Did you Reload anything today?

[Darkhorse]

Sometimes it’s hard to leave well enough alone ;-) I think you’re right about the node... and maybe turning too many knobs. I’ve been shooting with a Harris bipod and cheaper Caldwell rear bag. After swapping emails with the guy at Berger I’ve got some ideas on trying a few things. I was loading light on H4831 and heavy on IMR4350. I bartered first three more boxes of VLDs so have plenty to play with.

This is the short version and just a recommendation. It's good to learn to shoot well with shooting aids such as the bipod. But I personally never use them for load testing, I use a cheap front rest with a small sandbag for the front and a bag designed for the rear. The idea is to find what gives you a perfect steady hold during the entire process, this way your only testing the load, not you as a shooter.

When you go to shoot try to be sure your barrel is parallel to the ground and not pointing up or down. Bag the front and rear. With an empty chamber get into firing position on your bags and aim at the center. Now squeeze one off. If the crosshairs move then work on your rests and technique until the crosshairs stay on target when you squeeze the trigger.

 

[transfixer]

yeah...$200 per 1K come out to $40 per hundred...you get the cases for $9.95 per hundred

I like it because they're already trimmed to length, I don't have to fuss with converting the 5.56 cases I have ,, lol

When I originally started buying them from Durkin they were $34.99 per hundred

 

[menhadenman]

This is the short version and just a recommendation. It's good to learn to shoot well with shooting aids such as the bipod. But I personally never use them for load testing, I use a cheap front rest with a small sandbag for the front and a bag designed for the rear. The idea is to find what gives you a perfect steady hold during the entire process, this way your only testing the load, not you as a shooter.

When you go to shoot try to be sure your barrel is parallel to the ground and not pointing up or down. Bag the front and rear. With an empty chamber get into firing position on your bags and aim at the center. Now squeeze one off. If the crosshairs move then work on your rests and technique until the crosshairs stay on target when you squeeze the trigger.

Great advice; I’ll give it a whirl. May sneak out Sunday at daybreak. Put a new barrel on my Wylde that’s screaming to be shot too!

 

[Jester896]

Great advice; I’ll give it a whirl. May sneak out Sunday at daybreak. Put a new barrel on my Wylde that’s screaming to be shot too!

that coupled with finding your natural point of aim and a good pocket for the buttplate and you should be well on your way.

 

[Jester896]

Yes I did...yep
Had lunch with my buddy and we came back to the shop to get busy with the .22-250 brass we had sized and cleaned last weekend. I trimmed and deburred then sent them over to him to debur the flash hole and uniform the primer pocket. Then we primed them and put them in the trays for powder and bullets.

excuse my messy work area



almost got the whole batch done...I'll finish up in the morning



good tag team effort

 

[ChidJ]

Messy work area? Compared to my reloading bench, yours is immaculate

 

[Dub]

Yes I did...yep
Had lunch with my buddy and we came back to the shop to get busy with the .22-250 brass we had sized and cleaned last weekend. I trimmed and deburred then sent them over to him to debur the flash hole and uniform the primer pocket. Then we primed them and put them in the trays for powder and bullets.

excuse my messy work area

View attachment 1083846

almost got the whole batch done...I'll finish up in the morning

View attachment 1083847

good tag team effort

Still looking around for that "messy work area". Lot's spot-on ship shape and orderly.



I'll bet those suckers will be screaming outa there !!!!

 

[Jester896]

y'all only see the 4' on this end of my 3.5X8 reloading bench and my 4X8 project table behind it hasn't much real estate left

 

[Darkhorse]

When you go to shoot try to be sure your barrel is parallel to the ground and not pointing up or down. Bag the front and rear. With an empty chamber get into firing position on your bags and aim at the center. Now squeeze one off. If the crosshairs move then work on your rests and technique until the crosshairs stay on target when you squeeze the trigger.

Hey PogieGuy, The reason this is so important is, When you dryfire and the crosshairs move off the target that is the spot that round will impact. If you can see movement at the bench then it will be magnified at 100 yards and that 's a blown group. This is something you can work on and see the results without firing a shot.
This is my setup for my home range. It is portable and very stable. The cheap front rest has a bag that cradles the forend. Meaning it doesn't sit on top and rock but instead it sits inside the bag. The rear bag also cradles the butt. Once you have your setup then your shooting form will serve to lock it all down. Your form is where most of the work is involved.

 

[menhadenman]

When you go to shoot try to be sure your barrel is parallel to the ground and not pointing up or down. Bag the front and rear. With an empty chamber get into firing position on your bags and aim at the center. Now squeeze one off. If the crosshairs move then work on your rests and technique until the crosshairs stay on target when you squeeze the trigger.

Hey PogieGuy, The reason this is so important is, When you dryfire and the crosshairs move off the target that is the spot that round will impact. If you can see movement at the bench then it will be magnified at 100 yards and that 's a blown group. This is something you can work on and see the results without firing a shot.
This is my setup for my home range. It is portable and very stable. The cheap front rest has a bag that cradles the forend. Meaning it doesn't sit on top and rock but instead it sits inside the bag. The rear bag also cradles the butt. Once you have your setup then your shooting form will serve to lock it all down. Your form is where most of the work is involved.

I’m all over it... kids are at pappy’s house for the week and wife is working. Already loaded a pile this morning and heading to the range shortly.

