# Back to the loading bench



## sprucegum (Mar 23, 2020)

With building our new house and moving I haven't had time for reloading and shooting.
With all that is going on in the world time is easier to find so this weekend I unpacked my reloading stuff. All day Saturday was spent sorting and cleaning things and Sunday morning I got the presses mounted and the bench organized. Sunday afternoon I loaded a few for my Ruger .327 federal single 7. I have had the gun a few years and just haven't had time to shoot It. Went out in the woods behind the house and unloaded a couple cylinders into a tree stump. Maybe I will put up a proper target next time.

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## Nature Man (Mar 23, 2020)

Congrats on finding time for other important things! Chuck

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## Gdurfey (Mar 23, 2020)

@sprucegum , thanks for sharing. Not keeping up with the shooting and new loads. Very interesting; just looked it up online. Which model pistol do you have; the standard SP101 or do you have a birds head grip pistol? just curious...…...

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## sprucegum (Mar 23, 2020)

Mine is the single 7 which uses the same frame as the single 6 .22 rimfire . It has a beefed up 7 shot cylinder. The first one I had was a GP 100 double action, when ruger stopped making them I sold it for 3x what I paid. The single 7 was a special run sold exclusively by Davidsons . Mine is the 4 5/8" barrel. Makes a nice accurate piece to carry around on woods walks and backwoods fishing trips. Packs about the same punch as the .357 mag with less recoil. Another nice feature is that it will shoot all of the rimmed. 32 caliber rounds.

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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 23, 2020)

Glad you got back to the bench. I actually went down and loaded some the other night. May do more tonight.

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## sprucegum (Mar 23, 2020)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> Glad you got back to the bench. I actually went down and loaded some the other night. May do more tonight.



I find it relaxing. Sometimes I pour a nice drink of bourbon and just do case prep or organize, always handle powder and primers without the whiskey.

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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 23, 2020)

It is relaxing. A buddy of mine just ordered his stuff to start. I sent him a bunch of brass. I told him he will enjoy it.

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 23, 2020)

Given the stupidity going on out there, I finally dug out my old RCBS Rockchucker. Managed to get a shipment of components for a couple calibers just in time. 

Did a little woodworking/gunsmithing to re-stock my Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 and put a scope on it.

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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 23, 2020)

Beautiful firearm right there. Really good shape!

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## ripjack13 (Mar 23, 2020)

I love this. I love that gun. I love it all!


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## sprucegum (Mar 24, 2020)

JerseyHighlander said:


> Given the stupidity going on out there, I finally dug out my old RCBS Rockchucker. Managed to get a shipment of components for a couple calibers just in time.
> 
> Did a little woodworking/gunsmithing to re-stock my Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 and put a scope on it.
> 
> ...



Nice gun but we need to talk about that bench

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 24, 2020)

sprucegum said:


> Nice gun but we need to talk about that bench



Trust me, I know... Don't even get me started.

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## Gdurfey (Mar 24, 2020)

@sprucegum , thanks for the info. I have an old single six that I sent in for the safety block update. However, Ruger made me a real fan; they sent the original parts back to me. Had them do me a magnum cylinder at the same time; mine only came with the 22LR cylinder. Also, I love convertibles; have wanted the 45LC/45ACP version for a long time; just have never sprung for it. I shoot a lot of 45 ACP and reload, just seemed to be a nice combination to have some day.

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## sprucegum (Mar 24, 2020)

Gdurfey said:


> @sprucegum , thanks for the info. I have an old single six that I sent in for the safety block update. However, Ruger made me a real fan; they sent the original parts back to me. Had them do me a magnum cylinder at the same time; mine only came with the 22LR cylinder. Also, I love convertibles; have wanted the 45LC/45ACP version for a long time; just have never sprung for it. I shoot a lot of 45 ACP and reload, just seemed to be a nice combination to have some day.




I have a old model single 6 with both cylinders. I don't plan on ever having the conversion done. Just carry it hammer down on a empty cylinder. 5 beans in the wheel.

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 24, 2020)

You got me curious, I wasn't familiar with the .327, had to look it up. From the perspective of the picture, it looked like you were somehow reloading 22.lr...

That's a pretty cool round with some sweet ballistics. Probably dirt cheap to reload too? I found this video of a guy shooting it out of a Henry Rifle. I think I must have one. Or maybe two.

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## sprucegum (Mar 24, 2020)

JerseyHighlander said:


> You got me curious, I wasn't familiar with the .327, had to look it up. From the perspective of the picture, it looked like you were somehow reloading 22.lr...
> 
> That's a pretty cool round with some sweet ballistics. Probably dirt cheap to reload too? I found this video of a guy shooting it out of a Henry Rifle. I think I must have one. Or maybe two.



