Cowboy Blob's Saloon and Shootin Gallery

I'm not a real Cowboy, but I play one in the movies.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Blue Press

That's the name of Dillon Precision's catalog and the nickname of their signature product, the progressive reloading press. Mine's even more blue because it's been neglected for years. See all the dust in the bullet tray? If I could muster the motivation and concentration to get back to it (and get a expert on Dillons to tell me what I did wrong), I could be cranking out ammo much cheaper than I could buy anywhere.

Heck, there's room on the bench for my two RCBS Rockcrushers. I'd just load revolver calibers with those so I wouldn't have to switch out the tooling on the Dillon.

Marcus has just entered the world of reloading. I wish him better luck than I had.

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6 Comments:

  • At 7:10 PM, Blogger Serr8d said…

    Looking at your powder holder there, you can see a bathtub ring of sorts. Which begs the question:

    How long is the shelf life for powder I wonder? I started using Vhitavhouri N350 (because I only reload .44 Mag and .45 APC for now, and that's good stuff in those cases) and I have a half-pound of both Unique and Bullseye that are 7+ years old. Given that ammo prices are beginning to climb* (!) I think I need to do a lot more reloading, and I don't want to waste powder.

    *(Rumor is, 500% ammo taxes are coming..)

     
  • At 7:19 PM, Blogger Cowboy Blob said…

    If I was an expert on reloading, I could answer that. I've got a can of Unique so old, it says Hercules Unique (it's Alliant now?).

     
  • At 10:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I used to reload a little with my dad's RCBS kit a few years back. I decided to stick with a familiar brand since:

    a. Dad's been reloading with RCBS equipment for decades and I have a thing for brand loyalty.

    b. I fear change.

    Actually, "b" may far outweigh "a" in this case. Yes, that's probably the dominant reason. I find it comforting using RCBS's puke-green products because that's what I'm used to.

    Pathetic? Sure. But it is what it is.

    Now back to my regularly scheduled drinking.

    Marcus

     
  • At 11:02 PM, Blogger Cowboy Blob said…

    .38 Special is the only thing I've ever reloaded right. Tried .30 Carbine and the rifle hated it.

    My new Para .45 hated my inaugural Dillon .45 ACP reloads, but my buddy's broken-in Para ate them up.

    Got tons of .45 and .40 components, but I'm leery of using them.

     
  • At 1:45 AM, Blogger Ranger_SXT said…

    I happen to be something of a Subject Matter Expert in reloading, and reloading on Dillon's in general. If you want some help, I may be convinced to come out and give you a hand...

     
  • At 7:40 AM, Blogger cmblake6 said…

    Dude. Try 6.8 of that Unique behind an HG68. Sweet load. Mama bought me a Lee Progressive, I'd LOVE to have that Dillon. The Lee is very good, the Dillon is supposed to be far better. My old RCBS single stage worked fine, but progressive rocks.

     

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