Case preparation starts with getting some brass. In my situation, that is range brass. This is brass that I’ve picked up off the ground at my test range or the shooting range. The only thing I know about this brass at this point is that it is brass and not aluminum or steel.

Notice the green sealer around the primer of the top 5.56×45 case. This indicates that this was likely a military specification round. That sealer is designed to keep water out. The primer is also “crimped” or “staked” in place.
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The simplest press is a single stage press.

When starting with range brass, selected for the caliber you wish to reload, you start with an inspection. Then you deprime/decap the case.

You select the correct shell holder for your cases. For 5.56×45 it is a #4 shell holder. This is installed at the top of the ram with gentle pressure.

A decapping die is placed in the top plate and adjusted properly. When you bring the lever down, the ram goes up. The decapping pin then slides through the flash hole, and the pin then presses the primer out of its pocket.

When you raise the lever, the ram goes down and you can remove the case.

You repeat this process for each case you have to process.
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I’ll be addressing comments from Part 1 at the end of this article.

To make a cartridge, you need to place a primer in the case, then add powder to the case, and finally place a bullet in the mouth of the case.

The thing that starts your freedom downrange is the spark button/primer doing its job.

In order for it to do its job, it must be the right type and the right size.

We’ll talk about Boxer primers first.

Both of those cases are 7.62×51 NATO rounds. The top case uses a Berdan primer. The lower case uses a Boxer Primer.

Boxer primers come in two diameters, large and small. They come in three sensitivities, pistol, rifle, and military.

So what are the dimensions of these primers?
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There are only a couple of reasons to reload:

1. You can’t find the cartridge you want
2. You want to save money
3. You want to improve your rifle/ammunition’s capability
4. You want to have another skill

If you want to step up and improve your weapon system’s capabilities, I’m the wrong person to be listening to. I reload for cost and availability.

You will need some equipment before you can start.

• Reloading manual(s)
• Reloading Press
• Scale that reads in grains
• Calibers that read in inches
• Priming tool (on press or off)
• Dies
• Loading Trays
• Powder Funnel
• Trickler

For your first press, you should get a single stage press. The only consideration in which of the many you get is that you should get one that allows you to quickly change dies. It will improve your life.

So which single stage press should you get? The blunt answer is that at this point, it really doesn’t matter. Lee will be the lowest cost, but RCBS, Lyman, Hornady all make great single stage presses. On my wish list is a Foster Co-AX single stage press.

Figure on spending around $200 for your press.

Your scale is what keeps you safe. I have four or five different scales. I would get one of the good mechanical scales AND a digital scale. The mechanical scales work regardless of power and are very accurate. They can actually tell you more than a digital scale. The downside is that they can be slower than a digital scale and might require some practice to read.

For perspective, I’ve not used my mechanical scale in years. I still have it as a backup.

Keep with the name brands on your scale. Lee, Frankford Arsenal, Lyman, RCBS, Hornady are all good names. Of course, there are more expensive, high-quality scales available.

In looking at Amazon offerings, I found a scale that claims to be 0.1gr(ain) accuracy. But the actual accuracy is plus or minus 0.3gr. That means that it could tell you that you had a powder charge of 4.7gr, and it could actually be as high ad 5.0gr or as low as 4.4gr. That 0.6gr movement can be the difference between safe and dangerous.

You will also need a set of 6 inch calibers to read the lengths of cases and cartridges.

Here I strongly suggest dial calipers. Digital calibers can be great if you pay for great. If you aren’t paying for great, you are unlikely to get the reliability and usability you require. Starrett and Mitutoya are top of the line, and you can’t go wrong with them. Fowler is also a known good brand.

I’ve heard good things about Accusize. My reloading calipers are made by Grizzly.

Figure $25 to $125

You will need a way to install primers. Most presses have an on the press option. If you can, pay for this option. There are times when you will need the control and leverage of the press. I have multiple systems. I have a Frankford Arsenal hand priming tool. For me, the advantage of doing it manually while being with my family was the selling point. On the other hand, I used the on press priming tool for almost all of my 5.56 because I was having issues.

