Norm Lee

When you can make it work, it's a great idea. For some time now I've been shooting a 185 gr bullet for major PF ad a 155 for minor. This worked out well. Same OAL, powder charge, recoil spring and sight adjustment. Norm

4.0- gr. VV N 310 OAL= 1.215" 185.00 gr. Precision rnfp new "swaged" Bullet Velocity power factor 925.00 171.13 917.00 169.65 921.00 170.39 919.00 170.02 965.00 178.53 915.00 169.28 915.00 169.28 890.00 164.65 916.00 169.46 884.00 163.54 Total 9167.00 Mean 916.70 169.59 Standard deviation 21.64 Cheers, Norm

If you are having feeding issues and you're pretty sure your magazines are OK, you may not have picked the optimum OAL. When using SWC bullets you'd like to mimic the timing associated with standard ball ammo (assuming this stuff runs reliably in your gun). WWB is the gold standard for reliability in my 1911s. So what i do is back out the round nose seating stem in my seating die and insert a WWB .45 round in the shell plate and raise it into the die. ThenI screw the seating stem down to contact the bullet and lock it in. I use this setting to seat the SWC bullets. This pretty much guarantees that a cartridge loaded with SWC will make contact with the feed ramp at the same time in the cycle that this occurs for the WWB FMJ cartridge. I use several different bullet shapes and weights for various applications and this one setting has worked 100% reliably for me for a very long time. Hope this helps. Cheers, Norm

AA#7 should get you there. Try 7.1 grains to start. I got 1120 fps with that load. So you might need a little more powder. Cheers, Norm

3.1- gr. VV N 310 OAL= 1.120" 147.00 gr. Precision TC Bullet Velocity power factor 950.00 139.65 948.00 139.36 940.00 138.18 937.00 137.74 937.00 137.74 953.00 140.09 949.00 139.50 946.00 139.06 967.00 142.15 970.00 142.59 Total 9497.00 Mean 949.70 139.61 Standard deviation 11.33 Cheers, Norm

Is this a trick question? The 147 gr load at 930 will recoil more than a 115 gr load at 1116 fps. If you were to load these up to the same power factor, see Duane's post, the 147 gr load can be tailored to have lower recoil. Cheers, Norm

If all of your rounds pass the case gauge test, your fail to feed problem is not related to the bulge you see in the brass. That bulge is normal and is one of the things that helps prevent bullet setback, something you don't want to happen. You may wish to experiment with OAL to correct FTF problems. (If a cartridge which passes the gauge test won't chamber, then suspect your chamber) Cheers, Norm

I tried to send a reply to this thread yesterday, but apparently it didn't stick. Let's try again, shall we? Have you isolated the operation that is giving you a case too large to chamber? It just may not be that the sizing die is not resizing the case small enough in diameter. It might not be that it doesn't come down close enough to the head. It may be that it's a little too aggressive and makes the case a little too small for your application. To check to see if this might be so, try inserting your brass in a case gauge right after it has been resized if the brass mostly passes then but fails after a bullet has been seated and crimped you may have found the problem. Your resize die is (unless your set up is pretty spendy) turning a tapered case into a straight walled case. This is prone to exacerbate what may be the problem. You are loading a long bullet which, being lead is likely about a thousandth larger in diameter than its jacketed counterpart. So when you seat the bullet, cases are failing under compression and you get a bulge which makes the cartridge too big to chamber. You can reduce the number of rejects you get, if my hypothesis is correct, by using jacketed bullets, or shorter bullets, or tracking down a resize die a little larger in diameter. (Or perhaps finding a die which leaves you with tapered cases. Good luck Cheers, Norm

A good Pin Load can be built using the .45 cal 235 gr. SWC from R&R bullets. I like 7.1 of V V N350. About 204 PF. Use a 230 ball or FMJ for reloads when required if you use a revolver. 200 gr SWC in .40 work well too. And in the .357 revolvers, the 230 WC is the medicine. cheers, Norm

New Pin Load 5.9+ gr. VV N 350 OAL= 1.180" 200.00 gr. Houston Bullet Co. Lead Conical Velocity power factor 991.00 198.20 1015.00 203.00 978.00 195.60 985.00 197.00 1053.00 210.60 1053.00 210.60 1003.00 200.60 1005.00 201.00 1004.00 200.80 1002.00 200.40 Total 10089.00 Mean 1008.90 201.78 Standard deviation 25.59 or: New Pin Load 6.9 gr. VV N 350 OAL= 1.195" 175.00 gr. Bull-X or Dillon SWC Velocity power factor 1123.00 196.53 1125.00 196.88 1124.00 196.70 1104.00 193.20 1105.00 193.38 1106.00 193.55 1133.00 198.28 1137.00 198.98 1125.00 196.88 1131.00 197.93 Total 11213.00 Mean 1121.30 196.23 Standard deviation 12.08 Cheers, Norm

3.1- gr. VV N 310 OAL= 1.120" 147.00 gr. Precision TC Bullet Velocity power factor 950.00 139.65 948.00 139.36 940.00 138.18 937.00 137.74 937.00 137.74 953.00 140.09 949.00 139.50 946.00 139.06 967.00 142.15 970.00 142.59 Total 9497.00 Mean 949.70 139.61 Standard deviation 11.33 This from my BHP Cheers, Norm

