I've finally gone and done it.

[ghostrider]

>Will the sizing dies straighten this kind of thing out?

generally, yes; unless its so out of shape that you can't get it into the sizing die.

As long as there's no evidence of cracks or tears they should be ok. Just be more careful inspecting high pressure cartridges (9mm, 357mag, and anything bottlenecked).

[CDH]

>So you tumble finished ammunition?

I would recommend against doing that, however its one of those controversial things like carrying reloads. Lots of people say don't do it without any hard evidence of it being a bad idea.


http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... er=1391582" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.p ... opic=45244" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/20 ... aded-ammo/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I figure the ammo in my truck gun gets more 'tumbling' in a year or two of riding around that an hour in the tumbler is going to cause...

One of these days I'm going to take a hundred pistol rounds (probably 38 spl and shoo them in my 357 revolver for safety factors), pull 20 for controls, and start tumbling for a few days. Pull 5 a day and run them over a chrony to check for variances... Several fairly reliable sources I know have done similar things to rifle ammo and reported negligible effect until a week+ is reached.

[T45Rex]

I've reloaded all my life (I'm 53) and load most of the common pistol calibers. I use Unique exclusively for all my pistol applications except my magnums. Actually is suitable for those if you aren't looking for max velocity. Some will say it burns dirty, but that has been fixed with currently produced powder. As I saw another post say, you have to watch what your doing as you can double charge some cases.....but this is true for reloading period. Personally, if you have no reloading experience and are just getting into it, I would not start with any of the auto rounds, as the crimps, sizing, etc. are much more critical for functioning. Learn the ropes on a more forgiving revolver type round such as a .38 spc. or .44. I really prefer seeing someone learn on a single stage press also. Call me old school but that way you learn exactly what is happening and why at each stage of the reloading process....then "graduate" to a progressive and apply that knowledge. Please accept my apology if this is in violation of rule 13...don't think it is as it is not my livelihood.....nobody in this area stocks lead bullets anymore. Not enough profit margin in them for the stores and buisnesses I'm told. Because of that, I keep a line of really good hard lead bullets in my home for reloaders in the area so we have access. As I can get them, I keep some primers available for friends if you can't find any and are out Odessa way. I've done what some others here have also, in that I've personally switched to using only magnum primers just to keep it simple. Only matters if you are dealing with max loads in my experience. Welcome to the fraternity of reloaders! There are many reasons we reload, but most will agree that it adds another facet to the shooting sports and can be quite enjoyable and satisfying. Also gives me an "auto-excuse" to get out of the house and into the shop at any time! :-) Take care and enjoy.
Greg

[NcongruNt]

Thanks for the advice. I don't own any revolvers, so can't really get into that initially. My kit is a single-stage, the Lee 50th Anniversary kit, which includes the Challenger Press as the included press. I'm in no hurry to crank out rounds, as I'd much prefer to hone my skills one at a time. I'll be consulting manuals, friends, and folks here as I go along and I'm quite a meticulous person, so I think I'll be OK will starting out on 9mm. My only other option at this point is 7.62x54R, and I've only got a dozen or so cases to work with there, so 9mm is the obvious choice for me at this time, logistically and simplistically.

I do plan on trying out lead bullets in the future. I'm sticking with FMJ starting out, as there's less prep to do with them, and am starting out conservatively. My first powder is Blue Dot, which is easy to get a hold of and as mentioned above, won't double-charge. That is by no means my insurance against proper loading - I am going to be paying acute attention to my measurements, triple (or more) checking my measurements and loading steps as I go along.

I will hopefully start my first batch of reloads within the next week, as soon as I can complete the house-arrangement mentioned in my previous post. Will update here then, I'm sure.