Reloading manual

[Dakotakid]

This is good, picking pieces of primer / ejector out of your forehead isn’t fun.

I must of had a bridge form in my funnel and I overloaded the next round when it broke loose. When fired it blew the primer out thru the safety port and the sides of the bolt where the ejector was.

Action was salvaged but the chamber in the barrel was shot. M16 ejector was shrapnel, bolt face was scarred along with my forehead.

I had no idea why it happened until I pulled the bullets and started weighing the charges and found one missing about 8 grains.

I have heard so many similar stories that I started charging cases with a rcbs charge master and seat bullet while the next is dropping.
One at a time. I just recently bought the 419 funnel set which I am happier with than my old rcbs universal funnel.

Just little things that make me a little more confident that the bomb I am setting off next to my face goes the right way.

 

[Redmt]

I found that the green plastic funnel did hang bits of powder. I'm glad I didn't have the same issue as Addicting. I went to the aluminum funnel with interchangeable throat calibers a long time ago. I had to machine a couple of adapters for other calibers. It's well worth the time and money. It's one less thing to screw up.

 

[Don Fischer]

I've been using a plastic green RCBS funnel longer than I can remember. Not one thing wrong with it!

 

[Redmt]

I've been using a plastic green RCBS funnel longer than I can remember. Not one thing wrong with it!

Longer than I can remember is about 3 days for me.

 

[Don Fischer]

Well these days I'm getting long in the tooth so three days might be right!

 

[NY_BLUES]

Overcharging can be a problem if you aren't careful. That's the main reason I weigh every powder charge and keep my batches small. I find it relaxing to reload, so no sense in rushing something and potentially causing injury down the road.

To the OP, get a manual. I load mostly Hornady bullets, so I use their manual as my go to. I also get the Hodgdon updates and look at the powder manufacturers for suggested loads, and then work on them accordingly.
It's also interesting that some books list things as a max load, while others give data for a few grains more. Varget is my go to for .308, and hornady says the max load is 44.0 grains for a 165 SST, but Hodgdon puts it at 46.0 compressed.
Do your own research and build loads to meet your needs.

 

[jphares44]

I agree with others. Get a manual. I have the Hornady and Berger, and reference them all the time. Not just for load data...there's actually great info in those things if you read them. I cross reference with a lot of the free stuff, too (Nosler, Hodgdon, etc.)

 

[MTGunner]

Every time a new edition of any manual is available I purchase a copy. I enjoy the new offerings and compare old to new. Have MANY manual over 40+ years of hand loading. MTG