18+ Content Warning

By clicking Enter, you confirm you are 18 years of age or older and agree to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Notice: Any content or member activity - including anything you may buy, sell, transfer, or discuss - must comply with current and upcoming laws.

Members are encouraged to stay informed: California Firearm Laws: 2026 Outlook & 2025 Recap . Responsibility for compliance rests solely with the individual member.

What's new
caguns.net

Welcome to CAguns.net!
Join our growing community where you can ask questions, share knowledge, or browse our classifieds section.

Sign up for a free account today and unlock full access! Once registered, you can search, post, and take advantage of exclusive features unavailable to guests.

A note on why more of the site now requires an account: automated scrapers and AI systems have been crawling our forums and classifieds at a scale. Requiring sign-in for those sections is the most effective tool we have. It takes a minute to register, it's free, and it keeps what happens here between actual members.

New to California gun ownership or trying to keep up with the changing laws? Check out our sister site CA2A.com — free courses, plain-English legal updates, and step-by-step guides built for California owners.

Advanced features are available only to registered members. Register today!

WBT GUNS- The best selection of CA legal Firearms

What have you done at the reloading bench lately?

Recently got the Lee FCD, finally to the point where nearly all my ammo gauges correctly. I rollsized in the past but still had a 3-5% fail rate on range brass using a Lyman Pro Dies. Go figure the $28 Lee FCD does it better.

I also switched to Precision Delta JHP v1’s 124gr. They run really well in the Walther PDP SF. Only one malfunction so far from a FTE.
 
ikeo1 said:
Recently got the Lee FCD, finally to the point where nearly all my ammo gauges correctly. I rollsized in the past but still had a 3-5% fail rate on range brass using a Lyman Pro Dies. Go figure the $28 Lee FCD does it better.

I also switched to Precision Delta JHP v1’s 124gr. They run really well in the Walther PDP SF. Only one malfunction so far from a FTE.
Click to expand...
The Lee collet style crimp dies worked very well on 8mm and 7.62x25 for me recently. It was easy to get a good crimp and it did not buckle the cases like the RCBS die did on the 8mm from too much downward pressure.
 
Loaded up a 50rd batch to verify data from a ladder test.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1379.jpeg
    IMG_1379.jpeg
    92.4 KB · Views: 16
I loaded a batch of #150 .223 on my Dillon 550 yesterday 25gr Hodgdon H335 55gr FMJ X-Treme Bullets.
 
It's Bulk season. Just assembling bulk plinking ammo.
20200106_213146.jpg

20211026_223904.jpg

Also, my carry ammo has been in my pants for several years. It was time to test a few different boolairs I have come across since then, for effectivity.
20230525_203645.jpg
2200fps from the nickle 50gr out of a 4" pistol.
The others are common lead options.
All 4 stop in the 2nd milkjug, but burst the third with pressure alone.
 
Last edited:
Fixed a bunch of old Fatty’s that wouldn’t gauge with the Lee Factory Crimp Die. That thing works wonders. Only the real failures showed up and marked the ones that had Glock bulge.

Also printed a better version of the shock bottle funnel. This one is great and works really well for gauging fast. I love it. It’s so much faster than doing it one by one.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6255.jpeg
    IMG_6255.jpeg
    76.3 KB · Views: 14
  • IMG_6256.jpeg
    IMG_6256.jpeg
    108.3 KB · Views: 15
  • IMG_6257.jpeg
    IMG_6257.jpeg
    80.2 KB · Views: 15
goodcitizendefense said:
It's Bulk season. Just assembling bulk plinking ammo.
View attachment 9882

View attachment 9883

Also, my carry ammo has been in my pants for several years. It was time to test a few different boolairs I have come across since then, for effectivity.
View attachment 9884
2200fps from the nickle 50gr out of a 4" pistol.
The others are common lead options.
All 4 stop in the 2nd milkjug, but burst the third with pressure alone.
Click to expand...
What does a bulk session run you? I'm thinking about running it for awhile for the training season. I just cleaned a 5 gallon bucket. It sucked so bad..
 
Bought some .222 Remington Magnum brass from someone on Arms List. So, I loaded 25 rds last weekend. My wife’s aunt gave me a Remington 700, .222 Remington Mag. I was looking around for live ammo for it; with no luck; so I found 200 empty brass. I’m testing rounds from a light to medium load since I don’t know much about the gun. The bolt face notch that holds the round in place is a little chipped away.
 
