seating and crimping.
Perhaps you were wondering where you would put the expander die from the Hornady die set? Unfortunately, the answer is you wouldn't use it, if you are going to do powder-through-expander. That is sort of a down side to the PTX setup. Because pistol die sets usually include an expander die, you will end up with one die that you have no use for.
That is the reasoning behind the Redding Competition die set, which assumes use of a PTX of some sort. But, for the price of the Redding die set, you can buy the Hornady set, an extra taper crimp die, and still have money left over.
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I had a Lee, Loadmaster and lit off a full tray of primers. Luckily, I'm right handed, and the primer tray is on the right side. Otherwise, it could have been bad! I called Lee the next day, and they told me they were aware of the problem, and said I could BUYa blast shield.
I sold the Lee, and bought a Dillon 550. It's one of the best moves I've ever made!
Coincidentally, earlier today I re-read the rant against tube-type primer feeders in the Lee reloading manual.
I'm not convinced that either tube or tray design is inherently any safer. The warning comes off as a rather transparent hard-sell on Lee products. With the tube design, at least as executed on the Hornady Lock-n-Load AP, it's pretty much impossible to have a mass detonation. The one time I had an on-press detonation, it was the primer being pushed into a case, so it was well away (by design) and could not possibly have set off the tube full of primers (and indeed did not). I can't see any way that the primer at the bottom of the feed tube could be set off, either by accident or by design.
I've accidentally spilled an entire tube's worth of primers before, most often while temporarily removing the primer feed assembly to change cartridges (e.g. .45 ACP to 10mm Auto, both use a Large Pistol primer). All I got was a bunch of primers all over my floor, not a mass detonation. I have neither the evil concrete floor, nor the penchant for walking across the room with the primer tube in its housing, that would be required for Lee's nightmare scenario to occur.
On balance, I'd rather have a mass primer detonation contained, and directed vertically, by a tube. It might punch a hole in my roof, but that's better than a horizontal fan unpredictable, roughly hemispherical pattern of shrapnel from a tray of primers.
It's a little unsettling that a metal "blast shield" is an optional extra for the Lee primer feeder. A sturdy metal tube is integral to the primer storage/feed system on both Hornady Lock-n-Load AP and Dillon presses.
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The Hornady dies - no contest.
Custom Grade New Dimension dies are awesome. I have a set for .40 S&W. Here are the things I like vs. RCBS dies:
-Breakaway depriming pin (aka Zip Spindle). If you get a rock or piece of sand in the case, the decapping spindle comes loose and rises, instead of breaking or bending the depriming shaft. I've had that happen on my RCBS size dies.
-Bullet seating die does not require changing inserts for roundnose vs. flatnose/hollowpoint bullets. It has an innovative "floating" insert that guides the bullet to an upright position and seats it, because it touches the ogive or slope of the bullet rather than the nose.
The Redding dies are nice, but overkill. Vast overkill. The only good thing is, they include separate seat & crimp dies, so you don't have to buy your own if you want to seat & crimp in separate steps (which is the easy way to do it).
Do you really need to control bullet seating depth with a micrometer knob? I doubt it. You're not doing long-distance target shooting, are you? There are other things - such as press flex/slop - which will cause a few thousandths' variation in COAL, so you'll just end up chasing adjustments. Small COAL variations likely pale in comparison to other factors in determining shot accuracy.
Take the $100 you will save by passing up the Redding dies and buy a Hornady taper crimp die for the last station. You'll still have money left over. I don't think the Redding dies are remotely worth it.
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I am thinking about getting a Hornady LnL to use for the "odd" calibers that I reload and leave the Dillon set up for my primary. The much less expensive changeover would be nice. My question is do you use Hornady dies (or any non-dillon) with the expander die seperate? Does this allow the powder measure to only need the new micrometer insert to switch over to a different caliber? I am used to the Dillon method but that would require resetting the ptx every changeover.
"Yes" to both.
