Hell I shoot my reloads until the cases split. Course I have a little guy running around picking up my brass, turns out he is the smae guy who is doing the shooting.....
Stay Safe
Hell I shoot my reloads until the cases split. Course I have a little guy running around picking up my brass, turns out he is the smae guy who is doing the shooting.....
Stay Safe
Jeez ! Do'nt you just hate it when you've had cases for so long that,you (a) know them by name & (B) you can identify them in the dark on a moonless night by touch alone ? & then they go & split on ya! Being a PH I have to have a slave /Gun barer (One has a image to keep up ) Problem is my Slave is a certain 12yr old step son ! Who takes great pleasure out of letting all & sundry Know if I stuff up a shotOriginally Posted by Canuck44
Dave
All times wasted wot not spent shootin
Talking about cases, was sorting through my range pick ups this morning and I got 20 7MM STW cases. Had grabed a rem box out'of the dumpster while looking for a pistol target. I thought they were just 7mm mags.
Almost time to cash in. I think case brass is going for .80c a lb. Think i got enough for a mauser.
Toney Relic Hunter
Got home from shooting yesterday and was sorting through my cases before I send them to the tumbler and found four splits and one case mouth crack. I swear two of them you could not read the letters on the base of the case and the other three case's rims looked like a pick-up truck that had been left out in a hail storm. Oh well at this rate the 2,000 cases I bought on Ebay will last me well into the next century, a date I don't expect to make...156 naw not likely.
Stay Safe
krag i will tellyou why ALLmy carry ammo is reloads
a looong ago when i was in USAF ( SAC)i was a coach for the pistol team we recived some police severice ammo what the cops carry on the streets
at 25 yards the 38 specals bounce off cardboard it must haved been loaded on friday but it bounced right then and there i made up my mind if i had to depend on it i would reload it myself and check it over and overi have never had a round
not to fire (except my muzzlleloader flintlock )so i say if ytou have to depend on it load your selve
tom
how many times do you think i can fire a 338 win mag before its un safe, just getting into reloading, ps years ago my ignorant uncle gave me some 30 -30 reloads these bombs would go half way in the chamber and thats it , was he not resizing them ?
even at 12 yrs old i through these bullets away, at the time i thought he stuffed a ton extra powder in to make them swell like that.. excited to learn more thanks owen
Yup, and if you shoot reloads in a 30-30 then you really can't kill anything. Hmmm, I wonder if those hogs I've been eating just happened to have fatal heart attacks as I fired? Yeah, that must be what's happening.NAAAAAHHHH ! You guys are pulling my leg... You cannot hunt with reloads..., it doesn't work.... I read that in several gun magazines....
How could we ever get along without experts?
Hi bigo,
It's interesting that you would be asking about .338's. There's a guy at my club shoots one for pleasure, about ten rounds at a time, always Rem factory stuff. I have some of the brass sitting in my extras box and was just looking at it yesterday.
Belted magnums are kind of a world unto themselves as far as reloading them goes. If you are thinking about light target loads or cast bullets, if you necksized your brass, you might get twenty or more reloads from a lot of cases. BUT, and it is a big one, in the real world, they can be a royal PITA to load for. Some are not, though, and they can behave just like regular rifles if you get a lucky one.
For serious hunting/dangerous game loads, they need to be Full Length sized (because any feeding problems can possibly be fatal). Fl sizing, depending on how tight the chamber dimensions are and how closely those dimensions match those of your sizing die can work harden the brass very quickly, requiring anealing often (sometimes every other firing) and limiting brass life significantly. The high pressures tend to make the brass flow more that it would in a smaller chamber/lighter pressure situation, and that means they might require more frequent trimming. This tends to thin the brass of the case body just above the case web and leaves the area weakened, increasing likelihood of a head separation. Again, an unacceptable situation in a dangerous game rifle.
So, if you are going to hunt something that will hunt you, make up handloads with brand new brass and premium bullets. If you are part of the 99.99% of the rest of us who won't and don't, look at it as you would any rifle new to you: a puzzle to work out. Only by actually doing it can you find how your rifle is going to behave and what kind of brass life you are going to get. Some magnum shooters are lucky to get two or three loadings from a case with hot loads. In big magnums, milder loads always put less stress on brass (and on shooters) and ought to give you better case life, especially if you can get away with neck sizing. Some rifles require FL sizing for good feeding, and some even require Small Base sizing (and I don't even want to speculate on how much a custom SB die would cost). A lot of magnum owners really enjoy shooting light cast loads for much less wear and tear on both barrel and shooter.
And yes, it sounds like your uncle used a Lee loader (a neck sizing only tool) on the rounds he gave you. Neck sized brass is always only to be used in the same rifle. It was probably an older one with a fatter, worn chamber.
Last edited by versifier; 12-24-2007 at 09:11 PM.
"Stand your ground.
Do not fire unless fired upon.
But if they mean to have a war let it begin here."
- Capt. Parker, Lexington Militia, April 19, 1775
Sometimes I buy bullets and brass, but factory loads?
Haven't
you taught your neighborhood kids how to go to the mall parking lots and "find" wheelweights?
Tom
Warning! Does NOT play well with others!
LOL...good one Bama
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