You will need a set of dies for each caliber you are reloading. You will need a way of getting powder into each case as well.

For organizational reasons and safety, having reloading trays that match the caliber you are reloading is another requirement, in my mind.

In addition to all of the above, you are going to want (not need, at least at first), brass processing tools, brass cleaning tools, gauges, small paint brushes, wrenches, and a host of other things. This is just the equipment you need to load your first cartridges.

Wednesday, I took some newly made rounds out to the test range to give them a try. We had steel and baby pumpkins as targets. I was testing Winchester #41 military small rifle primers. I was also comparing Rocky Mountain Reloading’s 55gr metal jacket boat tail and Hornady 55gr Soft points.

It was so fun to shoot Flat Dark Evil (FDE). This is a 20″ AR platform I built myself. This is the rifle with the weapon light mounted on it.

The first 10+ rounds downrange rang steel just fine. As for the baby pumpkin. I could see impacts, but nothing really happening.

The next 10 rounds were the Hornady 55gr SP “Varmint” rounds. Double tap to the steel, then double into the baby pumpkin. It has ceased to exist as a pumpkin. Double tap to hostage taker (steel behind steel), double tap to secondary steel, double tap to the other baby pumpkin. Half has gone missing.

Ok. That was impressive. I now have 3 mags full of varmint and a bit more in the ammo cans. I’m impressed.

Final results, pumpkin parts scattered over about a 4-meter radius. There was even some in the tree above the target zone.

I need to make more ammo.

The Bevis v. Naperville has made it to the shadow docket of the Supreme Court. Amy Coney Barrett is the justice that is hearing the request for an emergency injunction pending review.

This case came up through the district court and was appealed to the Seventh Circuit court. The Seventh Circuit was sitting on it when they made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court for an injunction pending review. The Seventh Circuit court administrative panel then put the case on an expedite schedule.

This was the second time this had happened. The circuit courts know that as long as they are moving rapidly in judicial terms, they are pretty safe from having the Supreme Court slap them down.

The Seventh Circuit panel has now gone on record dissing the Bruen Court. This makes a difference.

Justice Barrett has told the defendants (bad guys) they have until FridayWednesday, the 6th of December, to get their briefs in. I expect to see a spat of amici curiae briefings showing up at the same time. The Supreme Court will act quickly in either granting the injunction or declining to do so.

If they do not grant the injunction, the Seventh will take the case en banc and then sit on it for as long as they can. If they grant the injunction, the Seventh will take the case en banc and move it rapidly.

While the Supreme Court’s injunction is in place, the weapons ban and magazine ban in Illinois is stopped. That injunction doesn’t go away until the Supreme Court denies certiorari or issues their opinion. This will upset the state’s attempt at infringing.

There is another case making its way through the courts in Illinois as a challenge at the state level. I do not have good insight into the court filings for that case. I’ll do what I can do to find information about it. Just know that our friends over at https://www.gunssavelife.com are fighting the good fight.

With that, the comments are open. Have at it.

I’m starting a series on reloading. Mostly as a way of taking/making notes for myself. The first article will be published later today.

B.L.U.F.
Brady’s amici curiae is extremely weak, replaying old, disproved arguments.
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It gets tiring reading the same old arguments from the state, state actors, and state supporters.

Heller tells us that if the plain text of the Second Amendment is implicated by the proposed conduct, then it is the burden of the state to prove a history and tradition of analogous regulations.

I propose this simple test to see if the plaint text is implicated: If Everytown, Brady, or Giffords files an amici brief, then the proposed conduct implicates the Second Amendment.

After Bruen we saw the standard infringers jumping in. The state with their sycophants tossed every regulation that they could find that might, possibly, support their argument for civilian disarmament. We’ve seen 1000s of pages of electronic ink spilled telling us the horrors of guns and how this particular infringement requires a nuanced view of history and tradition.
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This!

OldNFO added this as a comment on one of my posts.

It used to be said that what separates us from the animals is our ability to use tools. They no longer say that, as there are some animals that do use tools, it is still a good differentiator.