The micrometer insert is great. While the numbers have no apparent correlation to any particular unit, I can write down the adjustment (e.g. 4 1/2 + 3.2) that dumps a given weight of powder, and it saves a lot of trial and error when I want to go back to that same drop weight later. I can drop far more than 10 grains of powder with the "Pistol" micrometer insert, which is more than sufficient for any of the cartridges I load on the Lock-n-Load (10mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP) with the powders I use (Bullseye, Blue Dot, Accurate #9).
I still end up fiddling with the knob and weighing 10-12 loads, just because I have a bit of OCD about powder charges. Especially when operating near max.
I use a veritable menagerie of die brands. For example, in 10mm stations are:
1) Hornady .40 S&W/10 mm Custom Grade New Dimension size die w/titanium nitride sizing ring
2) RCBS expander die
3) RCBS seat die
4) Case-activated powder drop
4) Lee .40 cal Factory Crimp Die. I have this one marked with Sharpie so that I can easily readjust it to taper crimp either 10mm or .40 S&W rounds.
Because the cartridges I load (.45 ACP, 10mm, .40 S&W) are all close to the same case height, I do not need to adjust the powder drop station at all when switching over.
I also have an EGW U-die in .40 S&W/10mm size, but I stopped using it because I didn't like what it did to my 10mm brass. It is basically just a modified Lee carbide size die,
You do have to be careful of one thing: Some Lee die sets won't work in the LnL AP. I think it had to do with not being able to lower the seat die enough to seat without crimping, as I like to do. There is less threading on the die body on some Lee dies compared to other brands, so you don't have quite as large a range of vertical adjustment. The Lock-n-Load bushing raises the die an additional 1/8" or so with respect to the shell plate, so sometimes you come up short with Lee dies. I had that problem with a Lee .40 S&W/10mm die set, so much so that I returned it & bought the Hornady Custom Grade New Dimension set (really nice dies, FWIW).
I haven't had this problem with Hornady, RCBS, or Redding dies. They have a generous enough length of threading on the die body that I can use them in either my Lock-n-Load AP, or my Lock-n-Load-converted Rockchucker.
Hope this helps.
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Ouch. Guess I'll have to wait a while for my #1 and #6 shellholders as well.
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Oh no, you didn't drink the blue Kool-Aid?
Just kidding, I've used a Lock-n-Load AP for several years, and love it. Hornady has been pretty good with support, too. I've had to order spare/replacement parts a few times - almost without exception, due to my own stupidity/ignorance/clumsiness breaking stuff - and for every time I've had to pay, there's also been a time they sent parts at no charge.
If you want to reload more than just 9mm, you will appreciate the lower costs to load additional cartridges vs. Dillon. Not knocking Dillon - it's just a different sort of animal.
You might find it profitable to review this thread regarding the Universal PTX, which occurred a couple of years ago in this very forum: Includes post from the Universal PTX inventor
I'm not sure whether the "case neck expansion" thing really matters, but it may be worth some thought. The one reloading manual I have, Lee, only covers rifle reloading in great detail. On the other hand, I'm sure pistol brass wall thickness varies a bit (case neck thickness variation is why you expand rifle case necks). So maybe case "neck" expansion really is needed, even when reloading straight-wall cases.
Then again, I haven't discussed this issue with users of the Universal PTX. I've read several complaints about the clunkiness of the Hornady PTX parts.
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Natchezs just got them back in stock yesterday.
Thanks for the tip. I have an email alert set up with MidwayUSA (for other stuff) and should probably see about setting up the same at other sellers.
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I wasn't 100% sure what you meant. Is it the LnL AP press itself that's backordered, or the #10 shell plate (I assume you meant shell plate, as that's what the LnL AP uses)? Both?
I'm not sure what's going on at Hornady. I just got off the phone with them on another matter, but briefly discussed the shortage in many things Hornady. In her words, "they're backlogged."
More success than they were ready for, perhaps?
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A friend with more tools than I made me a brass rod with a 10mm case head on one end. I might be able to use it to push my Glock'd 10mm cases through my Lee carbide die. Or shenanigans might ensue.
I believe I'll try it with some lube, despite the carbide.
