Guns, Dogs and Blades QnA

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FJRdoc said:
I've been reloading pistol and rifle cartridges for ab out 15 years. I'm always learning something to hone my skills. Unfortunately, I didn't have a mentor to help me which would have been so very helpful.
I reload because I like to try and make my vintage rifles perform to the best of their ability. I enjoy the process and I get a lot of self-satisfaction when I'm able to take a deer with my own loads.
I would suggest that one shouldn't get into reloading to save money........because you won't. It can be a very deep rabbit hole to go down, but my OCD brain loves it.
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Rabbit hole? I got a whole Warren of rabbits!

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pauly said:
Daddy like!!
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Hah! Ya can’t see it in the pix but there is actually some green on my bench. My workhorse press has been and will always be a RCBS rock crusher! I prep my brass a lot of times with the green then hit the Dillion progressives to crank it out. There is a whole plethora of folks that will challenge this process but it works for me. Plus I simply prefer the RCBS auto priming tool vs trying to seat primers in my progressives, yes they will do it but I like the ability to “feel” the primer seating in the brass. Plus sadly now we have to sort brass in same caliber by primer size. I would love to put the cost accountant that made that brilliant decision in the spotlight! Example 45 acp with both small and large primer size. Arghh…
 
I am with you on the Rock Crusher for initial prep, especially for my long range ammo that needs consistent headspace for max accuracy. I use a Frankford armory hand depriming tool and work in front of the TV in the evenings and do a few hundred at a time. I do a semi-auto process for most of my ammo. Deprime, clean, then lube and size in the Hornady progressive with case feeder. Then lube clean and manually prime with RCBS hand tool and back in the hopper to do the powder dump, bullet seat, and crimp it needed. All my LR ammo is loaded on the single stage and every charge hand weighed to 0.05gr. I might do some pistol cartridges all at once on the progressive, after that lot of brass has been processed manually/semi-auto first but I don't like seating primers in the press at all.
 
gzig5 said:
I am with you on the Rock Crusher for initial prep, especially for my long range ammo that needs consistent headspace for max accuracy. I use a Frankford armory hand depriming tool and work in front of the TV in the evenings and do a few hundred at a time. I do a semi-auto process for most of my ammo. Deprime, clean, then lube and size in the Hornady progressive with case feeder. Then lube clean and manually prime with RCBS hand tool and back in the hopper to do the powder dump, bullet seat, and crimp it needed. All my LR ammo is loaded on the single stage and every charge hand weighed to 0.05gr. I might do some pistol cartridges all at once on the progressive, after that lot of brass has been processed manually/semi-auto first but I don't like seating primers in the press at all.
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Exactly that! Thx!
I am part of the Dillion group and you would think I am a heretic for not wanting to seat primers in my progressives. They wear me out!
 
My RC press is all I got! I use a Lee hand prime tool and it works pretty good for me. I don’t tend to turn stuff out en masse other than .223 so it works!
 
Bobzilla said:
What powder scale do you guys use?
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Me personally I use multiple, I am an advocate of a two scale system for verification, always. I run both Dillion and RCBS digitals backed by a RCBS beam scale. Old school for the win! To me I don’t so much care who’s scale you use as long as you back it up with another scale.
 
Bobzilla said:
What powder scale do you guys use?
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I started with and still have a RCBS 505 that works fine. I also have a Lyman that was tuned by Scott Parker that I use most of the time. It is dead nutz and quicker to use. I have a digital that I'll use for analog scale verification so I don't have a senior moment reading the vernier. First charge gets checked on the digital and every ten or twenty after that.

If you can find or afford a Parker tuned scale, I highly recommend them. Lots of LR/Palma shooters use them and the resale on them can be impressive.
 
gzig5 said:
I started with and still have a RCBS 505 that works fine. I also have a Lyman that was tuned by Scott Parker that I use most of the time. It is dead nutz and quicker to use. I have a digital that I'll use for analog scale verification so I don't have a senior moment reading the vernier. First charge gets checked on the digital and every ten or twenty after that.

If you can find or afford a Parker tuned scale, I highly recommend them. Lots of LR/Palma shooters use them and the resale on them can be impressive.
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Scott Parker scales are legend!
 
Today begins a three day instructor block for me, I get to wear out a bunch of instructor candidates that want to teach Carbines (AR15) in their respective areas. Perfect day for training today, low thirties and drizzly. They are gonna be absolutely miserable by lunch! Hah! I will have to change gears in my head after just getting done working with Game and Fish developing a new crop of youth shooting sports coaches. In that arena I had to be very academia correct as most are high school coaches. Today I get to be me! Shall we say a bit less polished and no bolo tie! Pix is from Game and Fish facility. I poke fun at them a bit but I am honored that they ask me to come speak. Youth shooting sports is a great program and game and fish sponsored it state wide. Just another reason I purchase a hunting license far beyond what I actually use.

