…….

(2600 words)

All recipes for charges are given by weight. Normally, to 0.1 grains.

Each powder has a different density and a different required charge.

Powders come in different granule shapes. There are flakes. There are cylinders, formed by pushing wet powder through round holes, then cutting them into small cylinders. Finally, there are spherical granules.

The surface area of a granule is the biggest factor in how fast a given powder burns. The same composition, in different shapes, will burn at different rates.

For each lot of powder, the density for that powder should be the same, on average. For each can of powder, the density will be the same.

The volume required to for a charge is the density of the powder multiplied by the weight of the charge.

There are powders that take small charges, some take larger. For example, the Hodgdon recipe for 45ACp says that IMR Blue can be used with a starting charge of 9.0 grains. They also say that you can use Clays with a starting charge of 3.7grains.

There is only a 0.3grain difference between the starting charge and maximum charge when using Clays. This is not a lot of room for error.

There is a bit more range for IMR Blue. Regardless, the point of this is to let you know that we are measuring small values accurately and repeatably.
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The sound quality isn’t great in this version, but here is the one and only Eartha Kitt

And with much better sound:

B.L.U.F.
First article about choosing powders. There is another article coming on the same topic, covering different parts.
(1500 words)

I had been “gifted” a box of reloading supplies. This was a bunch of 30-30 bullets, some miscellaneous things, and 200+ .45 ACP cases. This sat on a shelf for years before my friend mentioned that one of her co-workers was selling his reloading press. I offered to buy it.

Today I know that I over paid. What got was a Lee Single stage press. Not enough for me to reload, but enough for me to at least get started. Along with all of those .45ACP cases was a set of dies for .45ACP. Maybe two sets. I know I have two sets of .45ACP dies now.

I decided that I was going to learn how to reload to make some range candy.

My history with guns started very late in life. I managed to sell a domain name for a boat load of money. That money went to numerous things. That included a 7.62×39, 7.62×51, 5.56×45, 9×19, and a .45ACP. Along with each of those, I purchased 2000 rounds of each caliber.

I was down to around 500 rounds of .45ACP and made the reloading plunge.

So there I am, with numerous tools and no idea how to use them. Since my press said “Lee” on it, I purchased the Lee reloading manual. I still have that book.

I read the section on how to reload twice and then went shopping for what I needed to complete my first round of reloading.

According to that book, I needed:

• Bullets
• Primer
• Powder
• Calibers
• Powder measuring device

Do NOT use this list. It is incomplete, in my opinion.

The measuring device they recommended was a volumetric device. Little calibrated scoops. Each scope would measure out a fixed amount of powder, by volume.

The Lee people had taken many samples of different powders to find their density. Once they knew the density of a powder, they could translate a load given in grains into a volume in cubic centimeters. If a powder was consistent enough in density, and the safe charge could be made with one of their powder measure scoops, they would give that measure in their recipes.

They are so confident in this method that each(?) die set from Lee comes with a powder measure scoop that should work with some powders for that caliber. And they have that reloading information with their die.

As you can tell from this tale, I bought into this. The cost of the entire set of scoops was less than a scale.

Having decided I was going to reload this way, I had a set of powders that “worked” with this method. I went to my LGS and looked through all the powders they had until I found one that matched the list of powders I had recipes for. That happened to be Accurate #5.

I brought it home, primed 5 cases, put powder in 50 cases. Checked the powder level in all the cases, then seated the bullets in each case.

All the rounds worked. I had successfully reloaded 50 .45ACP cartridges!

Why did I choose that powder?

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B.L.U.F.
An introduction to how to mess up big time when reloading. Remember, don’t trust me. Read the instructions in your reloading guides, your press and die instructions. Follow their instructions.
(2400 words)

The wonderful thing about reloading is the amount of control you can get over the process of creating the “perfect” load for your firearm. The negative thing about reloading is that a mistake can send you to the hospital, or worse, the morgue.

Every “regular” cartridge has a SAAMI specification for it. The SAAMI specification includes the dimensions of the chamber and the pressures for each cartridge. The SAAMI specifications also include how to perform tests.

In general, we do not have the equipment to perform the tests that would give us objective insight into what our loads are doing. Everything we have to work with is measured after the bullet leaves the barrel. This includes velocity, grouping, and other objective measurements of the results of our load.

Unfortunately, there are many aspects of the reloading process that can change velocity or groupings.

What we cannot measure is the pressure inside the chamber. This is the critical measurement.

