beachmaster Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 I just reloaded my first ever 20 rnds using a Lee hand press. I used mke headstamped once fired brass (fired by me)(Turkish) CCI large rifle primers Imr4064 (43 grains, minimum load according to Lee for 150 grain bullet) M80 147 grain surplus bullets Starting out, the Lee directions tell you where to set the bullet seater in the press, but it says nothing about how to adjust it at the top, so I started with the top screwed in all the way, as it came, and gradually moved up until I got it to match the zq1 Turkish factory loaded ammo I have. This brought me right to the cannalure (sp) Here are the results The round to the left is factory loaded. My question is what should I do with the first four rounds? Should i just yank the bullet, resize, and re seat? Can I resize the bullet with power and primer inside if I am careful? Any advice on this, or generally any reloading would be much appreciated. BTW, all brass was full length sized, but next time i shoot I will try to fire form my brass with the collet die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripledeuce Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Just yank the bullet. and re-seat. no need to re-size. Respectfully Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Awesome! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Any advice on pulling the bullets out without damaging the bullets? Or should just get vice grip out and say bye bye to the bullets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unforgiven Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 This: http://www.amazon.com/SmartReloader-SR1750-Reloading-Bullet-Puller/dp/B0044XL39Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1393792453&sr=8-3&keywords=bullet+puller <dontknow> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Armory Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 You used a minimum charge of powder... just shoot them. The added pressure of the deep seating will not be excessive and will not hurt anything. If you are still worried used a kinetic puller or a collet puller setup. Most manuals will have a minimum height for OAL per projectile. Once you move up to longer projectiles your maximum OAL will be just less than the magazine size. There is a sweet spot of 2.795" to 2.805" (165gr to 180gr + ) on 308Win ammo on the longer bullets and 2.780" to 2.790" on the shorter bullets(147gr to 150gr). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 What he said . just shoot them . Are you trimming the brass ? I only say this because the longer or shorter the case is , setting it up on the cannelure could give you a longer or shorter OAL . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Well I am using a Lee bullet seater, so I set it to put a case to the cannalure, matching the factory loaded ammo, and I left the setting there. So although I am not doing any trimming, I just used the cannelure to get me into the ball park compared to the ammo I had it compared to. Thanks for all the info! Utilizing what I have, I will just shoot the rounds. There is a ton of knowledge on this forum! I know I will learn quickly, and i cant wait. There is so many thing to learn for reloading, especially when it comes to precision reloading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 There is so many thing to learn for reloading, especially when it comes to precision reloading. That's easy - seriously. It's time consuming, and you have to stay very alert for it, but... All you do is follow each step every single time. *Make sure every case is trimmed to the same length, and sort those suckers by weight. Consistent cases. *Hand seat all your primers. Go for the exact same "feel" or pressure to seat them, and don't overseat them. If one doesn't feel right, or takes more pressure to seat, that case goes into the "Range Ammo" pile. It's not used for precision loading. *Measure every single powder drop. Every one. *Seat every bullet to the same depth. *Measure the OAL once loaded. If one is shorter, don't mix it in with the rest when you're going for accuracy on targets. It won't run the same, and will impact differently. If one is longer, no big deal - seat it deeper. Literally, that's it, in a nutshell. When loading for precision, you want every single one that you make to be like all the others. It's about consistency. Coming UP with the load is a different subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 Very cool! I def need to work on case prep for precision. I dont have a tumbler or a case trimmer. As it is, I hand primed all the ammo i did, and i could feel exactly what you are talking about. And i measured every charge exactly, which often to two, three, or more tries. The Lee scale doesn't like to lock the slide portion of the scale in place, so I have to make sure it hasn't moved for each round. Once I get more Lee scoopers, measuring with that scale will be easier, so that will be nice. Right now I am trying to play with small changes to look at accuracy, like crimp vs non crimp, etc, without me touching any other variables. But I do have a separate pile of ammo for plinking only. Not that I am a precision shooter, or that this will be a accurate round. Its all cheap components and tools. Anyways, im learning. I appreciate everyones input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 Right now I am trying to play with small changes to look at accuracy, like crimp vs non crimp, etc, If you're running this ammo through a semi-auto, make cure it has some kind of crimp on it, roll-crimp, taper-crimp, whatever. If they're completely UNcrimped, you will have bullet setback sometime. You will. When the projo gets pushed back in the case, the pressures go up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planeflyer21 Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 That's pretty much what my first loading experience was like. Now, when using a new bullet type, I back out the seating stem and then incrementally seat the first round until the desired Over All Length (OAL) is reached. The second round gets measured, to ensure that the incremental seating on the first one wasn't a fluke. I'm digging my Lee Hand Press! Can sit around sizing and depriming while doing just about anything, even move on to flaring pistol brass mouths. Nice to not have to be chained to the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 Yeah the hand press is great! As long as I clean my cases well, and lubricate them enough, even resizing is super easy. I guess it is easy to say the process has been enjoyable before you have pulled the trigger lol. Can anyone post a picture of a properly crimped 308 case? Using the Lee crimped, I simply got a very small line just below the mouth of the case. Ill post a picture tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibiwan Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 I think there's a good number of us using the Lee factory crimp die. My crimps are set at about 3/4 turn from the initial setting where it just touches the case mouth, and it leaves the small 4-section line you described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasprite Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 When you decide to do the precision loads try the OCW method of developing a load. http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ For me it worked really well and was able to use a 100 yard range to develop the load unlike the ladder test that requires at least 300 yards to show the load and I don't have access to a range for that distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 When you decide to do the precision loads try the OCW method of developing a load. http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ For me it worked really well and was able to use a 100 yard range to develop the load unlike the ladder test that requires at least 300 yards to show the load and I don't have access to a range for that distance. That was a very interesting article! I would need to lock my rifle into a sled to find that perfect load though, thats for sure, because right now with iron sights, no spotting scope, and a backpack to rest the rifle on... I dont have the ability to find an accurate load. I need to work first on becoming an accurate shooter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmaster Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 The crimp line is very shallow. Do I need to crimp harder? Or should I just experiment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Armory Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 Crimp pressure is subjective ! More by feel. Light crimp is better but be consistance. If you have a cannelure ... use it , you would have lost a little COAL. But gained consistancy by crimping on the cannelure. JMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasprite Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Crimp pressure is subjective ! More by feel. Light crimp is better but be consistance. If you have a cannelure ... use it , you would have lost a little COAL. But gained consistancy by crimping on the cannelure. JMO. I agree with this First one (left cartridge ) Is a Factory PPU 175gr match round Second ( middle) is my 147gr plinking load mixed brass (this one FC) Third my 168gr A-max load PPU brass twice fired. As you can see it looks like the factory round has no crimp at all and my A-max load has a light crimp. With the 147gr bullet having a cannelure I went with what I call a medium crimp because of the mixed cases the crimp will very some from round to round. I tried to measure the crimp up by the case mouth to show how much difference there is between them. Factory PPU 175gr .336" 147gr FC case .325" 168gr A-max PPU case .333 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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