Yes it is pretty reasonable to reload paper punching stuff. I have been loading 90 gr. semi wadcutters with 2.5 gr. of tight group. Quality jacketed hollow points still cost money but fortunately I have a couple hundred that I bought some time ago and I also have well over a pound of Lil gun powder which is really good in hotter loads. When I was loading a lot I was always trying new things and trading guns, as a result I have quite a variety of bullets and powder as well as a good stock of primers. Even if I cant buy any components I will be able to find a load that will work for every firearm that I own.

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 24, 2020)

Reloading is something I always wanted to do. It just seems the money always goes to something else. I have a ton of brass for my 44 mag and 9 mm. I still say someday. I've even thought about casting my own bullets for the 44 as I have a bunch of lead.

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 24, 2020)

woodtickgreg said:


> Reloading is something I always wanted to do. It just seems the money always goes to something else. I have a ton of brass for my 44 mag and 9 mm. I still say someday. I've even thought about casting my own bullets for the 44 as I have a bunch of lead.


Ahh, the infamous "someday"... My "someday" list has grown huge over the years. But if you are shooting 44 mag, often enough, you can save a good amount of money by loading your own. The RCBS Rockchucker press is not bad at all in price and works great. The bullet casting thing is a whole other level that I know next to nothing about but if you've lots of lead, go for it.
Most people don't consider reloading 9mm to be worthwhile, given the time it takes, relatively low cost of factory ammo and mostly the rate you go through it. But if you're looking to load specialty rounds or need high accuracy for competition, that changes the curve a good bit. 44 mag, would definitely be worth it.

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 24, 2020)

sprucegum said:


> I find it relaxing. Sometimes I pour a nice drink of bourbon and just do case prep or organize, always handle powder and primers without the whiskey.



Reminds me of a story a friend told when we were young. His dad had loaded up a batch of high power rifle ammo and grabbed the wrong bottle of powder... Loaded them with Magnum pistol powder & blew up a very nice hunting rifle. Most certainly a time to be at your best. 
I may have a beer or two while doing case prep stuff also but if I get tempted to keep going, I remind myself of that story and my perspective on the rifle bolt when I pull the trigger.

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## sprucegum (Mar 25, 2020)

woodtickgreg said:


> Reloading is something I always wanted to do. It just seems the money always goes to something else. I have a ton of brass for my 44 mag and 9 mm. I still say someday. I've even thought about casting my own bullets for the 44 as I have a bunch of lead.



If you want to load mostly pistol calibers I recommend the Lee auto indexing turret press with the auto disk powder measure. Very economical and fast, it will also work fine for loading bigger stuff. The Lyman reloading manual has the most complete and easy to understand how to information. I have 2 presses the Lee turret and a lyman turret press.

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## Gdurfey (Mar 25, 2020)

As Dave just mentioned, the Lee is great; I had a friend with the Dillon and I went that direction for pistol.....gee, going blank on the model, but it is their basic for pistol only. Self indexing is sort of like have variable speed on the lathe, makes it so easy! I have the parts to do 4 calibers; mainly do 45 ACP; but can do 38/357 and 40 S&W (which I no longer shoot). Yep, great therapy. I have the rock chucker for my hunting rifle as well as one of the Lee's which has not been fully set up yet.

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## Bill Clancy (Mar 25, 2020)

That would be the Dillon Square Deal press. Nice stuff...I run a 550, manual indexing, but will reload rifle also. They are beasts of machines. I've run many, many thousands of 9mm, and .45ACP through mine. Simple care and feeding is all they ask for. :)

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## Gdurfey (Mar 25, 2020)

Thanks Bill (@Bill Clancy ) that's it. Love it. Knowing what I know now and how my interests have expanded, I would love a 550 or something similar. That old hindsight again. Then again, I don't get out and shoot like I had hoped at one time. Retirement is coming though...….

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## Bill Clancy (Mar 25, 2020)

I think reloading is a deep skill, with enormous paybacks. It makes you appreciate the work that goes into producing ammo, teaches you a lot about shooting and how your firearm operates, and is a great hobby to boot!

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## sprucegum (Mar 26, 2020)

Bill Clancy said:


> I think reloading is a deep skill,



Or not. One can buy a little single stage press, a set of lee dies that comes with a powder scoop, one can of powder, bullets and primers. If you follow the directions you can put together a load that will work without even owning powder scales. On the other hand you can take it as far as you want, you can work up loads for velocity and accuracy using many different powders and bullets. You can chronograph loads, cast bullets, and reform brass for wildcats and obsolete calibers and cast and swage your own bullets. I fall kind of in the middle, I have a couple wildcats and obsolete calibers and I own a chronograph. Definitely waste a lot of time tinkering around, I even made my own sizing die for my 8mm x 300 win mag. never got into bullet casting.

