So, it’s a rainy Saturday, good one to go pop some caps at the local indoor. Except I’m out of my .38 Special MGGB (Make Gun Go Bang) ammo.
Simple recipe: 2.7 grains of Clays an and a double-ended wadcutter sized .358 in Heinz 57 cases. One of my two Hornaday LnL APs stays pretty much set up for it. No the most accurate, but I have a lot of clays and it’s close-range MGGB ammo.
Charge primer tubes & powder measure, put the bin of bullets & range brass on the bench, first round, check charge weight, good to go.
Loading wadcutters, my eyes stay pretty much on the seating station to make sure the bullets are aligned in the case mouth so it doesn’t get damaged. All’s well until I look up with the press at the top of its stroke, and notice the powder measure is only going up about 1/2 its cycle. WTF? It was fine when I was checking charges.
Fortunately, I was only about a dozen rounds in. So I dump those twelve from the bin, adjust the measure, and press on while swearing at Hornady.
After running the primer tube dry, I look at those dozen rounds.
Not too long ago, I would’ve looked at about 60-cents worth of components and thrown them away. But with primers 400% higher, damned if I’m going to waste a dozen.
So I grab the impact puller and start banging away at the garage floor, still pissed.
😡
Now even running an oversized expander ball and almost no crimp, a case not specifically designed to be wadcutter-friendly does not like to give up its bullet.
Still I banged away, as each bullet finally came loose, I stood up and dropped the freed bullet back in the bin that still contained several hundred of its siblings.
The second to last bullet was free and added to the bin.
As I bent down to bang the last one against the garage floor, my elbow hit the bin and sent 800 wadcutters rolling every which way.
After tracking them all down and loading those last 12 precious cases, I decided a rainy Saturday was a good time for a nap.
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