FAQs

[snake river rufus]

I have noticed on several boards that some questions get repeated a lot so I thought I'd run through some that I've seen often.
" Can I use match grade bullets on big game?"
No you should not. To the best of my knowledge no maker of match bullets recomends their use on game. Sierra notes in their latest manual repeatedly
" do not use matchking bullets on game". Match bullets are made to shoot accuratly with no thought given to performance on game.
edited for typo/srr

 

[snake river rufus]

I recently bought a muzzle loader kit and am wondering exactly which powder to use. the kid at the mart store opened many cans of powder and Hodgen h something or other was the blackest. Is that what I should try first?

Not if you ever want to try again. You need a powder that is clearly marked 'Black Powder' or 'Black powder subsitute'. If the can says 'smokeless propellant' it's not black powder.
This is a personal experience story. a guy in his 30's and he was dead serious

 

[snake river rufus]

"I have a box of large rifle Magnum primers, Can I use those to load a .44 mag for a Marlin lever rifle?"
No, the .44 mag is still a pistol round even if used in a rifle. Further the mag rifle primer is quite a bit hotter than a mag pistol primer it is also a bit taller (only 0.015 IIRC)than the pistol primer which can lead to high primers and this is a real problem in a tube magazine.

 

[Canoe]

Slow down dude, I gotta get all this shit down. Are you sure about that Smoleless thing? Cause my buddy who runs the gun department at Walmart told me otherwise...

Your forgetting the "Is a 270 big enough for elk?" question, which leads one to believe that this person probably isn't the slightest bit prepared for an elk hunt.

Or how about the never ending "What kind of boots are best?" questions. Damn I get tired of reading that shit over and over. Do a search for christ sakes and save everybody the trouble of scrolling past your post to get to the good stuff!

Wait a minute... this is MM.com isn't it?



Uh, never mind, I thought I was somewhere else.



Anyway Snake river rufus, keep up the good work, you only have about 13000 more to go before you have them all listed.

 

[snake river rufus]

I'm not going to go the whole 13,000
And the smokeless thing was at a regular gun shop(rustys) which is now out of business (cheap help) guy brought the (now)partially dis-assembled gun to the black powder/ old west store in town while I was there. He really didn't get what he had done wrong. kept arguing that "it was the blackest powder they had" 100 grs measure of H-110 in a CVA |oo

 

[snake river rufus]

I'm working a load up for my .229 zanzibarzipperzaper and the powder is starting to compress when I load over X grs should I worrry about compressing the powder?
Nope. a slightly compressed load won't hurt a thing if all else is equal

 

[snake river rufus]

Here is one that keeps coming up
I am going to start reloading for my 7mm everyeffectiveerroreliminator but the factory cases are silver, is it safe to reload?
Yes, that is just nickel plating the factories add. reload it just as you would non-plated brass. The nickel will be pulled off (a bit) during repeated resizings and may build up in your sizing die. Use some type of gun scrubber to remove it. Do not wrap steel wool around a drill bit and run it at high speed in your die.
I have seen that done.
edited for typo/srr

 

[snake river rufus]

"What do I need to get started in reloading?"
guys, what did you start with and what problems did you have.
I started with a RCBS rockchucker press, Ohaus 10-10n scale, Bonanza trickler, RCBS dies and shell holder and I don't recall any trouble.

 

[Bambistew]

Rock chucker press, RCBS scale, my trickler was a long handeled tea spoon and a bowl, tricklers take to long... RCBS dies and other misc crap like deburing tool neck brushes etc... Was able to produce very accurate loads. As a mater of fact 15 years later... I'm still using pretty much the same equipment.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

C-H Press, RCBS dies, shellholders, lube pads and powder trickler. Lyman powder scale and measure. IMR-4064 powder, CCI LR primers, 150 and 125 gr Sierra seconds, old 1950s .30-06 Denver brass.

 

[snake river rufus]

So far I'm not seeing
"I started with the Lee kit and a mallet"
hmmm

 

[Calif. Hunter]

My friend started with the Lee kit and a mallet. He used it for years when he lived in apartments.

 

[tnctcb]

moosie uses match king bullets that someone else loads for him. i wouldnt use them but if he readfs this post he will have a long stupid post about all the big game animals he has killed with them. to top it off he will include pics.

nickel plated brass is reloadable but does not size the same as normal brass, that is because it is nickel and not brass.you have to full length size it and usually need to trim the cases between each load.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I think Moosie uses Black Hills ammo, loaded with 190 gr match bullets in his .300 Win mag. He did have problems with them on a moose in Alaska, if I recall correctly.

 

[snake river rufus]

nickel plated brass is reloadable but does not size the same as normal brass, that is because it is nickel and not brass.you have to full length size it and usually need to trim the cases between each load.

Yes nickel does size exactly like brass. How would it be any different? Lots of guys neck size nickel cases. And my experience is that nickel does not strech as much as brass. If you look closely at the case mouth of growing cases you will start to see a ring of brass appear. the brass is growing but not the nickel.

 

[snake river rufus]

"Has anybody else had troule with the spray on lubes? When I use it I got spray all over my fingers/ all over my loading block or the stuff comes out in a stream"
Once again. Don't hold the case in your hand or spray the cases in the loading block. I use a styrofoam tray (that store bought meat is packed in) and place a hand full of cases in it. spritz lightly over the top and swirll the tray around much like a prospector panning for gold. Repeat if required. I have also used paper sacks and cardboard boxes to good effect. A ziplock bag works Ok but don't take a deep breath when opening.

 

[Bambistew]

"Has anybody else had troule with the spray on lubes? When I use it I got spray all over my fingers

I thought this was a reloading forum?

 

[snake river rufus]

I was going to leave that deleted but on reflection you may be trying to be funny and not start a urination contest

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Yep, Rockchucker press and all that stuff. I used to think Lee dies were pretty darn good until two decappers stripped out and my .30-06 die started peeling the necks off of twice-fired cases. Bye bye Lee, hello RCBS.
One area where I really messed up in was using an digital, battery powered (RCBS -$150) powder scale. I don't care how many of you out there think I'm nuts and that digital scales are the bomb, I'm here to tell you that ANYONE can easily either overload OR underload a round by 1.5 to 2 grains while using one of these pieces of junk. I'm sure someone out there has a really accurate digital powder scale -and I can't tell you how happy I am for you. I will NEVER again use ANY device to measure powder charges that changes its zero (or calibration) with either temperture or voltage changes. I could have easily punched a bolt through my head by believing what I was reading on that scale. Analog beam scale is the only way to go.

 

[snake river rufus]

BTT, just for activity