I have now resized several hundred cases. I check each one before it goes into the gallon jug in which they will be stored until I get around to loading them. When I got the comparator, I checked a commercial round. The head was below the slot by a few red hairs. My "pushdowns" as I will call them, are for all intents and purposes just as well-fitting in the comparator as a factory round. What I will do when I get all 5,000 or so of them done is to mix up the "mystery powder" generated with some fast-burning, small-caliber, ball powder and develop a load from that. Any suggestions as to which powder I should use?

What ever you use,make sure you load a few dozen and test them before you load them all.

quote:

Originally posted by jb:
What ever you use,make sure you load a few dozen and test them before you load them all.

I heard all that, I did...

soon to be seen in the classifieds: For sale, 5,000 loaded rounds 223, cheap.

No way, man. I will have so much time and effort in these reloads, I will most likely never fire them. Not really-- buying commercial ammo is anathema to me. I am now in the process of dobbing the primers with nail polish to protect them when I spray the cases with Walmart cooking spray, which is what I use for case lube. Works great and it's cheap-- buy it in any Walmart for two bucks a can...

quote:

I am now in the process of dobbing the primers with nail polish to protect them when I spray the cases with Walmart cooking spray, which is what I use for case lube. Works great and it's cheap-- buy it in any Walmart for two bucks a can...

And he wonders why he's getting duds.

I am not getting duds. I am/was getting rounds that will not chamber. The nail polish dries hard and very thin. I have resized a bunch of sealed ones. They resize just fine and fit in the comparator just like an unsealed one...

I'm just bagging on ya brewer. I've never heard of resizing with cooking spray.

quote:

I've never heard of resizing with cooking spray.

I tried it one time when I got tired of wiping Hornady beeswax lube on and off. It made my fingers tired, so I tried One-Sh!t. It was crap. I tried WD-40. That worked a bit, but I stuck one so bad I had to send it to another member and have him pull it out. That's when I hit upon the idea of cooking spray. It's oily just like the high-priced sprays that actually are for caselubing, but so much cheaper. I tried it on a few; it worked well, so I began using it exclusively. You just have to wash it off in hot, soapy water and rinse copiously...

have you ever tried imperial sizing die wax. I haven't found anything better or easier.

quote:

Originally posted by filmit:
have you ever tried imperial sizing die wax. I haven't found anything better or easier.

That is the best stuff I have used. I think Redding markets it now.

I found out the hard way the other day that imperial sizing die wax isn't the lube to use on once fired military 50 bmg brass. I stuck one in the sizing die(must of been a seriously out of spec chamber). I busted the linkage on my press trying to size it. The new press parts showed up in the mail this morning so I finally got it out. My reloading bench is getting destroyed because it takes so much force to run them through the press. Just about have to stand on the handle.

The Lee white lube in a tube seems to be working the best. I think I'm going to start buying new brass for the 50 because this lake city stuff is time consuming even using a gracy trimmer and having my primer pocket uniformer on a cordless drill.

Oh well I should have a couple hundred incindiaries and tracers loaded up soon, then it's look out jackrabbits.

filmit asks,

quote:

Have you ever tried Imperial sizing die wax?

Yes. I use it on my 300WSM cases. It is really good stuff. I have also used it when I sized down a .308Win case to an OD of .220 as an exercise with a set of Butch Lambert's forming dies. It is very good, very slippery stuff. But for high-volume lubin', nothin' beats canola oil cookin' spray. I'm livin' proof...

I have only about 300 primed cases left to bump. A goodly portion of those will pass inspection without ever having to be run through the sizing die. Then I have several hundred that are ether unprimed or have been fired, and getting cooking oil on those primers will not matter. I started with four one-gallon jugs of approximately 800 cases in each. Just a few hundred left. I'll be so happy when this is over. I will never again resize my 223Rem without adding that extra bit of turn to the die...

Finished all of them on December 2 at 1115 EST. Glad that's over. Now there are many hundreds that need decapping, trimming, chamfering of mouth and primer pocket (lots of once-fired mil-surp in the bunch) and scraping-out of the crud in the primer pocket. Word to the wise: Get a comparator and check those resized cases when you push 'em through your resizing die. Friends don't let friends resize without one. What a nightmare...

RCBS Precision Mics do a better job than a comparator!

BTW - Fingernail polish is for your lady friend's fingernails! And cooking oil is for cooking!

Keep good records on your reloads and mark the containers you put them in.

Segregate cases before processing for reloading.

I'm sure I missed a few good tips!

I've been meaning to ask, does the butter flavor cooking spray work better than original?

I prefer the original, tasteless, canola stuff. The butter flavor seems to be a bit slimier. It also has bubbles that linger a bit when it's first sprayed on. The plain stuff sprays on quite nicely and is usable immediately. It takes so little it's crazy to buy the pricey stuff that doesn't work worth a damn-- like One-Sh!t. In all the cases I've resized using cooking spray, I've never had one stick in the die. Cooking spray, being edible, washes off nicely with hot water and liquid handsoap. I washed these many hundreds in a gallon mayonnaise jug, a few rags thrown in and three or four squirts of hand soap. Hot water to cover and then some, screw on the top and vigorously dance the tarantella for a few minutes with it. Rinse profusely and dry per your favorite method. Works great...

Finally the truth comes out. The result of a mild load of WC852 (H-414) fired in an AR-15!

homebrewer-
Did you learn a lesson????

IF,you are going to reuse the PULL DOWN/MIXED powder,save it for the 4th of July & burn it at a safe location.
Call the fire dept first for BACK UP.

quote:

Originally posted by Dans40XC:
homebrewer-
Did you learn a lesson????

IF you are going to reuse the PULL DOWN/MIXED powder, save it for the 4th of July & burn it at a safe location. Call the fire dept. first for BACK UP.

I don't know what I'll do with the stuff. I use it for foulers. But I only need maybe ten foulers for a shootin' session. I have damned near eight pounds of the stuff. Maybe I'll do some reloading for a few friends who do not have the plant I do for that purpose. They have '06s and such. I got it for ten bucks a pound, so it ain't like I've allocated the rent money. In this political climate, no gunpowder is useless. The Thugocrats want to take reloading away from us. Don't even think they don't. If you have powder now, keep it. If you don't, best be gettin' to the store and buyin' some...