can you please change the title of the thread?
i don't read it as dRck on first quick glance

heads

Projecting?

Get your mind out of the Sophomoric gutter.

Projecting?

Get your mind out of the Sophomoric gutter.

heads

Reloading components have been scare for a while, particularly primers and some powders.  I was able to get a good amount of powders that I wanted to try for loading .308.  There are a few more that I would like to try, but I'm ok with what I have.  However, I've noticed that brass availability has dropped way down in the last few weeks.  It was tough to find the cheaper brass in the Nov-Dec timeframe, but the premium brass like Lapua and Peterson were available in a lot of places.  Now they are on "extended backorder" everywhere on many of the common calibers.  Even the brass that take SRP are out in most places. 

One hopefully good sign is that I am seeing some LGS with ammo come in here and there.  Even including some more common rifle and pistol calibers.  Don't expect stuff like primers to be in stock very often, but hope to see some "calming" for some components in the coming (many) months. 

Varget with 175 gr SMK and CCI No.200

1-41.0 gr
Ave 2387
SD 15.8
ES 35

2-41.5
Ave 2433
SD 18.7
ES 47

3-42.0
Ave 2457
SD 15.2
ES 36

4-42.5
Ave 2499
SD 14.8
ES 41

5-43.0
Ave 2522
SD 11.5
ES 30

nice!   
I've only tried H4895 for my 308 but I have some varget too
I don't shoot much 308. maybe i'll try some with the varget next   

Reloading components have been scare for a while, particularly primers and some powders.  I was able to get a good amount of powders that I wanted to try for loading .308.  There are a few more that I would like to try, but I'm ok with what I have.  However, I've noticed that brass availability has dropped way down in the last few weeks.  It was tough to find the cheaper brass in the Nov-Dec timeframe, but the premium brass like Lapua and Peterson were available in a lot of places.  Now they are on "extended backorder" everywhere on many of the common calibers.  Even the brass that take SRP are out in most places. 

One hopefully good sign is that I am seeing some LGS with ammo come in here and there.  Even including some more common rifle and pistol calibers.  Don't expect stuff like primers to be in stock very often, but hope to see some "calming" for some components in the coming (many) months.

Powder here on the mainland and at online sources as all but dried up. I suggest if you find the powder you want that you buy it when you can. Because it may not be available over there for a while once it is all gone.

nice!   
I've only tried H4895 for my 308 but I have some varget too
I don't shoot much 308. maybe i'll try some with the varget next

H4895 and IMR 4895 is on my interest list.  I've seen both available in decent amounts locally in a few shops.  I have a few powders that have shown promise, so will likely to more testing with those first.  Hopefully refine one load first, and then branch out to other powders and heads.  I have 3031 on hand as well, which is the only one that I haven't tested yet.  It was one of the first powders I picked up since I recognized the name and saw it in stock.  A buddy has had ok results with that powder, so will likely see if he want it or use for loading up 30-06.

Powder here on the mainland and at online sources as all but dried up. I suggest if you find the powder you want that you buy it when you can. Because it may not be available over there for a while once it is all gone.

Yikes.  Not a good sign for HI.  Luckily, I have had at least promising results with a few powders that I have on hand, so can invest in more of those.  Varget and 8208 in the lead, with 4064 as decent.  I would love to get my hands on TAC and RL as well, but haven't even seen 1# jars anywhere. 

Looks like your optimum fps avg  is 2489 + / -  32 fps.
VERY similar to Rockettes.
 

Powder here on the mainland and at online sources as all but dried up. I suggest if you find the powder you want that you buy it when you can. Because it may not be available over there for a while once it is all gone.

Very good advice  I think the high cost of hazmat shipping might be a good thing for once. Looking at Gunbroker; Varget has SOLD for $125/lb, IMR4064 has SOLD for $300/2lbs, H-4350 has SOLD for $675/ 8lbs. Primers have SOLD for $200 to $300 + / brick. If it wasn't for the high hazmat shipping fees, I think powders would be sold out here and listed on Gunbroker by those looking for profits instead of being purchased by the ones who really need them.
 

Very good advice  I think the high cost of hazmat shipping might be a good thing for once. Looking at Gunbroker; Varget has SOLD for $125/lb, IMR4064 has SOLD for $300/2lbs, H-4350 has SOLD for $675/ 8lbs. Primers have SOLD for $200 to $300 + / brick. If it wasn't for the high hazmat shipping fees, I think powders would be sold out here and listed on Gunbroker by those looking for profits instead of being purchased by the ones who really need them.
 

Yikes. I don’t browse GB. I heard primers are out or going for ridiculous prices. Shitty state of things you mentioned.

Looks like your optimum fps avg  is 2489 + / -  32 fps.
VERY similar to Rockettes.
 

Ya. Seems so. Will start powder charge testing in the 0.2 gr increments soon.

Very good advice  I think the high cost of hazmat shipping might be a good thing for once. Looking at Gunbroker; Varget has SOLD for $125/lb, IMR4064 has SOLD for $300/2lbs, H-4350 has SOLD for $675/ 8lbs. Primers have SOLD for $200 to $300 + / brick. If it wasn't for the high hazmat shipping fees, I think powders would be sold out here and listed on Gunbroker by those looking for profits instead of being purchased by the ones who really need them.
 