Didn't load any rounds today. But I have tumbled, sized, and de-primed 600 .3006 cases over the past week. I'm currently waiting for a swager die kit to arrive, so I can remove some military primer crimps from surplus Greek HXP brass. I already reamed the primer crimps out of about 100 cases but then I started getting worried I was removing too much material so I ordered a swager to remove the crimps that way going forward.

If anyone is looking for large rifle primers, Sportsman's Warehouse has CCI #200 in stock online for $9/100. You can have them sent to a local store for pickup, then you just pay sales tax. I ordered 2K of them for a total of $188 after tax (I redeemed some rewards points). Not bad, considering there is no hazmat/shipping, and LRPs have been pretty much impossible to find for the past 4 years. My advice is to stock up as much as you can now.
www.sportsmans.com

CCI #200 Large Rifle Primers - 100 Count

Buy CCI #200 Large Rifle Primers - 100 Count at Sportsmans Warehouse online and in-store has everything for your outdoor sports adventure needs. Fishing, rods & reels, camping gear, tents and much more.
www.sportsmans.com www.sportsmans.com

Also, if anyone is looking for IMR4895 (M1 Garand powder), Midwayusa is clearing out all their IMR4895 right now at 50.74 a pound before shipping/hazmat. But if you buy 2 or more pounds you get free shipping and only have to pay hazmat ($22). The more jars you buy, the less per jar. It's actually cheaper to buy 8 1lb jars than it is to buy 1 8lb jug. IMR4895 is close to $70/lb most places. It's expensive nowadays.
www.midwayusa.com

IMR 4895 Smokeless Gun Powder 1 lb

Production of IMR powders dates back over 200 years when the company was originally founded by E.I DuPont. Available for use in many reloading...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com
 
Ramping up to start reloading shot shell.....what a pain in the *bleep*! Crazy how hull selection/design, wad design, powder, etc. impacts pressures/velocity. What I've read online, there also seems to be a mentality of 'don't do anything outside of published loads!' Not saying be crazy and potentially blow up your gun/hurt yourself, but there seems to be a lack of encouragement to safely experiment and working up loads.
 
ChestnutBleach said:
Ramping up to start reloading shot shell.....what a pain in the *bleep*! Crazy how hull selection/design, wad design, powder, etc. impacts pressures/velocity. What I've read online, there also seems to be a mentality of 'don't do anything outside of published loads!' Not saying be crazy and potentially blow up your gun/hurt yourself, but there seems to be a lack of encouragement to safely experiment and working up loads.
Click to expand...
I guess it's inconsistent advice regarding experimenting/working up loads. There's just no published load data for TAC and the M1 Garand. But there are discussions out there about it. I read that someone contacted Ramshot and asked them if it was safe and they said it was and I think they provided a load recommendation. If you look at burn rate charts, TAC is a little faster than a lot of powders used for M1 loads. Faster is better for the M1. I have friends that are more scientific then I am so they've been running loads through a pretty accurate simulator to estimate pressures. I already shot a few loads using TAC and they seem to be fine, maybe a little low. I'm using a ported gas plug in my M1 just incase the port pressure is a little to high. But recoil didn't seem excessive compared to some other commercial loads I've shot in the M1.
 
Forgot to mention….also been recently reloading 9mm, 45ACP, 300 Blackout, 308 Win, 30 40 Krag, and recently bought dies/loaded for .223/5.56. Still need more bullets to do more 5.56 though.

Whoever thinks about getting into reloading to save money, don’t! Cause you won’t! :ROFLMAO:
 
Recently retired and realized I have time to start reloading again! Haven't reloaded since the 90's on a single stage but found a used XL650 and jumped on it. Sent the press off to Dillon for a full tear down and inspection as it had some miles on it and I'm excited about getting started.
 
metalman said:
Recently retired and realized I have time to start reloading again! Haven't reloaded since the 90's on a single stage but found a used XL650 and jumped on it. Sent the press off to Dillon for a full tear down and inspection as it had some miles on it and I'm excited about getting started.
Click to expand...
That’s a good way to go. Dillon is pretty good about that. I have had them overhaul a pair of SDB’s that we picked up at a yard sale, and they came back looking like new, with a bunch of parts replaced.
 
Tried some neck turning on some Lapua 6.5 PRC brass. I haven't worked up a load for these yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom