Who reloads?

[80W150]

So early this year I got back into reloading my own ammo. Until recently I've just been doing handgun. Well, I decided to dive into rifle calibers. Two calibers mainly. Anyways, so I was resizing cases last Wednesday and it happened, ripped the rim off the case and the case is stuck in the die. Marvelous. So I just ordered the RCBS extraction kit.

I have a bunch of 5.56 I'm doing and have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket so this will take a while but it will be worth it. 308 is my main one though. Get the chamber depth measured blah blah so I can really make my bolt action perform like I know it should.

Like I said, all I've done to this point is handgun which is easy because it's all straight wall cartridge. I do it because I enjoy it. Developing loads that each handgun likes, get the most out of them. It can be time consuming really dialing them in but if you want the most accuracy.... I know my .44 mag is so much more fun to shoot now that I'm loading for it again. Can't wait to see what my .308 will do.

[The War Wagon]

I learned from a good ol' boy down in Kentucky back in '99 - we reloaded about 35k of 9mm, .40, 10mm, .45, .30 Carbine & .223, in anticipation of Y2K.

I know HOW to do it, but have yet to invest in my own equipment or the books...

[80W150]

You can go with most of the bigger names, complete starter kits, for less than $400. Dies aren't expensive either. My turret and single press are Lee brand as are my dies. I do have a Dillon 550 but haven't set that up yet. When I do that will be 5.56 only. The turret press works fine for handgun considering you might only go through what, maybe between 100 to 200 rds in a day at the range? No biggie.

Anymore though the downside, some reloading supplies are just as hard to get as ammo itself. Small pistol primers are scarce, if you don't already have a good supply of brass you might have a hard time getting it, bullets, depends on caliber, powder, yeah, depending on what it's designed for.... Hell, brand doesn't matter anymore. I've started "expanding" what I use. I used to stick with accurate powders for handgun and now I also use IMR.(for non magnum calibers) It's cheaper and more readily available so when I see it I get it.(and heck, in auto's it's actually better. Way cleaner burning.)

I really should get a flammable cabinet though. Would be nice to store the stuff properly.

[scratchinfotraction]

re-load, yes I reload when it stops going bang!   

interesting hobby you have. so is the main reason to do this is to save coin on ammo? and a plus side is dialing in the gun?

so maybe you can help with this ? I have had a long time. my father-in-law,a WWII Vet has a rifle we only have a couple/few shells left for it. has a nice WWII 9mm Luger as well. he wont say much about them other than he brought them home in 1944.

it is some type of German rifle, bolt action, shoots a 7.35 mm. has the german emblem stamped in it,

seems to be no way to get brass or live shells for this gun anymore. so could the ones we have be reloaded.

I do know it is one bad ass rifle, has about 4 foot of flame out the end of it when it goes bang.

so what kind of rifle would this be?

[The War Wagon]

so what kind of rifle would this be?

Sounds like an M38 Carcano - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcano

[scratchinfotraction]

no, thats not it. we have the italian carcaino and buy shells at the gun shop for it.

this one is a short rifle, has the flip up sights, on the end of the barrel it has the sight in the midle of 2 other blades that have a 45* bend to them.  IIRC he said it was a german paratrooper/sniper rifle.

has the eagle holding the wreath with swazi in the middle. stamped right at the top of barrel/chamber,  german for sure.  no one seems to know anything about the 7.35 ammo as it is out of production since 44-45 I would think.

been a while but IIRC,clip goes in the top and then spits the empty clip( with a distinct tinny sound) out the bottom on the last ejection.

that could be his garande though...I dont know guns that well.

got me, i know it has a hell of a kick and will bust a grape a long ways off..the fire out the end is impressive at night.

but we no longer shoot it and save the last few shells for it.

as a matter of fact, the old man does not like us talking/looking/touching those few things he has. left. still has his foot locker packed with a nice crisp uniform hanging in the closet. he is proud at 81 and has lost wieght so it fits again.

so for the post highjack. not much actoin over here and have not thought of those guns in a long while.

[The War Wagon]

Read down in the article.

German forces captured large quantities of Carcanos after Italy's capitulation in September 1943. It was the most commonly issued rifle to the German Volkssturm ("People's Militia") units in late 1944 and 1945.

Fucile di Fanteria Mod. 1938 (Model 1938 short rifle adopted in 1938 in 7.35×51mm caliber, fixed sights, detachable folding knife bayonet) 20.9 inch barrel.[11]
Carcano Model 1891/38 Carbine
Moschettos Mod. 1938 (folding bayonet) and Mod. 1938 TS (detachable bayonet) carbine versions of Model 1938 short rifle in 7.35×51mm, 17.7 inch barrel.

