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I'd already lubed there...but that's not where the problem was. It was definitely the ball sticking in the index holes. Maybe the ball needs a better cleaning...and I'm a little worried that primer crud will find its way to the lube I applied for the ball and my easy turning shell plate will be short lived. I'll have to wait and see.

I've been loading 9mm the past few nights on my 550, and I keep finding powder around/on/under the shell plate, on the primer punch etc. I finally figured out, it was getting there because my shell plate has been sticking occasionally, and I have to push so hard to turn it that when it finally gives, a few granules of powder are being ejected from the case in station 2 on its way to station 3. I set out to figure out why this was happening, and with it stuck, I removed the case from each station, one at a time, and it remained stuck after they were all out. It was the spring loaded ball under the shell plate binding against the index holes in the shell plate. Is there supposed to be any bevel whatsoever to those index holes to stop that from happening? My 9mm shellplate has none that I can see. I don't see this mentioned in the lubrication stickies (oh the irony!), but I ended up putting a little grease on the bottom of the shell plate in the path of the ball. OMG! The ease with which my shell plate turns now is like the ease of sizing lubed vs non-lubed brass...but way more so. Is this recommended? Anyone else lube down there? After making this discovery, I caught myself screwing up the indexing (seating a bullet on a case with no powder, about to put powder into a decapped case with no primer). Fortunately, I'd recently emptied the finished cartridge bin before screwing around with the shell plate...and I reluctantly decided the prudent thing to do is tear down all the cartridges in there (I'm leaving that for tomorrow). I don't think any bad ones made it through, but it's not worth the chance.

Low to mid range loads of Longshot will work...but it's not nicknamed Loudshot for nothing.

Go to samsclub.com and search for work bench. That should give you some ideas/options.

Some (not all) Home Depot's sell them. I prefer the lighter colors (like white) so I can use a sharpie to write on them. I put an index mark so I can keep track of how much I'm adjusting and a + with a curving arrow around it in the center to indicate which direction is "more powder".

Sorry to drag out an old thread...but I'm curious if the 3.3gr WST 148gr DEWC data above is from any published source, or something you worked up or got from others? I just tried loading some 148gr DEWC in .38 special brass with 2.6gr WST and the velocity was kind of low (660fps from a 4" barrel). I'd like to drive them a little faster, but I don't have any good data for this bullet type/weight.

IME, Dillon's .45acp gauges are overly tight. I have factory ammo (CCI Blazer) that won't gauge. As long as they drop in / drop out of your chambers, they're probably fine.

So, you bought Universal specifically for loading .45acp? Yuck. What sort of velocity do you want? I've read some say it makes a good full power bowling pin shooting load...but if you just want to make major PF or don't even care about making PF, it's the wrong powder for this caliber.

BTW...if you're not aware, hodgdon.com has lots of load data online for Hodgdon/Winchester powders.

Carden recommended it as a general pistol powder, or specifically for .45acp? I like Universal for 9mm and have gone through jugs of it. For .45, regular Clays or WST.

IIRC, the data on Hodgdon's web site starts much lower than the data in my Speer #14. If you start as low as Hodgdon says you can, the velocity will be sad (600fps or so), and combustion incomplete. If you want 800fps, I'm fairly sure Universal will take you there safely

How about a recommendation to stop and reconsider? Universal is a poor choice for .45 unless you're one of those "recoil doesn't bother me!" types or its the only pistol powder you have/can get. You won't get complete combustion at lower pressures, and the recoil gets bad real fast. Regular Clays, or WST are much better choices.

I tried these out today in my 930SPX, and it would not run on them. Every shot either stovepiped or failed entirely to eject. Same gun works with Fiocchi LR slugs and any of the cheap bulk packed bird shot from Wal-Mart. I guess these are only going to be usable in the pump shotgun.

There's a difference between a bit of bullet lube coming off on your fingers and the moly coating coming off and coating your finger tips. I've had the latter happen, and seen what the inside walls of the boxes look like from bad batches, and from normal batches of BBI or Precision. That said, the most recent batches of PD 185gr JHP I've gotten were particularly lubey/dirty. I'm guessing because they were rushed through the final tumbling.

I'm pretty sure the current owner of BBI reads this forum (or at least did before things got crazy), so hopefully he'll be along shortly to comment...but my guess is that when whatever went wrong happens, it's not noticed unless you handle a lot of the bullets or see the inside of a box they've bounced around in for a few hundred miles. With all the manufacturers having enough demand for their product that they're all months backordered, it's not surprising that QC might suffer. I contacted Precision Delta years ago about 9mm bullets with split jackets. They didn't care. Plenty of people want their product...one concerned customer isn't worth the time.

I beg to differ I just got these a few weeks ago and the box is filthy and so where my fingers Have you contacted BBI about that? Under previous ownership, my first batch of bullets from them were like that, and they replaced them. It's not supposed to be that way, but apparently can be if some part of the coating process doesn't go right.

WST is my preferred powder in .45acp. I've done a similar load that was also quite accurate. Precision 200gr RNFP 1.205" OAL 4.55gr WST G21 749.7 FPS G30 716.5 FPS Precision 200gr RNFP 1.205" OAL 4.7gr WST G21 788.5 FPS G30 750.5 FPS

I recently tested some 147gr FP moly coated lead. I used WST at 3.2, 3.5, and 3.6gr. From a G17, I got avgs of 850, 896, and 917fps in 10 shot strings.

Probably would also depend on its speed and how automated it is.

I've played around a bit with "light" .45 loads using 230gr, 200gr, and 185gr bullets. Any can be loaded soft, but the heavier bullets soft get silly slow. i.e. down in the 600s fps. If you're just punching paper, your pistol will function on that, and you aren't bothered by a slow slide, then that's an option. 185s at about 800 fps are pretty soft though, and safer if you're shooting any reactive targets. Since I shoot a variety of targets, I prefer the lighter bullets. The only one of your powders I've used is Clays...and it'll work, but I've used a lot more WST for this.

My standard 124gr load is between 4.3 and 4.4gr Universal Clays, a little shorter OAL, PD or MG bullets, and for the round nose, does about the same velocity from a G17 as you got. I haven't noticed temp sensitivity...but I haven't specifically tested for it. For MG JHP, I load even shorter, and get around 1120fps.

I've been loading for several years now, almost exclusively for Glocks in 9mm and .45acp. I'm using the stock barrels, and have been happy with jacketed bullets. Unless you plan to run cast lead through them, the factory barrels are fine.

Pretty much anything but SWC should work in the G30...whether you shoot FMJ/JHP/plated/coated comes down to personal preference and what you can find.

I finally got a chance to shoot the Fiocchi low recoil slugs today in my 930 SPX. Wow...they're not kidding about low recoil. They felt more like bird shot than slugs. Now I've got to find some of their low recoil buck.

I found I had to load the 124 JHP shorter to get acceptable accuracy from them...and then I got around 50fps more velocity out of them, all else being equal.