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## Gdurfey (Mar 26, 2020)

my shoulder hurts just thinking about your win mag!!!!!!!!!

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 26, 2020)

That Dillon Square Deal press is interesting. I've been thinking about a progressive press for higher production rate on loads that don't require the extreme accuracy I go for on the single stage. Yet another rabbit hole to start down.

@sprucegum Care to elaborate on those obsolete calibers?
While it's far from obsolete, at least IMHO, the British .303 is what got me into reloading. Besides the No4 Enfield posted above, my first was a 1927 SMLE MkIII. It was an excellent rifle right from the beginning but it's really impressive when you develop the load specifically to the rifle. 1.5", five round groups at 100 yards with iron sights, kind of. My "iron sights" on that rifle is the Parker Hale micrometer aperture sight. 
I've the feeling you have stuff that makes that look contemporary. 
There are some old Winchester lever guns in my future. Someday.

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## sprucegum (Mar 26, 2020)

Gdurfey said:


> my shoulder hurts just thinking about your win mag!!!!!!!!!


The beauty of hand loading if all your doing is punching paper loads can be tamed down a little.

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## Bill Clancy (Mar 26, 2020)

sprucegum said:


> Or not. One can buy a little single stage press, a set of lee dies that comes with a powder scoop, one can of powder, bullets and primers. If you follow the directions you can put together a load that will work without even owning powder scales. On the other hand you can take it as far as you want, you can work up loads for velocity and accuracy using many different powders and bullets. You can chronograph loads, cast bullets, and reform brass for wildcats and obsolete calibers and cast and swage your own bullets. I fall kind of in the middle, I have a couple wildcats and obsolete calibers and I own a chronograph. Definitely waste a lot of time tinkering around, I even made my own sizing die for my 8mm x 300 win mag. never got into bullet casting.



I have a friend who shoots nothing but 30-06. Occasionally he shoots one shot to make sure it's sighted in and then shoots a deer and a couple of pigs each year. I gave him a "Lee loader", the one you reload with a mallet, a lb of powder, and a box of primers many years ago. He's still at it, maybe 10 shots a year, but eats well and enjoys it! I think he's still using the same brass!

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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 26, 2020)

Speaking of 303 British, I have a full box of Winchester to get rid. It was in my step dads stuff but he didn't have one. Interested in a trade?


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## sprucegum (Mar 26, 2020)

JerseyHighlander said:


> That Dillon Square Deal press is interesting. I've been thinking about a progressive press for higher production rate on loads that don't require the extreme accuracy I go for on the single stage. Yet another rabbit hole to start down.
> 
> @sprucegum Care to elaborate on those obsolete calibers?
> While it's far from obsolete, at least IMHO, the British .303 is what got me into reloading. Besides the No4 Enfield posted above, my first was a 1927 SMLE MkIII. It was an excellent rifle right from the beginning but it's really impressive when you develop the load specifically to the rifle. 1.5", five round groups at 100 yards with iron sights, kind of. My "iron sights" on that rifle is the Parker Hale micrometer aperture sight.
> ...




The only obsolete I have now is 303 savage. I have 3 wildcats the afore mentioned 8mm x 300 mag, a 8mm x06 and a 25 x o8 imp.


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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 26, 2020)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> Speaking of 303 British, I have a full box of Winchester to get rid. It was in my step dads stuff but he didn't have one. Interested in a trade?


Possibly. Don't know what I have to offer in trade. Whatcha looking for?


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 26, 2020)

I send em to you. You send a couple cool pot call blanks or game call blanks back that you feel is a fair trade.

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## Bill Clancy (Mar 26, 2020)

sprucegum said:


> Or not. One can buy a little single stage press, a set of lee dies that comes with a powder scoop, one can of powder, bullets and primers. If you follow the directions you can put together a load that will work without even owning powder scales. On the other hand you can take it as far as you want, you can work up loads for velocity and accuracy using many different powders and bullets. You can chronograph loads, cast bullets, and reform brass for wildcats and obsolete calibers and cast and swage your own bullets. I fall kind of in the middle, I have a couple wildcats and obsolete calibers and I own a chronograph. Definitely waste a lot of time tinkering around, I even made my own sizing die for my 8mm x 300 win mag. never got into bullet casting.


