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at_liberty

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  1. Another has mentioned it, but your description reminds me of a tight expander. It comes off "violently" given enough force. If it is not really a stuck feeling, just some sort of lockup, then your primers may not be fully seated. Don't brute force it. Start pulling dies when it happens, and you may find the hang up.
  2. SD1 - I didn't buy a progressive press only to have to size and decap off the press, handling twice. For my handgun needs, I wash brass and tumble with spent primers intact.
  3. No, I'm good. I also have gas checks and a gas check mold for lead bullets, including 22 cal. I have gas checks for 45, 44, 35, 30, and 22 along with the molds to match.
  4. How about don't reload and don't shoot but have all the reloading equipment and supplies, including shot shell, handgun, and rifle? Part of that is prepper thinking, not having (yet) much interest in my AR-15, but being prepared to both cast and reload for it. The same is true for other calibers. I have acquired new calibers and types of guns fast enough that I don't yet have them all to the gunsmith for optimizing. I like to shoot handguns more than my shotguns and rifles, so my main activity in reloading is .45 ACP and .357 Magnum Lite. I could be heavy into shooting .45 Colt but am waiting for a couple new dies intended to reduce leading. I finally have the .45 Colt throat diameters properly matched with those of the barrels and a nice trigger job on my New Vaquero. The point though is that there is a lot of equipment here, because it is my hobby to have it, not necessarily use it. Every gun can be fully supported, if the supply market goes away, unless I run out of gas checks, which doesn't seem likely. What I don't have yet is an iron pot to melt lead over a campfire. Electricity cannot be taken for granted. I do have 150 pounds of #2 alloy lead, molds for each caliber/gun, and even a #4 buck mold for my .410 Coach Gun and mating Judge. I guess carting around a supply of lead could present quite a challenge, but little more than a large supply of ammo would....it just needs to be divided into manageable packages. Things have to change, and it will likely happen soon.
  5. I found this question and did my own search, preferring something available for Kindle and then confining myself to Amazon. I chose the Vol 1 by Sweeney, [Gunsmithing - The AR-15].
  6. It doesn't make sense to use an FCD expecting .451 on bullets that are .452+ and soft enough to swage rather than jam the die and press. What you can do to help ensure chambering is to use that FCD sizing ring in the Bulge Buster, which can do .45 ACP as well as .40 S&W. But for loading lead in general, you need a different brand of crimp die. I use Redding carbide.
  7. Forget about ammo that was tailored for you 1911. Just make standard stuff or prove out the 625 with store bought. You need a Max Cartridge gauge, when supporting more than one gun in a caliber, and which you intend to share ammo. Don't get into lead bullets just yet, because that will complicate any questions about function.
  8. Green Dot is one you might find. Alliant is now marketing powders targeted for handguns, downplaying use of its shotgun powders for handgun loads, but Green Dot has a history as a good medium burner for handguns. Personally, I have a good supply of Power Pistol, HS-6, and I guess an actual collection of at least one pound of many possibilities, but I doubt I could find them right now, and doubt you would do much better. Green Dot loads for 9mm, taken from an older Alliant Reloader's Guide: 115g FMJ, 1.12 COL, 4.7g, 1150 fps 125g FMJ, 1.15 COL, 5.2g, 1150 fps 125g Lead, 1.15 COL, 5.2g, 1165 fps 147g XTP, 1.14 COL, 3.7g, 930 fps
  9. Then a loose fitting chamber could impact performance.
  10. Loading .40 S&W is not worth the aggravation unless running everything through the Redding G-Rx, including loaded ammo made previously or bought "remanufactured" and giving some failures to go into battery. I suggest getting the carbide version and then avoiding the lube requirement. I have done all this and can offer that, for me, the U-die is counterproductive because it sizes .001 smaller. Yes, it has a radius to hide transitions, but who says you need more neck tension and an even larger bubble at the web area? I use the dual ring on .45 ACP but only because of slightly larger lead bullets. I don't use lead in .40 S&W, so the special die isn't needed. The street price BTW is $100. It might actually work on .40 but would be a luxury until using lead. What you're seeing now does no real harm IMO until rounds fail to go into battery or better yet, fail gauging. You really should use the G-Rx or gauge (or barrel) check EVERY round.
  11. The M-die does both a standard expansion and an oversized expansion of the first 1/16" at the case mouth. I use it to get bevel-based bullets to stand straight for seating without finger pinching. It works nicely. I'm glad I have it. On my 5-station L-n-L AP, to make room for the die I removed the powder check, once a Powder Cop and more recently am RCBS lockout. I look in every case anyway, since I don't use a bullet feeder and have provided special lighting.
  12. First, I would check the sizing die and the case measurement [after sizing]. Subtract twice the case wall diameter to derive the ID for the bullet insertion. Secondly, investigate availability of a larger sizing die. What you have now is for .40, while you are trying to stuff an extra .001 in there. Be sure your bullets really are .401, because I have had to buy a sizer for my .45 that go beyond .452, regardless of what the box says. I use an M die for .45 but only to get bevel based lead bullets to stand straight for insertion (5 stations). That die only affects the outer 1/16" of the case mouth, so it's not a solution for getting larger ID cases.
  13. The FCD should be avoided if loading oversized lead bullets. Then I use the Redding Taper Crimp Die. However, an FCD should be standard equipment for any reloader using fired .40 S&W brass, since the guts of the die is part of the Lee Bulge Buster. That gizmo will full length size the brass and ensure that it will chamber. Run all pick up brass through that, trust me. You can also run loaded rounds through it, if not lead bullets, so don't pull bullets from jacketed rounds that didn't chamber fully.
  14. On .40 S&W fired brass, I use the FCD to presize with the Bulge Buster. I run all .40 fired brass regardless through this process, saving headaches later. For lead bullets, at least .001 larger, I use only the Redding Taper Crimp Die in straight wall cases and Profile Crimp Die in rimmed revolver calibers. That is especially important on .45 ACP, since those lead bullet diameters go oversize more than other calibers. .40 S&W is truer to size but still .001 over and possibly swaged by the FCD. For jacketed bullets, in my experience usually true to size specs, the FCD has a green light and can be a real asset, ensuring rounds will gauge or chamber. I claim no experience with plated bullets, but if they are not oversized, I don't see how an FCD would damage them.
  15. I wondered if the seating insert shape was right for the bullet. There are concave inserts and flat inserts. If a bullet nose is not rounded there can be some variance with a concave seating insert. Some bullets can seat a little crooked also.
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