Today's Plan

Extend your shooting experience while reducing the cost of your ammunition!
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mr surveyor
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Re: Today's Plan

Post by mr surveyor »

Ohio3Wheels wrote:
mr surveyor wrote:snip

I really need to order a few thousand cast bullets … do the commercial casters have anything left?


jd
Try Acme. I got an assortment of 300 from them last week. I've been pleased with their product.

Stay well, be safe, make smoke,

I still haven't ordered from Acme although they are on my list of bullet suppliers. Lately I've been trying to find a 38/357 bullet profile that at least resembles the LEE 358-158 RF one of my buddies used to cast for me. Even though it seems to have historically been one of the most popular bullet styles, I can't find a single commercial casting company that builds a bullet on that profile. The closest to fit the general profile I've been able to find was the 145 gr and 165 gr HP bullets from GT Bullets. I ordered 250 of each this morning to try them before ordering in bulk. Surprisingly the guy told me I should have them next Monday or Tuesday. Something to look forward to.

jd
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Re: Today's Plan

Post by mr surveyor »

Arroyoshark wrote:Mr. Surveyor, I concur on your load recipe using AA#9. I've used the Hornady 240gr. XTP successfully on an elk, but I cannot comment on its expanding performance, as it hit the spine at base of neck. My long time load for .44 mag revolvers has been 20.0 gr. of AA#9 using a mag primer for better ignition in cold temps.

I used to load H110, but when November temps are 12- 15 degrees at sun up, I could feel the drop in performance, even ignited with mag primers. I don't use H110 in my .44 hunting loads anymore. I have better performance with AA#9 or Alliant 2400.

We seem to have the same tastes in powder. My late re-loading mentor got me completely hooked on A2400 and cast boolits. Within a year of starting my reloading habit … hobby …. in 2011, the major crunch hit the component side and A2400 was as scarce as fairy dust. I found AA#9 and AA#7 on the lgs shelf and they really fit my limited needs. Then within a year I was in a search to replace a few empty Unique cans and found it had gone the way of A2400 - unobtanium. But, there was AA#5 on the shelf right beside #9 and #7. Last year I finally fought my urge to resist and bought a pound of AA#2 to try in the 45 auto rounds. Yep, I'm totally happy with my AA powders for what few calibers I load for. I do still insist on keeping a supply of A2400 and Unique on hand since old Mack convinced me that was mandatory, but the AA powders mostly get the nod.

jd
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Re: Today's Plan

Post by GasGuzzler »

I've said elsewhere 2400 is my favorite .357 powder and I haven't seen it on a retail shelf in about 8 years. I have some still ... and I don't like Unique at all but have a few pounds of it too because everyone says it's good. I don't like metering corn flakes myself.

I have the LEE 358-158 RF mold if you really need THAT bullet.
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Re: Today's Plan

Post by Archer »

A friend of mine just got through doing 500 rounds of 9mm with Unique through a Dillon.
Metering was not quite as consistent as I think it would have been through either of our Redding measures but it wasn't bad, especially when you consider the slider setup of the Dillon.

I have used Unique for decades and it works well for me. I have found it metered fine in my Redding 3BR measure, a pre-lock and load Hornady powder measure, an older Lyman 55 measure and the Lee 'Perfect' powder measure. I did NOT like the way it metered in a 1990 era Lyman 55 measure. (Same mechanical construction as the earlier version but with looser tolerances.)

I'm not a particular fan of Bullseye, but I have used a lot of it because multiple pounds of it came with a truckload batch of reloading equipment I bought. I know a lot of folks who use it because they can get more rounds per pound when loading typical pistol cartridges. It works ok for several rounds I load but I prefer loads where I have a higher percentage of the case filled by the powder. There are usually several powders that do that for me.
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