Here they are!!!

[Hunt200]

OK here they are, I spent way too much time on them, but it was my first time so I wanted to be careful. Now that everything is set up I should be a lot quicker while still being careful.

Lyman 358311 with 4 grains of unique. I hope to get out tonight or this weekend to try them.

How does the crimp look?

 

[ronnie gore]

bullets

i have been reloading and casting my own bullets for over 30 years,and that is the first bullet mold i got years ago, since it was the only one the shop had in stock. now i have a bunch of them,i prefer the semi-wadcutter bullets. the crimp looks about right, good luck.

 

[acl864]

Looking good! Keep us posted on how they shoot.

 

[Forrest r]

I've shot that same lyman bullet for years,sweet!!!

To me your crimp looks like it's not there. That bullet has an extremely generous crimp grove. You need to not seat the bullet so deep to take advantage of it.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The charge is a little light even for a target round. You might want to up the charge a bit IMO. I would also move the crimp into the groove more instead op seating the bullet so deep. The crimp itself looks alright considering you are making light ammo.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you your first ammo is junk, it looks good to me. Way to go... Don't forget the range report...

 

[Forrest r]

Sorry, I should of posted a pic of what I was trying to say.

I don't take good pics at all. What I was looking at on your reload was the top rim of the case that was showing, you shouldn't be able to see that. It should be tucked under the band on the bullet. As you can see, I don't use a heavy crimp.

You're going to get a ton of quality range time out of those reloads. You can drive those bullets from mild to wild and still get accurate loads with different powders.

I thought 4gr was right in the middle of the load for the powder that you're using?

 

[Hunt200]

OK how does this look? To me it looks perfect, but then again what do I know? LOL

 

[Jellybean]

Now that looks perfect, no fingerprints either.

 

[Forrest r]

That's looks beautymess, better than mine.

Let us know what load you come up with.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Looks like you got them just right now. Keep up the good work and go and shoot them now.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Hunt, those look really good. Keep up the good work.

One thing to remember, you are making pop can killing ammo. Minute of pop can accurate doesn't usually need any crimp at all. In fact, to save case life, I will load the bullet just a smidge deeper in the case and make it back to straight on the last driving band. Hard to explain but leave about .030" of the last driving band out of the case and simply close the case back to straight. Make sure it isn't too deep or too shallow. Just back to straight.

All will be good and your brass will last longer.

 

[rwnielsen]

Beautiful. Even looks as though you gave it a little spin in scotch-brite. Pride is good

 

[W.V.Martin]

Reloading

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and I don't want to sound too dumb but I've been shooting for close to 50 years and I never got into reloading. I guess the question I'm trying to ask, is there a book I could buy to learn how to reload and what equipment I need to buy? I've only lately started thinking about reloading because of the cost and availbilty of certain ammo. I've got a Kel Tec 380 that I've had for about a year that I haven't shot much because if you do find ammo for it they are real proud of it here in Florida. So being as I'm retired I thought that reloading might be a good hobby and Maybe give me a chance to shoot more. Thanks for any help.
W.V.Martin

 

[dave b]

Hunt, your first load looked pretty good to me. If you saved some of each, you could compare. Light loads don't need much crimp, and it works the brass less.

 

[Forrest r]

That's interesting to read that people are afraid of wearing out 38spl brass. I bought a new 586 back in the late 80's & 2000 used brass 38spl cases dies, bullet molds ect. Every time I bought a thousand primers to reload for that pistol, I marked it down on a piece of paper. I quit counting at 70,000 & shot the pistol for another 3 years. Shot 38's, 357's from mild to wild & finely the pistol got so far out of time I sent it in to s & w to have it rebuilt. I still have a bunch of that origional brass.

That bullet has a shallow crimp groove, it's hard to overwork the brass. I've seen more harm done with the expander die with 38's than a crimp. Over the years I've had more primer pockets fail (get to big to hold the primer) than the brass splitting.

I quess it's a personal preference, I've always set a die up to be used with any powder/power combo. Just found it easier to set it & forget it. I also use one of the height rings for loading 357's & I use the same crimp that in the pic that I posted earlier. Do the same thing for my 44spl/mags, it's being lazy but it works.

Enjoy, put some lead down range & let us know how your reloads worked out for you.

 

[bgrafsr]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and I don't want to sound too dumb but I've been shooting for close to 50 years and I never got into reloading. I guess the question I'm trying to ask, is there a book I could buy to learn how to reload and what equipment I need to buy? I've only lately started thinking about reloading because of the cost and availbilty of certain ammo. I've got a Kel Tec 380 that I've had for about a year that I haven't shot much because if you do find ammo for it they are real proud of it here in Florida. So being as I'm retired I thought that reloading might be a good hobby and Maybe give me a chance to shoot more. Thanks for any help.
W.V.Martin

Check this out.
How to Reload your own Ammunition | eHow.com

Google

 

[W.V.Martin]

Thanks for the link. It looks to be very infomative. W.V.Martin