Just took the plunge!

[seth30]

My bench

[h20hunter]

Nice.....trying to get off the breastmilk??

[seth30]

I found that the steel powder does not come out fluently, and the #2 steel shot gets clogged in my Lee loader   So I use the lee loader as a powder hopper and then add or take away whats needed.  The steel shot I load with a spoon until I get the 9/10 ounce on the scale.  Pretty much like running a single stage loader.  Now that I know my loads are shooting great I will mass produce a few cases in time for the next waterfowl season

[seth30]

Nice.....trying to get off the breastmilk??

Those are from my kid, but they make perfect containers for shells and bullets.

[C-Money]

  Nice set up! Looks like the loads pattern well! Sure will be great for you to see those green heads fold from your own creation! 

[h20hunter]

Almost makes the kid seem helpfull. Im a big fan of kitty litter tubs to store brass.

[Biggerhammer]

Almost makes the kid seem helpfull. Im a big fan of kitty litter tubs to store brass.

I guess I'm screwed! I don't plan on anymore children and I can't Frikn stand cats, unless they are 150lbs plus and lurk in the sagebrush.

[seth30]

Im with you on that about the cats.   I just put out a facebook message asking any of my FB friends if they had empy litter containers.

[seth30]

Nice set up! Looks like the loads pattern well! Sure will be great for you to see those green heads fold from your own creation! 

Waterfowl Season is such a long way off too

[trippledigitss]

So the instructions on my Lee loader say you can skip the brass re-size if you are loading them for the same gun they were fired from. I have been re-sizing my clay loads anyway since I was shooting them out of 2-3 different guns but just recently stopped since I am shooting them all out of my Cynergy now. It saves a little bit of time and I've read its less stress on the casing so they will last longer. Do any of you have an opinion on that? Do you think it matters any way? One of the guys at the range said he sizes them no matter what. What do y'all think? 

(btw - I have reloaded and fired alot of my gun club hulls as many as 8 times and they are fine. They look the same as ones fired 2-3 times)

[C-Money]

I always resize. No big time saver for me, the resizer goes on and off without any waste of time in my mind. Piece of mind knowing they will fit any gun I want them too is all the reason I need to resize. One less thing to worry about. I do not believe you will notice any shorter hull life re sizing every time, the end you crimp will wear out much faster than you can resize brass to death. I say RESIZE!

[seth30]

I planned on reszing everything as well.  Didnt even know that there was a option about it, once again thanks for the inputs.

[trippledigitss]

Yeah that makes sense C, the mouth would wear out before the brass. Also, know they will any other gun is a big plus too. OK - I guess I will go back to resizing.... thanks guys!

[seth30]

Just finished another batch   OUt of the 500 that I made I had a few that opened back up on me.  The load seems to be the same weight as the others.  Is this a shell defect, or do some of the steel shot not have the same size or shape causing the shells to open up?  Out of the 500 I had 12 do this, some more severe than others.

[uplandhunter870]

first off congrats Seth on the setup, i find reloading to be almost theraputic

So the instructions on my Lee loader say you can skip the brass re-size if you are loading them for the same gun they were fired from. I have been re-sizing my clay loads anyway since I was shooting them out of 2-3 different guns but just recently stopped since I am shooting them all out of my Cynergy now. It saves a little bit of time and I've read its less stress on the casing so they will last longer. Do any of you have an opinion on that? Do you think it matters any way? One of the guys at the range said he sizes them no matter what. What do y'all think? 

(btw - I have reloaded and fired alot of my gun club hulls as many as 8 times and they are fine. They look the same as ones fired 2-3 times)

ive loaded a lot of shotshells and i mean a lot, was shooting 2000-3000 shells a week through high school and first few years of college and my advice is resize everything, doesnt matter if you only have one shotgun of twelve, resize every shell you load. resizing wont affect hull life, the crimp petals or the hull itself will wear out before the brass does

case in point, i have an 870 in .410 and have a mec jr. to load them with, no resizer on it, after about 2 or 3 loads the shells were not going into the chamber. my 410 shells are only fired through the 870. bought a mec hand resizer for the 410 and everything works flawlessly now. ive seen guys not resize 12ga hulls at the trap club and the hull will get stuck in the chamber. it only takes a second to resize so why not.

Seth it looks like your finish crimp is not set deep enough, assuming you have two crimp stages (ive never used a lee) try adjusting the finish crimp down an 1/8 to 1/4 turn that should fix the problem, if you only have one crimp stage adjust that down the amount i suggested and see how it works. if adjusting the crimp down doesnt fix the problem try dropping your wad setter down a bit, just a tad.

almost every loader ive used or help set up takes some fine tuning to get it working butter smooth and once you get it there dont touch it.