beginner shooter

Excellent advice. I had no idea that powder could be that temp sensitive. Ill start bringing a cooler to the match as it starts to warm up here. Thanks for the tip.

After a little range research I found what works best. 4.8gr of WST with a 115gr plated bullet gives pleanty of power to operate the gun and pretty good accuracy. By pretty good I mean we were hitting a 4" steel plate at 35yds pretty consistantly. Ran the rounds in both a Barretta and a H&K USP. No pressure problems to report with this load, although at 5.4gr of powder the primers started to look a bit flattened and the gun got kind of 'snappy' with its recoil. Either way 4.8 is what works for our everyday plinking so thats what Im going to end up using. And no I would never even entertain the idea of using plated bullets in my .40 match gun.

What I do: If you dont already have a press buy one or find someone who does. Ive found that 'dummy' rounds still have to be resized to chamber effectively every time. Run an empty case through the resizing die. Flip the case on end so the primer pocket is facing up. Squirt RTV silicone (this stuff) in the primer pocket and smooth even to the back of the case with a buisnes card or something. Allow to dry. Use a razor blade to trim any excess and make the back of the case smooth. One dry put a bullet in the case using the bullet seating die and you're set. You'll know straight away if its a live round or not just by looking at the back of it.

Ill stick with my CCI's. I bought 1000 WSP and found them to be a little soft for my liking. But to each his own.... That reminds me, I need to go down to my local reload shop for primers and bullets...

Save the scan as a picture, use the attach image option (2 to the right of the smiley) Then just click attach.

Rimfire Arctic Circle or Dairy Queen?

If you notice too, he doesnt even use the reloading kit that he shows. All he ever uses in the video is a hammer.

I talked with my uncle last night about possible sollutions to dealing with this issue without having to pull all those bullets. What he recommend I do is take 10-12 shells and start with a load of WST at like 3.8gr. Then progressively work up towards the load I have now using a chronograph and checking each casing for pressure signs. His thinking is (and mine too) if by the time I get up to the loads that Ive already made and I still dont get pressure signs or ludicrous-speed on the chrono then I should be fine. This method also takes out the danger of firing the loads I already have and possible having a case rupture or worse on the first shot.

Man guys, ever since Ive got into reloading all it seem I'm doing is fouling up. I guess the lesson here is not to believe what you read on the interweb. BTW, I DO have a Lyman reloading manual, but now I'm thinking Ill pick up a Sierra and a Hornady as well. I really do hate to learn lessons this way.... almost to the point of being bummed out by it. Well, gotta keep a positive attitude towards stuff like this and learn all I can from it. In the long run Ill be a better shooter and reloader for it.

The OAL is 1.135. The rounds go nicely into my gun with no obstruction with the bullet and rifling. I think what I MAY end up doing is putting one round into my H&K USP and trying it. My other option would be to pull all 500 rounds and start over with WSF or similar, but at this point I just dont know. One option is a pain in the ass the other could spell the end of a $830 gun and possibly digits.

I'm starting to get a little affraid here.

A bunch as in 500. The online Hodgdon manual only has WST data for 10mm/.40S&W and I think .45ACP. Short of going out and just testing the load then looking for pressure signs I really dont know what to do here. I was just hoping to get a little input from someone else who may possibly use this powder for this bullet or who knows a whole bunch more than me about powders and burn rates.

So I loaded up a bunch of 9x19mm with WST. The closest info I could find on this on the web was saying to use 5.2-5.6gr of WST in which the poster claimed came out of the 4rth addition Hornady manual. Other than that I havent really been able to find any other info. Now what really concerns me is that with the lack of data that I'm seeing, is this going to be a load that will blow up my gun? If so I'm not above going out and buying a bullet puller and redoing all the rounds Ive loaded up with this charge. Any insight would be helpfull. Equipment: Bullets- 115gr Barry's plated Powder- Winchester WST- 5.2gr Brass- Winchester pre-primed brand new -Mike PS. the info I got was from post #2 in this link.

"You might want to wear earmuffs in case the primer explodes." And to think, I just wasted $1500 on my reloading stuff when all I needed was a $15 Lee reloading kit. I guess the $40 I spent on my reloading manual wasn't money well spent. But seriously, I almost wonder if he actually installed a LIVE primer when he did that.

I was talking more about draw, sight picture, and proximity to the targets. I saw a few open guys shoot the entire stage from the box, but I tried to run up to the targets as close as I could to get good solid A's. I think is it worth the extra time to shoot guaranteed A's or is it better to shoot farther away and get C's and D's with a faster time. So much to think about. BTW, I was 'talked to' about getting close enough to blow off the pasting tape.

I can hear this in my head as I sleep. That first match really was a good time. Now I keep overplaying the events of the day in my mind to think what I can do better next time.

Alrighty. Shot my first match and it was super fun. I did get 3 no-shoots and that kind of hurt my score I think, but over all I think I did pretty well for my first match. In Limited I placed 12th out of 22, and overall I shot 23 out of 36. I did have some feeding issues with one of my mags, but there were pleanty of Masters and a GM out there helping me out with the issue. Here's the link to the scores. Im Mike Miller. My link

I actually called the event POC and told him I would come out after work today to help set up for tomorrow. I figure this will help present a good positive attitude as well as give me a few things to mill over in my head tonight about how the stages are set up and getting some COF questions ready to go for the more experienced guys to help me out with.

Alright guys, I did the filing the pin trick and it worked! Now I have pleanty of ammo for my first match tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice and replies. This site is truly amazing when you need some shooting related help with issues. Again, thanks to everyone for the help. -Mike

Hearing? I think I would be asking how to get the stain out!!! Stain? It wasn't a scarey thing. Just loud as all hell. It did dawn on me today though that this event happened very close to a near full powder measure which still kind of gives me the willies to think about.

Im such a good shooter that Todd Jarrett thinks Im the 8th wonder of the world. Jerry Miculek thinks Im Gods gift to all things handgun.

All good points here. And Ill just throw one in here from personal recent experience. When seating a new primer DO NOT force it. Ive learned that nothing about reloading should require any 'forcing' of any kind.

Good advice. I wear glasses anyway due to my eyesight, but I think now Ill start wearing my ballistic eyewear that I got for my deployment. I usually use those anyways when I shoot. Hell, I may go home during lunch and pull the pin out of the die and bring it and a file with me to work so I dont have to do it after I get off (more time for reloading).

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how simple the solution can be sometimes. When I read your post it made perfect sense. Basically you're saying that the primer is 'hanging on' to the pin then halfway seating itself back in the primer pocket just enough to not come out of the case. Thanks for the advice Ill give it a try soon as I get home. On a completely unrelated not how long before your hearing gets back to normal?

So I got a brand new Dillon RL 550 last night and got her set up and running. After about 100-150 rounds I noticed that the resizing die started to NOT eject the spent primers from the cases. I figured 'no big deal Ill just run the pin down a little more and that should fix it'. WRONG! I stroked the lever pushed it all the way in to seat a new primer and POW!!! Primer detonated in the press due to the pressure of pushing against a, you guessed it, SPENT PRIMER. So my question is, even with the pin run all the way down as far as the case will let it go, why arent the spent primers leaving the cases? Please help. I have a match on Sat and still need to load up a bunch of ammo before that time comes. Equipment: Dillon RL 550 RCBS Carbide .40/10mm die set Powder- Winchester WST 5 grains per load Primers- Winchester small pistol PS. Ive used the same dies in my RCBS single stage press with no issues at all. The only variable in this equasion that has changed is the new press and Im really hoping thats not the problem.