WOW! At those prices I should sell some of my stash! 

If you think that primer prices are bad, check out this GB auction that closed almost a week ago:

https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/889873610

If you don’t want to click on it, 100 primers sold for $57.00. Not 1,000 primers but 100. That’s 57 cents each. Even the biggest cartridge I reload for doesn’t cost me that much to reload the entire cartridge.

Out here, you can’t find any small primers. But you can find some large pistol/rifle/magnum if you look hard enough. They are asking between $55-$80/1,000. I don’t need any large primers. As a matter of fact I have an open trade on another forum I am looking for small primers and will trade for large. No takers so far. 

WOW! At those prices I should sell some of my stash! 

If you think that primer prices are bad, check out this GB auction that closed almost a week ago:

https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/889873610

If you don’t want to click on it, 100 primers sold for $57.00. Not 1,000 primers but 100. That’s 57 cents each. Even the biggest cartridge I reload for doesn’t cost me that much to reload the entire cartridge.

Out here, you can’t find any small primers. But you can find some large pistol/rifle/magnum if you look hard enough. They are asking between $55-$80/1,000. I don’t need any large primers. As a matter of fact I have an open trade on another forum I am looking for small primers and will trade for large. No takers so far.

A couple of weeks ago, when I left Roy's the only primers they had left was one brick of No. 41s. I don't know for how much, but they sold me a brick of CCI small magnum pistol primers for $29.00.

A couple of weeks ago, when I left Roy's the only primers they had left was one brick of No. 41s. I don't know for how much, but they sold me a brick of CCI small magnum pistol primers for $29.00.

Good for Roy’s!!! That’s great that they are holding their prices.

Good for Roy’s!!! That’s great that they are holding their prices.

They did the same during the last ammo crunch.  They put limits on purchases (1 box per caliber, 2 calibers per visit).

I didn't see any price increases at Roy's for months -- probably when they depleted their pre-shortage stock.

OGC orders ammo months out, so even after the prices soared, they had good deals until those quantities were depleted.  The bad thing was, the distributors started using earlier orders to fill new orders so they could jack up the prices, which delayed fulfillment of earlier (cheaper) orders for months.

There should be discounts for customers left hanging while newer orders get filled, just to discourage that kind of BS.

Next phase of reloading and load development is getting ready to tailor the cartridge dimensions to my chamber. I have a few "generations" of brass that have been shot through my gun. I was going to do the measurements/tests where you take the fire formed case and do some resizing until the brass can chamber without resistance on the bolt.  Where you take the ejector out and back off the shoulder in increments until the bolt falls freely.  That sets the baseline.  Then the verification step to ensure you didn't resize too far is to put a piece of scotch tape (about 0.002" thickness) and make sure that the case is "reference" sized properly. 

In examining my brass, we found a range of fired lengths.  Where I found cases in increments that allows us to skip the sizing in increments step.  So that serves as gauges for my chamber.  That was pretty interesting.  Next step is to set my sizing die, verify brass is getting sized properly, and then lock in that die for my gun.  Once I have a good set of "sized for my gun" brass, will proceed to the powder charge testing.  Likely Varget and 8208 first and see what the chrono data has.

Have annealer and new case trimmer on order, so once those come in, will be all set for the next phase of load development.  My buddy was sizing cases via a die that is set for his chamber dimensions, which is a PITA to adjust.  So decided to get a trimmer (Sinclair/Wilson) where the trim length can be adjusted quickly. 

which annealer did you get?

which annealer did you get?

Annealeez

I was considering Bench Source, but the longer lead time and super expensive shipping steered me away.  I did somewhat consider AMP, but couldn't justify the cost.  At least not at this time. 

Analeez

I was considering Bench Source, but the longer lead time and super expensive shipping steered me away.  I did somewhat consider AMP, but couldn't justify the cost.  At least not at this time.

heads

 Quote from: ren on Today at 12:26:28 PM
which annealer did you get?

Quote from: drck1000 on Today at 01:37:57 PM
Analeez

  

One lesson learned so far is when resizing of brass, be careful on false measurements if you're only checking the dimensions of the brass post firing.  F-Class John covers this in his YT videos as well as others.  Where if you measure after a first firing, the case may not have expanded to the chamber.  Then if you bump back the shoulder based on only case measurements, it can lead one to sizing back too far resulting in working the brass more, which can lead to case head separation and other stuff.  This didn't happen to me, but a friend noticed problems with his brass, which I think started as soon as his third firing.

When I did get around to setting up my sizing die, I did it the way where you take fire formed brass and you bump the brass back and check in your chamber (with bolt extractor removed).  So I verified my brass headspace to the chamber.  In that process, I did notice that some of my once fired brass that was the first pass in my load development was varying case sizes.  I'd have to check the measurements, but it went from some fired brass being where the bolt had resistance to lock to where the bolt would drop freely.  The brass was already decapped, where the brass from that round of testing was mixed up, so couldn't check to see if the cases that didn't fully expand to my chamber was from the lower powder charges.