Re: Starting from scratch
Posted: 05 Jun 2017 16:40
Great to hear that you got good accuracy your first time out!
A few things that I haven't seen mentioned (could be here and I just missed it)...
- Some kind of caliper for measuring overall length of the cartridge with the seated bullet.
- case prep/cleaning type of equipment.
- lots and lots of little bins: cool whip, sour cream, yogurt, etc. containers work just as well as the purpose made bins. You'll eventually be sorting head stamps, separating out damaged brass, gathering rounds in various stages of brass prep, and storing reject rounds for pulling and reusing.
I actually really like HP38 powder. I have bigger guns if I want more recoil. If you can get good accuracy without big recoil, why not? I use Trailboss for cowboy action competition loads, and I use H110 for the hot stuff. I've also used HS6 with similar results to HP38. I pretty much stick to Hodgdon powders because their website is incredibly useful and very user friendly... hodgdonreloading.com
I bought a cheap digital scale from Amazon or Ebay. (Don't remember which. Both have them.) It's good to 0.05 grains and is very repeatable. I have high dollar scales at work that I can compare it to, and it measures just fine. It feels like a toy, but it gives me accurate and precise measurements every time that I can be confident in. The thing I like about a digital scale is that I'm not weighing into a pan and transferring into the case. I tare the case on the scale, drop my charge, and then trickle into the case to make up the exact weight I'm looking for. It eliminates one step, and to me seems to eliminate potential inaccuracies due to unseen spillage, etc. when dumping powder out of a pan into the case.
One hint for a loading tray... I gather up trays from factory boxes of 45 ACP ammo. These are about the right size to hold a 357 case mouth-up and still have some room in between to grab the cases out of the tray. I've gone so far as to glace into the trash at the range for empty boxes of 45 ACP.
I'm with you in that I load with my kids. It's some of my favorite time that I spend with them, and they are very helpful.
A few things that I haven't seen mentioned (could be here and I just missed it)...
- Some kind of caliper for measuring overall length of the cartridge with the seated bullet.
- case prep/cleaning type of equipment.
- lots and lots of little bins: cool whip, sour cream, yogurt, etc. containers work just as well as the purpose made bins. You'll eventually be sorting head stamps, separating out damaged brass, gathering rounds in various stages of brass prep, and storing reject rounds for pulling and reusing.
I actually really like HP38 powder. I have bigger guns if I want more recoil. If you can get good accuracy without big recoil, why not? I use Trailboss for cowboy action competition loads, and I use H110 for the hot stuff. I've also used HS6 with similar results to HP38. I pretty much stick to Hodgdon powders because their website is incredibly useful and very user friendly... hodgdonreloading.com
I bought a cheap digital scale from Amazon or Ebay. (Don't remember which. Both have them.) It's good to 0.05 grains and is very repeatable. I have high dollar scales at work that I can compare it to, and it measures just fine. It feels like a toy, but it gives me accurate and precise measurements every time that I can be confident in. The thing I like about a digital scale is that I'm not weighing into a pan and transferring into the case. I tare the case on the scale, drop my charge, and then trickle into the case to make up the exact weight I'm looking for. It eliminates one step, and to me seems to eliminate potential inaccuracies due to unseen spillage, etc. when dumping powder out of a pan into the case.
One hint for a loading tray... I gather up trays from factory boxes of 45 ACP ammo. These are about the right size to hold a 357 case mouth-up and still have some room in between to grab the cases out of the tray. I've gone so far as to glace into the trash at the range for empty boxes of 45 ACP.
I'm with you in that I load with my kids. It's some of my favorite time that I spend with them, and they are very helpful.