Reloading General

Reloading General? Reloading General.

Does anyone do anything to paint or otherwise mark your reloads? Painted tips on ammo is commonly utilized by military forces, is it ever done by reloaders?

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That's a good idea, usually I tape a notecard with load data to the box I'm reusing

No?
I mean why would I? I can generally tell what's mine by the projectile, case manufacturer, etc.
If I don't have a box for it, it's probably in a bag or pre-loaded into a magazine.

I've never painted any of my handloads
I have, however, used markers to write on them, but only when I am first working up a load.

I've also relied on the obviously different appearance of different bullets to tell ammo apart. For example, I have two favorite hunting loads for my .300 WM. One for lighter game loaded with Nosler ballistic tips, and the other for heavier game loaded with Barnes X. I tweaked the loads until they had the same point-blank distance. The two bullets look obviously different so it's a simple matter to grab the correct one for a given shot, yet I know that I can use the same hold for either one (at least for sane hunting distances).

If I happened to load ammo that was somehow different but the bullets were visually indistinguishable then I'd probably paint tips.

I've found some brass at the range that was clearly a 5.56 case resized for .300 Blackout. The entire base of the case was colored over with a cyan marker.

It would probably be better to do something with a marker on the case than painting the bullet as that's more matter/mass put on the projectile that may affect its stability.

Does .308 have a generally accepted "best" weight bullet? Folks seem to think that 180gr bullets are best for .30-06 and 124gr bullets are generally best for 9mm Luger. Does .308 have such a weight? Something like 168gr?

150, since that's what it was originally designed to use. 145-175gr work well though to varying degrees.

There really isn't such a thing as a best weight so long as it
- accomplishes your desired penetration, accuracy, velocity, etc, on target
- isn't so small that the projectile is barely in the case
- isn't so long that it takes up a disconcerting amount of case capacity and rapidly increases pressures when charged

Define "best", user.
Cheapest? Best for hunting with grandpa's bolt action? Best for long range work? Best for reliable operation in a semi?

I've seen "best" used as superior overall performance. I was looking at load data for .30-06 and found a long-winded discussion on optimal bullet weight for reloading the cartridge for best overall performance. 180gr projectiles seemed to have the highest energy over the longest distance, based on the analysis. I've heard similar things on 124gr in 9mm. I guess "best" would be highest average energy over longest distance.

That's not really true.
It depends heavily on the powder, projectile type and more. If you really wanted to get some distance on a 30-06, maybe a 190 grain sierra match king with a heavy charge of Reloader 17 would get you some serious air, but I wouldn't call that the "best" because of cost, less hunting use compared to a soft point or ELD-X, etc.

A range I went to in the past required you to mark you brass if you plan to pick up. Other than that, I don't mark them. I use coated bullets, but I don't care about what color.

magazine and throat size dependent. with ar10s you normally stop at 180gr because it wont fit in the mag or get close enough to lands

Yes, only to see of it would work. I used a 3:1 mixture of blue nail polish and acetone and dipped them in. I'm debating doing this to identify cartridges specifically loaded to be subsonic in a PCC. Of course, labeling the boxes works (and is what I usually do) but I wanted to see if painting the tips worked and whether it left any residue behind on the magazine lips, feed ramp, or chamber; they all shot cleanly.

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Shoot paper with those? Does it leave any paint behind on the paper?

Not that I could see, no. Didn't appear to make any noticable difference in performance either, but it's not like I'm shooting 9mm subs from a benchrest. Just aiming for standing minute-of-beercan at 25 yards, which is no problem.

>I've seen "best" used as superior overall performance
That's a nonsensical metric. There's no such thing as best "overall" performance because some aspects are mutually exclusive. A high velocity, lightweight bullet which is good for hunting small game will perform miserably versus larger game because it lacks penetration capability. A bullet which performs well versus large game may simply icepick small game. A bullet which is highly accurate for target shooting might have shit-tier terminal ballistics on things made from flesh instead of paper.
You also need to define what platform you're talking about because that can create problems too. If you're shooting a semiauto you are restricted by what loads will cycle the action correctly, as well as what bullet shapes and lengths will allow the rounds to fit into the mag and feed correctly.

>>highest average energy over longest distance.
That's simply a heavy bullet with a good BC. Look for the heaviest bullets which are still spitzers. I dunno why you'd call that "best" though.

Why would you care about 308? 6.5 Creedmore has replaced it and is better in every way.

Longer barrel life, more effective terminal velocity bullets, more bullet variety in general. Greater energy under 400 yards. Cheap military surplus available.

Now we're in business

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I paint purple tips on my armor piercing match rounds, and green tips on my mild steel core rounds.

60 grain for race war

147 grain for slotting floppies in the Belgian Congo

168 grain for eliminating sand people at 800 yards

Kick ass! You sharpen em yourself?

No good battle rifles besides ar10 meme builds

Shittier terminal effect

Far Worse barrier penetration

No surplus ammo, surplus ap and API rounds, or SLAP capability.

6.5 is worse in every was that really matters

Hell no, I don't have any diamond grinders. It's easier to order them from Chyna. Don't have anything to really test their hardness, but they at least scratch tool steel

what are they, tungsten?

Yeah, tungsten carbide