Those of you who have used arbor presses, how did you fit the die and shell holder to the press? Based on a little online shopping, it looks like most arbor presses aren't set up for reloading.
update:
That didn't work. I lubed a piece of "Glocked" 10mm brass and tried to push it through my Lee FCD with the brass rod. It simply wouldn't budge after the case head was about level with the mouth of the die. I had to tap it back out with a hammer & drift punch.
I tried to force it through, but it felt like I was going to break the handle off my Rockchucker before the case would budge.
Unless the G-Rx has a larger hole in it, I'm not seeing how it would have worked any better.
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Late last year, I had a Federal #155 (Large Pistol Magnum) primer explode while seating on my Hornady LNL AP press. Here's a thread I posted about it on another forum: Tale of unwanted excitement in reloading
Capsule summary: The press design worked. Because the primer that went off was nowhere near the primer tube, and thanks to the sturdy primer tube shield, there was no way for it to set the others off.
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I don't do Ebay. On Amazon, two sellers have one of each of the shell holders, but not both at the same place.
I'm not going to do that. I would end up paying nearly twice the cost of the items (over $18) in shipping. I'll just wait for the usual places (already listed) to get them back in stock, so I only have to pay shipping once.
By then, I'll probably need something else, so I can fill out an order at MidwayUSA & avoid the small-order charge.
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Bah, I picked the wrong time to be unemployed!
A red #3 is on the list for "someday when I have a job that pays enough."
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If it makes you feel any better, I've been utterly unable to get some key Hornady parts this week.
I need Hornady shell holders #1 and #6 for my Hornady case prep center. They're out of stock and backordered everywhere, including the factory.
Ditto the Hornady headspace gage .400" bushing, which I need for my Stoney Point headspace gage. However, that story has a happier outcome, as I found a substitute part offered by Sinclair International.
The case retainer springs seem to be out of stock everywhere else, but I was able to order 3 from the factory yesterday, as well as a pair of the primer slide return springs.
I don't know why there seems to be a nationwide shortage of Hornady reloading equipment lately, but I guess we'll just have to wait a while.
update:
I did find sellers claiming to have the #1 or #6 shellholders in stock, but...not both at the same place. I hate doubling up on shipping, so I'll just wait I guess.
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Tch, that's nothing. At least you didn't try to load large primers with the small primer shuttle for 3 weeks, and only then realize your mistake.
Now THAT would have been embarrassing!
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Recently I have been trying to locate some Hornady brand shell holders for my Hornady case prep center. For an item with a list price of <$6, they sure are hard to find!
Impossible, so far actually. All of the following are out of stock and/or backordered on shell holders #1 (.308 Winchester) and #6 (7.62x39 Argument):
MidwayUSA
Sinclair International
Midsouth Shooters Supply
Cabelas
Graf & Sons
Buffalo Arms (their website is not current, I verified with a phone call today)
Natchez Shooters Supply
Local stores (they've never carried Hornady shell holders in my area)
Hornady (yes, even the factory is out of stock, and says they'll be sending the next batch to one of the above)
Am I missing anyone?
Price of bullets going up?
in 10mm/40 Caliber
Posted · Edited by Warhammer4k
I heard on the radio yesterday that a mining concern is re-opening a copper mine in my state.
That's a significant indicator. It is NOT cheap to mine anything in the US, so someone must be pretty sure that the price of copper will stay high for a while.
There are plenty of mines in the Southwest that have not been worked in some time because the price of metals was not high enough to turn a profit. I expect we'll see more of them being reactivated in the next few years.
In the meantime, I guess I'll be shooting more and more cast lead. I get .40 and .45 caliber cast lead bullets from a local guy, who makes them as a side job/hobby. Even so, he has to charge substantially more than the 4.5¢/bullet I was paying for moly-coated, cast lead, .452 230 gr. bullets in 2004.
Also glad I bought thousands upon thousands of Hornady 55 gr. FMJ's a few years ago, for general .223 plinking. At times, I've worried that I was an idiot for tying up several hundred bucks in 10000+ bullets I won't use for years. Now I wish I had stocked up deep on FMJ .308 and .310 projectiles as well.