Sorry if the bench is too organized

 

[menhadenman]

I'm a mess... forgot they had a steel plate challenge this morning and only had 17 minutes to blast through 5 groups of loads. So no chrono, not set up like I thought, and I coulda branded myself with the barrel.

Good news the groups averaged 0.54" with a one-hole at 0.18" (all H4831). I didn't give that powder a fair shot - looked pretty slow to start with but after seeing the Berger load data I was pretty light. The tech pointed out that loading long helps on pressure (0.154" longer than book COAL).

Maybe I'll quit gumming up this thread until I get a one-hole group at 500 yds Been fun reloading and learning - might very well be flailing around in the middle of a node with a rifle that's more capable than myself.

 

[menhadenman]

 

[Jester896]

who is PogieGuy?

Sorry if the bench is too organized

dang neat FREAK

Nice Group!
shouldn't that charge say 62.6 gr not g

 

[menhadenman]

who is PogieGuy?


dang neat FREAK

Nice Group!
shouldn't that charge say 62.6 gr not g

Yeah, I was getting shuttled off by the guys setting up steel... it was actually 62.2 gr, too. Swapped out barrels on my Wylde recently so will probably start chasing my tail on that one too.

Oh yeah, pogie is another name for fatback, menhaden, bunker, etc.

 

[Darkhorse]

Pogies, Pogy's etc. are the main baitfish for fishing for Kingfish on the eastern seaboard. Pogies are just a regional name for Menhaden.
I used to fish Kingfish tournaments and slow trolled using Pogies.

 

[menhadenman]

Pogies, Pogy's etc. are the main baitfish for fishing for Kingfish on the eastern seaboard. Pogies are just a regional name for Menhaden.
I used to fish Kingfish tournaments and slow trolled using Pogies.

We called em pogy and fatback in eastern NC, they call em bunker up north. Greeeeezy suckers, great bait.

 

[Darkhorse]

BTW, That's a great group there. Almost as close to all in the same hole as possible. You managed to shoot 5 groups? Is that right? What was the average size?
Repeatability is the name of the game.
Next comes the dreaded 5 shot group. The last 2 shots are the tough ones for me. This is where I need that higher powered scope.

I Think one could amost eat off those neat benchtops you guys are sharing the photos of. A neat uncluttered bench is safer and helps you to create better handloads. Good for you.
Mine is not like that. I do things different than most. For instance when I decided I needed to find ways to load my rounds true to the centerline of my chamber, I knew I could probably buy tooling to do it. But my mind automatically began looking for ways to adapt a 30 year old sizing die to do it instead. So what ever I was doing at time was forgotten and dropped on the table while I worked the new idea. Then I end up working around all the stuff on the loading bench.
Living way out here in the piney woods there isn't anybody to ask questions of. No gun shops to visit. Nobody that understands how I think. It helps to be creative and adaptable. I'm also not one to pick up much stuff because I'm already working on something else.
My wife told a friend of hers that living with me was almost like living with McGiver.
Right now it's worse than ever. A couple of years ago a hurricane took a third of the roof off my shop. I hastily packed up what wasn't ruined, all my loading tools and fishing tackle, chainsaws etc. It took over a year to get a new roof then a new ceiling. Then I had to locate my tooling. I was just starting to reorganize everything when I had to leave it for something else. I've never gotten back to it so I just shove stuff over to make room for whatever I need to do.
No. No pictures of my loading bench.

 

[chuckdog]

I was undecided on what I wanted/needed to do most Monday afternoon, so I sat down and loaded 150 rds of 9mm Para. 124gr Berry's plated .356" with 4 grs of Universal.

My wife soon arrived home and helped me decide loading wasn't what I wanted/needed to do with my Monday afternoon.

 

[menhadenman]

BTW, That's a great group there. Almost as close to all in the same hole as possible. You managed to shoot 5 groups? Is that right? What was the average size?
Repeatability is the name of the game.
Next comes the dreaded 5 shot group. The last 2 shots are the tough ones for me. This is where I need that higher powered scope.

I Think one could amost eat off those neat benchtops you guys are sharing the photos of. A neat uncluttered bench is safer and helps you to create better handloads. Good for you.
Mine is not like that. I do things different than most. For instance when I decided I needed to find ways to load my rounds true to the centerline of my chamber, I knew I could probably buy tooling to do it. But my mind automatically began looking for ways to adapt a 30 year old sizing die to do it instead. So what ever I was doing at time was forgotten and dropped on the table while I worked the new idea. Then I end up working around all the stuff on the loading bench.
Living way out here in the piney woods there isn't anybody to ask questions of. No gun shops to visit. Nobody that understands how I think. It helps to be creative and adaptable. I'm also not one to pick up much stuff because I'm already working on something else.
My wife told a friend of hers that living with me was almost like living with McGiver.
Right now it's worse than ever. A couple of years ago a hurricane took a third of the roof off my shop. I hastily packed up what wasn't ruined, all my loading tools and fishing tackle, chainsaws etc. It took over a year to get a new roof then a new ceiling. Then I had to locate my tooling. I was just starting to reorganize everything when I had to leave it for something else. I've never gotten back to it so I just shove stuff over to make room for whatever I need to do.
No. No pictures of my loading bench.

The groups all averaged about 0.5 MOA... you’re right, I’ll get to five shot groups next. I’ll probably milk this one for another 100 rounds then call it good somewhere and load up a pile.

 

[GregoryB.]

Didn't load anything but I did order a new case prep station since my surgically repaired wrist argue everytime I prep cases.