AZ-Ranger

Another +1 on Tiger Valley. If you know someone with an FFL and who will order for you: Black Hills shooting supply

Dear God why?

I could have sworn I heard a faint pig squeal when I saw a flock of strange birds flying over my house...

ok the M&P is good, and many folks like it. but i don't see how you can say "better". while the M&P feels good i like the glock better. while the facory triggers are about the same, to me a little polishing and the glocks better to me. +1 I also polish the internals on my Glock and with the wealth of aftermarket parts, I can do my own trigger job. Off topic I suppose but I wonder how hard it would be to do a trigger job in a M&P?

I really like the Lyman manuals for the in depth case preparation and tips and tricks. That being said, I also own the Lee and the Speer manual. If a load isn't listed, for instance 62 grain .223 loads (only in the speer manual but powder choices are lacking), I go online to the powder manufacturer or I come here. This site contains a plethora of reloading info and data.

I recently tumbled some .308 brass that developed black spots. I ran out of Dillon case polish and decided to use a car polish instead. I read in another thread where someone mentioned that black spots meant brittle brass. Is this correct? Should I just sell the brass as scrap?

I have taken several classes via GCC. Jerry McCown and company really run a top notch program. I even took a Carbine class taught by ex-Gunsite head Bill Jeans. For twice the price, the classes are a bargain.

My load is 4.5 grains of WST with a Winchest large pistol primer and a Remington 230gr FMJ. I received 11lbs of WST when I purchased a used 650 from a local guy on another board. He also included 5k primers and a ton of brass. For my load, recoil is manageable and my Glock just eats it up. I do get my projos from a local guy who sells me the Remington projos for $110 per thousand. Currently he is cheaper than buying cast or plated bullets.

+1 Lee pistol dies are okay. Dillons are better. Now there rifle seating dies are very inconsistent but I have never had a problem with the Lee pistol dies.

I learned by reading the Lyman manuals. As someone stated previously they are not company driven. They mention Dillon by name. I can recommend the Lyman manual for those who don't know the first thing when it comes to loading. Not only is load data included, but the manual walks you through the entire loading process and provides tips and tricks. IMHO the Lyman manual is an absolute necessity.

I bought a 1k Remington 230gr .45ACP projos for around $110 from a guy named Gary Blount who lives in the far east valley (Phoenix area).

Another vote here for using a separate toolhead with die for sizing and decapping only. I would also recommend swaging primer pockets on any "foreign made" brass as a general practice. For example I ended up with a bunch of S&B brass. It had a tendency to be a little hard to uniformly seat primers. Once over with a Superswage 600 and no more issues. +1 I find that even the S&B .45 brass a pain (most of the time) when I seat primers. I am lazy though and don't wanna screw with the .223 adjustments so I just deal with it.

Dude YOU rock!

+1 I have a 650 but am contemplating buying a 1050 as I currently use the 2 tool head set up to load. This does not include the swaging of military brass. The swager alone makes the 1050 king in my book, however when you add in the fact that you can trim/load on the same tool head, what more could you possibly want?

I read a review on Midway and the reviewer states the X die does no better than their standard SB die. Can you give us any info on how many loadings/trimmings/experience you have had since using the X die?