As for the other rifle...

been a while but IIRC,clip goes in the top and then spits the empty clip( with a distinct tinny sound) out the bottom on the last ejection.

that could be his garande though...I dont know guns that well.

That does sound like a Garand.  It's 30.06 caliber, and it's an American rifle.

[scratchinfotraction]

i could be mistaken on it, but from what I remember it does not look like either of those rifles.

i think he said it was a Mauser ? maybe??

[The War Wagon]

i could be mistaken on it, but from what I remember it does not look like either of those rifles.

i think he said it was a Mauser ? maybe??

It COULD be... except... those came in 7x57mm.  The Carcano's were sometimes, but erroneously, called, "Mannlicher-Carcano," or, "Mauser-Parravicino," but Its official designation in Italian is simply Modello 1891, or M91 ("il novantuno"). The rifle depends for proper usage upon a magazine system using en bloc charger clips which were originally developed and patented by Ferdinand Mannlicher, but the actual shape and design of the Carcano clip is derived from the German Model 1888 Commission Rifle.

That, and THOSE rifles were 6.5mm rifles.  The 7.35mm rifle wasn't introduced UNTIL WWII.  But going through the various Mauser rifles over the past 140 years, they NEVER made one in 7.35mm.

[scratchinfotraction]

well, that would explane why it is called a Mauser correct? as in general description, it fits in that group of guns.

he sure got bent when i aksed about it. best leave that dog along for now.

i will print this so I can show it to him and explane myself about asking.

thanks for info.

[80W150]

Well scratchin, to answer at least your first question, I do it for the two reasons you mentioned. Because of how much I shoot it's cheaper for me to reload my own ammo. Bulk is the only way reloading pays off in that sense. The occasional shooter it really isn't worth getting into considering initial cost, supplies etc.

I also do it for accuracy. Every firearm is different in what they like. And some people might think "well it's the same grain bullet, different manufacturer but same grain, should shoot the same", that's the furthest from the truth. To me this is where reloading gets fun. My .44 for instance. I have experimented with different brand bullets, all 240 gr hollow points. (hunting purposes) Preferred is hornady XTP's, it's what groups the best for mine. Well, when I couldn't get any I switched to nosler 240's. I knew I had to start over. I start at the bottom of the chart and work my way up in .2 grain increments. Turns out the noslers performed the best at 15.3 grains of powder where the hornady's like 15.7 grains. (that's grouping AND shooting the same zero so I don't have to readjust my sights from one round to the other) It's time consuming figuring stuff like that out but to me, it's fun.

For practice I use a 255 grain lead semi wadcutter bullet. I have plenty, they're cheaper, just had to dial the powder back in order to use original zero for sights and not max out the chamber pressure due to longer bullet length. (bullet sets deeper in casing increasing pressures)

Semi auto pistols can be a little difficult. What powder charge works for one brand/model might not work for others. (I ALWAYS start bottom of chart and go up until pistol cycles reliably then go for grouping. No sense in going hot right away. Dangerous and it's hard on frames plus gun might not group with a darn) My one buddies beretta liked the minimal loads just fine. Grouped good, cycled fine.. Other friends S&W 9mm, it wouldn't cycle. So I had to hop the charge up for that. (always write stuff down, it helps) For my semi's, minimal charge works in all of them bu my 5" 45 likes a little warmer load. The 40 doesn't care. It eats/cycles everything I've tried so I just go minimal. (again, thinking of the frame and heck, why use the powder if it's not needed?) Plus that's actually the wifes pistol and she doesn't care for heavy recoil so.....

Now that I've gotten sidetracked with that let's move on to your dads rifle. The one that spits the clip out, agree with war wagon, it's a garand. Only mil rifle to my knowledge that does that. Great rifle right there. One of the best.  The german rifle, man, not sure. If it was for paratroopers specifically..... All german rifles were either 7.92x57 (8mm mauser in civilian terms) or 7.92x33 kurz. (short) The latter being magazine fed select fire type weapons. (MKb42, MP44/StG44, and the little known volkssturmgewehr 1-5) Without pics (which sounds like might be difficult to get) it's hard to tell. Does sound like a carcano though. As far as it having the reich markings, they did that to most anything produced for their military BUT, it's getting harder and harder to find items with that still intact so.....

[scratchinfotraction]

talking with my brother inlaw..it is the  17.7 inch barrel like in the pic posted, I did not remember the finger grooves on the stock and it has no bayonet.

interesting how a mopar engine is sorta like a gun, no two are a like or like the same tuning specs.