It is all well and good to have a tool, but if you don’t know how to use it, it is just about worthless.

My mother gave me a reproduction “coffee grinder” many years ago. It was based on a brass coffee grinder from the area of Turkey. It is a brass cylinder about 10 inches tall, 2 inches in diameter. There is a crank on the top with a grind adjustment nut.

The reason it is a reproduction is that they didn’t have coffee bean burrs but instead pepper burrs. At the time, most people either had expensive coffee grinders or electric grinders. Almost nobody was grinding coffee manually.

On the other hand, it was, and is, a beautiful pepper grinder. For the last 20 years ago, it was forced into service as a coffee grinder. About 15 years ago, it was taken out of service because we had some superb manual coffee grinders.

All of which takes us to Thanksgiving. I make a wild rice, sausage, and Cognac soaked raisin dressing. It needed some pepper. We have a nice pepper grinder for the table, but it is slow to use. I had cleaned the “coffee grinder” a year or so ago.

It was time to put the tool back in production. I did, it worked perfectly. The family was informed that it was ready to use.

The next day, my wife went to make breakfast and grabbed the “pepper grinder” and cranked. The pepper doesn’t come out because there is a catch cup in place.

She can’t figure out how to take the catch cup off. She ends up using the black pepper from a can.

She didn’t know how to use the tool.

I’m willing to bet that each and every one of us have tools we don’t know how to use. There is only one way to know that you know how to use a tool. That is, to use it for the purpose for which it is intended.

I have a suture kit. I don’t know how to use. I could learn. That tool isn’t for me, it is for properly trained medical personnel that don’t have gear.

There is a MIG wielder in the shop, as AvE says, “a grinder and paint makes me the wielder I ain’t”. I should run beads for a few hours, but I never take the time to do so.

I have an internal threading tool I’ve never used. I really should, just to prove to myself I can cut internal threads.

Please take the time to put some tool you own that you don’t know how to use (well enough) in the comments. Maybe take a moment to decide to learn how to use some tool.

It is always better to know how to use something and not need to do so, than to need to know how to do something and having to learn when time is tight/short.

Before I was as political as I currently am, I didn’t really care which dancing monkey was performing. I only cared that their dance was good.

In 1994, a movie came out that I took my kids to see. It was fun, it was funny. And there was this club scene… Oh my goodness.

The lead character jumps up on stage and gets the band to play swing. I think this was the first time I heard swing. Or at least recognized it as such.

Here is a good rendition of it, without leading back to the dancing monkey who really needs to keep his mouth shut when not dancing and his ass in Canada.

I got done with my 8mmx57 Mauser reloads yesterday. Moving on to 5.56×45 NATO today. There were over 500 clean cases in the “cleaned 5.56 brass” can.

All of it needed to be sized and checked for max case length. The 10th case squeaked when it went in. It didn’t come out, instead the rim ripped right off. DAMN!!!

I’ve been to this rodeo before. It is not fun. The last time I had to do this, I ended up driving the case out with a custom-built drive rod. And then chucking up the case in the lathe to cut the case and extract the resizing rod.

It was a pain in the ass. Something I would rather not do again.

I remembered that there is a case extraction tool you can buy that drills out the primer pocket, threads it and then pulls the case out with a bolt.

Well, I’ve got a lathe, I’ve got tools, I can do this.

First, I figured out a size to use. I picked 1/4″ 20. I really should have gone with 1/4 28, but I didn’t check my part drawer for 1/4″ 28 bolts/screws, so I went with 20 TPI.

I didn’t worry about “perfect”, just chucked up a number 7 drill and used my hand drill. I have complete sets of drills. 1/64 through 1/2″, #1 through whatever, and a-z, plus metric. Machine shop stuff. I have the taps.

No problems drilling and tapping. I screw the cap screw into the case, and then what? I look at levering it out with the claw on a hammer. That doesn’t seem to be a good idea.

Machine shop! I walk over to the lathe and in the junk cutoffs is a slug of aluminum. I drilled a 1/4″ clearance hole completely through. Then I drilled a 1/2″ hole, about 3/4″ deep. 1/2″ is big enough to handle the 5.56 brass. If I need a larger hole for other brass, I’ll either make a different tool or I’ll just make this hole larger.

