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Post by jimtowns on Aug 4, 2006 4:59:58 GMT 12.75
Wow, I could throw down an anchor and set a spell right here. Don't seem to be much activity, well I can post some stuff, lets see if we can wake this thing up!
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Post by Toby Benoit on Aug 4, 2006 5:30:35 GMT 12.75
This is a great coincidence. ;D
I have a little varmint gun, which I love, in .22Hornet and buying cartridges for it is getting pretty tough. Nobody carries them around here and when you do happen to find them, sumbitches are thirty dollars a box for twenty!
So, I've been looking in the last week at buying a set of tools made by LEE to reload them. I've never done it and am starting from scratch, therefore if you have any advice for a neophyte, speak up!
So, I haven't bought yet, is LEE any good?
Are you familiar with loads for the Hornet?
What powder do you reccommend? I want something to get my velocity around 3,000fps at the muzzle with a forty-five grain bullet.
Do you have to polish the brass first? If so, why?
I know nearly everything there is to know about archery equipment; ancient to modern. I worked in the industry for nine years. But, other than shooting guns, I don't know jack-crap about them.
So it's time to round myself out a bit and learn. Thanks for any help!
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Post by Mars on Aug 4, 2006 9:12:20 GMT 12.75
n2eatn, Are you refering to LEE's little "boxed" set or their presses? I've never reloaded rifle/pistol shells but I do shotgun shells, or did until I moved to this apartment. When I first started I had one of those LEE boxed sets for 20 ga. shotgun shells. They work but take alot longer and more work to get the job done. Though it worked great when I was in the Army as I could fit it in any small space and take it with me.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Aug 4, 2006 12:37:37 GMT 12.75
A boxed set. It's a one at a time kind of set. It's a little less expensive, was my only reasoning.
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Post by jimtowns on Aug 4, 2006 19:28:17 GMT 12.75
Okay, this is right down my alley! The lee boxed dies are really good for rimmed shells like the hornet. I started my handloading with the same type of dies, but in 8mm mauser. I would strongly advise you to get a hand-held priming tool as an accessory to the dies,(lee makes a good one called the auto prime). Reason being that hammering primers into the brass occasionally causes one to POP! But I'm getting ahead of my self---All you need is a plastic hammer about 10-12 ounces, a sturdy table, some small rifle primers, a can of Hodgdon "lil-gun" powder and some 45 grain .223 bullets. Hornady v-max are good varmint bullets, and are real accurate. You should rally have some way of weighing and measuring powder. Lee makes some dippers, one is supplied in with the boxed dies. www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=502261They also have a data sheet in with the dies, telling which powders to use with the dipper. Usually that load with the dipper/powder combo is a pretty mild load. You're pretty much stuck with it, without a scale to know how much more powder you can safely put in the shell. www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=712103That's the cheapest, most basic scale made. It is also quite accurate. Now for the bad news, it is a pain to read! I got one in a kit from lee, I seldom use it,(I have a pact digital scale), but it ALWAYS agrees with the digital! Other scales will run about 50-60 bucks for a good one. Then with a trickler, you can measure the powder to increase the charge to get where you want to be. Are you familiar with loads for the Hornet? Yup, I have a Savage 322-A bolt mag fed. I load for it using my single stage press and RCBS dies. It will shoot 3/4 inch groups with the 40 grain V-max bullet. BUT I haven't tried "LIL gun" powder yet. Always another project gets in the way of that trial run. My load uses WW-296. Do you have to polish the brass first? If so, why? No, it's not necessary, BUT,(there's that but again), the shells will look better and maybe even feed a little better. Polishing also allows you to see splits or cracks developing in the brass easier. I've been loading since 1964, so there's not much I don't know about shells and how they work. I make my own lead bullets, for pistols, rifles, shotgun slugs, and muzzle-loading rifles-pistols. I load shotgun rifle and pistol shells, with 7 different loaders. The best is my Dillon 650, which can turn out 600 rounds an hour. My Hornady 366 progressive 12 guage loader can nearly equal the dillon for shotgun trap/field shells. Holy cow, 1:40, gotta get to bed, ask away If I've left anything out.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Aug 5, 2006 11:29:06 GMT 12.75
Alright! Now I'm excited.
When my stuff gets in I'll let you know.
You mentioned that hammering the primers in, you might set one off. If that happens without the brass being in the chamber of the rifle, will it damage the casing and will the next primer seat right?
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Post by Brikatw on Aug 5, 2006 12:20:59 GMT 12.75
Just remember Toby, Prime before you powder and load. Very important....OH and NO FORTEin' while reloading..... ;D
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Post by Mars on Aug 5, 2006 13:18:08 GMT 12.75
I use a Hornady Magnetic Scale for my powder. Slow but somewhat cheap and definetly accurate.
