Well, I finally pulled together all the material from the DVD's, videos, books, web sites, posts, advice etc and put together my first set of homeloaded 243 rounds last night.
Hornady 87gr jacketed softpoint with VV N140 loads of 34.3 gr, 35.3 gr, 36.3 gr and 37.3 gr, I stayed away from the max load of 38.3 gr.
Nine rounds of the minimum load because I'll be zeroing at the same time, and 4 of the others.
The only two issues were:
1. The bullets had been loose in their box, and the lead from the tips had made the copper quite dirty. Not knowing what else to do I cleaned them with some weak copper polish, then wiped them with a damp cloth and dried them to make sure there was no residue left.
2. When seating the bullets they didn't always stay balanced upright in the neck as I raised the ram, and the die straightened them up, sometimes there was a fine sliver/hair of copper reamed off the jacket by the neck as it did so (I did deburr them). Ut was so fine it disintegrated in my fingers when I wiped it off. I'm not going to worry about it.
Pretty, but wicked looking things.
We'll see how I get on with them when I get the chance.
Just recording the fact for posterity!
Hornady 87gr jacketed softpoint with VV N140 loads of 34.3 gr, 35.3 gr, 36.3 gr and 37.3 gr, I stayed away from the max load of 38.3 gr.
Nine rounds of the minimum load because I'll be zeroing at the same time, and 4 of the others.
The only two issues were:
1. The bullets had been loose in their box, and the lead from the tips had made the copper quite dirty. Not knowing what else to do I cleaned them with some weak copper polish, then wiped them with a damp cloth and dried them to make sure there was no residue left.
2. When seating the bullets they didn't always stay balanced upright in the neck as I raised the ram, and the die straightened them up, sometimes there was a fine sliver/hair of copper reamed off the jacket by the neck as it did so (I did deburr them). Ut was so fine it disintegrated in my fingers when I wiped it off. I'm not going to worry about it.
Pretty, but wicked looking things.
We'll see how I get on with them when I get the chance.
Just recording the fact for posterity!