Back to the vice with the copper jaws, which has a good grip on the die. The slug is too long. Back to the lathe and I face off about 1/4″. Back to the vice.

I screw the cap head bolt in, and it easily pulls that case out of the die. And then stops. With the case lose in the die it just spins instead of being pulled out.

Take the slug/spacer off, screw the decapping pin back in all the way, then slowly screw the cap head back in. Out pops the casing.

With only a $1 worth of scrap aluminum, I was able to make my own brass extractor tool!

Tools used: 12″x5′ South Bend Lathe, $1500, Quick Change tool post, $250, QC toolholder, $75. Toolholder, $75, insert $20. #7 drill, 1/4 drill, and 1/2in drill, about $10 total. Hand drill, $75. 1/4″ 20 plug tap, $15. Starrett tap handle $100.

This proves to my wife that all of those “expenses” to save $27.79.

Machine shop for the win!

There is 8mmx57 out there. Some of it cheap. Unfortunately, for me, most of it is berdan primed.

For those that don’t understand the importance of that statement, there are two types of primers that are currently used, “berdan” and “boxer”.

Boxer primers are made in two parts, a cup, with primer material, and an anvil. When you seat the primer, the anvil is set further into the cup by a slight amount. When the firing pin strikes the back of the brass cup, the primer material is crushed between the base of the cup and the anvil, causing a spark. I.e., the spark button works.

That spark flashes through a single, “large” hole and ignites the zoom juice, causing the magic powder to go “poof” pushing a freedom seed out the mouth of the cartridge.

A berdan primer is slightly different. It has the same cup and primer material, but it does not have an anvil. Instead, the case that receives the primer has an anvil. There are two holes on either side of that anvil that allows the spark to flash through to the zoom juice.

When we use a boxer primer, we can push the primer out with a pin pushed through the mouth of the case. Easy. There is no central hole to remove the berdan primer.

A common method used to remove berdan primers is hydro-shocking them. You fill the case with water. You push in a small road that fills most of the mouth. You place the case with rod over a small hole. You wack the rod with a hammer. That presses down on the water. Since the water is not compressible, the water in turn presses on the primer and ejects it from the case.

It is a messy process. After which you need berdan primers to prime the case to use again. Or you need to convert the case from berdan to boxer. It can be done. It is not worth the time, most of the time.

Having said all of that, I had around 20 rounds of 8mmx57 Mauser. All of it seems to be berdan primed.

20 rounds is the same as no rounds. I want more. At least one full load.

The other day, the LGS sold me 125 boxer primer cases for a good price. My dies showed up within the week. I had my powder. All I required was bullets. Nobody had any. I spent time looking and didn’t find. I thought I read that the 0.312 would work. I was wrong.

I finally found some at OpticsPlanet. I ordered them because they were in stock.

It seems that sometime between the add to cart and checkout, they sold the last of the Hornady SST, 170gr. They tell me that I’ll have both bullet styles to me in a week. A week turned into 6 before they finally arrived.

I resized 10 cases, verified everything, primed them. I got done with Thanksgiving and loaded them with IMR 4895 today.

Out to the test range. The freedom seeds are flying. The spark buttons are sparking. The targets are NOT ringing nor is the small pumpkin splatting.

WTF!? Hagar is spotting for me. “The height’s good, off the left.”

I aim to the right side of the pumpkin. “Still left of target”.

I’m perplexed. I’m not a great shot, but I’m not this bad.

Maybe it is the rifle? I start by making sure the rear ladder is set correctly, it is. The small notch and fine front post work well. It could be I just need to adjust for windage? No adjustment on the rear sights. Go to check the front sight.

The damn blade has shifted right! It is visibly no longer centered. I shove it back to center with my thumb and take two more shots.

One rings steel. The other sends that pumpkin flying in multiple different directions.

Look at yourself first, but it could be your equipment that is failing.

And I love my Redding Dies.