Thanks to everyone, especially Rule3, for helping my out last week with my first attempts at reloading dummy rounds. With their help and some practice, I have finally reloaded my first live round. Here it is. Tell me how it looks:



It's a 158 grain LSWC with 3.0 grains of Red Dot using CCI small pistol primers. Alliant manual says to load 3 grains to 3.4 and a minimum OAL of 1.440. I seated to the cannelure and the OAL is 1.474. I have a few questions:

I am using the Hornady GS-1500 digital scale and the Hornady powder thrower that came with the kit. I calibrated the scale with the included weight, then zeroed it. Before throwing powder, I put the empty pan on, pressed the Tare button to re-zero the display with the pan on, then through the powder. Took some fine tuning, but the scale would not throw the exact same powder every time. Sometimes 3.1. Next time, 3.3. Next time 3.0. All within reason, and since the guns that will be shooting these are both .357 magnum, I figure it's all good. Just thought I would get more consistent throws.

I'm gonna load 17 more and hit the range this Friday. But figured I'd wait for any other advice before loading those other rounds. If I still have a hand to type with, I will post the results!