Bit the bullet and bought a press: my new setup.

[alank2]

Hi,

Make sure your scale is calibrated as well. Many scales come with calibration weights - this is something you want to test each time before you rely on measurements from the scale.

My one piece of reloading advice - look into EACH and every case before you place a bullet on it and make sure about the right amount of powder is present. You won't be able to discern a 0.1 gr difference, but you will be able to tell the difference between no powder (squib) or double powder (boom!).

I've got a cool piece of electronic gadgetry if you want to trick out your press someday! See my signature.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[Old Fart]

You will soon discover that this bench is too small & you need more equiptment.
Welcome to the dark side. You'll never be bored during an ice storm again.

 

[Hoov]

Pray for rain, you will. -Yoda

 

[alank2]

Scrounged some powder and primers last weekend, and bullets get here on Wednesday. I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Here is some encouragement to get you started:

[Broken External Image]

 

[AtomicTango]

Thanks guys!

The scale is a basic Frankford Arsenal, and is not capable of trickling. It did come with a calibration weight, which I used, and checked against a super fancy-pants scale we have at work.

I think I'll get a small LED light to shine down through the empty station 4, so I can see into the cases better.

Hey Alan, all that brass on the table is stuff I bought from you a while ago. Now its finally getting used I was a nice surprise to remember that it was deprimed and clean already too!

 

[foghorn918]

I've got this light on mine to make sure I can see into the casing and double check the powder level:

Clamp-On LED Light from Lowes

 

[alank2]

Hey Alan, all that brass on the table is stuff I bought from you a while ago. Now its finally getting used I was a nice surprise to remember that it was deprimed and clean already too!

Excellent; don't forget some of that brass had crimped primer pockets so you will want to sort it out or swage it before trying to prime it. You'll want to inspect any brass you want to load to make sure it is free of cracks, etc. Good luck!!!

 

[okietom]

What is your bench top made of?

 

[AtomicTango]

What is your bench top made of?

I went to a home supply salvage yard and found an old work table for $5. The legs were pretty worthless so took them off, and bolted the top to a drill press stand I bought from sears. The top is some sort of MDF, is 1.25 inces thick, and has a hard plastic surface on it. Hardware and all it was about $40.

 

[Wattersmik]

I have to agree on make sure you are careful when using a progessive press.
I have two Dillon 550's, three Dillon Square Deal's and three RCBS Rockchuckers and a few older CH Multi-Station Presses.
Of course the Dave Corbins -Corbin CSP-1 and Richard Corbins -Walnut Hill Press for swaging bullets.

I thought I was me careful, but after relaoding over 5000 round for 40 S&W had a KABOOM and it blew the barrel on a Walther PPS.
My wife was shooting, she handled it extremely well and no injury at all.
Looking at the pistol it really was amazing nobody was injuried.
It really had me conerned and I remeasure the remaining 165 rounds. Every one passed on a chamber checker die, they all weighed in at the low end of the powder weight.
OAL was correct and the powder was correct, I then pulled every one of the bullets and found all were exactly the same powder weight and it was right at the minimum.
I was using Berry's Bullets and what I did discover is they were really crimped, it really took alot of smacking to get the bullets free on a kinetic bullet remover.
Thus I believe that the extreme crimp cause increased press, ure and thus the Kaboom, that was the same analysis Walther came up with as I sent them 10 rounds and the gun.
The gun is non repairable and is a teaching tool now, becuase even when you do what you believe to be right one error can be drastic.

we seperate all bullets by weight, cases by weight with primer installed, yes I deprime and size, install primer and then weigh them. It does defeat soem of the purpose of a progessive.
Although we would them measure each OAL on a digital caliper, actually three times, weigh each cartridge x 3 using three spearate scales and chamber check x 3.
So I thought I had this down pat, I have added one step I will pull the bullet on random numbers to see how tight the crimp is. I have backed it way off and have had no issue sicne and that has been around 4500 rounds ago. I believe I could go back to using step one, but I still weigh the brass and separate by weight. You can have different weights even is separated by headstamps. The crimp check will remain a safety check as that is what I believe caused the issue.

Wife did it concern her, no she went out and bought a Colt New Agent 45 the next day and was back to shooting two days later.