njl

I guess that makes sense...because other than that, a heavier/slower bullet should drop faster, so they should be hitting low, not high...and not even higher at greater distances. Perhaps a firmer grip (trying to resist muzzle flip) is in order?

I also recently picked up some Promo for the first time. I got it primarily because I wanted to load .380 (just got a Glock 42) and wasn't happy with the powders I had for that. Since I have a bunch of it now, I'm curious to try it in all my other handgun loads. So far, I've only loaded .380 with it (following Red Dot data), and it seems to do reasonably well there. What press are you using, and have you had any trouble getting consistent 2.7gr charges?

I was actually thinking the same thing...especially 9mm Major. With .40, and 180gr bullets, there's lots of published data that'll make major...but for 9mm, I'm not sure there's any. Learn to load 9mm minor first, then consider pushing the envelope.

I understand this. I guess my point is then why do they not print that this is the min, They say the COL used is that amount. Not that this is the min. And then why would not publish the max. Guess that would make sense. What they print is the min. The max OAL is defined by SAAMI specs, your magazines, and your chamber.

Keep checking gunbot. I've forgotten which was which, but over the course of a couple of days two weeks ago, I was able to buy 2lbs of Titegroup and 16lbs of Promo. One was a tip from this site. The other was lucky timing with a gunbot check.

Now that'd be hard core...no case left behind. The problem I'd have (and I suspect most would) is that people shoot .22lr and that litters the range. Unless you can hear a difference between .22lr and your brass, I suspect the metal detector would be like looking for a specific piece of straw in a haystack.

The min OAL sets a minimum volume which maximizes pressure. If you used published data, but used a much shorter OAL than that data, your pressure would be higher and could turn a max load into a KB load. I suspect data is often/usually published with what seems like ridiculously short OALs because they figure it's an OAL nobody will want to go lower than, so the data should be safe for all. This is complicated by the fact that you're probably not using the same bullets used to make the published load data, and as bullet lengths vary, so does the case volume presented by same OALs with different bullets. Short OALs in published data may also be to compensate for this issue.

I have always ran this gun at 1.26 but Hodgdons website says 1.20 so I shortened a bit. AFAIK, that's minimum OAL. i.e. they're saying not to go shorter than that length with their published max load or pressure will be higher than they publish.

How much WST are you using, and is this SP or LP brass? Disassemble one or two rounds and see how much of an indentation your crimp is leaving on the bullets. If it's more than just barely visible, back off to .471-.472".

That doesn't sound like it would help me. Has any R&D gone into shortening the bar top to bottom to make an x-small bar in which the opening is larger, yet the volume smaller?

IMO, the SDB makes sense for someone just getting started and only planning to load supported pistol calibers. Since you're already loading on a Lee, you have dies you can't use on the SDB. I'd look at the 550 or 650 with the idea being that once you get used to using the faster Dillon, you may change your mind about loading anything on the Lee...and this way you can transfer all your dies to the Dillon.

Which do you use and is either much better than the other? That Arredondo bar is $$. I'm not having trouble with fine powders leaking through. I'd just like a more accurate bar for small charges of high volume powders like Clays or Promo. What's the difference between the Dillon small and x-small?

I was curious, so I took out the powder bar last night to examine. At 3gr Promo, it's still got a couple of mm of travel before it's "fully closed". It's kind of annoying that I can't seem to find any comparison of the small and x-small powder bars. My thought is, if the x-small is thinner (top to bottom) and the shim on top is taller, then the adjustable slide in the bar would present a wider opening less likely to allow clumps of fluffy powder to bind up and fail to fill the cavity. If that's not what the s-small does, then I'm doubtful it'll be of any use to me.

I've just started loading .380 with Alliant Promo (still doing small test batches trying to decide on a charge weight) and have caught my press throwing the occasional light charge. 0.2-0.3gr light is significant when the expected charge is 2.6 or 2.9gr. Would an x-small powder bar help my RL550B throw more consistent charges of big fluffy powders like Promo? I did some searching and couldn't find a good comparison saying or showing what's different between the small and x-small bars. Would attaching a small vibrating something to the powder hopper help?

I've seen it happen with Universal Clays and WST if burned at too low a pressure. i.e. too light a load.

Why not? I managed to order 2 lbs of Titegroup from Cabelas a week ago after seeing it on gunbot. This morning, gunbot says Cabelas has Longshot...and the Cabelas web site says it's still in stock. I use Precision Bullets 9MM 125-FP. Titegroup is not recommended for these coated bullets. I guess I'm just wandering if powder will ever become readily available. Longshot wouldn't be my first or second choice for those, but it'd work.

Why not? I managed to order 2 lbs of Titegroup from Cabelas a week ago after seeing it on gunbot. This morning, gunbot says Cabelas has Longshot...and the Cabelas web site says it's still in stock.

I haven't actually tried them, but from what I've read, the extracted case hangs up with the case head running into the shoulder of the next cartridge, and so extraction/ejection fail.

Word on the net is G30's don't feed SWCs. It's not you...it's the geometry of the gun.

I'm curious if anyone's compared the polymer coatings used by Precision and The Blue Bullets?

There's not exactly a lot of choices out there right now for powders. I lucked into some Promo and will be trying that for 100gr Xtreme .380 (using Red Dot data). Did you try your Red Dot yet?

I got in on this...$75 for 2lbs delivered. Sucks for a price...but when you consider how cheap powder is relative to all the other components, paying double for it really doesn't hurt so bad. I figure if things were normal, and I could pick up 4lb of Titegroup at a gun show, it'd cost about what I paid for these 2lbs. OTOH, I also just got in on 16lbs of Promo from Wideners for $256 delivered. Much better price per lb. I've had 8lbs of WST and Red Dot on backorder with Grafs since March and wonder if I should just cancel those.

And the Promo at Wideners is gone now too.

Appears to be all gone now. But I just scored 16lb of Promo, which is a powder I've never used but been interested in trying. I feel like I hit the lottery. Promo tonight. 2lb of Titegroup last night from Cabela's. That's all gone last I checked too. There's still Promo at Wideners.

Handloads.com says 2.5-2.8gr for a 100gr FMJ. I'd give that range a try if I could find some Red Dot