Connecticut Preparedness Community Forums

Mopar wrote:Where are you shooting now? I actually "commute" 40 miles or so to WLOPA (http://www.wlopa.com) because the closer places are either indoors and pretty much pistol only, or just plain suck. There are 4-5 other forum members that belong there as well. A well-rounded club, with pistol, rifle, trap, skeet, and even archery They also have bird hunting in season. And they have a bar that's open on weekends. Razz
I do use BSR for a little weeknite fun during the winter, as well as bring students there.

I currently shoot at BSR because I only have pistols, no outdoor range experience yet WLOPA seems a nice place to shoot though you're right, it's a long drive! Found online recently about Bridgeport Rifle Club but it seems joining them requires a sponsor?

Mopar wrote:Don't shop there as often as we used to because he tends to lean toward hunting firearms and supplies.

Is this suppose to be a joke? Think I may stick around and visit (not often) if I need to restock powders/primers, that's it...

BRC will only allow cast bullets up to certain velocities, I believe. I don't know about membership, but years back I attended their "open to the public" Bullseye matches.
I can fix you up with cast bullet loads, if you come up wanting.

CTSixshot wrote: I can fix you up with cast bullet loads, if you come up wanting.

Sounds good, I may need some in the future... Would like to try both types of bullets (jacketed/cast lead)...

I'm not sure what calibers you'll be reloading, but I have ample .32 HBWCs, several molds for .38 and .45, and several boxes of assorted cast bullets in .41 and .44 (the latter two I don't even shoot). Limited .45 LC, but enough for several several boxes worth of ammo, I suppose.
I may have a few hundred LRNs for 9mm, too (I have molds for several 9mm bullets, as well, but my casting efforts have been minimal of late).
Molds for 6.5mm and 30 caliber cast bullets are available, but rifle loads are not allowed, beyond .22 LR.

I am tempted myself to buy that Lyman cast bullet kit and give it a shot. Kit doesn't look that expensive and might be worth it for 45acp loads

It is satisfying to know that you can brew up your own bullets, but it's a whole lot easier just to buy a box of cast bullets already sized and lubed and ready to go.
All the labor and gear required for bullet making is justified if bullets are non-existent otherwise, but if you just want to produce some reloaded ammo, buy a box of 500 bullets and simply sit down at your reloading bench.
Yes, you can tumble lube to simplify things, but why bother unless you just want to do it for the experience.
Have fun!

Ya this is one i was considering. Might be worth it to give it a shot if it doesn't work out for me I am sure it will sell.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shooting ... t104635080

Someone is selling a Lubrisizer on here or another forum. You will have to buy the sizer dies, top punches, molds etc, so just buy this one and you can borrow my electric furnace (same as your model; I've never had good results with it...) and a mold to get started. Buy your own once you're committed to this plan of action.

Ya going to think it over for next week or two. I have to figure out if i have space to do this

Save your money. If you really want to cast you want a 20lb pot with bottom pour. With a 10lb pot you are always adding more lead and every time you do the temp changes. A
lso this "master kit" doesnt include molds, or dies/punch for the sizer (which is one step above crap, btw), so expect to go another $100 into it before you are ready to cast. And you still need the lead. Forget free lead these days, no such thing with scrap metal prices so high, so expect to pay 2-3 bucks a pound shipped or more for a decent alloy. And that doesnt even factor in your time. For money it will take just to get started you can buy yourself 7000-10,000 bullets already made.

Quick update... The press is already mounted on the work bench I built and tested the depriming feature using unclean brass... 1st batch of 100+ were deprimed just fine but the second batch (WWB) I'm getting brass getting stucked in the die, I guess it's too dirty... So lesson learned to wait for the brass to be cleaned good news though is that the tumbler is coming in today so I can clean them later...

Btw, powder question, does anybody here reloading 9mm using Unique or Clay Universal? Any recipe to share? I have 124gn berry FMJ RN for bullets...

I don't really see what's happening with the WWB brass. I do not polish my brass, but I do clean debris and crud from it before processing.
As to powders mentioned, use the Hodgdon website:
http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp
As a rule plated bullets are treated as cast bullets. The 124/125 LRN should be a suitable replica of your Berrys bullet (this is where reloading can enter a grey area...when your exact bullet isn't listed). I'd use the 1.169" as your minimum COL and use the powder load data for the 125 LCN, ie. start at 3.8grs using Clays Universal.
If you don't like the interpolation, stick to known bullet brands that have published data...or call Berrys and see if they have approved data.

For Ha Ha i looked once at Berry's website like you said it says to use cast load data for there plated bullets. There website isn't really good to be honest and very little info.

Also...get yourself the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual. It has recipes for more cast bullet loads than most other reloading manuals. Even with this, you'll still come across bullets that aren't listed...welcome to reloading.

Another update Already made a batch of test load ammos... Started with .57cc (4.2-4.4gn) and .61 (+/- 4.6gn) cavities using Unique and shot it last week at BSR...



.57cc on the left and .61cc on the right, CZ75b pistol was used and target's distance is about 15ft... Groupings are almost the same and noticed I'm a bit off to the left (getting rusty!)... Will try to increase the load on my next batch to .66cc (5-5.2gn) and see if there's a difference!

And oh, went home with lots of cases I picked up from the range!