njl

Those are really BUG guns though, and to me, it would have made sense to raise the mag capacity limit in BUG-S and CCP. There's no shortage of guns legal for both divisions with 10 (or more) round mags.

Lowering it makes some sense. A load that makes PF in my G34 might not make PF in my G19 and really might not (some of mine don't) make 125PF in my G26. The G26, if shot in BUG-S, already had a lower PF requirement.

Is that a local IDPA club rule or a rule established by the range/gun club where the IDPA club shoots?

Here's the new "trying to avoid static" setup. My only initial complaint is that the aluminum sleeve (I assume it's aluminum) on the glass hopper was kind of a loose fit in the powder measure body. I gave it a few wraps of blue painter's tape to snug it up. I loaded it up from my open jug of Promo and did a bunch of individual throws. Consistency looked good...so I loaded 200 rounds of 9mm and didn't have a single charge visibly light. I've done/changed 3 things, so at this point, I can't say which, if any of them, solved the problem, or even if it is really solved, but 200 rounds is a pretty good start.

I haven't previously done the shake before pouring into the measure, but I did recently try that and it didn't seem to help. I actually have 2 powder systems...the one that came with my RL550B ~14 years ago when bought new is, AFAIK, the latest style. I have an older one with the older single-piece crank which came with a return spring. When I spoke to Dillon support the other day, I asked if it was worth trying the return spring on my current version powder measure, and the answer was "no, we find that makes the powder bar return too violent." I guess if I can't resolve the issues with this jug of Promo, I can always try just dumping it out on a large foiled baking sheet, see if I can identify and dispose of any clumps, and try using the rest of it. In normal times, it might not be worth so much effort to save this powder, but at the moment, most smokeless powder is kind of hard to find.

You weren't quite that clear in your previous post about Promo's inconsistency as the charge weights get lower. Maybe I'll have to save the Promo for .38spl and .45acp...though given that I've loaded and shot thousands of rounds of mid to heavy weight 9mm with Promo over the past several years, I still think it's odd that suddenly I'm having this problem. One other thing that may be worth mentioning is, about 4 years ago, I got the idea to cut the top off a 2L soda bottle and start using that as a funnel for pouring powder into the hopper and back into the jug. Previous to that, I'd been using a large store bought plastic funnel, but I ended up needing that funnel elsewhere. I don't know if this could be a source of static, or why it would take 4+ years for it to start causing problems, but I'd already decided to eliminate this from my setup. My pyrex funnel arrived today. Just waiting for the new hopper now.

I loaded about 175 rounds with Universal last night without any powder drop issues. I'm really hoping this Promo jug is being affected by static and not moisture, but the desiccant packs arrived yesterday, so I tossed two into the jug of Promo last night. My glassware hasn't arrived yet. I guess I won't be messing with the Promo again until I've upgraded the hopper and my new funnel has arrived.

Yeah...next loading session will be with Universal Clays. I did order a bunch of stuff today though...Dram Worx glass hopper, desiccant packs to throw in this jug of Promo, and a glass funnel to replace the PET plastic one I've been using to make it easier to pour into the hopper and back into the jug.

I talked to Dillon support today (was amazed by the lack of hold time). Their guess is my powder has picked up moisture from the air and I may be screwed. I also talked to CCI/Alliant, and they really had nothing to add. I'd always heard that smokeless powder keeps nearly indefinitely if not mistreated, so I'm kind of disappointed that 8 year old powder may have "gone bad". To see if I can salvage this powder, I've ordered some silica gel pouches (one will be going into the jug) and a Dram Worx pyrex powder hopper.

I was doing some more googling last night, and came across a couple of posts from people saying you have to shake up Promo before putting it in a powder hopper. IIRC, some were saying this was to break up any clumps, some because they claim Promo is a mix of different left over powders and you need to make the mix uniform. I seriously doubt the latter of those explanations. I do have other powders I could switch to, but I've got enough Promo, I will want to figure out this issue and at least be able to use up what I have. Next thing I've decided to try is attaching a vibrating motor to to the powder hopper. Another thing I've considered is, I recalled someone makes a pyrex replacement for the plastic powder hopper. I wonder if that would reduce static issues...but I also wonder if there are safety reasons Dillon went with plastic, or if that's just an issue of cost and durability?

