Hi Willie,
Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I know about less depth of my original rounds would probably negate my powder overcharge, but I really didn't want my over all length to be over saami specs and I didn't want to complicate with an over charge, even if it was so small. I love manual scales and I use to have one. I am thinking of getting another one some day. Currently my electronic scale gets a validated calibration with a dept of ag 50 gram weight several times during a 100 round run of reloads. Initially I load my powder into my dispenser and then proceed to calibrate my scale several times as the scale adjusts to temperature and being powered up. Once the scale is stabilized and calibration does not drift even .000gns, I then check my dispenser, over and over and over for about 20 to 30 rounds of dumping powder and verifying it doesn't vary more than .2 grains between dumps. They become consistent around 15 rounds, but I want to double that. Then about every 15 to 30 rounds I will check on my scale. I have a strong light on a goose neck that is pointed down into my round after loading my charge to verify a rough visual on every single round to make sure it is where it should be. This is mostly to make sure no double charge or low or zero charge. This is a freaking time consuming job but that's ok. I kind of enjoy all this being exact stuff and a good prize on the side is I don't blow up my gun or my hand. I also Chrono my rounds every few trips to the range as another check.
I really like the 10 round average to see it is consistent. My father taught me to do that but I forgot that some time after I started reloading again. Thanks for reminding me. I have a very cool metering knob on my Dillion SDB that is calibrated and lets me know if my setting slips, which it doesn't with that knob due to the positive click, but I do watch it. My concern is the powder drop from the powder tube dropping without sticking. I give it a blow job with some compressed air once in awhile as I do my primer seating area to keep dust and residual powder from messing things up and making them stick.
On my next powder buy I will be going from my usual CFE pistol to TiteGroup. I will have to change everything about my settings and re-chrono every round for several hundred rounds. Actually that sounds like fun. I reload with bullets from Everglades ammo. FMJ round nose and JHP's both 230 gn rounds. The orders I have purchased from them have been pretty close in consistency in size and weight and seat well and they are very reasonable in price. Just under 15 cents per bullet for the JHP and just under 14 cents for the FMJ round nose. I collect my own brass that I shoot and sometimes a few more that look good which reduces my cost to reload. I buy 2K bullets at a time to keep the price down. I buy my powder local to avoid hazmat charges since I like fresh powder and primers, I don't buy those in bulk. It's just a personal thing. I also dump my powder back into the original container after a reload session to keep my powder as fresh as possible and as consistent as possible.
Like I said, I hate screw ups and I really screwed up on those 113 rounds.
I get to spend the next few hours taking my pre-cleaned brass and popping the primers and putting the brass back into my tumbler for my post-cleaning. Then in a few days I get reload about 250 rounds. I have a final sighting on my new red dot at the range next week. I will be having lots of fun.
Now that I bored everyone, I hope you have a great day.
Jim
Ouch DeputyG23,
Did that really happen to you? If so I am so sorry that happened. Not a fun day, but it could have been a double charge instead... That's why I shine a light into each case after dropping my charge. It's also the reason I hate to use other peoples reloads or to buy commercial rounds. I really like to see the charge each time. Maybe I should change my name to TheParanoidAncient1. I don't like guns that go pop or boom, I like bullets that go boom.
Jim
Hi Deputy again, I hate to see someone give up on reloads. They are so much fun for real. I do them in a nice quiet place with no distractions like my garage. My wife doesn't bother me there and I just move my car out in the driveway to block the view from the neighbors and concentrate on one bullet at a time. Now for a guy who hated building model airplanes when I was a kid, who'd a thunk I'd get a charge out of fine details of reloading and shooting. But I do. Just be deliberate and leave the world behind.
Jim
I have not given up. Loaded 100 .38 practice rounds this PM. I just don’t do it unless I can devote my undivided attention to what I am doing. The flashlight thing happens with me now as well.
Hope to go shooting in a couple of weeks after my second cataract surgery this coming Wednesday.
Hi DeputyG23,
Sorry to hear about the cats in the eye. I don't have them yet but my vision has degraded my in my old age. That's why I am in the process switching to red dots. Just had them installed on my primary (colt combat commander 45) and I am leaving my shield with irons till I get fully adjusted. The shield is my backup. So far I love the dots. Next trip to the range is to sight them in. I would have done that on my last trip but my armorer goofed and didn't locktite the mounting screws. This week I will complete the sighting adjustments at 15 yds. Not shooting for distance. later I will do final sighting adjustments at 10 yds. My commander and shield are for carry defense and I don't plan on defending from a long distance. 10 yards should be a perfect defense range for me.
Best of luck with the surgery.
Jim
;
You will save much time by not chronographing several hundred rounds.
Consult a manual, select a starting point, and shoot to test for an accuracy load. Chrono it. The big chrono effort might make sense if you were searching for a precision rifle load. But you are not. You are finding a suitable load for a handgun that will be fired off hand between 7 and 50 yards. If checking the accuracy load shows shows velocity variations with high standard deviations, you can tune further by varying charge and then chronographing. You are practicing good technique; for me that amount of time spent with a chrongraph would be an onerous task with no return. To save more time, you could resize and decap in same operation and then clean cases. Dirty cases will not damage carbide insert in sizing die. Or you can use a single stage press and a specialty decap die for the decaping operation and avoid getting crud in the progressive press' mechanism. Then you might run cases through from start to finish.