muncie21

Here's my line of thinking when looking at this deal, keep in mind everyone's situation is a bit different. When ordering 20K primers, I'm paying about $23/24 per thousand.(including hazmat & shipping) Currently I'm shooting about 1500 rounds/month When you do the math, 20K primers is equal to ~13 months of inventory for me The value (typical 1k price $28, compared to 20K price $23) is $5/1K or $100 across the entire order, or ~$7/month over the period I'm expecting to use the primers This is still a positive return, so I'm still OK with it, now factor in the probability of prices increasing/decreasing over the 13 months...with the current politics, I'm betting the prices will remain flat or drop Had I been able to add powder (over that 13 months I'm going to need powder too) to the order to absorb some of the shipping/hazmat charges it would have been a good deal for me. Anyhow, for the folks that ordered congrats on getting a pretty good deal on primers. I'm rolling the dice the prices will drop.

I just received a resupply of bullets yesterday, so I'll try the 135 and 147s while I still have the powder out. Here's what I paid for the 3 powders, not including taxes or shipping/hazmat: N320 $36 (1#) Ba 9.5 $21.5 (1.1#) Prima V $14.95 (1.1#) You can see from the chrono results, metering, cleanliness and cost, which is my 'go to' powder for 9mm MPF. Here's a picture of the 3 powders

If you like N320, try Prima V. Shoots clean, load is similar to N320 and about half the price. What's not to like...

Both for fine for me on my CZ with lighter main spring

If I could add powder to the deal, this would be worth it for me. But $30 hazmat + $20 shipping, I'd have to buy like $20-30K primers to make this worthwhile for me. At 10K primers, I'm paying ~$26/1K when the shipping/haz is included. 20K primer order reduces the per thousand cost an additional $2.

I've spent the past several weeks testing out different loads, powders and bullets. Here's a summary of my results. All the tests were at least a 10-shot string (most are 15) and shot from a CZ SP01. OAL for TCG bullet is ~1.070 and RN are ~1.10. In short the Prima V has variability in particle size, however it meters (in my Dillon 650) a bit better than the N320 but not enough to choose one over the other. The Prima V is a touch smokier, but half the cost. I'd definately consider using Prima V if N320 is not available. The Ba 9.5 powder is a very consistent small, almost disk shaped powder (similar to N320, but small particles) but is not as close of a match to N320 when comparing powder charge vs. velocity. Not very much smoke from the Ba9.5 either.

Prima V and Ba 9.5 are similar to VV N320

That's some serious reloading ID

I changed out the Dillon sizing die (left everything else the same) with a Lee and ran a few hundred (147g) rounds off this morning. All rounds passed the case gauge and barrel plunk/spin. My humble opinion is that the Dillon sizing die was a bit too aggressive for the 147g bullets. Sure 90% of the rounds were fine, but the remaining 10% had to be run through the Lee FCD to make them usable. Could also be my lack of experience adjusting this particular die/bullet combination. The 135 and 124 bullets, while exhibiting more 'coke bottle' when run through the Dillon dies, functioned as well the the rounds made with the Lee dies. I will still run the Dillon dies (they are perfectly fine tools) however just not with the 147 bullet.

I have a Caldwell Ballistic Precision. It has an app that connects to your phone/tablet to record the chrono data. I really dig this feature, as it allows me to shoot and then email myself the pertinent data. It is around $100 depending on where you purchase it.

I will seat the same bullet in the same brand (type) brass using my Lee dies and post up the results and measurements. I've seen this (cannelure) type case before when loading and am 98% sure that it loaded fine with the 147g bullet, however I'll do a quick test to confirm this. BTW, the 147g bullet needs this seating depth to pass the plunk/spin test on the CZ barrel that I test it with. The Cz has a much shorter lead-in than the glocks that I've measured.

Here are some pictures of a cartridge that fails the case gauge, however OAL and neck measurements show it to be within spec. This is a 147 FP coated BBI bullet. I've got the 135 bullets dialed in pretty good, but the 147 is still giving me issues. Most cartridges that fail the CG will pass once they go through the Lee FCD on my other tool head. It is almost always due to diameter being too large at the case mouth. BTW, these same bullets (and same mixed brass) run well through the Lee dies. I'm not pointing fingers at Dillon, as I made a conscious decision to purchase that press over the others, however these are just facts...not alternative ones either mind you

The RNs run 1.10 and the TCGs are 1.07 It was a bit sunny out today so about 5' out was where the shade was I've got to review my previous data, but I believe the Prima V will match VV N320 very close.