I guess I'll be calling Dillon next week for help/parts. I put everything back together and did an experiment, measuring the consistency of powder drops with Promo and a small bar vs the extra small bar. The target was 3.3gr. I did get better consistency and smaller standard deviation with the small bar. So, I just loaded another 200 rounds of this load (using the small bar and a new "cube"), and the second to the last one, I noticed the powder level in station 3 looked low. Dumped it out to weigh, and it was only 2.1gr. I'm starting to wonder if it could be a static problem causing the powder to clump or stick.

I hand polished the inside of the powder measure body last night. I assume it's aluminum. I realized in watching a video that the tube through which the powder drops is steel and a separate part. Is this just friction fit into the body?

I don't think that's happening, but one other thing I did notice looking at the manual is that I don't think the bell crank screw has been as tight as it's supposed to be. I noticed the manual says to loosen that screw when replacing the powder bar. Mine's been loose enough for as long as I can remember, that if I half cycle the bell crank (so the "cube" is roughly in the middle of its travel), I can flex the bell crank just enough to get it out of the cube, releasing its hold on the powder bar. Maybe I loosened it at some point years ago when replacing the powder bar, and forgot to tighten it?

I really didn't think so, but I'm not sure I can totally rule that out.

Ok...so I've got it fully disassembled. The only notable things I noticed are: My bell crank cube is "broken" on one side and the center hole has enlarged. I have a spare from the spare parts kit I bought from Dillon years ago. There's some gouging in powder measure body from letting the lock link assembly slap the body when the failsafe rod has been removed (likely while emptying the powder at the end of a session). I don't think that's an issue. The gouged area doesn't come into contact with anything during normal operation. The hole in the body for the bell crank bolt appears out of round on the right side and was pretty jagged. I used a file to smooth the side of the body there. The bell crank bolt was filthy...caked in black grunge...not sure if this was powder dust, powder + grease, or what. I got it much cleaner with some 91% isopropyl. The body collar seemed like it'd been greased on the tracks that come into contact with the powder measure body. Should it be, or should it be reassembled clean and dry? I've seen at least one video from a guy recommending tossing the body and body collar housing in a vibratory [brass] tumbler as an easy way to polish them. What's the thinking here on doing that? As long as I have it fully apart, I would like to at least polish the inside of the body.

Looks cool, but I don't have a 3D printer. I've seen pics of people just strapping an old electric toothbrush to the powder hopper. I was thinking maybe I could do that with an eccentric wheel motor and just wire it into the same supply as my LED lighting. That way, if the press lights are on, the motor is on.

I'm not fighting taking it apart. Worst case, I have 1 spare powder measure (an older style one that came with some dies I bought second-hand) that I can use if I totally screw up the one the press came with. Back when I got started (about 14 years ago) I'd read about polishing the inside of the powder measure, and was interested in doing that, but I found after removing the screws holding the hopper to the measure, the hopper still wouldn't come off. Was Dillon using both screws and glue to hold them together at any point? I guess I can also try going back to the standard small powder bar for Promo. I've been resisting/putting this off, but I think one of the best things I could probably do for Promo is rig up some kind of "vibrator" to the hopper. Maybe I can find/figure something out that can run off the 12vDC the LEDs run on.