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FJRdoc said:
Looking pretty spiffy. I'm sure that it is all quite rewarding for you.
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It very much is, my wife tells me every year at tax time we need more write on and less write off! But it is a way for me to give back to a community (2A) that has been so good to me and my family for years. Being a sponsored shooter is like a dream come true, I get to do what I love. But mentoring and teaching a new generation that will follow is just really really cool. We are seeing a very large percentage of LEO applicants now that have zero firearms experience. On plus side they got no bad habits! But it is a telling indicator of the change in our society norm. If folks like us do not pass it down hunting and fishing will become a lost art. I gotta stop right here or I will spin off into a political rant and the moderators will step in and crush the thread, as they should. We have went several years now without getting tossed into the NP section which I think is amazing and a credit to all the guys on here. Lord knows 2A is a polarizing political topic and we are all passionate about it.my sincere thanks to all y’all for keeping it clean! (No politics)
 
So question for the esteemed members here: I have my dad’s 1949 Remington 722 in .257 Roberts. It is equipped with a Redfield peep sight and I think I will stick with that. Since I have a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle also in .257 Roberts, I have the dies and everything to work up some loads for it. The question comes to what projectile should I use. Since most factory ammo was predominately soft point round nose bullets (Hornady), should I stick with more period correct bullet choices or use the modern offerings (I have Partitions, Sierra Pro-Hunters, Speer Grand Slams, Hornady SST, etc). Curious what your thoughts are as I plan on taking it to the woods a bit this coming fall.
 
pauly said:
So question for the esteemed members here: I have my dad’s 1949 Remington 722 in .257 Roberts. It is equipped with a Redfield peep sight and I think I will stick with that. Since I have a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle also in .257 Roberts, I have the dies and everything to work up some loads for it. The question comes to what projectile should I use. Since most factory ammo was predominately soft point round nose bullets (Hornady), should I stick with more period correct bullet choices or use the modern offerings (I have Partitions, Sierra Pro-Hunters, Speer Grand Slams, Hornady SST, etc). Curious what your thoughts are as I plan on taking it to the woods a bit this coming fall.
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Experiment. :D I made some 30=30 Winchester with spire point boat tails for my Marlin lever gun :D . One in the chamber and one in the mag for safety reasons. Factory loads weren't even close accuracy-wise.
 
Unconventional said:
Experiment. :D I made some 30=30 Winchester with spire point boat tails for my Marlin lever gun :D . One in the chamber and one in the mag for safety reasons. Factory loads weren't even close accuracy-wise.
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Good point. The round nose ammo was not known for accuracy! LOL. With the peep sight, the jerk behind the trigger will likely have a lot to do with accuracy!!! :rofl:
 
Reload with the Hornady FTX bullet for 30-30. It has a soft spitzer tip that can be safely loaded end to end in a tubular mag
 
FJRdoc said:
Reload with the Hornady FTX bullet for 30-30. It has a soft spitzer tip that can be safely loaded end to end in a tubular mag
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Agreed, as for loading the period correct ammo, in my mind that is for display or emotional memories. If I am on the mountain looking for meat I want the best most accurate load I can use. Just my .02

PS I looooove 257 Robert’s that is one of the most accurate efficient unheralded rounds on the planet.
 
Speaking of period correct. I got my Garand put back together today. I got rained out so it beckoned to me! I may be a bit geeky, but when working on firearms I only do it when I want to, not when I have time. I have to be sure I am in the right frame of mind for very slow, meticulous work. If I am not in that gear I don’t mess with them. Anyway the Garand is done with original period correct sling. Again, huge shout out to the guys on this thread for both suggestions on refinishing material and also methodology advice. I sanded till my arm fell off with 600 grit! But man did she turn out great! I also added a pix of my go to reference on M1 and M14

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pauly said:
So question for the esteemed members here: I have my dad’s 1949 Remington 722 in .257 Roberts. It is equipped with a Redfield peep sight and I think I will stick with that. Since I have a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle also in .257 Roberts, I have the dies and everything to work up some loads for it. The question comes to what projectile should I use. Since most factory ammo was predominately soft point round nose bullets (Hornady), should I stick with more period correct bullet choices or use the modern offerings (I have Partitions, Sierra Pro-Hunters, Speer Grand Slams, Hornady SST, etc). Curious what your thoughts are as I plan on taking it to the woods a bit this coming fall.
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I’ve had excellent luck with Hornady Interlock spitzer bullets and you can’t go wrong with the Partition. I wouldn’t hesitate to try a few of the modern bullets in the correct weight class for your barrel twist. The mono metal bullets are usually light for caliber to stay in the same twist range. You may get lucky and be able to use the same load in both rifles. I’m doing that in my kids 7-08rem rifles, but I use different head stamp brass in each of them but same die setup, bullet, and powder charge.
 
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