alright who's coming over?

[fiver]

I'm on a mission to get either 10-K or a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm brass reloaded here shortly.
unfortunately I don't think I have 10-K bullets cast up just yet, and I for sure will have to run a couple thousand through the star sizer.
so I'm having a casting, sizing, and reloading party if anyone is interested.
I could set one of the other Dillon's up to speed things along if necessary, but I only have one 358 size die so the lube-sizing could take some extra time. [or another person unless we open the 357 sizer]

and if you happen to have some extra time [or another person one of the other press's is already set-up for it] i'll be starting on the 45 acp brass next.
the good news is i should have enough cast/lubed already to cover those.
I also need to get some rcbs silh. boolits cast up soon too, the bucket is getting mighty empty.
but that mold is set-up for the master caster so it wouldn't cut into the 9's casting time..
oh and I have some 41's that need sized which shouldn't be much of a problem or get in the way of the guy's getting the 9's done [there's another star set up for the bigger boolits sitting right there]
anyway I think limiting the help to 3-4 guy's over the next month or two should cover most of what needs done..

how's everybody else coming along?

 

[Josh]

Lamar, if I lived close I would be happy to help, I am starting the same journey but in 50 cal ammo cans. Why may I ask are you putting all your ammo in one 250 lb bucket?

 

[Brad]

I am finding myself very bullet and loaded ammo poor right now. I loaded 300 rounds of 38 special yesterday and realized I have maybe 500 sized and lubed bullets left for that cartridge. Worse, I don't have any cast to size.
45 ACP isn't bad, probably 2 K ready to load. 9 mm I have probably 5 K bullets ready for sizing and lubing.
Brass is good, it is just empty.

I need to get my keister in gear and cast some damn bullets!

 

[S Mac]

Too bad I have to work for a living, would be a treat to rub elbows with some masters of the craft.

 

[62chevy]

Too bad I have to work for a living, would be a treat to rub elbows with some masters of the craft.

Yes it would and now that fiver has more time than money we could make a couple of days out of it.

 

[fiver]

I got the bucket full of brass. [plus a little more]

it'll end up in ammo cans and some smaller buckets when it's ammo.
although the bucket would be a bit easier to store in a corner somewhere, I'd still need a couple of the ammo cans.

I keep my pre-made and lube sized cast boolits stored in 5 and 7 gallon buckets.
I don't have to count stuff that way, I just empty the bucket then cast/lube until it's full again.
I have no idea how many 200gr swc's it takes to fill the bucket I just work on it until it's full then lube-size them into another bucket and store it under the bench.
the 9's go in a smaller 2-1/2lb bucket because that's a lot of bullets, but it looks like I need to start on a 5 gallon bucket full next time.
sometimes I work on filling a bucket all year long and just do a couple hundred of other bullets here and there at the end of a casting session to build their stock up a little bit.

I end up with 5x5x4" boxes of this and that stored on the shelves but the little sessions add up over time and usually keeps me in boolits until I find the time to make a good long run of them.

 

[Creeker]

The can of 45 Auto for my Ruger is about empty so I'll be busy loading so can't come over.

 

[Farmerjim]

I am busy out in the field till mid July, but cast on rainy days. Next time your bucket is full weigh it. Or weigh a pint or quart and use that to get an estimate of how many in the 5 gal bucket. that's how I count mine.

 

[Ian]

I'd be there but I'm still trying to finalize about three different loads. Gotta trim and chamfer about 1200 .38 wadcutter cases and another 1500 mixed military brass. Then figure out how to cast about 2K of the .38 wadcutters out of a two-cavity Lee mould, and decide if I'm going to buy another SWC mould or just run 1K-1200 or so more Lee 150 RN bullets out of the six-cavity to finish out what I need for the military cases. Now I'm running low on soft lead. And gawd my 300s eat ammo. Down to my last 50 rounds again! I deprime, wash, and load 250 at a time and next I know it's all gone. Gotta step it up I guess.

 

[Brad]

I have my Lee 6 cav 158 SWC heating now. I wish Lee still made a plain base 158 SWC mould.
I debated casting more 503's for the 44 special or 640s for the 44 mag but decided I was so low on the 38s that I best get some cast up. The Lee 6 cav will also make a heap of bullets in a big hurry.

 

[fiver]

remember when 500 bullets was a lot?
I recall thinking I'd never ever shoot all one thousand fmj's I ordered from Dillon for like 25 bucks, now I wish I'd ordered 20 boxes of them.

I need to get casting for some other stuff too but figured I'd prioritize what I have the most brass for and work backwards.
if it'd quit snowing I'd melt down the rest of my ww's and put together some 4/6/90 alloy and make some more 1-8 for the 9 and the lee 230 [which I'm pitifully low on too]
I also need to get the roof flashing, x-ray lead, and radiation shielding bricks melted down too or I ain't gonna have anything to make swaging cores out of.
going fishing all last summer really put me behind on most of my shooting projects.

 

[Rick]

The fish just had a vote and it was unanimous, they all said to start casting.

 

[Josh]

I will be moving on the 1st of June, so I will be swamped on housework for the summer shooting season. But I do plan on alloying down a metric assload of random lead and casting up a bunch of bullets. At my last count I have about 1,500 lb of alloy in the form on WW, range scrap, roofing flashing, shot, and fiber lead. I did get a lead on indoor range lead, going today to clean some out. That will be another 1000-2000 lb depending on how much the trap holds.

 

[fiver]

I still have 4 lakes within 60 miles of me I ain't ever fished yet.
and these are actual lakes with water and everything [now... they didn't have much water before]
I also have 2 trolling poles rigged up and covered in dust [and the original plastic] that have never seen water because I didn't have the time.
I have a project with the 41 mag coming up this summer with a new to me boolit and long-shot powder.
except that the boolts are so old at this point I'm gonna see if they qualify for SSI benefits.

 

[Minute Of Berm]

It's painfully obvious that my idea of a quantity constituting a suitable "stash" is woefully low..........

 

[Ian]

I remember keeping a "spare" pound of each of three powders I used. When the spare got opened, a new one got bought. I also remember some time after that thinking that an 8-lb jug was a lot and a 5-gallon bucket of wheel weights would last me forever. Then I got interested in shooting and it's been downhill ever since.

 

[RBHarter]

More recently I could get all the reloading gear and supplies into 9 50 cal cans and 2 20mm cans ....... yeah good times right there today it takes 3 20mm cans to corral not working cases and I've given away that much in 12ga cases just because I had them culled down to a full 20mm can plus 3 cases of factory that was rounded up from the rigs stashes and regular storage.
I'm not in the 5 gallon bucket of 9mm or 45 class but there is probably pretty close to 9 50 cal cans of loaded ammo on hand .
Moving in 3 yr is going to be an absolute hell , I can't decide if loaded boxed/canned is a better way or as individual parts packed tight.

 

[Brad]

In the past week I have cast almost 1000 NOE 503s for 44 special and over 500 Lee 158 SWC for 38 special.
The Lee mould need some work, the screw for the sprue plate is stripped. I have had the mould for 15 plus years and it has cast unknown thousands of bullets.

Sadly, that isn't near enough of either bullet. I need to keep going. And sizing. And loading.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Lamar, I feel your pain. Having a wife and daughter that are both 9mm and 223 addicts--and a couple more daughters who help plow through the 9mm supply--extended stays in front of the Ponsness-Warren turret machine are a fact of life. Just like brake jobs on kid cars. It's what Dads do.

 

[Ian]

Sounds like Santa Claus and her elves need to bring Dad a Dillon 1050 this year.....