A couple questions (I did 'search'): Thinking ahead, I ordered a case gauge for .45acp from Midway, when I bought some magazines....Do I still need calipers immediately? Would I be able to adjust either the 550B or the SD to the right specs using the gauge? Case gauge is a good idea. I got some right after my very first pin shoot when my previously 100% BHP jammed up tight. Now every round going to a competition must pass the gauge. You don't need calipers right away but they are nice to have. You can use a commercial round from a box of ammo known to work reliably in your gun to do all the critical seating and crimping adjustments. What if I don't get a primer flip tray? Is this just a matter of flipping them the right side up, and using tweezers (or my fingers?) on the desktop? Get the flip tray. Are the extra primer tubes recommended to save time? Or do they become damaged? It's a time saver. You can take a break from reloading, fill 4 or 5 tubes and then just crank when your break is over. My bench is a used surplus office table I bought at a warehouse. The top is particle board covered with some kind of wood-grain formica. Would this work, if I bought a strong mount? If I covered it with 5/8" plywood, would I then not *need* a strong mount? Stability is super important when using a progressive press. The strong mount has a very favorable benefit/cost ratio. Get one. In terms of cleaning -- how much mess can I expect with a progressive reloading operation? I plan on setting this up in my upstairs office (which is carpeted), and have assured my wife that it won't be a bit dangerous or messy. I'd better get some facts. Shop vac work ok? Do I need something on the carpet? Cover the carpet with something easily cleaned like the plastic used under desk chairs. You will eventually spill or drop something. It will be better if what you spill or drop can be easily recovered and does not get down in the carpet. Finally: I bought an SDB when I discovered I couldn't keep up with 2 handgunners using my trusty Lyman 310 tool. A couple or 3 years later, my bride gave me a 650 for Christmas. If doing it over I'd start with the 650. It's faster and easier. I still use the SDB, though. Its only real drawback is that there are hard limits to the experimentation you can do, imposed by the unique dies which it uses. Cheers, Norm <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whiskey Sour In a Blender: dozen or so ice cubes 6 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate 1 and one-half cans rye whiskey Canadian 1 egg white (this is optional but really dresses up the presentation) Blend well serve in sugar rimmed whiskey sour glasses, garnished with 1/2 lemon slice and marascino cherry (optionally you can about half fill the glass and top up with club soda) Serves 4 Cheers, Norm

200 or 185 LSWC over 3.8 or 3.9 of N310. Nice, accurate target load. 12-15 lb spring. Cheers, Norm

No need to press check? Should be able to see the brass. Cheers, Norm

Or you could use 2 chronographs Cheers, Norm

Hi Shred: Can you set up the equations to prove your hypothesis? I am anxious to learn how this energy thing works. Thought I had it figured out. Cheers, Norm

Suppose we eliminate the recoil effect contribution of the powder. We’ll just assume there’s a powder choice that can be made so that we achieve desired PF for different weight bullets using exactly the same amount of powder. Different powder to be sure, but the same mass. So when we fire the gun the bullet of mass Mb heads down range at Velocity Vb. Newton’s third says the firearm, mass Mf goes up range at velocity Vf in satisfaction of the equation MbVb=MfVf. At the same power factor the MbVb product will be the same for all bullets. So if the lighter bullet is half the mass it must be traveling at twice the velocity and it will have 2 times the kinetic energy. The mass of the firearm is the same, as is the velocity. Same recoil energy as before. But I guess it’s really just a perception and preference issue. Cheers, Norm

Hey Mr. 73: There's certainly a good argument for "personal preference" and there's probably another having to do with accuracy when deciding on bullet weight. But here's a little something worth chewing on. So far as I can tell, the bullet's contribution to recoil is independent of its mass at a given power factor as the contribution comes from its momentum. That would mean that real (as opposed to perceived, say) differences in recoil would be due to the contribution of other ejecta. Burning gasses, etc. I assume that the amount of gas generated by burning powder is pretty much directly related to the amount (mass) of the powder. (Ideally it would all convert to gas) Since the equations used to calculate recoil assign signifcant velocity to the gas, there should be a significant reduction in recoil to be achieved by using less powder. That's my rationale for using fast powder and heavy bullets. The reason for not carrying this to its logical exterme is that pressure builds unacceptably quickly when using fast powders behind really heavy bullets. Cheers, Norm

3.6 + gr. VV N 310 OAL= 1.120" 115.00 gr. Bulk jhp Velocity power factor 1049.00 120.64 1049.00 120.64 1070.00 123.05 1074.00 123.51 1079.00 124.09 1074.00 123.51 1076.00 123.74 1061.00 122.02 1075.00 123.63 1040.00 119.60 Total 10647.00 Mean 1064.70 122.44 Standard deviation 13.97 You could start here. I had to go to 3.9 gr of powder to break through the PF floor. From a BHP. Very accurate, pretty soft. Cheers, Norm

A fast sampling of the new classifier book would seem to indicate that most, if not all, classifiers with multiple strings now carry the admonishment to tape and score between strings. Gonna be a pain in the butt Cheers, Norm

3.6 + gr. VV N 310 OAL= 1.120" 115.00 gr. Bulk jhp Velocity power factor 1049.00 120.64 1049.00 120.64 1070.00 123.05 1074.00 123.51 1079.00 124.09 1074.00 123.51 1076.00 123.74 1061.00 122.02 1075.00 123.63 1040.00 119.60 Total 10647.00 Mean 1064.70 122.44 Standard deviation 13.97 This works pretty well and is a good place to start as you work up to the minor power factor floor It's right at max recommended from VV but there seems to be lots of room. Cheers, Norm

I think you need GAMEY! Les Baer on an SVI frame, Baer-kote, Bo-mar night sights, bushing bbl. Cheers, Norm

Hey KK: I really don't know enough about your set up to give you specific advice but what you are prposing to do sounds entirely feasible to me. There ought to be a powder/quantity combination to get you to major w/o hacking up your preferred OAL. It's much easier (not to mention safer) to go the other way. For example when I need a minor load for the .40, all I change is the bullet from a 185 to a 155. Since the bullet shapes are different I need to put a half turn or so into the seating die to preserve OAL. Good luck, play safe. Cheers, Norm