Tom S.

Unlike a lot of you young whipper snappers, I started loading with my dad, when I was around 7. When I got old enough to buy my first pistol (21), I never even gave a second thought to buying ammo, and bought a press to make my own, because to me, it was just part of the shooting process. That's not to say I never buy store bought, as I do very rarely. So I can't say I started to save money, and no one who reloads typically does save money, they just shoot more. Oh, and here's a teaser: The year I started reloading, the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series against the New York Yankees in 7 games. Although the two teams met 4 times in World Series play, the Yankees were victors except this year.

Wait until you try to deprime a 45 case with a 40 case stuck inside. Trust me, it doesn't work.

Nearly all threads and nuts (or threaded holes) will have what machinists refer to as backlash. It varies on how well the threads match. You can take the backlash out by screwing the bar in one direction, then backing it out again to the desired setting. For example, on the Dillon bars without these devices, I turn it in a 1/4 turn, then start backing it out until I reach the desired setting. If I were to go too far and try turning it in, I'll induce the backlash back into the bar which can allow erratic charges. In such cases as adjusting too far, I turn it back in a 1/4 turn again and back out short of where the over charge took place, again creeping up on the proper setting. I can see where these marked bars would be a great aid in reestablishing that point quicker. I suspect that those of you experiencing wide fluctuations in powder measurements are doing so because you haven't taken the backlash out of the adjustment.

Before retirement, I was Tool and Die Maker, so I know my way around mechanical things. I had two Lee Pro 1000's and will state they worked. However, every time I used them, I had to dink with adjusting something or fixing something. Every time. The straw that broke this camel's back was when the powder measure hung up and (unknown to me) loaded half a dozen rounds of 9mm in a run of 300 with no powder. Luckily, I was shooting the gun when I encountered the first one. The primer was enough to stick the bullet in the barrel. A less knowledgeable or careful person may have tried another round - with disastrous affect. I got rid of both, the Lee's, warning the people who got them of the potential problem and bought a 650xl. Had the LnL been available then, I would have looked at it too, but in reading some of the issues people have had, I'm not sorry I bought the 650xl. And while it hasn't been 100% trouble free, I had more problems with the Lee's in one reloading session than the Dillon in over 20 years. Of the two Lee's, the 38/357 gave me the most grief, outside of the no powder 9mm episode. I had shell feeding problems, primer problems (no Federals either) and powder measure problems. A primer going off in a closed room is surprisingly loud. As a side note, the Lee Load Master had been introduced, and looked interesting, but the bad taste I had from the Pro 1000's wouldn't let me even consider it. Reloading presses are mechanical, just like a car, and as such, you'll find good ones and bad ones in every brand. The key is to go with the brand that has the fewest lemons. For me, that was Dillon.

When reloading, I greatly dislike having to remove my eyes from the press, which this would do. While it might be good for a 550, I'll depend on my powder checker and eyes on my 650.

Laundry soap: liquid or powder?

Don't they have trouble with cast bullets? That's 95% of what I shoot. I've read they work OK with plated or coated bullets, but I still have a few thousand cast bullets to go through.

I think they only get grumpy when they get these kind of questions/callers:

Using a metal cabinet is OK, but male sure it can release pressure should something go wrong, such as a fire. I keep mine in a standard kitchen type cabinet without a lock.The doors are mildly spring loaded but would open easily if pressure ever became an issue. The point here is storing powder and primers in a sealed and locked metal container is like making a bomb.

shinty? Auto correct is going to get you killed some day.

Well his inability to take care of a local customer just put him on my list of people not to do business with. Not that he'll lose any sleep over I'm sure, but on the other hand, I have 7 tool heads with powder measures, and I'm sure I'm not the only reader who will avoid the product.

Thanks. Time for me isn't an issue. I just wondered if it work or if it be too hard on the brass.

Still doesn't answer my question though.

I've used Starline pistol brass for well over 20 years. Good product and good prices.

I no longer pick up bass other than my own. I saw a friend of mine leave a bunch of .38 brass once and asked why he wasn't picking it up, as he also reloads. His reply was he had reloaded them so many times, they were starting to split. That got me thinking about picking up range brass.

What stopped the stoppages with mine was getting rid of my Lee's and buying the Dillon.

It also depends on how fast you want to do the change. If you want quick, order a powder measure and powder checker for the 308 tool head. I also agree with calling Brian.

Mine is nothing similar. Walnut shells, two or three spins in the Dillon separator and I'm done. Wet tumbling, it's more like 2 to 3 minutes.

Why is easy: pins wouldn't cling to the inside of shell cases, so separating would be easier/faster, plus no rinse process or drying process.

That's easy to fix, turn the tumbler over.

I'm curious, has anyone ever tried the FA wet tumbler w/o water? Say a media like crushed walnuts or corn cob, and maybe some polish with the pins, but dry?

Using which process? For tumbling with pins, I don't know how you could get them any brighter than regular soap and Lemshine. For use in an ultrasonic I'm clueless as I don't own one.

RDA, oven was set for warm. I don't know the exact temp but I was able to handle the containers w/o gloves, so I would guess around 100 degrees, or a tad more.

FA wet tumbler part 2. I did around 500 45acp cases today with some changes in my process from the above post. First change, cut back on the amount of Dawn. One teaspoon. Same for the Lemshine. Made sure the threads on the end caps were dry which took care of the short lived leak I had the first time. Ran the tumbler for 2 hours. Drained the water through one of the grated endcaps through a siphon and into another bucket. Dumped the pins the siphon caught into a clean bucket, then ran the dirty water back through the siphon to catch the few pins that got through. Put the drum into a large 5 gallon pail, removed the other send and hosed the contents of the drum until the water level in the bucket was nearly as high as the drum. During this process, I turned the end for end a couple of times. Took the drum out and shook it up and down a few times to get more pins out. Without putting it back in the water, I swapped it end for end a couple more times to dump more pins. I then put the contents in my Dillon separator and cranked on it for a couple of minutes. Those damn pins can be pesky! I took the pins out of the Dillon bucket, took the ones out of the 5 gallon pail (drained it first then used the magnet) and the pins from the first drain and put them on a towel. Getting all the brass from the Dillon separator, I put them all on another towel and rolled them around to help dry them. No oven this time. I started to do something similar to the pins but stopped as soon I noticed the pin were getting caught in the weave of the towel. So I used some paper towels, pressing down on the pins to draw the moister up as well as force it into the towel, then using the magnet, put them all into a bucket. The difference from last time was the brass (which is sitting in front of a fan now) stayed shiny and didn't discolor like before. I believe the discoloring was caused by not rinsing enough soap/Lemshine off the cases. So here's my verdict on this whole operation. It works. The inside of the brass and primer pockets are as clean as the outside, which is bright and shiny, Is it worth the effort? That depends on how clean you like your brass. If primer pockets and inside the cases don't matter to you, don't waste your time. A vibratory type cleaner with crushed walnut shells and polish will do everything you want. As a side note, I stay away from corn cob stuff because it clogs up my primer pockets, but if you don't deprime before you clean, that's not an issue. I would like to see a comparison between cases cleaned with the FA method verses those done ultrasonically. If the ultrasonic gets them as clean and doesn't require those damn pins, it would become my choice.

Order within the next 30 minutes and we'll double the order! It's some form of acid, period. As such, I'll pass.