I've had an ultrasonic cleaner for a while that I've only used for dies/gun parts, figured I'd goof around with some brass cleaning.

For those who clean brass this way, what's your stew recipe, how long do you clean and how many pieces can you reasonably clean in what size cleaner? I used distilled water, dawn, and lemishine, 15 minutes and then dunked them in 91% isopropyl. They're now air drying over my dehumidifier fan. So far it seems they're not as perty as they are out of the wet fart but it's a much quicker process.

If it works out well I'll likely just use it for my small amounts of 45-70.

Alright, long story short we are starting with a shilen barrel and quality build, new(50 rds break in). Group was amazing, other numbers weren’t.

6.5 PRC, Hornady dies, hornady brass, Hornady eldx, retumbo. Trickled to .1 and better for powder. Virgin brass.

My ES is not where I want it to be, and my SD reflects that. Possible holes in my process are neck turning(absolute minimum, just truing surface), using retumbo in general?, and maybe the brass?.

I’m close to diving in for some ADG brass, but I don’t want to chase my tail if the powder is the cause. The neck turning should be nonissue.

Also could be the idea that the barrel got warm. If you look at these shots they are all rising in FPS, I waited at least a minute in between shots, probably closer to 3-4 for most especially the last 3. Seems curious to me that they all ascend.

Just bouncing ideas

https://preview.redd.it/45cere5tvqge1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7af49452b0a1f793811c69f3014bbcbe738f237

Rifle is an ar10 aero build with a 1-10 barrel.

Using 155gr nosler custom comp hpbt, aac brass, cci lrm primer

I’ve tried a ladder with benchmark, and got ok results with 42.5gr (1.5 moa four-shot group with one flier)

I have tac, bl-c(2), imr3031, ac2460, ac2520, and I also have varget but I’d rather try one of the other five.

Thanks ahead of time, everyone!

Was going to make my first 223 reloads with some 77 smk's tonight but the very first case I attempted to size got stuck. I've been using FA spray on case lube with no issues so far so not entirely sure what happened here.

I started considering reloading 300 BLK. Recently got a suppressor and started to enjoy it - figure maybe reloading can partially be a hobby.

Here is beginnings of a breakdown: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12udxen8MldXVMg-Q4jUlmKX9JdCqlALyBXuZ6nu3sOk/edit?usp=sharing

Around $1k to get the various ammo that I want if I were to buy factory. Around $1400-$1500 to get reloading setup going (including the free bullet promotion).

Ultimately, I think it could work out longterm but I’m sure I have missed things. Open to thoughts y’all!

Anyone done any analysis what reloading complements can get expensive due to new tariffs? Don’t need to go crazy but if there is a reason to start stockpiling, should perhaps start.

Hey reloaders out there:: .. are some of you having problems with armoralley 308 lake City primed brass cases?? .. I ordered 250 cases from them few months ago and I'm recently starting to reload some but I'm getting a lot of bad primers not wanting to fire with my brand new Tikka 308 bolt action!! Any input??

.300 WinMag

A few weeks ago a friend of mine introduced me into reloading. Since then I've started collecting power, primers, projectiles and now I'm on the lookout for brass. I bought a reloading kit yesterday and now I'm looking at adding to my die "collection"...why is this so addictive/fun!?

My bank account can't handle this 😅

Hi all just picked up a ruger no1 in 416 rigby and I was looking at projectiles and I’ve found hornady have a 500gn a tip. Has anyone trial this combo?

I've reloaded 9mm and .38/.357 for quite some time. For 9mm and .38/.357, I used the 4 die sets from Lee on a Hornady single stage press from the kit. Last November I bought a Glock 29 in 10mm, so new cartridge to load for. Its taken some time for brass to re-enter the atmosphere from orbit to collect enough cases to start reloading, but I finally had enough to start and was given a Hornady Custom Grade 10mm/.40 die set for Christmas that also included the rebate for the 100 free 155gn XTP. I also bought some 180gn FMJ-FP, some CFE Pistol, some large pistol primers and away I went.

