I've been reloading necked rifle ammo for a while now without issues. Most of my reloading has been with Lil' Gun in the .300AAC, but I've used some other powders for other calibers as well and never had an issue until tonight.
Today was my first try at .38 Special. I'm reloading for my son's T/C Encore rifle, and wanted to load some up for next weekend. I picked Bullseye for the powder, and was going to start at 3.7 grains and see how that would work.
This was my first experience reloading with 3 die sets / pistol calibers / straight wall cases.
The expander die was a bit confusing, but I finally got a very light bell at the top, just the way the instructions said. I looked up pics on the internet to ensure I wasn't under or over expanding the very top of the case. Everything looked good. I just wasn't used to having to do this additional step.
I adjusted my powder drop and started dropping powder into a pan and weighing each charge with my balance beam scale. I know that many just get it set and then charge from the powder drop, but I like to check every charge for a perfect weight and then pour into the case with my powder funnel - Especially when I'm reloading something my 10 year old is going to shoot.
After the second case, I noticed something that has never happened before - I've got flakes of Bullseye in the case tray on the side of the case - like I'm missing the case a bit. I poured out that charge into my pan and reweighed it - it was light. So it's coming from me pouring into the case through that funnel. I tried a few more pours, but it kept "leaking" powder somehow. I'm not sure how it's doing it, as I'm ensuring I have a straight shot from the funnel mouth to the case interior, and I'm pushing down a bit on the funnel to get a good seal around the case mouth.
After 8 bad leaky pours, I stopped, dumped all the powder back into the hopper from the cases, then dumped all the powder back into the jug. Cleaned everything up for the night and came on here to see if I could get some suggestions.
Do you think it's just the inexpensive MTM funnel that came with my Hornady Lock & Load kit, or do you think it's something else (like that case belling that I've never done before - maybe I have that screwed up some way).
Frustrated tonight, as I was hoping to have about 65 rounds loaded up for him today. But I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'm not going to keep reloading until I figure this out.
All the best,
Glenn
Today was my first try at .38 Special. I'm reloading for my son's T/C Encore rifle, and wanted to load some up for next weekend. I picked Bullseye for the powder, and was going to start at 3.7 grains and see how that would work.
This was my first experience reloading with 3 die sets / pistol calibers / straight wall cases.
The expander die was a bit confusing, but I finally got a very light bell at the top, just the way the instructions said. I looked up pics on the internet to ensure I wasn't under or over expanding the very top of the case. Everything looked good. I just wasn't used to having to do this additional step.
I adjusted my powder drop and started dropping powder into a pan and weighing each charge with my balance beam scale. I know that many just get it set and then charge from the powder drop, but I like to check every charge for a perfect weight and then pour into the case with my powder funnel - Especially when I'm reloading something my 10 year old is going to shoot.
After the second case, I noticed something that has never happened before - I've got flakes of Bullseye in the case tray on the side of the case - like I'm missing the case a bit. I poured out that charge into my pan and reweighed it - it was light. So it's coming from me pouring into the case through that funnel. I tried a few more pours, but it kept "leaking" powder somehow. I'm not sure how it's doing it, as I'm ensuring I have a straight shot from the funnel mouth to the case interior, and I'm pushing down a bit on the funnel to get a good seal around the case mouth.
After 8 bad leaky pours, I stopped, dumped all the powder back into the hopper from the cases, then dumped all the powder back into the jug. Cleaned everything up for the night and came on here to see if I could get some suggestions.
Do you think it's just the inexpensive MTM funnel that came with my Hornady Lock & Load kit, or do you think it's something else (like that case belling that I've never done before - maybe I have that screwed up some way).
Frustrated tonight, as I was hoping to have about 65 rounds loaded up for him today. But I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'm not going to keep reloading until I figure this out.
All the best,
Glenn
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