That's exactly how I started. Loading on an ancient Lyman "Spartan" press, a friend gifted to me to reload .30 Herret, a wildcat for my beloved Thomson Contender.

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## JerseyHighlander (Mar 27, 2020)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> I send em to you. You send a couple cool pot call blanks or game call blanks back that you feel is a fair trade.


Sounds like a deal. But I don't have much in the way of the fancy/exotic woods I see around here. I'm also now forced to admit, I have no idea what a pot call blank is... If you give me dimensions, I'm sure I can come up with some nice stuff. (Black Cherry, Black Walnut, Possibly some spalted Black Birch)


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 27, 2020)

Haha not a problem. Doesn't have to be exotic. I have cherry and walnut, but the spalted black birch sounds great! PM coming.


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 27, 2020)

4x4x1 are pot call blank size


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## sprucegum (Mar 27, 2020)

Does anyone else play around with reduced loads? When my boys were learning to shoot I loaded a lot of them. I like unique and tight group powder and hard cast lead bullets. One of my favorites was a .310 diameter round ball in 30-30 sitting on a whopping 2 gr. of tight group, it took some careful die adjustment to get the crimp just rite. They were very accurate at around 30 yds and if the light was just rite you could sometimes see the bullet in flight. I still carry a couple light loads when I am deer hunting for the occasional small game shot of opportunity.

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## Gdurfey (Mar 27, 2020)

Dave, a very good friend that got me into reloading is a national range officer for one of the pistol competition organizations and does their competition ballistics data. That is, he gets to shoot everyone's gun at the range and determines if they are properly shooting major or minor in which ever category they are in. He taught me all about target loads with decent punch; but no where near punishing. Still good performance and such, operates the gun just fine (1911 45 ACP) and those semi-wadcutters make such pretty holes in paper. I use Winchester Super Target; even in my .357 rounds. Only rifle rounds I have done are 7mm Mag and have only done hunting loads. But, since it is my only big gun, thought about using a lighter load on some 140 gr bullets so I don't blow the heck out of an antelope if I ever get a chance at one.

and for reduced loads, I have a bunch of 22s; I love 22 rifles and pistols!!!!

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## JerseyHighlander (May 13, 2020)

Hopefully everyone is starting to come out of their foxholes out there... I had dropped everything trying not to get caught with my pants down in the middle of the coronapocalypse. Seemed like the crazy was escalating daily and remarkably, building my stores of ammo was soothing, in a non-psychotic kind of way. Not saying I wasn't feeling a bit Ted Kaczynski-ish down in the basement pressing bullets, but needing to relearn something I hadn't done in 15 years, I immersed myself in ballistics study. All kinds of new powders and such that are available and new equipment etc., for better or worse. Had to update my Lyman 47th ed reloading manual & found all kinds of new resources on the net too.
Went looking for that .327 federal that Sprucegum posted. Some of the new powders can push that up over 1700fps. - https://shootersreference.com/reloadingdata/327-federal-magnum/

Wish the initiating circumstances had been different but very happy to have finally unpacked my reloading gear from way, way back. Wish the cost of components wasn't going through the roof but I've got a decent stash right now and the armory is topped up pretty good. Pretty sure I even figured out what I was doing wrong with the loads for my Swedish Mauser that I put away back in 2003 and haven't touched since.

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## sprucegum (May 13, 2020)

JerseyHighlander said:


> Hopefully everyone is starting to come out of their foxholes out there... I had dropped everything trying not to get caught with my pants down in the middle of the coronapocalypse. Seemed like the crazy was escalating daily and remarkably, building my stores of ammo was soothing, in a non-psychotic kind of way. Not saying I wasn't feeling a bit Ted Kaczynski-ish down in the basement pressing bullets, but needing to relearn something I hadn't done in 15 years, I immersed myself in ballistics study. All kinds of new powders and such that are available and new equipment etc., for better or worse. Had to update my Lyman 47th ed reloading manual & found all kinds of new resources on the net too.
> Went looking for that .327 federal that Sprucegum posted. Some of the new powders can push that up over 1700fps. - https://shootersreference.com/reloadingdata/327-federal-magnum/
> 
> Wish the initiating circumstances had been different but very happy to have finally unpacked my reloading gear from way, way back. Wish the cost of components wasn't going through the roof but I've got a decent stash right now and the armory is topped up pretty good. Pretty sure I even figured out what I was doing wrong with the loads for my Swedish Mauser that I put away back in 2003 and haven't touched since.
> ...



Can't beat that RCBS press for a do it all single stage press.

Reactions: Agree 2


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