What did you reload today?

[Rudy Vey]

Warning: Ill-timed, foolish rant!

I’ll start with my closing thought ... If Sellior & Bellot were the last primer manufacturer on the face of the earth & my supply of primers was exhausted, it would mark the end of reloading for me!

While I have never had one fail to detonate/ignite, they are the absolute worst fitting primers I have ever used ... irregardless of brass mfg. &/or primer size, seating S&B primers is a pain in the bum - and along those lines, they really should ditch the ampersand in S&B & replace it with a large ‘O’ .

Thats odd, I have used well over 10K of S&B small pistol primers, and never had an issue. Years ago I got them for some $18/1k at Cabela's, but these days are over now - probably would take them if I get them now for $40-50/1K

 

[Vduboy123]

Couple thousand 9mm tumbling away. Getting ready for the Dillon. Gonna be a good weekend.

 

[nortac]

@Vduboy123 , is that a homemade unit or commercially available?

 

[Vduboy123]

@Vduboy123 , is that a homemade unit or commercially available?

I made it. Stole the idea from another forum. Bought a 1/4 hp motor, some square tubing and welded the frame together. Installed some pillow bearings to .750" cold roll bar. Made the drum from 6" pvc pipe, fitted the inside with some linear agitators to keep the casings moving and tumbling inside. This unit is a little bigger than the Frankfurt Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART).

 

[Ad Astra]

I made it. Stole the idea from another forum. Bought a 1/4 hp motor, some square tubing and welded the frame together. Installed some pillow bearings to .750" cold roll bar. Made the drum from 6" pvc pipe, fitted the inside with some linear agitators to keep the casings moving and tumbling inside. This unit is a little bigger than the Frankfurt Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART).

Purely awesome. Needs a name, though.

How about Improved Frankfurt Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (IFART)?


AA

 

[shoelessjoe]

Thats odd, I have used well over 10K of S&B small pistol primers, and never had an issue...

Rudy Vey I should have also included the word, “childish” in my opening line, eh? You are correct about the excellent pricing, which is the reason why I purchased a few S&B bricks a couple years back. As mentioned earlier, functionally they have been 100%.

The issue with their SP primers is in their slightly larger diameter ... hopefully I captured this in the primer distortion pic below. Be it the single stage press or a hand-held priming tool, many S&B primers are slightly marred (dented) during the seating process & this is exclusive to S&B primers - primer pockets are always cleaned prior to seating.

 

[Vduboy123]

Rudy Vey I should have also included the word, “childish” in my opening line, eh? You are correct about the excellent pricing, which is the reason why I purchased a few S&B bricks a couple years back. As mentioned earlier, functionally they have been 100%.

The issue with their SP primers is in their slightly larger diameter ... hopefully I captured this in the primer distortion pic below. Be it the single stage press or a hand-held priming tool, many S&B primers are slightly marred (dented) during the seating process & this is exclusive to S&B primers - primer pockets are always cleaned prior to seating.

Aside from the one on the left, the four on the right look to be crimped. You try swaging the pockets before seating the primers? I know for a fact most s&b brass is going to be crimped, so is some federal.

 

[shoelessjoe]

Aside from the one on the left, the four on the right look to be crimped. You try swaging the pockets before seating the primers? I know for a fact most s&b brass is going to be crimped, so is some federal.

While I do swage NATO brass prior to priming, none of the pictured cases are-were crimped, not even the S&B (just checked a few S&B empties) ... the case pocket bevels + lighting/reflections + me are creating the crimped appearance.

As I mentioned, only S&B primers give me grief ... never CCI; Fed; Rem; Win nor Fiocchi.

 

[Vduboy123]

@shoelessjoe it's gotta be that damn metric system

 

[shoelessjoe]

@shoelessjoe it's gotta be that damn metric system

Yea, & those doggone standardized Italians (me) .
For the record, I am quite fond of S&B’s many other offerings - ammo, brass, to name a few.
And speaking of metrics & the Azzura, I really like Fiocchi primers (& ammo) & especially so when (pre-covid) they were selling for, relatively speaking, next to nothing.

 

[nortac]

100 rnds. of .223 with 62 gr. FMJBT over AA2230.
100 rnds. of 9mm with 124 gr. FMJ over Unique (because I'm out of Bluedot )

 

[TimeOnTarget]

9mm case with a crack.
I discovered this during the flaring stage. I knew something was wrong because there was no resistance from the flaring bell.

“Use the force Luke!”

 

[nortac]

Another 100 rounds of .223 and various brass prepping.

 

[Rudy Vey]

last night some 200 357 mag

 

[TimeOnTarget]

last night some 200 357 mag

What was your recipe?

I plan on working up some 357 when my second set of dies arrive.

 

[Rudy Vey]

What was your recipe?

I plan on working up some 357 when my second set of dies arrive.

Federal Magnum small primers, 5.2-5.3 grain of Nobel Sport BA 9 1/2, either a PD FMJ 158 or ACME 158 coated bullet, Starline brass.

 

[GringoBandito]

Loaded some 9mm for a uspsa match I will be shooting this weekend. I also ran into a cracked case and tossed that sucker into the practice bin. #sendit

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ad Astra]

Got my first ever batch of WWB 9mm brass tumbling, and hope to get some 38 Special loaded for tomorrow... Red Dot and that new to me Berry's 158 gr flat point will substitute for my usual Keith-style SWC.

Lack of a cannelure has me concerned. I'll just use a loaded round for COAL. Still not sure if my Lee dies do a taper crimp or what... They just crimp.


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

These Berry's are great! Clean, easy to load projectile.

I see why people like them. Much cleaner than my cast-aloxed boolits (though those are utterly free.)

Crimp was no sweat. Just slightly less pressure, seated to curve edge angle.

AA

 

[nortac]

That's a serious roll crimp on those .38s there! I use the Redding "Profile Crimp" dies, they are actually a combination of taper crimp and roll crimp. With these you can get away with a less severe roll crimp, but you can adjust them to put as much roll as you want. They are supposed to increase accuracy with a more consistent crimp force, but I haven't really put it to the test by comparing them to rounds loaded with a conventional crimp.