First time with large primers, easier in some ways, harder in others. They tend to stay business end up on the primer tray better than small, take more force to set, so takes some getting used to. First time with CFE Pistol which came out after my manual was published, but off to hogdon.com I went and got a recipe. First time with the three die process, setting and crimping in one go.

Overall, I took my time, was careful and modest with my powder charge selection, and I finally got some time to shoot some of both the 155 and 180gn bullets. They were a little hotter than anticipated, starting right in the middle of min/max charges, but nothing crazy. Primers were somewhat flattened and there was minimal flow into the firing pin hole, I was concerned at first, but then I shot half a box of Magtech (which I've shot a fair bit of) and they honestly looked the same. Accuracy was good for a compact 10mm, I'm always impressed with XTP performance.

Anyway, I'm a happy fella, have a new recipe I trust in a new cartridge, it shot well, and I also found that a big ass tarp from Harbor Freight was able to collect nearly 100% of my brass from the snow.

Happy loading!

I’ve heard the 38 S&W shoots roughly the same projectile, but when looking up online, the 38s&w has a .361” diameter while the type 26 9x22 has a .356” diameter.

I’m kinda new to reloading so please ELI5 lol

I plan on casting some Lee 158 RF bullets for my Rossi 92. My question is: my groove diameter measures .355. Apparently most do from Rossi. What kind of accuracy can I expect from a .358 bullet? As I understand, you get the best accuracy with +.001 diameter bullet. Thanks for any advice y'all.

So few days ago i was asking y’all how to approach reloading. Particularly i didnt understand what some of the dies do, lol. Some of you said that i need to learn more before i begin, so i did. Yesterday i made my first batch of ammo

Today i went to the range, due to rain, wind and fog 100yd lane was closed (because of the fog targets were simply not visible)

So i made few groups at 50yd

This one is 308 SMK 175, 43.3gn varget, once fired PMC brass using tikka t3x tac a1

So I recently built a 22” 6.5 Creedmoor AR10 and the only powder I had laying around that would work for the 6.5 was some Win 748. I picked up some 123gr ELD-M’s and went to work. I know it’s not the ideal burn rate for a gas gun in 6.5 Creedmoor but it did cycle fine and I’m actually pretty impressed with this 5 shot group charged with 37.5 grains of the 748. Anyone else use 748 for their Creedmoor loads?

Anyone else’s Tikka t3 not like the factory eldm in 140? First group is with federal smk 140’s and second and third are with hornady eldm 140’s. Group was all over the place. Thought my scope was loose but double checked and everything is tight. Both had similar velocity and sd. I’m going to be reloading for them soon and was planning on using the eldms but not sure now

I’m brand new to reloading so I started by simply depriming, resizing, and re-priming some .357 cases on my brand new Lee turret press. The handle started to slip so I went to tighten the bolt holding it and it sheared off. I emailed Lee customer service so I hope they’ll make it right. But it’s not the way I wanted to start off my journey into reloading.

I am now on my 3 or 4 powder for 9mm that gives accuracy and velocity. I decided to try N330 since 2 local dealers said they filled orders promptly and the price had not gone up. I made a sample set of 115 gr Berry's and 124 Extreme HP's with 4.6 grs. The the charge was light for the 115's but 20 rds stayed in the 8 ring. The 124's were much better. Only 1 flyer and 9 of 15 rds touching, from a Gold Cup. I think N330 is worth trying.

I feel like I do when I decided to try Blue Dot, wow a powder made for 9mm

To preface, I have a Winchester Model 71, When I bought it I already understood the issues with component availability seeing as it’s a proprietary cartridge firing a proprietary bullet.

I have some cases for it along with bullet molds etc however I would also like to be able to form my own cases, after reading online I have seen two camps saying You can’t do it and You can, but they never share their process. I have a call with two separate tool and die companies this coming Monday, both of which offer .348 forming dies. The parent case being .50-110 WCF (Also hard to find brass but more regularly available/produced than .348) I would imagine you would form the cases from them.

Here’s the thing though, before anyone says “Just buy cases” forming the cases myself has become a bit of a sidequest for me. It’s not about cost savings but more so I want to know if other people have done it how they’ve done it. To summarize I know how to form cases, I want to know if any of y’all have formed .348 Win cases specifically.