Noob to Reloading

[mjoplin]

Total newbie to reloading and am currently set up only to do 30-06 for my M1 Garand so I don't have to worry about mixing components (like the wrong powder, etc.) I have been doing research for quite some time prior to taking the leap. My set up is a Lee single stage breech lock with the deluxe rifle die set that can do neck only or full length resizing.

For components I used the following:
-once fired Lake City brass (fired once from my M1)
-CCI #200 large rifle primers
-Hodgens 4895 powder
-165 grain bullets (don't remember brand off the top of my head but think they were Speer boat tail bullets, got them from a local reloading shop and they do not have a cannulare groove cut in them)

Ran the cases through my kid's rock tumbler using crushed walnut media with a little bit of liquid cymbal polish thrown in to make them shiny. Resized the brass to neck only, did not full length resize the cases. Cleaned out the primer crimp with the Lee chamfer tool, cleaned out the primer pocket with their reamer. Trimmed the cases with the Lee guage/cutter and chamfered the neck inside and out.

Primed with the hand primer tool and ensured each was slightly below flush in the case
Charged with 46 grains of powder and visually verified all fills (they filled to just below the neck. Also shook completed bullets to compare to Lake City and it sounded to be around the same fill more or less)
Adjusted the seating die (the screwdown on the top) to match the same height of a couple of rounds of the Lake City ammo for reference

My questions/concerns:

1. Should you feel a reasonable amount of resistance on the press lever when seating the bullets? (having no frame of reference to go by, it felt awfully easy to seat the bullet)
2. My concern is around the bullet being seated and staying in place while the action is slamming a round in the chamber. I did try to twist or pull a bullet and it didn't seem to want to move (probably not a valid test, but it made me feel slightly better)
3. Would I be better off with the factory crimp die and bullets with a cannulare groove?

Thoroughly enjoyed the process of reloading and am looking forward to some more empty brass after going to the range. I will have to admit that I am a bit skittish about shooting my first reloads, especially after seeing some pics of the M1 that blew up after someone used reloads with Bullseye pistol powder in them. I would like to make sure that: 1. I don't blow my head off and 2. I keep my CMP special grade M1 intact and functional.

Appreciate any input/advice!

First reloads

[OldCannon]

Total newbie to reloading...

Have no fear. Remember, EVERY reloader started out as a total noob at sometime!

1. Should you feel a reasonable amount of resistance on the press lever when seating the bullets? (having no frame of reference to go by, it felt awfully easy to seat the bullet)

If the neck was expanded properly, yes. It should be narrow enough that you can't do it by hand, but not so tight that you feel a huge resistance.

2. My concern is around the bullet being seated and staying in place while the action is slamming a round in the chamber. I did try to twist or pull a bullet and it didn't seem to want to move (probably not a valid test, but it made me feel slightly better)

I haven't started reloading rifle rounds yet (will be in about a month), but your final crimp should definitely hold everything in place correctly.

3. Would I be better off with the factory crimp die and bullets with a cannulare groove?

Hmm..._I_ don't think so, but I'll let some of the more experienced rifle-reloaders answer.

...I will have to admit that I am a bit skittish about shooting my first reloads, especially after seeing some pics of the M1 that blew up after someone used reloads with Bullseye pistol powder in them. I would like to make sure that: 1. I don't blow my head off and 2. I keep my CMP special grade M1 intact and functional.

That's why you're supposed to borrow your friend's rifle, silly!

All kidding aside, if you follow a known data load, and you start off from low-to-high powder settings, you should be just fine. I remember how nervous I was with my very first pistol reload. In abiding by forum rules, I won't state the adult human function that it's like, but after the first time, you're like, "Oh, yeah, I can do this!"

[Jumping Frog]

Ran the cases through my kid's rock tumbler using crushed walnut media with a little bit of liquid cymbal polish thrown in to make them shiny.

Make sure there is no ammonia in that polish. Lots of brass polishers actually degrade the brass.

[loneranger4x4]

Primed with the hand primer tool and ensured each was slightly below flush in the case
Charged with 46 grains of powder and visually verified all fills (they filled to just below the neck. Also shook completed bullets to compare to Lake City and it sounded to be around the same fill more or less)
Adjusted the seating die (the screwdown on the top) to match the same height of a couple of rounds of the Lake City ammo for reference

maybe I am reading this wrong, but did you have a load book for your particular bulletts? I heard no mention of how you looked up the load data then followed it. it actually kind of scares me to read that you shook the factory ammo and it sounded about the same and also that you took a measurement of the factory ammo and used that measurement. Please ignore this if you folowed a reccomended load recipie for your particular bullett, but if you didn't I would definately not fire those rounds. not trying to degrade your intelligence, however you did say you were new to reloading and I would hate for you to have a bad experience on the first round.

[mjoplin]

Fair question and good of you to ask (load book?)

Yes, I have recipes from the bullet manufacturer, a reloading manual, countless web posts from M1 reloaders, and the "master po" website which has the NRA load data for the Garand.

Definitely not going by the "shake test" to see if the powder load stays the same. I actually started off 1.5 grains shy of the nominal load of H4895 with a 165 grain bullet. I really struggled over which powder to use as the Garand is sensitive to the pressure curve of the powder and am using H4865 as it supposedly most closely matches that in the original 30 cal milspec ball ammo.

I've been researching for quite a while and gently prodded into reloading due to the tightening up of the supply of clipped milsurp. Engineer by background and a bit fussy about getting it right. My biggest concern is around the minimal resistance encountered on the press handle when seating bullets (not having any frame of reference as to how it should feel). Didn't want to slam a round into the chamber, have the bullet pop out, and powder floating loose.

