RPatton

Consider this. Once you start reloading you will shoot a lot more. I loaded on a single stage press for 20 years and thought I shot a lot. After I got a 550 the amount of time spent shooting greatly increased when I could load 500+ rounds in an hour. Buy a press you will have the rest of your life right out of the gate. It'll be cheaper. If you want to learn one step at a time then only put one die in the tool head at a time.

The shellplate has 2 functions. It lets you index the brass and provides a means to EXTRACT cases from the dies. Your problems have nothing to do with whether or not it's loose. Adjust the dies to the desired (correct) depth and put enough One Shot or enough sheep grease spray to make the resizing operation feel consistent.

Inspect the other cases for signs of an incipient case head separation i.e. a bright ring around the case at about the same distance from the case head as the one you already have in two pieces. Moving the shoulder back too far during sizing has this effect: The firing pin strike will drive the round as far forward as possible, being stopped by the shoulder. The pressure spike will cause the the thinnest part of the case, the forward part, to expand and grab the chamber wall. The thicker part of the brass which will not be holding the chamber wall as tightly and will be forced to the rear by the internal pressure and stretch or separate the case. The stretching is what causes the aforementioned ring. It doesn't have to be a hot load to do this if the shoulder has been pushed back too far during sizing. You don't mention checking your brass with a case gauge after sizing to ensure that they will not only chamber in a semi-auto but not chamber TOO deep. I use a Dillon case gauge to set the size die. Be wary of range brass. I shoot range brass a lot but not when it matters.

Reloading presses stretch when resizing cases. 'C' type more so than 'O' type presses. The harder you have to force a case into the die the more spring you will have in the press. I loaded 223 on a 550 for several years and then switched to a 650 for resizing and the problem was greatly reduced. A 650 is much more robust than a 550.Use enough One Shot so the cases run through the die easily and see what happens. The Dillon carbide die is set to make the case fall in the middle of the slot for shoulder height on the Dillon case gauge and as it happens, that causes the ram to cam over Top Dead Center and I don't pause for anything. I can't outrun the case feeder but it's close.

The case is supposed to grab the chamber and offset the thrust vector reducing the force applied to the bolt. In a semi auto the round is being pulled out of the chamber while there is still pressure in the case. Brass ejected from a semi-auto hot due to the friction caused by that pressure. Brass from a bolt gun is not hot no matter how fast you eject it. Lube on a case is not a good thing. Steve RA is correct.

I filled my powder measure about 1/2 full with W748 and just happened to look down in it before putting on the top and there was a blob of something in the powder. After pouring the powder through a strainer there was a ball of some kind of fiber a little larger than a pencil eraser. I wasn't heavy but a magnet would pick it up. What it was is a mystery. Had it become lodged in the powder measure it could have been a big problem to say the least. Call me paranoid but now I run each new jug of ALL powders through a strainer before using any of it. I've been reloading since 1967 and never had this problem. Anyone else ever seen this?

It was a hobby that would keep me in 8mm Mauser ammo back in '67. In 1970 I got stationed in Idaho Falls for 6 months while in the Navy. I took my equipment with me. It went from hobby to necessity when my roommate and I were were blasting jack rabbits as a hobby every day we were off. Now THAT was a HOBBY. The good old days, CCI primers $.50/100, Speer .308 100 grain "Plinkers" for $2.75/100(I had upgraded to a Rem 700 in 30.06) and buy it all at the local grocery store. Hodgdon 4831 was $.50/# at the local gun shop but you had to bring your own can because they dipped it out of a keg. It was a hobby even an E-4 could afford.

The only time I know of increasing OAL to increase pressure would be if your OAL was longer than your chamber allows and when chambering a cartridge, the bullet is jammed against the rifling prior to being fully seated causing bullet setback and increasing the pressure. Not exactly true. If you load a rifle with the bullet just touching the lands it will cause pressure to spike as the bullet has more resistance to movement. When I started reloading back in 1968 it was one of the first mistakes I made with an 8MM Mauser. I would assume that a semi-auto pistol would experience the same problem.

Welcome Wiseguy. This new addiction will cost you a LOT of money. Shoot a while and then decide what you want to end up with and go with quality hardware the first time around. It'll be cheaper that way. If you ever want to do it, then do it now because the longer you wait, the slower you'll get and when you are drag racing with guns time really matters. Now try some 3GUN.

