tcoz

Through Monday, Monmouth Reloading has Hornady 55gr FMJ for $150.99/2000 plus about $10 for shipping & insurance. http://monmouthreloading.com/shop/hornady-55-fmj-bullets/?ct=t(Memorial_Day_20165_24_2016)&mc_cid=65387ba560&mc_eid=a38115ff94

Cabelas has standard CCI primers on sale for $27.99 right now. In addition they have free shipping over $99 and their hazmat fee is always only $20 instead of the $28.50 or $30 that most everyone else charges.

I have a very understanding wife who suggested that I use the guest bedroom for my reloading. I'm not really sure that she intended for me to also use every drawer in the dresser and the entire closet for my supplies but I figured that was a given.

Actually, I live near the coast in South Carolina so I'm not a stranger to heat & humidity. I just do exactly as you said and stay inside with the A/C.

For me, reloading in a hot/humid garage would be a distraction and I don't need distractions when I reload.

Right now prices are lower and supplies more plentiful than I've seen in quite a few years. If you know what you're going to use, buy what you can now and if down the road you decide to use something different you can always sell them. This is especially true for primers and powder. A few years ago I had to stop reloading and shooting for six months because I couldn't find any powder.

I also use the RCBS military crimp remover on one of the stations. I switch it off with the RCBS primer pocket cleaner; the one that has the little wire brush.

I have the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Case Prep Station. I like the fact that it has a trimmer and three additional stations, one for deburr, one for chamfer and one for primer pocket cleaner, military crimp remover or whatever attachment you want to screw on. The trimmer is very repeatable but it's a little cumbersome to set up for each caliber. The cases are indexed off the shoulder using collets. They're plastic instead of metal so there can be a little bit of variance in trim length if you don't apply the same amount of pressure. Also, because they index off the shoulder, I can't use it for straight walled 30 Carbine cases. In spite of these drawbacks, I really like the compact size and being able to do almost all of my case prep on one device.

I'm not familiar with how the 650 runs but brass that shifts in the shellholder just before seating the primer is a common occurrence. It was with my Lee Turret and is with my T-7. You just have to choose the point right before seating where you reset the brass in the shell holder or push it all the way in. It's just a procedural thing with your technique but be sure you take care of it before continuing. I see about four different seating depths in your picture and that last one especially is really bad.

Whenever I read threads about cleaning brass all I can think about is why so many people Want to complicate a pretty simple process. IMO, there isn't enough of a difference in the finished product for me to justify spending the extra time and effort to wet tumble and dry their brass, especially when it won't make ammo shoot any better or be any more accurate than mine. I've tumbled thousands of cases in the same Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler with ground corncob, a cut up used dryer sheet and a teaspoonful of NuFinish. I have absolutely no problem with dust and my brass comes out looking plenty good for my purposes.

+1.....the high primer is more of an issue than a few rounds that won't chamber. It might just be the pic but it seems like the primer seating depth isn't very consistent in those rounds. I'd work on that first.

I'm a big fan of the Sheridan slotted gauges. They're pricey but well worth it. They're a true case gauge, sized to exact SAAMI minimum specs. What that means is if your finished round passes the gauge test, it'll chamber in your gun, guaranteed. The slotted gauge as opposed to the non-slotted one allows you to see exactly where the problem is if you have a problem. When setting up my sizing die, it allows me to set it up perfectly without any trial and error.

If they chamber, extract & eject without a problem I wouldn't worry about it. I had the same problem with .30-06 cases fired in an M1 Garand. All cartridge dimensions were within SAAMI spec but they wouldn't go all the way into my Wilson gauge. I adjusted and readjusted my sizing die and nothing changed. Finally I took a close look at the case head rims with a magnifying glass and found burrs, tiny dings and a few very slightly bent rims. I fixed a few of them and sure enough, they dropped right in. Since they all functioned and since the cases were all properly sized, I just shot them and i haven't worried about it since. I also put the case gauge away in a drawer.

Yes, it is. I like that though. Because at my usual OAL, the cannelure is just hidden at the end of the case mouth. Not sure why I like that so much, but it's clean looking. With Hornadys, I don't really get any purchase on the case mouth into the cannelure, so it is pretty much useless. Are you using the same OAL with them as you do with the Hornadys?

You can use the small base dies to reform the brass after it's been cut down and before reforming or you can use it for resizing after it's been reformed. It's just that small base dies aren't necessary for general resizing unless your gun has a tight chamber and you find that your dies aren't sizing it down far enough. If you aren't lubricating any bottleneck case including 223/5.56 then you're playing with fire and it's only a matter of time, probably sooner rather than later. It's also easier on your dies and your arms if you lube.

I do the same thing with my "rejects" and can't remember ever having one cause a malfunction in any way although the ones I do this with don't reject by much. The very few I've had that reject by a lot get completely deconstructed then I run them through the entire process again beginning with sizing. If they again reject by a large margin, I pull them again and toss the case, reusing the rest of the components including the primer.

I use a Sheridan slotted gage for all of my .223, 300 BLK and .30-06 rounds and I've had a few that have failed for whatever reason. I attribute it to differing quality of brass and different "spring back" characteristics. The nice things about the Sheridan gages is that they'll absolutely chamber if they pass the gage and if they fail, you can easily tell where the problem is. I also drop each of my completed pistol cartridges into a case gage and I've had a few of them fail also.

The Hornady 55's are hard to beat.

Primed (unloaded) brass can be shipped UPS or FedEx unrestricted. It cannot be shipped USPS.

They were in stock earlier this week but I haven't checked since then.

As I said I don't have any confirmation on it but to answer your question MadBomber, many private label products including some grocery items are made by the same company that makes the brand name product. It's certainly true in the generic drug market (42 years in the field). Also with appliances, so that part doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me. In any case I plan to try them at some point in time.

I've heard that they're made by CCI but don't quote me on that.

Bulk packages of bullets are often packed by weight rather than actually being counted so ending up with exactly 1000 bullets may not be the norm. Some places will throw in a few extras to compensate for shortages.

If the Lee expander die is that hard to remove from the case something is definitely wrong, especially if your cases are coming out properly expanded. My brass is clean and I don't lube yet it requires almost no effort to expand and charge 45acp cases.

The Lee FCD is what I use also. Glad to see I have some support on this forum.