April 2018

Somehow maintaining the web site, the Facebook page and the shop in general has become overwhelming. 2 years ago I started working on a new front page for the web site. Bought new software and went to work on it. That's as far as I got.

I don't have time to write much anymore and with info traveling at the speed of light, I not sure it's even worth the trouble. Nobody reads for enjoyment, they only want answers. Yet somehow I struggle to just tell the end results without telling how I got there.

That has never been more obvious then reading through a few postings on a Facebook reloading page I follow. People want solutions without understanding the problem. The sad part of this as I see it is this. The aptitude for figuring things out and understanding how things work is diminished. Furthermore later generations will have no clue how to get from point A to point B. Maybe even worse, they don't want to know and ultimately may avoid anything that presents such a challenge.

I'm not alone in my feelings. I've seen posts encouraging people to read and understand the process and then get blasted for not helping. And that by not "helping" they are somehow discouraging newbies from pursuing their interests.

This spills over into all areas of hands on work, the list is huge and the end result is a disastrous dumbing down of the skill sets that built this country.

So off of my soapbox.

I continue to reload everything I shoot and enjoy every aspect of the process. Even buying a new rifle in a caliber I already shoot gives me a complete new set of challenges.

Most recently, I purchased a CZ 527 Varmint weight in 222 Remington. It is a beautiful rifle and a dream to shoot. I've played with several powders and bullet weights and fired some great groups in testing.

I picked up an RCBS Competition seater which is a pretty handy little rig. It has a window in the side of the die and you drop the bullet through the window into a floating sleeve instead of trying to place it on top and a charged case and feeding that into your seater die. With some help from a buddy, I've been able to obtain 17 and 20 cal guts for the seater die so now I can use it on the 17 Hornet, 17 Fireball and 204 Ruger as well as the 222 Rem. Naturally with the smaller bullets it's even handier.

The micrometer adjustment makes easy work of fine tuning seating depth.

I still use the Sinclair bulllet comparators INSTEAD of the overall length to adjust seating depth to suit each bullet type.

Once you have determined the bolt face to lands measurement the rest is easy.

Last Modified: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 2:40 PM