Tom S.

OK, here's the answer to my own question. Loaded up rounds using Missouri 200 grain SWC coated bullets, starting at 5.1 grains in 0.1 grain increments through 5.9 grains of Win 244. Groups consisted of 6 shots each fired from a rest with a S&W Performance Center 1911. The group size decreased to a minimum at 5.4 gr loading, then started increasing again, dramatically the higher the loading got. At 5.8 and 5.9 I had two failures of the gun to go into battery, both caused when the round jammed about 3/8" into the barrel at an angle, both putting a mark in the brass where it jammed. Brass used was mixed head stamps. Although primers were slightly more flattened at the top end, it wasn't significant. So I'm going ahead with 5.4 grain loads. Picture of fired brass. Case on left is 5.1 gr case on right is 5.9 gr

Once again the forum comes through for me. I'm adding a few keywords for others who might use them as search words: hair pin, hairpin cotter pins.

Hodgdon's minimum of 2.8gr with a 95 grain bullet while Lyman's minimum with a 90 grain bullet is far more conservative at 2.4gr and tops out at 2.7gr, .1gr below Hodgdon's starting load. Your velocity readings correlate with your belief the loads are too hot as Lyman's velocities start out 755fps and top out at 871fps, again for a lighter bullet. Try dialing it back to 2.4gr and see what the results are.

I bought my press in the 80. Perhaps because I keep it cleaned and lubed, it zero rust on it anywhere.

Just jerking your chain. I had a friend who had the foresight when a local sporting goods chain went out of business, went to each store and bought all their primers at a price of about 50% retail. He had over 145,000 with a wide selection of LP, SP, LR, SR, magnum and even bench rest primers. Unfortunately, he passed away, but his son, who doesn't reload, made a tidy sum selling them at the highly inflated prices. I'm old enough to remember when primers were under $1 per 100!

So the shortage is all your fault. Duly noted and letter sent to my congressman and senator!!!

Yes, well when mfg's have to post warning labels like this: it's clear that someone, somewhere was stupid enough to try it. I don't blame Dillon one iota!

I found a supply of Win 244 but reloading data seems to be non-existent other on Hodgdon's website. There, for 45 acp 200 grain cast SWC bullets, they list a starting range of 5.1 through a maximum load of 5.8 grains. Has anyone found a sweet spot within this range? Kind of odd because this powder has been in production for 4 years but I couldn't find anything about it on Handloader's Forum other than they did a Propellant Profile on it in their October 2018 issue (which I ordered). Insights are welcome!

Winner - winner, chicken dinner! Thanks for fixing!

What happened to the above link Reloading FAQs?

I pretty much do them all. Unless I'm doing a really small batch such as when working on a new load.

My first step is to de-prime. I have an extra tool head with a Lee Universal de-priming die, then just run all the brass through the 650 using the correct caliber set up and case feeder. De-piming this way is very fast and after going through the other brass prep steps, it's like loading new brass. It also means you don't waste time on cleaning Berdan primed cases.

Should be doable. Counterbore the carbide ring's hole a slight amount, then crimp the excess over the seated ring and you should be good to go. If they don't let it sit around, it should be almost as fast turn around as sending out a new one.

Get a large cardboard box, stick some 4" or 6" fiberglass insulation in it and put it over the tumbler when running.

They can't send him out a new one if they don't have any in stock.

May I ask what the winning bid was?

Mine came today. I changed my 650 XL over from .357 mag to 44 mag, which entails going from small primers to large. Doing a major change like this, I take the time to clean and put a fresh coating of grease/oil on everything that needs it. I get everything ready to go and find the primers won't seat all the way. And by all the way, they are sticking out about .020 or .025 of an inch - not remotely close and hard to get out from the shell plate. A quick look shows the primer punch is not coming up into position nearly as far as it should. Head scratching time. Removed the punch - twice - to make sure it's screwed in all the way. Checked everything for clearance. Removed and reinstalled the piece of metal the punch bottoms out on. I'm stumped. I even Googled it to see if someone else ever had this problem, which appears they haven't. I grabbed a flashlight and started looking again for anything interfering and that's when I noticed the cap for the tube of grease was stuck dead center under the press ram. The clearance between the bottom of the ram and the top of my bench compared with the thickness of the grease cap was just enough to prevent the press from bottoming out and driving the primer punch home. Duh!!!! Removed the now slightly distorted cap, screwed it back on the grease tube and everything was right as rain. Let's hear your "Duh" story!

A good portion of my life (20 years) was spent as a journeyman die maker both building and repairing dies, and I support those with the opinion that the steel is too soft, regardless of what Kevin says. A properly hardened steel would not wear like that from brass until you reached numbers in the millions, not a few hundred or thousands. If the gear box was putting too much pressure on the rollers, any manifestation of stress would appear on the brass, not the rollers. I doubt those parts will Rockwell out above 40 or 45 on the "C" scale and should be closer to 60.

I must be something wrong. IIRC, I bought my 650 and case feeder back around 1988 and I've had almost zero problems with it. I don't ever remember an upside down case. Sometimes when switching from 9mm to 38/357 I'll forget to remove the white funnel, which causes an issue, but that's on me, not the machine.

If you "mush" the Sharpie point and put some extra weight on it (or them) like a 3/4 nut, it works pretty well. What I don't like is the marking tend to come off on your hands when handling the ammo. Maybe because of the case lube? Might be best to dry tumble the loaded rounds first, then run them through the marker. Otherwise, it works as advertised for me.

OOS but small pistol magnum in stock, limit 2.

I just swapped a guy a box of large pistol primers for some Remington small pistol primers he had just managed to find and I wanted to post that I don't like them much. I can only get 97 of them in my primer tubes and they take extra effort when seating, though they do seat flush. I guess as long as they go bang, that's what matters, but I hope this isn't an indication of how Remington's products are going to be after the bankruptcy.

My only experience was working in roll forming at GM. I'll make sure to tell them they don't know what they are doing. Carry on.

Any time you work metal lube is advantageous. I'm not talking about flooding the rollers, just a light lube such as One Shot. Have you tried it to see what happens?

I'm curious. Do you use any lube to rollsize? If not, that may reduce friction enough for the motor to do it's job.