picking up speed

[Thedragonslayer]

[QUOTE=svandamme;9612]As a test i primed 15 rounds, fired em off in the gun
then ran those 15 rounds through again, decapped, reprimed..
i love it.. The cheerful "plink" when yet another round ejects into the basket...


Makes a guy want to take-up re-loading!!!

[Hoss in IL]

I got ya Stijn.

Do y'all have lead bullet casters over there, like we do here, or are you relagated to shooting jacketed/fmj bullets? What bullets are you shooting?

I'm surprised Vihtavuori powder isn't readily available (maybe it is), it's made in Finland. If you could get it, I'll bet it would be expensive. It's crazy expensive here (my opinion).

Keep us updated on the goings on.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Hoss in IL

I got ya Stijn.

Do y'all have lead bullet casters over there, like we do here, or are you relagated to shooting jacketed/fmj bullets? What bullets are you shooting?

I'm surprised Vihtavuori powder isn't readily available (maybe it is), it's made in Finland. If you could get it, I'll bet it would be expensive. It's crazy expensive here (my opinion).

Keep us updated on the goings on.

Leadcasting gear is available, haven't decided yet if i wanna cast lead bullets or not. For the time being i'll use HN 190 grain semi wadcutters. and see how that works out.. Got a box of 500 to keep me busy

Just buggered around some more with the Dillon, powder die set, seater and crimp die set.
Ran a bit of test cases.. no powder yet, as i don't have any scales to measure the load yet, that arrives tomorrow..
Left the primers out as well, as i don't want to risk having a powder less but finished looking shell laying around to get mixed up in the rest.. potentially causing an issue @ the range.







For all intent and purpose, these shells ran the merry go round, no jams, the assembly works.I cycled them through the 1911, no issues there either..


All i gotta do now, is
- Bolt the big sucker to my desk when i get the strongmount
- install the powder check sensor
- run the cases through the corncob tumbler
- look up what loads to use with the powder i have and the 195 grain bullets
- Run some test batches

I'm almost good to go.

[Snipersnest]

Sold all my reloading stuff several years ago, and am now kicking myself. Getting the urge to start rolling my own again.

[Hoss in IL]

Stijn, I hope the rest of your stuff shows up quickly. The wait is the most nerve racking part for me.

I'll tell you what.....shows how much I know, I was under the impression that Europe had pretty much put the hammer down on gun ownership. I'm glad you can shoot and reload with out being an outlaw!

How common is gun ownership in Belgium? I was surprised to see that there are a number of small gun stores around you. What kind of stuff (firearms) do they have to choose from?

[svandamme]

It's not to bad as far as ownership, though the legislation has gotten a bit more strict the last 10 years. But pretty much anything goes except full auto. Did have to go to a club, rack up range time.. did theoretical exam(about laws, very basic) and a practical, safe handling exam for pistol, rifle and smoothbore.. no biggie either.

Common, hard to tell, estimates are about 2000 000 guns for about 11 000 000 Belgians.
Obviously many of those guns are grouped with people owning more then 1 gun. Of those 2 000 000 gus, about 800 000 are registred, eg legal. A lot of people have a shotgun in the attic, mums the word.

Ammo is not available over the counter you need a permit. But i'm sure somebody who really wants to buy ammo without a permit, will find somebody selling it.. That speaks for itself.

The reality is, Belgium is a crowded country, there isn't much free room , you'll be hard pressed to find a single spot in Belgium where you aren't within a mile of a house, especially the Flemish part is "full".. the Frech part (ardennes) probably less.
And as such it's not possible to shoot in your backyard as you would in more rural regions of the world...

As for choice, because it's rather strict,you gotta buy what's available.
A lot of gunstores have closed down because of strict regulations.. and one store closes, other store buys up the stock, etc etc..

Belgium as far as strict laws, it's not to bad... I got my permit in about 9 months, there is mandatory club membership with minimum amount of range attendance..
Holland is ok, but very regulated as well, France is worse (free guns for hunting, .22 is free,blackpowder too.. but lot's of limitation on types of calibers, any war caliber is no-no, hunting is ok).. UK as far as i can tell is ultra strict..I think Germany is slightly easier then Belgium. Switserland is gun country.. Austria, dunnu, but i think it's like Germany....

When i wanted to buy my pistol, i wanted a SA 1911.. but couldn't find any, just a SA1911 doublestack, which didn't feel comfortable. As i was looking around i foudn a DW1911, asked some buddies in the US, they told me , what, that price, go get it now, those are great guns and they are best bang for the buck.. so i went and got it the next day.

Reloading is actually a bit of a grey area.. i can buy the equipment , i can buy shells, primers, powder..
But actually putting it together... it's not entirely clear if that's legal. In fact i can't find jack chit about reloading regulation.. all i know is that many do it.
I have actually sent in a request for information to the Wapenunie (Belgian NRA) about reloading, curious to see what they tell me..

[Hoss in IL]

Permit for the ammo, no over the counter sales.......I wouldn't be surprised if that is the direction some of our politicians try (harder) to steer things here. There has been talk about each factory made cartridge having it own "numbers" on it. Don't remember where I read it, internet I'm sure so I don't know how reliable or true it is. I think it read that Califronia was going to be the testing ground.