Here are a few of the pressure measurements from the SAAMI specifications.

When we purchase a “modern” firearm, we are told that the firearm can safely chamber and fire rounds that meet SAAMI specifications. In the US, that is done by manufacturers not wanting to be sued.

When the gun banners scream about “only gun manufactures are protected from being sued”, they are lying. If you purchase a modern firearm and use only reputable ammunition, and that firearm “explodes”, the manufacturer can be sued. And rightly so.

In other countries, they go a bit further.

Proofing

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We have another 2A case going to conference with the Supreme Court. It will be sent to conference on January 5th. This is a challenge out of Illinois regarding how the Illinois supreme court is a bought and paid for political entity of the governor.

We are waiting for word from the Supreme Court on the Bevis v. Naperville application for emergency relief. That might even be out by the end of the day.

I hope you have been enjoying my data dump regarding reloading. There have been some great comments. Thank you to all that have interacted.

Please leave us a comment.

December 7th, 1941. A day that will live in infamy.

One of the issues I have had is that my brass continues to disappear at the range. I’ve had some luck getting range brass from friends, but not nearly as much as I want.

My last “big” score was 125 pieces of 8mmx57 Mauser for “only” $75.00. Of course, that was my frequent flyer discount along with the fact that it was part of “discount the brass, or I’m not going to buy this here $1000 rifle”.

I was pleased with my last reloading session and wanted to finish filling my ammo cans with 5.56×45. Somebody mentioned Diamond K Brass, so I went looking.

Their prices were so low that I was concerned they might be a scam. They most certainly are not.

When I buy brass from the standard places, if they tell me they are sending me 100 pieces of brass, I’m going to get 100 pieces of brass. Maybe I’ll get 101 pieces.

I took the plunge and ordered 1000+ of .223/5.56 from Diamond K. There was shipping, I was about to walk away when I did the math and decided it was acceptable at $22.00 for insured to me.

What arrived was a boat load of brass. The brass was cleaned but no deprimed. That was my first step.

There was a mix of head stamps. The mix seemed to be about 50/50 .223 and 5.56.

Of the 1000+ cases, I had 4 cases that were too damaged to use. I might have been able to rescue 2 of them, as it was just the case mouth. With a bit of time with the proper tool, I could have opened up the mouth enough for the sizing die to correct any remaining damage.

There was one .300 blackout case. There was one .22LR case. There were two cases that had no powder, but the bullet was still inside the case.

My biggest issue was that one of the head stamps has a primer flash hole that is too small. I can’t get my decapping pin to fit through to punch out the primer. I destroyed one decapping pin when I pushed too hard.

I have a tool on order to bring the flash holes to the correct nominal size. That will happen this weekend. At which time I will be able to finish decapping the cases.

Was the price right? YES. This is good-looking brass. I will be placing more orders with them shortly. Looking at 2000+ .45 ACP, 2000+ 9mm, more .223/5.56, and maybe some strange brass as well.

(3650 words)

When a cartridge is fired, the powder burning creates high pressures. 9MM has a maximum average pressure of 35,000psi. A 7.62×51 NATO has a maximum pressure of 60,200psi. These pressures are high enough to move metal.

1/16″ to 3/5″ brass pipe fittings and standard nipples can be used up to 300psi. In certain applications, the pressure can go to 1000PSI, maybe.

What this means is that if the cartridge case is not supported, it will burst under nominal pressures. This process of the case expanding is a “good thing”. It acts to obturate the flow of gasses around the case and out the breach.

For a cartridge to fit into the supporting chamber, it must be slightly smaller, in all dimensions, than the chamber. If it was an exact match, the round would be difficult to chamber.

When the round is fired, it “fire forms” the case to match the chamber. When the pressure goes down, the metal moves back towards its original size, slightly. This allows it to be extracted from the chamber, more easily.

To help with the extraction process, cases are often designed with a slight taper. When the cases are extracted, as soon as they move back even a small amount, they lose contact with the chamber walls.

When we speak of “straight walled” cases, we typically include these slightly tapered cases.

When the size of the diameter of the bullet is significantly less than the diameter of the case, the case needs to be “necked down”. This creates a “bottleneck cartridge”.

A bottleneck cartridge has pressure pushing the brass forward when the round is fired. This causes the case to stretch a little.

Headspacing

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This is a LibreCalc document. You should be able to import it into Google Spreadsheets as well.

Cartridge Cost