Baldrage's reloading log

[Wobbly]

Assuming I get out of work at a decent hour today, hoping to make it to the range tonight to test-fire my first reloads!

What !!

Didn't you call in sick ? 

[IDescribe]

Didn't you call in sick ? 

I find his lack of focus... disturbing.   

[baldrage]

Didn't you call in sick ? 

I find his lack of focus... disturbing.   

Yes, I am stuck in the conundrum/paradox known to many shooters and reloaders:  I have to work in order to be able to afford to reload and shoot ... but working takes time away from shooting and reloading.   

So my options are:

1) find a way to get paid to shoot -- not bloody likely; given my performance in IDPA matches to date, no sponsors are going to be beating a path to my door, except maybe Kleenex ("when your performance is this sad, use Kleenex-brand tissues to dry your tears"). 

2) find a sugar momma to support me -- dwindling potential for me to reel in a suitable sugar momma as I get older/less attractive; plus Mrs. Baldrage would not be very happy with me, and it would be hard for me to shoot with broken arm/concussion/organ damage.

If it makes you feel better, I have been sitting down at my reloading bench every night to gaze fondly upon my 20 shiney test rounds, murmuring "my preciousssss" ...

[Wobbly]

Yes, I am stuck in the conundrum/paradox known to many shooters and reloaders:  I have to work in order to be able to afford to reload and shoot...

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
- Oscar Wilde

I find his lack of focus... disturbing.   

What I find most reprehensible is that this thread has gone on 6 pages now with nary a shot being fired. One can only imagine how many pages we'll be up to by the time we start trying new powders or get to the first 1000 round production run.

I'm sending flowers and a condolence card to Mrs Baldrage.

 

[baldrage]

All right! I'm officially a reloader!  All 20 rounds fired and functioned perfectly! 

Have to admit I was pretty nervous firing that first shot ... kept thinking about Wobbly's old comment about tying the gun to a tree and pulling the trigger with a piece of string.  I was watching the slide to make sure it functioned and case ejected on the first shot, so I missed the target entirely, but next 4 rounds made one hole in the target at 7 yards.  In the picture below, top circle target was shot with my normal Blazer Brass 124 gr factory ammo, bottom target is my reloads with 4.4 gr HP-38, Winchester SPP, RMR 124 gr RN FMJ. 

20161014_RELOADS_4_2 (1) by baldrage, on Flickr

4.5, 4.6, and 4.7 gr also functioned fine, but targets did not turn out as impressive, just my typical scattershot 4-5 inch grouping.   Shot all of them free-hand, about one round/second, and I was more concerned about them functioning properly rather than trying to judge each one for recoil and accuracy.  I think 4.4 gr felt pretty soft on recoil, and 4.7 was a little snappier, more like factory ammo, but couldn't say for sure.  Nothing noteworthy to say about 4.5 and 4.6 gr.  I will load up another 10 of each powder charge, and do a proper accuracy test from a bench rest next time I go to the range.

For now, I'm very happy that the months of research and weeks fiddling with the SDB to get it dialed in paid off.  Thanks Wobbly, Painter, IDescribe, 1SOW, Boris_LA, and others who have taken the time to comment/answer my questions!

[Wobbly]

Congratulations !!

So in the end, we covered a lot of steps to insure your safety, but it wasn't really that hard, was it ?

 

[painter]

I remember the first time I pulled the trigger on one of my reloads...

I closed my eyes.

[IDescribe]

Congrats!   

[1SOW]

Really a methodical progression to excellent results.  "Methodical" is meant as a compliment.

Now comes the $$$investment period followed by the "more shooting" for the same $$$ period.
Enjoy the trip.

[DeltaGray]

I very much liked the "Baldrage's reloading log" post but I laughed at the reply made by "Wobbly".  I have found notes applicable to club matches done it year 2008 and wanted to review powder charge and primer brand used for different projectile weights (e.g. 120, 130 match, or 140) and bullet number in Remington 7-08 caliber.  Paper target distances did range from 25 to 200 yards.  Thanks for the posts.

[baldrage]

So I had a nice HP-38 ladder loaded up, 10 rounds each 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 gr.  Have been waiting for weeks to make it to range and shoot them off from a bench rest, so I could find "the one." 

I finally made it to the range on Thursday night, warmed up with some Blazer factory ammo, then proudly took out my ammo box holding my very own handloads, which had been labeled in neat little rows ... and OPENED THE FREAKING CASE UPSIDE DOWN!  All my carefully organized rounds spilled all over each other, and I had no clue which was 4.4 gr and which was 4.7 gr!   

So rather than a careful "lab test" from a bench rest, I just shot them all off free style in failure-to-stop drill.  Good news is all went "bang", all feed and ejected just fine, and follow-up shots did seem faster/easier than with factory ammo. 

[Wobbly]

...then proudly took out my ammo box holding my very own handloads, which had been labeled in neat little rows ... and OPENED THE FREAKING CASE UPSIDE DOWN!  All my carefully organized rounds spilled all over each other...

Do we need to call in Mrs B

You need one more label...

[DeltaGray]

Baldrage--I read and appreciate posts and pictures.  I also read Wobbly comments et al.  He may also have experience and a sense of humor.  This forum is primarily about CZ's so I am learning about a CZ 9mm P-07--keeping it stock for now but I appreciate the tuning posts that also include pictures. Safety relative to reloading, hunting, range time etc. is very important to me.  I am a hunter education instructor (a state volunteer since 2000) and an instructor/coach of different types.
DeltaGray

[baldrage]

Still intent on finding ?the answer? for which load I will use as my standard practice and competition round, I loaded up another 50 rounds using RMR 124 gr RN FMJ at nominal 1.125 COAL, using Winchester SPP.  Rather than a full ladder from 4.4 ? 4.7 gr of HP-38, I loaded 25 rounds using 4.5 gr and 25 rounds at 4.6 gr, based upon assumption that 4.4 gr would not meet power factor, and that I did not want to use max load at 4.7 gr [recall that I had tested 10 rounds each at 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, and 4.7 previously].   I measured and plunk-tested all 50 rounds using the barrel removed from my pistol.  All 50 rounds plunked and spun, except one round which plunked fine, but would not spin freely.  Upon closer inspection, there was a small burr/dent on the lip of the case which was sufficient to keep it from spinning in the barrel.  I set the round aside, based on the assumption it would be unsafe to shoot ? is that correct?

Modified to change 1.25 OAL to 1.125 OAL

[painter]

I loaded up another 50 rounds using RMR 124 gr RN FMJ at nominal 1.25 COAL, using Winchester SPP.

How do you fit those rounds in the magazine?


[Mods added quote. We think he shoots those in a 38 Super !]