njl

I like Universal, but to make minor PF, you may have to push it all the way to or even slightly beyond Hodgdon's published max load. It makes a super soft minor 147gr load though...and is nearly impossible to double charge. Mix some in with factory ammo, and you'll think you had a squib.

That would be a problem. Have you pulled apart one of your cartridges to make sure you're not overcrimping into the bullet?

If you're sizing and trimming primed brass, it sounds like you have your steps out of order. I've only done a little bit of rifle (.30 carbine) reloading, and the steps I took were: tumble lube resize/deprime trim/chamfer/debur tumble load on the RL550b in the usual way with a universal decapping die in station 1 One problem I ran into was that little pieces of corn cob could get stuck in the primer pocket out of the way of the flash hole, so the universal decapper couldn't be relied on to clear them. I think I need to mount something like a tooth brush somewhere near the right side of the press that I can press the base of the case against and give a little twist to knock anything out of the primer pocket.

Are they that much better than Montana Gold? I can get similar .224 bullets from them at about the same price buying just 3500...almost a penny a bullet cheaper if Manny will sell me a single case.

I have an older style powder measure I bought second hand. It's collar sleeve (part 13845) has come loose and if it's not sitting on the powder die, the sleeve frequently falls out. How does that affect powder drop consistency...and should I contact Dillon to request a replacement sleeve?

Data is out there for 147gr and WST, but it's nearly all anecdotal from reloaders, not published by anyone doing actual test barrel pressure testing. I've done 3.5gr WST with 147gr X-treme plated bullets and got about 880fps. It's a super soft load. So is 3.4gr Universal with the same bullets.

With the RCBS Trim Pro Power, there's really no work involved other than setup. Then you're just standing there shuffling cases through it. As mentioned, I found I could multitask, and 1) resize a case 2) move it from the press to the trimmer 3) resize a case 4) remove trimmed case from the trimmer 5) goto 2 Otherwise, much time is wasted waiting on the trimmer.

Dillon .223 dies are quite a bit different from Dillon pistol dies. I looked at mine just recently, and the instructions weren't quite clear. If someone could describe and explain the differences between Dillon pistol dies and Dillon .223 dies, that might be helpful.

Reading this thread, I had an idea similar to what dillon posted about measuring a bullet in the seating stem. I opened up my Dillon .223 die set (haven't used them yet) and they're kind of different from Dillon pistol dies. The instructions are kind of brief too. The seating die has what looks like it might be an adjustable stem threaded into the top of it, but it seems frozen in place. Not knowing if it's meant to be messed with, I was reluctant to put any real torque on it. The resizing die also has what looks like it might be an adjustable bolt in the top...but it too doesn't want to move. How do these things work?

I have no experience with the others, so I can't say which is best. I wanted something that would do both .30 carbine and .223, so that eliminated all of the ones commonly regarded as best. I got the RCBS TrimPro Power. I've only trimmed a couple hundred .30 carbine cases on it. It trims (and with the 3-way cutter chamfers and deburs at the same time) in about the time it takes to resize/deprime a case...so when I use it, I have it clamped to the bench right next to the press. Keep in mind with the Dillon, I think you're supposed to have a vacuum hooked up to it sucking the shavings away. Seems like that'd be awfully noisy.

That 4.5gr WST (is it 124gr) MG load runs about the same FPS as 4.3gr Universal, which is my usual 9mm load. It's good for about 1070fps from a G17.

I'm confused. Are you saying they were unfamiliar with rifles and couldn't answer test questions, or that they didn't shoot rifles well, and there was a shooting portion of the test that they failed? I took the NRA RSO course several years ago, and it was a full day course, the exam was pretty simple. Someone told me recently that the NRA instructor course is 40 hours of class time. It sounds like whatever Justinsaneok did was much shorter.

I have a friend who wears bifocals. He seems to have significantly more trouble shooting indoors vs outdoors...I'm guessing because there's less light, and his pupils are more dilated indoors, so lower depth of field. I thought I'd read about this before, and confirmed, that at least one school of thought on this is to have a set of shooting glasses made where the dominant eye lens is corrected for near vision (front sight) and the other is corrected for distance (target). I'm curious how well this actually works...and with such a setup, can you actually see well enough to function (drive? walk around without walking into things?)? I think I read about someone who had a set of bifocals made where the correction was opposite normal (top set for close up, bottom set for distance). I'm curious what people here recommend.