"Let them keep their guns, we'll just make it near impossible for them to shoot them." I hope this isn't a campaign slogan we see in the future.

I'll quit clogging up your thread with banter. Good luck on getting all of your equipment and rolling out the ammo.

Take care,

Terry

[svandamme]

bit confused now..

Bottle says Accurate Powders #7

label says Explosia, Lovex D-036 Selling as #7


Accurate Powders website says

SPECIAL NOTE CONCERNING WESTERN POWDERS, INC. PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION:

Western Powders, Inc. currently does not supply any of our brands/powders to the EU. There is also no relationship with the CZECH company “Explosia”. As a result, Western Powders, Inc. has no quality control of the powders distributed in the EU by Explosia, which they claim to be “Accurate® equivalents”.

Please contact Explosia® directly regarding any powders distributed by them under the LOVEX® brand.

When Western Powders, Inc. supplies data for Accurate® powders, it is relevant only to the powders currently certified by Western Powders, Inc., Montana in the USA.


Owkay, that's clear..

So off we go to www. explosia.cz

reloading guide
http://www.explosia.cz/en/streliviny...2011-02-17.pdf


caliber/powder matrix
D-036 , ok for .45 ACP
#7 is supposed the slower burning of the handgun powder they have


for 230 bullet

grams------grains------m/sec--------- fps
recommended
0.390 ------6.0 ---------230 ------------754
Maximum
0.470 ------7.3 ---------260------------ 853

Owkay, that all kinda makes sense.
Except , i only have 195 grain copper plated semi wadcutters instead of FMJ 230 ball.
and they don't list nothing else.

So i'm kind of confused now as to what would be the safe load
dude at the store showed me the Accurate Powders load page.
But it's not AA#7 at all, it's Lovex D-036-07 as far as i can tell.

That listed 9.5 GRain for 230 grain FMJ, that's a chitload more then the lovex the D-036 load instructions.. So my gut feeling says, bad idea. He obviously didn't read the warning on AA's website, or bothered to check the paper label on the bottle.


So if i use the Lovex data as the reliable source.

And if i understand correctly lighter bullets=
lower chamber pressure & higher velocity..

I suppose i should be able to load with 6.5 grain of powder and still be well in the safe zone to start with..I also read that .45 acp is sort of a round with bigger tolerances in terms of pressure, because of the wide case... That's it's not like 10mm auto where the line between safe load/pressure vs over pressure is very, very thin?

Does that make sense? or should i research it some more?

other then starting off gently if i fire these trial loads @ the range.. Slow, shot per shot, making sure nothing jams or get's stuck in my barrel...
Anything else i should take into account as far as powder charge goes?
Does it matter that the bullets are copper plated, not FMJ ?

[svandamme]

Can't find a gunstore with powder in stock, in the reasonable vincinity. Called 5-6 shops, notthing.. they can order, but no stock.

Called the dude from the shop who sold me the Accurate #7 with Lovex D036 label.. He says he uses it himself, with the Accurate load data.

So went a head and made a small batch with the "mistery" powder.

I did however, start on the very low side of things.
Set the bugger to 6.5 grain, weighed each load.



There is something to say at the precision of the powder dropping, mostly that it wasn't precise at all.
I'm sure the variation has a lot to do with the press not being fully stable yet.
Once i get that sorted (strongmount arrives tomorrow or thursday) i'll be able to fine tune the powder delivery..

But it's ok for now, i just loaded, measured each load and sorted them

ranging from
6.3
6.4
a bunch of 6.5
bunch of 6.6
3 x 6.7
and a single 7.0.

That's all well on the low side of what Accurate table posted as minimum safe
And also on the safe side of the Lovex D-036 guestimate.

For a first batch, to figure out where i am.. i think it will do just fine.
I'll fire em one a a time, check for proper ejection, proper feed and clear barrel

If they are weak, then i guess the dude was right, and the AA #7 load data is indeed right.

for chits and giggles, this is just practice and getting used to the Dillon.
In the mean time i can source a better dealer, who can provide me with better powder and data...

As long as i don't double tap with potentially weak ammo, at worst the action doesn't cycle and lack of accuracy.
Guess i'll feel right away if they are much weaker then my regular factory Fiocchi ammo or not..

[svandamme]

Got this from Vihtavuori's load tables



Test barrel: 150 mm (6"), 1 in 16" twist
Primers: Large Pistol
Cases: Remington, trim-to length 22.70 mm (.893"


14,9 230 FMJ-RN Hornady
gram grain m/s fps gram grain m/s fps
N340 0,38 5,9 253 830 0,41 6,4 278 912


12,0 185 TMJ-SWC Speer

N340 0,46 7,1 303 993 0,50 7,7 330 108


I'll start the 230's at 5.7
5 x 5.7
5 x 5.9
5 x 6.2

The SWC's at 195 grain
i'll batch those at 6.9

5x 6.9
5x 7.1
5x 7.3

Guess that should give me a good idea if i'm in the ball park.

I'm stayin .2 grain below the max load, don't feel like pushing the max unless i got good data on my lower loads first.. Gonna ask around in the club if anybody has a chronograph for validation... else order one..