[loneranger4x4]

Fair question and good of you to ask (load book?)

Yes, I have recipes from the bullet manufacturer, a reloading manual, countless web posts from M1 reloaders, and the "master po" website which has the NRA load data for the Garand.

Definitely not going by the "shake test" to see if the powder load stays the same. I actually started off 1.5 grains shy of the nominal load of H4895 with a 165 grain bullet. I really struggled over which powder to use as the Garand is sensitive to the pressure curve of the powder and am using H4865 as it supposedly most closely matches that in the original 30 cal milspec ball ammo.

I've been researching for quite a while and gently prodded into reloading due to the tightening up of the supply of clipped milsurp. Engineer by background and a bit fussy about getting it right. My biggest concern is around the minimal resistance encountered on the press handle when seating bullets (not having any frame of reference as to how it should feel). Didn't want to slam a round into the chamber, have the bullet pop out, and powder floating loose.

Sorry by load book, I was refering to reloading books that manufacturers such as sierra, speers, hornady, barnes and others put out listing the loads for each of their bullets with different powders. they arent "all inclusive but give all the needed info to load safely. min and max loads specifications about over all lenghts, max case lenght, and all the other stuff needed. if you start shooting a particular brand of bullet such as speers, then you would probably benefit from picking up a speers manual. (if you already haven't.)
the information given on the internet you take at your own risk, some people load thier loads hot just to see how hot they can get them. it is always nice to have a book to verify that the load is within safe ranges. it sounds like you did all the homework so you should be fine.
as far as bullet seating goes, if you are concerned you can load a dummy round and then get a block of wood and try to push the bullet down into the case to get a better feel of how much it will take to push it in. I dont crimp on the seating step, I use a lee factory crimp die to put an ever so slight crimp on it as the last step. I don't actually think it needs it, just gives me the extra piece of mind knowing all of them are crimped consistantly.

[Rifleman55]

Did you say that you only neck sized the brass? If you did they may not chamber in your rifle.
I have reloaded a lot of rounds for my Garand and always full length sized the brass, and yes you are on the right track using powder of the medium burn rate like H 4895, If you want to use slower powders or factory ammo other than military spec. buy a Schuster gas plug, it is adjustable, and can be found at midway, and some of the other retailers.

[mjoplin]

Update:

Thanks to all for sharing your experience. This has been extremely helpful and has helped settle the initial "jitters" with my first attempt at reloading.

Finally got some range time yesterday and shot my first set of reloads. Also compared them to some Lake City and Greek milsurp rounds.

First round was a bit sluggish in chambering as compared to Lake City, unsure why as they are the same overall length. Maybe just a difference in spring tension on the enbloc?

Gave a bit of a nudge to the charging lever and it slammed into place. Al the reloads shot consistently 2-3 inches lower than LC or HXP rounds. All cycled the action with no issues. No issues with squibs, the gun blowing up, or bullets flying out of the brass when chambered.

Very happy overall with the reloads, gathered my brass and some new once-fired Winchester brass from a generous "neighbor" at the range and started cleaning and de-priming last night while watching TV.

I do have a couple from the first batch that I will re-work (fit a bit snug into the chamber), will pull the bullets, pop the primer (in the gun, will NOT be trying to push out a hot primer in the press...), and do a full resize on each. Most likely Will be bumping the load to 46.5 or 47 on this next batch and doing a comparison again to HXP and see where we are at wrt target placement. It will still be on the low end of the loading spectrum, but plan to work up a little at a time in the envelope until I am hitting in the same area on the target at 100 yards.

Am now hooked!

[CDH]

Milsurp 30-06 uses lighter bullets than your 165 grain bullets, the heavier bullets are slower, and therefore have more time to drop on their way to the target. Add your (correct) underloading on initial load, and the drop is increased. 2-3 inches sounds like a bit much, but nothing alarming there. Hopefully your group size was improved!

My test for proper neck tension is to measure a finished round with accurate calipers, chamber it full force a half dozen times, and measure again. Then measure another, put it in the bottom of a clip, fill clip and fire all but that one, and measure it. Any creep on either test, and I mean ANY creep, is a potential problem in my book. Just watch that you don't have a change in measure because of a soft point bullet getting a flattened nose and get alarmed(don't ask how I figured that out).

I recommend at least bumping the shoulder with your FL resizing die for an autoloader to avoid potentially having rounds fail to fully chamber. A bolt rifle can cram in a tight round, but autoloaders (even heavy bolts like a Garand!) don't handle it as well. You'll get the feel of it...

Welcome to the insanity!

[NcongruNt]

First round was a bit sluggish in chambering as compared to Lake City, unsure why as they are the same overall length. Maybe just a difference in spring tension on the enbloc?

That's what you get when you neck-size only; the brass has been fire-formed to your chamber, so it will fit the chamber more snugly than random factory loads. It's a good thing in terms of accuracy - a little less so in terms of ease-of-chambering.

My understanding is that this should only be done with bolt-action rifles, as the bolt locks up tight and the case doesn't move during expansion and contraction, and brass shot in semi-autos should always be full-length resized. At least, that's what my manuals told me.

[mjoplin]

All but 2 of my reloads easily slipped in/out of the chamber after neck sizing. The 2 that didn't really were marginal, but probably would have been fine. It gave me a good excuse to invest in a bullet puller. I am definitely doing a full re-size to all now.

One thing I am investing in also is one of the RCBS primer pocket swagers. It is a pain using the chamfer tool to clean out primer pocket crimps on milsurp brass by hand.

Very happy with the reloads I've done. Am planning on going to 150 grain bullets for the next bunch after expending this box of 165's.