Win seems to work fine, and is the most plentiful around here. FC seems to load a little easier (the bullets and primers just go in easier).

I've used CCI SP and LP exclusively so far in my RL550B for 9mm and .45acp and have no complaints. Where'd you find a deal on CCI's...and are you sure they're in stock? I've gotten most of mine from Grafs (some from Wideners), but Grafs recently raised their prices on CCI...and they've been backordered pretty deep.

I can't answer that...but you're not shooting bullseye or bench rest. For up close gaming, unless something goes horribly wrong, I don't think you're going to notice much accuracy difference from different COALs. Maybe I've just been lucky, but all the ammo I've loaded has done as well as factory or better. Maybe someone who's done more reloading will chime in. I've only been doing this about 2 years and a case or two of primers.

AFAIK, the COAL Hodgdon lists is minimum...but the trouble is different bullets can be different lengths, and unless you know how your bullets compare lengthwise to the one they used for that particular load, you don't know how your resulting case volume compares to their case volume. Also, some bullets will have to to be loaded shorter than others due to the bullet profile. i.e. your Federal ammo may avg 1.152", but that doesn't mean you can load any bullet to that length. Best thing to do is make a powderless/primerless dummy round first. Make it to the COAL you want...or make it as long as your mags allow. Then try dropping it into your barrel (or various barrels if you have a variety of different same caliber guns). Make sure it drops all the way in and drops out. If it gages, but resists going all the way into an actual chamber, it may be too long for that bullet profile/barrel and the bullet is hitting the rifling. Shorten it 0.01-0.005 and try again. I've loaded the MG 124gr CMJ, and my Glocks have had no trouble with it into the 1.15x range. I'd have to check my book to see if I tried any longer than that.

That looks like data off the Hodgdon web site. I'd do a COAL of somewhere in the 1.135-1.155 range and start at the low end (4.1gr) load a few, then bump it up .1gr increments and load a few more...probably 10-20 rounds at each charge. Take them to the range and chronograph them.

Also, you can line up a target beyond the chrony and test for accuracy and velocity at the same time. I like to do that anyway, as it gives me a good point to aim at and hopefully avoid hitting the chrony. As for ordering from Manny, did he give you a hard time at all for ordering just one case (assuming that's what you did) and still beat MG's direct pricing?

Natchez and best prices for bullets are unlikely to come out in the same sane sentence. You can do a whole lot better. i.e. Precision Delta, Montana Gold (both direct from their web sites), Extreme from TJ Conevera, Zero from Shooters Connection. As for powder, it all depends on your priorities, bullet weights, and how important cleanliness and low smoke are to you. I've done 9mm 124-147gr with Universal Clays and WST. I don't recommend Universal for lead or moly, but it's ok for jacketed/plated. WST works well, but there's very little published 9mm data for it. If you're new to reloading, you should probably avoid really fast low volume powders. Universal and WST have enough volume that in 9mm, you either can't fit a double charge or it'd be so obvious, you'd have to be reloading blindfolded to not notice it.

I'm not well versed in all the IDPA/USPSA rules, so I don't know that you can do this, but I suspect so. You could replace the main spring housing and mainspring to get a slightly reduced trigger pull weight. Other than that, just lots of practice. Nothing wrong with night sights on a competition/defense gun...as long as your gun shoots to point of aim.

If your "crimp" is really just removing the flare/bell done by the powder funnel, do you really need to crimp again after forcing the bullet further into the brass?

Simple solution is buy a few hundred of each bullet weight, load them to minor PF, and see what you think. I thought my 130pf 124gr load was much lower recoil than factory 115gr ammo...then I loaded some 147gr bullets to about the same pf and was amazed by how much less perceived recoil there was. I started out with 1000 147gr Extreme's and quickly ordered another 2k.

From your wording, I'd assumed you meant you had to load them to 1.155 and not any shorter or they wouldn't chamber.

You have to load 130gr BBI at 1.155" or it won't gauge in the barrel for what reason? My first attempt with 130gr BBI was 1.154" and I found the bullet was hitting the rifling in my Glock 17. I had to shorten it to 1.145" for them to drop in/out of the chamber...but they still don't quite drop all the way into the Dillon case gauge.