Toby, I don't know about the brass cases but shotshells are not harmed if the primer goes off by "accident". It does however usualy require a change of underwear for the reloader.
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Post by jimtowns on Aug 5, 2006 18:39:31 GMT 12.75
Like mars said, it'll definitely wake you up! "You mentioned that hammering the primers in, you might set one off. If that happens without the brass being in the chamber of the rifle, will it damage the casing and will the next primer seat right?" No harm done except it may take a while for your eyebrows to come back down, out from under yer wig! Actually it's kinda rare, you really have to haul off an' hit them pretty hard to get them to detonate. Gentle tapping will get it done without any surprises, it's when you get impatient and try to seat them with one hit! Of course you've been saving your empties,,,right? I left that one requirement out of my first post, assuming you had some brass to start working on. If not or you would like more, Midway sells empty new brass too. They may even have once fired brass, but with your lee kit, it ONLY neck sizes. Brass fired in another rifle MAY not chamber in your rifle unless it is full length resized. By neck sizes, I mean it only sizes down the neck area of the case so it can securely hold a new bullet. It doesn't size the body down, so brass fired in a larger chamber won't go into yours. You should not have any problems with brass fired in your rifle. One other thing I didn't mention last night, I would advise strongly for you to get a reloading manual or 3. Since you are going to use lee loaders, the manual by Richard Lee is a good one. There will be loads in there for the hornet that will be similar to the data sheet that comes with the loading kit. But there's a lot of other whys, how comes, wherefores and other info that I'm sure you will find interesting.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Oct 8, 2006 7:16:56 GMT 12.75
I loaded two boxes of cartridges and haven't had the time to shoot any of them, so I sent my rifle and both boxes of reloads with a buddy of mine to his place where he's got a shooting range out behind his house.
He said that at seventy yards, five shot groups were well insie an inch, but he shot six rounds through the chronograph and velocities were all over the place. He changed the battery and fired three more round with the same results. Slowest being 2540fps and te fastest being 3109fps.
I'm not using a very expensive grain scale, but I thought it was good enough. I'm seating the bullets as closely as I can to the same depth. What could be the problem? I'm using Hogden powder, so I know it's my problem. could that big a difference just be in the way I measure?
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Post by Paws on Oct 13, 2006 10:22:16 GMT 12.75
Where did you go Jim? Blow yourself up?
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Post by SgtBill on Oct 24, 2006 3:04:18 GMT 12.75
Yes , how you measure the powder could and will make a difference. I have a Dillon Loader and can get one complete round for each pull of the Handel but I still load all of my rifle hunting ammo with a powder charge one at a time that was measured with a Lyman Electronic Scale. I am not saying that a person new to reloading should go out and spend a ton of money for equipment. I have spent many year's putting together my equipment and I have saved a hell of a lot more money with the reloads that I make then I ever spent on the reloading equipment. Bill
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Post by Toby Benoit on Oct 24, 2006 16:16:38 GMT 12.75
I loaded another twenty cartridges and my gun nut buddy came over and helped me with his own digital scale and showed me the difference in his and the old el cheapo I was using. Also he was showing me about seating the bullets exactly the same. Any pressed in too far, he said will change velocities too. Live and learn. But, at least I haven't blown my thumb off yet!
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Post by jimtowns on Oct 30, 2006 18:41:00 GMT 12.75
Nope toby no blow-ups, just have been real busy. I haven't much time to check this forum, but I'm gonna make a point of showing up more often.
Sounds like the powder measuring could be the culprit with the velocity extreme spreads. The hornet doesn't usually do that to me. But because it's such a small case, it don't take much difference in powder charge to affect the velocity.
Your buddy is correct about seating depth being critical, too far in raises pressure and therefore velocity,(smaller combustion chamber, higher pressure). The pressure in a too far in seated bullet could be high enough to be dangerous.
NOTE TO PAWS; if you could have the forum send us an email each time someone posts on a thread, we wouldn't loose track of replies like just happened here.
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Post by Paws on Oct 31, 2006 2:23:26 GMT 12.75
Jim you need to check mark the optional box at the bottom of the screen requesting to be notified when someone replies to the thread. It says "Check this box if you wish to bookmark this thread." This needs to be done for each and every thread and/or reply that you make. That way you will get an e-mail notification.
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Post by jimtowns on Oct 31, 2006 4:16:08 GMT 12.75
Oh, okay, I didn't interpret "bookmark this thread" to mean send e-mail if someone replies to the thread.
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