I chrono'd some Prima V this afternoon. It's very clean and very little smoke. Personally I find that it meters better than VV N320, I need to load another test batch with a bit more powder to get solidly into the minor PF range, but if the first test is any indication, this powder will be on the top of my list. Bullets are coated from BBI and Bayou. Created: 02/17/17 13:08 Created: 02/17/17 13:02 Created: 02/17/17 12:54 Description: BBI 135 RN Description: Bayou 124 TCG Description: BBI 147 Notes 1: 3.2 PV Notes 1: 3.6 PV Notes 1: 2.9 PV Notes 2: CZ Notes 2: CZ Notes 2: CZ Distance to Chrono(FT): 5.00 Distance to Chrono(FT): 5.00 Distance to Chrono(FT): 5.00 Bullet Weight(gr): 135.00 Bullet Weight(gr): 124.00 Bullet Weight(gr): 147.00 Temp: 48 °F Temp: 47 °F Temp: 46 °F BP: 29.83 inHg BP: 29.83 inHg BP: 29.83 inHg Altitude: 0.00 Altitude: 0.00 Altitude: 0.00 # FPS PF # FPS PF # FPS PF 15 896 120.96 15 1011 125.36 15 838 123.19 14 910 122.85 14 1014 125.74 14 846 124.36 13 900 121.50 13 1030 127.72 13 854 125.54 12 894 120.69 12 1016 125.98 12 852 125.24 11 903 121.90 11 1017 126.11 11 843 123.92 10 908 122.58 10 1011 125.36 10 854 125.54 9 896 120.96 9 1015 125.86 9 849 124.80 8 901 121.64 8 1016 125.98 8 823 120.98 7 921 124.33 7 997 123.63 7 851 125.10 6 911 122.99 6 1017 126.11 6 844 124.07 5 903 121.90 5 1022 126.73 5 861 126.57 4 906 122.31 4 1013 125.61 4 833 122.45 3 903 121.90 3 1010 125.24 3 857 125.98 2 902 121.77 2 1015 125.86 2 863 126.86 1 894 120.69 1 1006 124.74 1 825 121.28 Average: 903.2 FPS Average: 1014.0 FPS Average: 846.2 FPS SD: 7.3 FPS SD: 7.3 FPS SD: 12.1 FPS Min: 894 FPS Min: 997 FPS Min: 823 FPS Max: 921 FPS Max: 1030 FPS Max: 863 FPS Spread: 27 FPS Spread: 33 FPS Spread: 40 FPS

I'll find one to take a picture of. The ones that fail are typically too large in diameter at the case mouth. I've measured these and they are 0.385 or a tad higher. The part that's perplexing is the failures could be in the middle of 20-30 good cartridges with no adjustments. Now I do use mixed brass and don't measure each and every bullet. With the Lee FCD, I'm guessing these 'outliers' were smoothed out, so component size variation could have been occurring the entire time and only showed up now because the FCD may have masked the problem. Anyhow, I chrono'd about 100 of these rounds today and they ran smoothly and were very consistent, so it seems the 'coke bottle' doesn't impact fit or function. Created: 02/17/17 13:02Description: Bayou 124 TCGNotes 1: 3.6 PVNotes 2: CZDistance to Chrono(FT): 5.00Ballistic Coefficient: 1.000Bullet Weight(gr): 124.00Temp: 47 °FBP: 29.83 inHgAltitude: 0.00# FPS FT-LBS PF15 1011 281.47 125.3614 1014 283.15 125.7413 1030 292.15 127.7212 1016 284.27 125.9811 1017 284.83 126.1110 1011 281.47 125.369 1015 283.71 125.868 1016 284.27 125.987 997 273.73 123.636 1017 284.83 126.115 1022 287.63 126.734 1013 282.59 125.613 1010 280.92 125.242 1015 283.71 125.861 1006 278.70 124.74Average: 1014.0 FPSSD: 7.3 FPSMin: 997 FPSMax: 1030 FPSSpread: 33 FPS P.S. I know that I need to bump up my powder through a scosche.

Here's the Lee and Dillon cartridges

I think I'm starting to get used to the adjustments needed for the dillon dies. I loaded up some more cartridges tonight which turned out much better than the previous sessions. I backed the sizing die off a little bit (to limit how far down the die 'under sizes' the case) and increased the bell just a tad.

I've got some Prima V loaded up, wanting to see how it performs compared to my N320 loads. I've read the Vectan Ba 9.5 is very similar to N320 also.

I've loaded a few thousand 9mm on my Dillon 650 using Lee dies and the Dillon powder drop/expander. Except for the brass 'powder/flakes' on my shell plate these cartridges loaded and shot fine. So...I picked up a second toolhead that I loaded with all Dillon brand dies. The cartridges from these dies have a very pronounced 'coke' bottle shape. I.E. the end of the cartridge where the bullet is inserted is larger in diameter than the middle of the cartridge. Now I've read that this is perfectly normal, however many (10% or so) are failing the Dillon case gauge check, a smaller percent fail the CG, but plunk/spin OK, so my barrel is a bit more forgiving than my case gauge. Looking for suggestions on which die to adjust and in which direction. My first instinct was to tighten the crimping die as the issue appears to be too large diameter at the bullet crimp/roll, however tightening this up didn't appear to help much...keep in mind that only 10% or so fail, so I'd have to run quite a few to accurately assess the impact.

OP, not sure if you got this worked out or not, but from your pictures the shell plate looks a bit too high. I checked my 650, the shell plate and top of the guide are pretty close to even/parallel. If you'd like a pic, LMK.

Interesting question, I don't have the answer, but 2 potential ideas that the smart folks here may be able to comment/answer. 1) FP 'should' provide more bearing area in the barrel, without knowing/seeing your bullet that is just a guess 2) The RN profile may be better/worse suited to your particular barrel. The 147 FPs (I don't have any RN) that I've loaded for my CZ (requires a shorter OAL than most) come pretty close to hitting the powder charge (using N320) for minor PF. Let us know which you decide to go with and almost as importantly, what the results are!

Cabelas has S&B SPP on sale for ~23

True Adamge. No issues currently, however when I review tolerances against my reloading practices (mixed brass, different bullet vendors) I was a bit concerned (maybe cautious is a better word) about using this bullet/powder combo in a 9mm case- so I wanted to get input from the folks that shoot (and have more experience) more than I.

I picked up some Winchester and CCI recently from Powder Valley. FYI, Grafs has temporarily reduced their HazMat fee to $20.

Thanks for the feedback! From the looks of it, we are all pretty much in the same ballpark with regard to powder charge and OAL. I was a bit concerned with case pressure due to the minimum amount of case space left when seating the bullet. Looks like there are folks that have experience making this work. I'll be extra cautious when seating to ensure I don't compress the powder.