glockster157

i don't know about matches but it sure is satisfying to blast one that has drove you crazy. I used to do PC building and repair. It was a favorite past time.

I need to get thru the 10 pounds I got of the old stuff....could take a while.

PM sent....I am in that area a lot. I will have a little free time

I have been casting for a number of years but I don't cast that often. I try and do a lot of bullets at one time so I don't have to do it as often. I used to team with a buddy but he has gotten too old and doesn't like to cast anymore. I have always done the pistol bullets but lately I have been experimenting with the big bores. I have several different 30, 375 and 45 caliber rifles and soon I want to try some 35 and maybe 32 caliber rifles. One thing I will say is that Accurate 5744 is now my friend.

Just a FYI for those who are not aware, HP38 is the exact same powder as W231. I personally called Hogdon and confirmed this. John, we have similar loads. I load WW231 at 6.0 w/ 185 JHP 5.6 w/ 200 LSWC or a plated SWC 5.2 w/ 225-230 anything

Right....Sorry!

I am going to take issue with this pressure sign "myth". I believe there can be reasons that some loads can have pressure spikes....I have had it happen. But when I have shot factory ammo and my ammo side by side and compare them for " signs" and velocity and they are the same, don't tell me I could be 20K over the max with no different pressure signs. I am not buying it. There are more chances of something like that in rifles but you go 20K over on a 15 to 18K load you are going to know it. When I load a book load and I have carbon fouling 2/3rds back up the case, completely rounded primer edges, soft recoil, low velocity and unburned powder, don't try and tell me not to read pressure signs or the book max is really right and I just don't get it. If I were only using one sign as an indicator then maybe, but experience and multiple signs have kept me safe for 30 years. And I have made mistakes. I have made loads that were sticky extracting, would barely eject, in rifles I have shaved some brass, so I know signs and when I have accidentally pushed it too far and I have had to back off. Actually, every time that has happen it was simply a mistake on my part as I have never tried to make extra hot loads. Luckily those mistakes have have been very few. Another thing, those old loads are still being used today by many many people with the same success as the original users had. One example is the old Keith load of his 250 SWC over 22 grains of 2400 with a standard pistol primer. The older Lyman manuals listed 23.4 as max. I loaded the 22 grain load for full power and 20 grains for a light magnum. I have shot that 20 grain load by the thousands in many revolvers. It always seems to run around 1250 in a 6" revolver. Now Alliant has cut their max load to 20 grains and they claim 1394fps.......BULL. That is the kind of hooey I am talking about. Don't tell me that load is over pressure. One thing I want to point out here. I am mainly speaking of low pressure revolver and pistol rounds such as the 38spl, 45acp, 45 colt and maybe 9mm. In these types of cartridges a little powder makes a huge difference. For rounds like the 357 or 44 magnum in modern revolvers with H110 or even 2400, you have a lot more leeway. And rifles with slow burners like 4350 and 4831 you have even more. So I highly recommend not pushing any load past published data until you know what you are doing, you have reliable empirical data to back you up and preferably a chronograph to check velocities. I do agree it is better to be safe than sorry, especially with fast burning pistol powders as they are the most dangerous.

I think I missed making my real point. A lot of newer loading manuals have dropped the max loads so much, you will never get to where you really need to be by following them to the tee. They are guidelines, sure, but if you want your hand loads to perform their best you are going to have to learn to read pressure signs, get a chronograph, compare to factory recoil and ejection, etc. I recently traded into the latest Nosler reloading manual. After studying loads in that manual for many of the calibers I have loaded for years, and loads that have been verified for years by gun writers, older loading manuals, other reloaders, etc, I realized it was a worthless joke. I sold it for nearly nothing because that is about what I thought it was worth. Here is another example. The older Lyman manuals all listed a 38 special +P load of 5.2 grains of 231 w/ a 158 grain cast SWC for about 950 in a 4" revolver. I have shot untold thousands of these, albeit always in 357's, for years and so have most of my friends. The standard load was 4.7 grains for about 850 if memory serves. The current Winchester load data lists 3.7 grains for 834 fps......I have verified the other 2 loads. I may load some of these and try them but I can almost guarantee that they will be in the 700's or lower. They know most reloaders will not verify load data over a chrono so they can BS you and CYA themselves with puffed data. I can give you 20 examples of recent data I have compared. So to sum up, I agree that you should not go over max. I am convinced that the newer data for many loads are well below max and I reload for cost, fun and PERFORMANCE when I want it.