Exactly where is the "Pine Belt" area of MS. I'm FROM MS (Greenville) and it certainly isn't "the Delta" since the only pine trees there are those planted by someone that thought they would look good in the yard.

Some good, some not so good. One thing seems to always be true, no matter what kind of box your new gun comes out of there is always something you need to do to it. I do like my mag tube from CA. Very well engineered. 'Entropy' is an interesting name for an engineering company. I would think ya'll would know the definition of it.

I watched a very experienced 3gun shooter drop the bolt to load his AR and it slam fired one into the mud about 6' downrange. The AR was on 'safe' and his finger was not in the trigger guard. He never moved the rifle, just turned his head, looked at the RO, and said look at the safety. Don't think an AR won't fire just because it's 'on safe'. It pays to point it at the berm.

Kydex tension will also vary with temperature.

My VMax initially shot 18" to the right and 16" high at 50yds completely missing an IPSC target so I put up a 4X4 sheet of cardboard. Three more slugs and I was less than impressed with my new VMax. I called Remington and after listening to the phone tree I hit "3" (I think) for "parts". I told the guy who answered that the phone tree options did not have what I wanted. He said "What were you looking for." My reply was "The pissed off customer line." After explaining my problem to him he asked for the serial # and put me on hold. When he came back he asked for my address. Three days later I had a new barrel. No other questions were asked. By the way moving the rear sight .005" on a 21" gun will move the POI 2" at 50yds........on my gun anyway.

It has been my experience that most engineers think that good ideas are only the ones THEY have.

It won't be a "matchsaver" if you still don't aim AFTER you use it.

As for the "light strikes", a retired friend who shoots a lot of skeet and works at a skeet range tells me that Kreighoff will not warranty the firing pin if you are shooting Remington Gun Clubs because their primers are so hard and they cause firing pins to break. Other Remington ammo like the Premier & Nitro had softer primers and was no problems.

I rarely clean my Versa Max and I keep FireClean in the action. I had the bore honed shortly after I bought it because it looked rough and after shooting 20 slugs through it I had to work on it for an hour to get the plastic cleaned out. The hone job fixed that problem but it still put slugs 18" to the right of the point of aim and 16" high at 50 yards. Remington sent me a new barrel.

Get one that will allow you to get at least 10 in the tube, or later you will wish you had done that to start with.

I think this falls under the "or any other suggestions.." Your member title may be "looks for range" but it should be "looks for gunsmith". The first rule of gunsmithing is "Destroy the cheapest part first.". In your case there are NO cheap parts but start with the slide. I don't know where you are but I would find a USPSA match and ask around. Look at a few examples of some gunsmithing, then take it to someone that some experienced shooters that have invested >$2000 with. Let them fit the slide to the frame. A local guy here charges $125. It would be money well spent. After that you can cobble together the rest. Properly fitting a barrel is another story. Does the term "past the point of no return" mean anything to you.

Now would you like to have a little chelation therapy to go with that snoot full of lead which went along with the cage stage? There is a draft that runs through the cave moving air at about the same rate as an indoor range. I guess nobody turned on the "draft" before our squad shot the 2009 BR3G which was why you could not see the rifle targets at the end of the stage. If you spend much time at an indoor range with no more ventilation than this you need to check into chelation therapy.

Now would you like to have a little chelation therapy to go with that snoot full of lead which went along with the cage stage?

Has anyone ever tried re-making a pistol grip stock to fit an FN / SX2??

I suggest taking your bullets out and sending them downrange. I can't believe anyone shooting a 9mm would even care about the difference so long as they will go in a magazine and feed into the chamber. Are you an engineer? I just have to ask.

I loaded and shot 3.4 grains of WST with a 180 grain jacketed bullet in 2 Glock 22s, a 27, and a 35. That was the Glock match load of choice. It never failed to be reliable. The practice load was a 205 grain cast bullet with enough Red Dot to recoil like the 180 grain FMJ. Both loads shot the same point of aim making Glock match practice cheap. I can't remember the charge of Red Dot but it wasn't much, maybe 3.2-3.5 grains. I never had a problem with lead fouling BUT these cast bullets were .401 diameter. Any cast bullet that is too small or crimped so much the bearing surface has been reduced may cause leading. If the case wall is straight is straight you have enough crimp. The crimp in an auto pistol bullet does NOT hold the bullet in place, only friction does that. RP