Lets Reload some Ammo!

charlz · Nov 25, 2013

If you are not going to reload the .380 brass at least pick it up so some poor guy picking up 9mm doesn't end up with it and have to try to sort it out

k0ua · Nov 25, 2013

dodge man said:
I plan on shooting at least a few hundred rounds a year for practice. I thought it was going to be hard to even find the ammo for it, but the local Walmart had quite a bit of it in stock.

I have never reloaded any, but don't see why not. It uses the same shell plate as your .223 I think... Just dont mix them up with 9mm cases

dodge man · Nov 25, 2013

Yeah its 4894, good eye. I think I have a can of 4064 that I've used maybe in the 223's.

The spray lube is Dillons, but they probably buy it from someone else.

I can't remember what case I broke the decapper on, but it went in the trash.

k0ua · Nov 25, 2013

I can't remember what case I broke the decapper on, but it went in the trash.

Perhaps Berdan primed?

Soundguy · Nov 25, 2013

k0ua said:
Perhaps Berdan primed?

i've broke exactly 2 decappers since relaoding.

1 was a berdan case.. the other was hornady.

after that i got a universal lee decapper with a release collet that lets the pin slip vs break.

sinc ethen i've not found any more berdan... but have found some hornady that the flash hole ain't in the right place.

charlz · Dec 10, 2013

Well I bought the Lyman case prep center and it works pretty well. However, I did not care for the primer crimp remover it comes with. How much it removes depends on how long you hold it there and how hard you push down. After a bit of research I bought the RCBS Military Crimp Remover which fits on the Lyman just fine. It has a stop so the case can only go down so far, similar to the Lyman primer pocket uniformer. It removes a lot less than I thought was probably needed. I have yet to reload brass processed with it but so far I like the concept. This way brass that doesn’t need a crimp removed does not get any material removed. I was a bit concerned that after multiple reloads the primer pockets would be too wallowed out to work properly. Now I can just run all my brass across it without having to attempt some type of pre-sort.

Soundguy · Dec 10, 2013

unless they have changes the primer pocket, crimp reamer, the lyman crimp remover CANNOT remove too much metal. it is precision designed to BOTTOM in the pocket and thus once bottomed, the reaming edge shoulder on the OD can no longer remove any more metal. the documentation specifical details this. My unit is 2ys old now.. so 'MAYBEE" they changed.

post a pic of your tool head.

charlz · Dec 15, 2013

Soundguy said:
unless they have changes the primer pocket, crimp reamer, the lyman crimp remover CANNOT remove too much metal. it is precision designed to BOTTOM in the pocket and thus once bottomed, the reaming edge shoulder on the OD can no longer remove any more metal. the documentation specifical details this. My unit is 2ys old now.. so 'MAYBEE" they changed.

post a pic of your tool head.

It does bottom but removes quite a bit of brass even from non-crimped brass. Not the best picture but you can see the difference. The one on the left was trimmed with the RCBS Military Crimp Remover and the one on the right was with the Lyman tool. Neither were crimped brass. Maybe it is just me but it seems the less brass removed the better.

k0ua · Dec 15, 2013

charlz said:
It does bottom but removes quite a bit of brass even from non-crimped brass. Not the best picture but you can see the difference. The one on the left was trimmed with the RCBS Military Crimp Remover and the one on the right was with the Lyman tool. Neither were crimped brass. Maybe it is just me but it seems the less brass removed the better.

View attachment 350439

Yeah, I would not be satisfied with the one on the right either.. seems the shank is a bit too short and allows it to go to far.

the old grind · Dec 15, 2013

The cutters both seem to be doing the right thing for mil crimps, but IMO one a bit much and one barely enough. For many, 'loose pockets' are grounds for immediate discard of a case. (In ARs losing one into the action is a bear.)

I wouldn't expect cases trimmed with the Lyman tool shown to hold primers to my stds for other than bolt guns. (.. would set that one aside for now) I've seen/felt/measured seating pressure avg ~1/2 the norm in once-fired 5.56s with such a deep chamfer and prefer swaging vs reaming much for that reason. YMMV btw: overly deep pockets/seating can cause light primer strikes, a whole 'nother issue.

Have yet to see a pocket swaging tool I didn't like, whether bench-mount or press model. Sometimes a sharp edge stands out a bit after swaging, but it's easily cleaned up with the gentlest bump from any chamfering tool just as a neck would be.