I have to make another post to get my post count above "666"........can't leave it there :}.

Greg, I have to disagree with you here. I have had lots of revolvers, pistols and rifles that shot their best with full power loads. I had a SW 629 that absolutely loves the old Elmer Kieth load of 22 grains of 2400 over one of his 250 SWC's but it did not like anything I tried with the mid range powders. I have also found that a lot of autos are much more consistent with at least a 90%+ pressure load as they need that to function properly. Revolvers don't have the functioning issue but I have found that low pressure loads have a tendency to dirty the gun, I have even had unburned flakes of powder get under the extractor star because the powder needs a certain level of pressure to burn properly. On that point, I know we have been talking pistols here but I want to mention that rifle powders definitely have to reach a certain pressure level to burn properly. Pistol powders are not as sensitive but if you have unburned powder left in your barrel you are probably experiencing low pressure.

The LW or Storm Lake conversion barrels work but to make them 100% reliable you would probably need to switch to a 9mm ejector. I believe the extractor is the same. I used a LW 9mm conversion barrel on my 27. It worked OK but the brass would fly off in different directions, sometimes at my feet, over my head, toward my face....Fine for plinking but I wouldn't stake my life on it. Personally, I got to where I never used it. I would just grab a 9mm for for 9's and 40SW's for the 40. So I sold it. One other thing, it would be the thing to have if you were shooting a lot of lead bullet reloads.

Here is where I suggest anyone get a chronograph. I have found loads of popular powders that said max was "X". I worked up to "X" and I was no where near the claimed velocity nor was I getting signs of proper pressure. I have had to learn to adjust for the modern reloading manuals that were edited by lawyers instead of ballistic experts. That is also why I keep a lot of older reloading manuals around. Another place to get info is older gun writer articles. You can find some pretty stout loads from Sixgunner.com. The excuses for all the newer reduced loads range from " we used a pressure barrel with a tight chamber" "We reformulated the chemistry of the powder" or " they were always over pressured, we just did not have as good of test equipment back then". Regardless of the reason, I like and use many of those old loads because I test them over a chronograph and I have found that those old manuals and old gun writers really new what they were doing and they did not have a lawyer looking over their shoulders.

For years now I have been a big fan of WW 231. My normal loads are 6.0 Grains for 185 JHP's, 5.6 grains for 200 Grain LSWC's or plates SWC's and 5.2 for any 225/230 grain bullet. I have shot these loads in numerous different 45's including Glocks and HK's with their polygonal rifling(though I limit the lead loads to just a few and clean thoroughly after for those barrels)....I have never had an issue. I have had issues with lead bullets being oversized for some pistols with tight chambers. I have been using a Lee Carbide factory sizer die to fix any such situation and it works well. However, since all you are doing is swaging the bullet down in the process, I do it as only a temp fix and find different components that will work without the Lee Factory Die as I don't want undersized lead bullets going down my barrel for many reasons. As to these coated bullets, I have not used these but I have used others like them in the past with varied success. I think the coating is some kind of either Teflon or Nylon. If you have a bullet puller, load a couple normal and pull the bullets. If the coating holds up then they should work about as good as any lead. The ones I tried had lots of exposed lead after being pulled and since they were swaged from pure lead, they also left some lead in the barrel. I have found a properly loaded hard cast bullet, that is the right size for a barrel and the right hardness for the load will not lead at all and you can shoot all day without a problem. Most leading occurs from soft bullets being pushed to hard or , surprise, surprise, hard bullets being pushed to softly. Gas cutting can cause worse leading than velocity.

I have enjoyed several 552's over the years, they are very nice rifles. Not as versatile as a 10-22 but a bit classier....IMO. Currently playing with a Winchester 190C. So far it is a fun little 22. Question, the OP stated the 60 grain subsonic ammo at 2300FPS....did you mean maybe 1300fps instead? I don't think you can get 2300 out of Stingers with a 32 grain bullet.

