While waiting...

.
.
Waiting for a phone call and waiting for the modified aspirin to kick in, I decided to tinker with the reloading press. What could go wrong. Besides, clarity of thought is all that would be necessary. With a bunch of primed cases, I decided some time ago to remove the decapping piece on one of the dies. This would allow me to continue using that station to size the case and fill the station in the hopes of setting the overall length more accurately in the station that seats the bullet. Then I would make sure no primers were being fed in, deal with that, and try my hand at rolling a few rounds to see if my system was set up and working properly.

Well, detaching the decapping device looks easy on paper. Knowing how to get everything apart, for certain, and doing so without damaging the parts or busting the knuckles was a whole other story. While I broke no parts, to my knowledge, I did find that my knuckles still scrape skin quite easily (if you can call that easy, how about replacing easily with surely). I did get the parts broken down, I did remove the decapper, I did get it all back together. And, after that, I did adjust the seating die to my desired depth, give or take and within tolerances noted by the manufacturer and other users.

Having done that, I went over bullets I had previously developed. All are using the same powder load. Which I again checked, rechecked, then checked over a series of ten and then occasionally checked throughout the process. I ended up making about 30 bullets. I took time to check overall length on the first ten, happy with that I ran the rest of the lot straight through. I ended up with several still too long, a few shorter than I would have liked, but most came out exactly where planned. Wanting to fill a full box, I looked over the bullets I had already rolled. Most were too long, so I ran them through. Even these came out mostly right on target, only a few being short. As is, I have my first box of 50 home rolled bullets.

With all the problems I have had, the stop and go, and the constant fussing, I almost thought to pull these apart and start over. Shooting something you yourself made for the first time is a bit spooky. I decided against this, however. I was probably more careful than a reloader has a right to be and still load while making all of these. Each case was checked for powder level, care was taken in regulating how fast I used the press bar, everything was examined multiple times. Still, I wish I had a means of weighing each bullet. The scales I have do not allow for that much mass, and they are sensitive so trying to weigh the bullets might damage at least the electronic scale. I might have to consider creating a balance of some sort. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to be sensitive enough for a grain of difference and functional enough to show it. A simple wood structure, with a better metal fixture, wire of a fine and good grade for leveling, and a couple of pans to somehow be attached to the wires would be enough. Steel wire, like guitar strings or art hanging wire would offer enough strength for my application. It is something I might consider when I go into town.

It looks to be clouding up. So a quick shower and picking up sticks might be something to get to before much longer. The wind is picking up as well. I love this type of weather but, probably like everyone else who is dealing with constant rain and such, I am getting weary of it. We had an 87 F degree day yesterday. Too hot! The trick is to get the snow in the mountains to melt, without too much further flooding, so as it burns down here I can get up there. Right now there is still 100% to (and closer to) 200% snow pack in much of the mountains from what I am hearing. Trapped! Bah, it works out. Later.