I was just playing around with it empty, and noticed it seems like something inside the powder measure is binding. It's not doing this every time, but pretty frequently. Is the click and shudder half way through this video "normal"? https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnxwqI_RMuWFgdpWaLWT8E_DrTLSlw

I mentioned "Promo" in the initial post. That's Alliant Promo, huge round flat flakes...known to not meter well. I initially bought it for loading .380 during a prior powder shortage when it was about the only powder I could find that had published .380 load data (well...data published for Red Dot, with which Promo is supposed to be equivalent by weight). In .380, the charges were sub-3gr, and I'd read that the different shape of the XS powder bar helped prevent bridging with Promo, so that's why I bought one and why I always use that bar for Promo loads. It turns out to be pretty good for 9mm, .38spl, and .45acp, and it is (or at least used to be...who knows now) about the cheapest powder out there, so I started using it in all my pistol loads.

I'm supposed to do that? The closest I get to taking it apart is swapping out the powder bar (I have several extras so I can load my current load in several calibers without having to adjust the powder bar), but I haven't even done that for probably a few thousand rounds, as all I've been shooting lately is 9mm.

I was just loading some more of the same load I've been shooting in IDPA for the past few years...3.3gr Promo under 135gr (really 137gr) coated lead, and thanks to my home made LED press lighting system, I noticed the case in station 3 looked awfully lightly charged. I pulled it off the press and weighed the powder. It was only 2.1gr. This was the 23rd round of of the session. I never leave powder in the hopper between sessions, so each session starts with me pouring powder into the hopper using a funnel. I then tap the funnel against the inside of the mouth of the hopper both to knock any residue from the funnel into the hopper and to help settle the powder in the hopper. I then load the primer magazine if it was empty (which is typical, as I usually end a session by stopping when the primers run out). Before I load any rounds, I use one of several dedicated "powder measure cases" to run some powder through the powder drop...usually about 10 times (fill the case, dump it back in to the hopper, repeat). Then I drop powder into 5 dedicated powder measure cases, dump them all into a pan, weigh, and divide by 5 to see what my avg powder drop is. If it's what I'm expecting, I start loading ammo. I can see how the first powder drop might be light (which is why I've always charged about 15 cases that don't get loaded before doing any loading...but I'm at a loss as to how I could load 22 good rounds, and then have one come out more than a grain light. At a match I shot yesterday, we had a new guy / new reloader have multiple squibs. Not wanting to be "that guy", I figured out of an abundance of caution, I should pull all the previous rounds from this session, just in case I missed a prior light one. All were properly charged. I know Promo isn't exactly known for great metering, and shortly after I started using it, I bought an XS powder bar, which I always use when loading with Promo. My press was bought new (through Brian) about 14 years ago, so it's got the newer style powder measure with the failsafe rod. I load and store all my components indoors...so it's climate controlled and doesn't get uncomfortably cold or hot. I'm well into my second jug of Promo (which only comes in 8lb jugs), so I'm not exactly new to using it and have never seen this before.

I'm curious what people have done for lighting outdoor evening/night matches where the range provides no lighting. i.e. Battery or generator powered flood lights up-range pointed down-range? Battery powered LED or chemical glow sticks worn by all attendees? We're thinking about giving this a try, and I'm curious what, if anything, has worked for others.

What weight were you using (with Brazos) and to what velocity did you load them? I've been using their 135gr 9mm (which I find to generally be 137gr) for a couple of years now. I pretty much only shoot Glocks. The only leading I've seen was with my Gen5 G34 when new. After cleaning the barrel and running a few hundred FMJ through it, it seems to have been cured of the issue. I load them to low 900s (like 930fps), and have using them with my Gen3 G34 for IDPA. BTW, to answer the OP's question, price is the main driver for which bullets I buy, but sometimes weight or a profile I really want are the deciders. Not everyone produces every weight and profile.

I'm not sure if anyone [else] here knew him. I don't think he did much competitive shooting other than bullseye, likely decades ago. But he was an excellent shot and firearms instructor. I learned last night that he died a week ago after being hospitalized with covid. I kept trying to talk him into shooting the local IDPA monthly match, but never got that to happen.

Has anyone used a product called "Wipe" on polymer mag bodies (like Glock mags)? It makes them look armorall'd, but I gather it lasts much longer. One of the guys who sometimes comes to our matches has it on his Glock mags.