I have heard ultrasonic liquid cleaners will do what you want. However, I am not sure of the cost or the mess of using liquids instead of dry media.

I have used 2520 in my first DS. It was a 24" Varmint. It shot very well with 69-77 grain bullets but was a little slow for the 55 grain bullets. I have 2 lbs for future heavy bullet loads.

You could make your own sealant by cutting fingernail polish with a lot of acetone. All you need is a thin coating of lacquer around the primer and case neck.

I can usually load brass cased ammo at least as cheap as factory steel and most of the time cheaper. I have yet to have any steel cased ammo or shoot with friends that have steel ammo, that my reloads can't shoot circles around it. Most Russian steel cased ammo I have seen seems to group in the 2-3" category. My reloads will group in the .5 to 1.25" category and I use soft points so they are more useful also.

They could be slightly oval...weird but i have seen those type screws used for security in other things. If all else fails try an ease out

I got my 20" kit from Coffin arms. He is trying to use a better grade barrel, or so he says. He told me he had a Grade 1 Shaw barrel on the kit I bought. I have to say, my 20" is very accurate for a standard A2. I am very, very pleased.

I went to the range today to test my AR's. I had built a 16" flattop a while back with a chrome lined barrel and put a Bushnell Holosight(just like the early EOtechs). The second rifle I just built, it is a standard A2 20" Shaw Grade 1 hbar. I have been wanting to have an older style for a while, I get tired of having to buy handles and sights. First the ammo. I loaded 27.5 grains of Winchester 748, WW primers, LC brass, and Midsouth Varmint Extreme 55 grain flat based SP(Hornady's I think), just seated them to the cannelure and crimped them with a Lee collet die. Chrono'ed 3100 fps at ten feet from muzzle. Been using 28 grain load for years with 55 Grain FMJBT's btw. The 20" really surprised me. First 3 shots hit my B29 target in a nice 1.25" group about an inch above the X. How is that for luck. I never had to move a thing. This is with open sights, my 49 year old eyes, at 100 yards. I was ecstatic. I went on the ding the 200 plate and the 250 yard plate(off a rest) at will. In the famous words of Charley Sheen...Winner!!! The 16" with the Holosight was easily sighted in and I was able to get several 1.5" groups with that large dot, plus I could also ding those plates at will. But more importantly, both rifles functioned flawlessly and once zeroed, I can confidently say "Out of sight, out of range". Of course my sight is not that good any more.

I have built several Doublestars, the two AR's I have now are both DS's and both are excellent. As for $700 for a used one....OK but not a "Deal". You can pick up a milspec lower for as low as 65-100 bucks. J&T Distributors (the parts kit seller for and a division of DS) is at all the major gun shows and you can usually get a complete kit for 499 for a 16" shorty. Putting lowers together takes about 15 minutes. Your friend may have upgrades, better barrel, floated handguards, etc.

There are so many newer powders on the market today that a lot of older powders get bypassed. I have lots of old reloading manuals for that very reason. Many of the newer powders are just upgrades of the older, which is a good thing, they are cleaner and less temperature sensitive. However, many of us are used to using certain powders for years and we don't like to change....call us stubborn old coots. Don't mess with my 748, my 2400, my Unique and Bullseye, etc. That being said, I will now double talk, I would highly recommend IMR 3031 and Winchester 748 for the 30-30 though H322 should work OK.

The Speer Number Ten Manual lists 27 grains of H322 for a starting load with a 150 grain bullet. It lists 31 as max. The Hornady Third Edition Manual lists 28.8 for a starting load and 31.7 as max using there 150 round nose bullet. This should get you in the ball park.

Or, just hit the 357 Sig cases with One Shot Case Lube. When I load on my Dillon 550 I still hit the cases with a light shot of One Shot, even on carbide dies. It just makes them run smoother. On 223's I give them one shot on the sides, then one shot across the necks, making sure some gets inside the neck. I have no problems sizing them or neck expanding. On my single stage or turret press press for rifle, I use Hornady Unique. Awesome stuff.