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Bullets slipping into case after seating: 1) Expander is over expanding the case 2) Case has very thin walls 3) You ran the case in and out of the measure too many times setting the powder charge and the case needs to be resized Bullets falling out while shellplate indexes: 1) not enough case mouth flare/bell 2) shellplate loose and indexing too forcibly 3) put the bullet on the case after you have visually inspected the powder charge in the case and the ram is starting to move up

I see that Britinusa gave the typical non-help answer. Since the O.P. wants lead, he does not want jacketed nor would he probably want to spend twice as much per bullet. MasterCast of Carbondale Ill is excellent and not expensive. Penn is excellent but more expensive than MasterCast. Then, there is Missouri Bullets and Dardus.

If you know you are getting a case feeder, then the Dillon may have the advantage. Where the Dillon loses is in terms of cost and speed of caliber conversions. I have never used the Hornady case feeder, but it is exactly the same as the Dillon, except for the hardware that takes the case and feeds it into the shellplate. My feeling is that the 650 is a known commodity in terms of the case feeder working, while the Hornady may need more adjustment since it wasn't originally designed for one. Even then, I am still prejudiced in favor of the Hornady, and I never felt the NEED a case feeder.

All caps is hard to read. That is why there is a "shift" key on both sides of the keyboard. I have no idea if the load is safe in your gun. Have you worked up to it or just going to jump in? The COL should be determined by what fits in your magazine and feeds and chambers, starting with a long COL and working down until all three variables are met. That is the COL you should use. Then, you work up your load to find the powder charge that gives you the velocity and accuracy that you want/need. I can tell you what works for me, but it may not work for you. I start with the lowest starting load and work up to where I want to be, watching for any pressure signs. As the following shows, 5.3 could be a starting load or a MAX load--thus I start low and work up. Bullet Weight Powder Weight Velocity Start/Max Power Factor COL Lead Swaged L-RN 124 N350 4.4 900 Start 112 L-SWC 124 N350 4.8 1112 Start 138 L-SWC 124 N350 5.0 Start 0 L-SWC 124 N350 5.1 1168 145 1.083 Swaged L-RN 124 N350 5.2 1050 Max 130 L-SWC 124 N350 5.5 1201 Max 149 Jacketed Hdy XTP, FMJ-FP, FMJ-RN 124 N350 4.4 900 Start 112 Hdy XTP, FMJ-FP, FMJ-RN 124 N350 5.2 1050 Max 130 FMJ-FP 124 N350 5.3 1120 Start 139 RN 124 N350 5.4 Start 0 FMJ 124 N350 5.5 Start 0 FMJ-FP 124 N350 5.6 1138 141 1.083 J-all 124 N350 5.6 1161 Start 144 J-all 120 N350 6.0 1194 143 RN 124 N350 6.0 1216 Max 151 Zero JHP 124 N350 6.0 1222 9mm Major 152 1.145 FMJ 124 N350 6.1 1228 Max 152 1.095 J-all 124 N350 6.1 1232 Max 153 Zero JHP 124 N350 6.2 1242 9mm Major 154 1.145 Zero JHP 124 N350 6.4 1277 9mm Major 158 1.145 Zero JHP 124 N350 6.6 1321 9mm Major 164 1.145 Zero JHP 124 N350 6.8 1357 9mm Major 168 1.145 Zero JHP 124 N350 7.0 1362 9mm Major 169 1.145 Zero JHP 124 N350 7.3 1386 9mm Major 172 1.145

For any progressive press, a 5-station press should be the minimum desired. Four stations will always force compromise. I consider the Hornady L-N-L to be superior to the 550 and 650. I have used all three. However, if you are going to go with a case feeder (a real necessity on the Dillons), then get the 650. I am not aware of anything the 650 can do better than the Hornady, other than having been designed from the ground up for a case feeder. Caliber conversions are more expensive and you will want to buy a toolhead for each caliber. The Hornady bushings eliminate the "need" for toolheads and are a lot cheaper. If you are a single caliber person and need lots of ammunition, then the Dillon will keep you happy. If you never try the Hornady, the Dillon will keep you happy. It would be nice if you could get your hands on any press you are interested in so you can determine exactly what you like and need.

Jungo2: It is real easy to look down at the case and see the charge when in "station 3.5" and place the bullet on the case. Station 3.5 is right under the operator's nose for easy inspection of charge height in case. The "problem" is that the rotation and ram movement up to station 4.0 can nudge the bullet off the case or tilt it. One either sets the bullet in the case while the ram is down at "station 3.5" or you pause on the upstroke to align the bullet. I see stage 3 as being the ram up and the case at station 3 (where one would put an RCBS Lock-Out Die or the powder charging die if Station 2 had the expander die), such that one can't put the bullet on at station 3. When I read your post, I thought that you were putting the bullet on at "station 2.5" using you right hand and causing a cramped reloading cycle. The only presses that I know of currently in production that do not have the "half stations" are the 550B (manual indexing) and the 1050 (all functions are done when the ram (and the toolhead) comes down).

Jungo2: My set-up is: 1) size/deprimer 1.5) seat primer 2) expand and powder drop 3) RCBS Lock-Out die 4) Seat bullet 5) Crimp. I have no idea what makes you think that you have to seat the bullet in station 3. If I can't expand and charge the case in one step, then 2 is for expanding/bellin and 3) is for charging.

I had been using a Hornady progressive since they first came out (in the early '80s?) and used a 550 and 650. May have already commented above. Anyway, one thing is that I NEVER had a case feeder on a Hornady (nor did I have any desire to buy one) and found the Dillon's to be awkward without a case feeder. That being said, if the comments I have read are true, the Dillon works better with a case feeder (believe me, I do not want to use one without it) while the Hornady L-N-L has a base plate for the case feeder, but it does not appear to still be designed from the ground up for a case feeder. Thus, if I was going in and knew that I couldn't be satisfied without a case feeder, I would probably buy Dillon 650. I would not buy a progressive press with fewer than 5 stations. At the time, Hornady was, I think, the first with 5 stations in a press I could afford. That, and the case conversion was simply a shellplate. Dillon, I believe, had a four station press out. The field was basically Star, C-H or Hollywood, Dillon, and Hornady.

Need to emphasize care as 10.3gn is the listed maximum for 9x23 and not .38 Super.

.40 S&W Bullet Weight Powder Weight Velocity Start/Max Power Factor COL Nosler JHP 180 True Blue 6.3 935 Start 168 1.1350 Nosler JHP 180 True Blue 7.0 1039 Max 187 1.1350

It is an extremely fast powder. Using it in a pressure "sensitive" round like the .40 could cause problems. It would very good if you wanted light target loads, but, like Clays, it can be very spikey in pressure. A slower powder would get rid of some of the snap, and be a lot better for mid-range to max loads.

Bullet Mfg. Nominal Bullet Weight Bullet Type Powder Powder Weight Primer COL Accuracy: 5 shots unless noted Speer 150 JHP Power Pistol 8.0 1.40 Montana Gold 155 JFP Power Pistol 8.1 WSP 1.90 NBC 155 L-SWC w/LLA Power Pistol 5.4 500 1.211 1.69 NBC 155 L-SWC w/LLA Power Pistol 5.7 500 1.212 3.25 Penn 40/155 155 L-SWCBB PowerPistol 5.4 500 1.145 1.72 Speer 155 GDHP Power Pistol 9.0 1.39 Montana Gold 165 JHP Power Pistol 7.3 WSP 2.44 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 4.0 500 1.149 1.88 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 4.0 500 1.149 1.94 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 4.5 500 1.149 0.75 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 4.5 500 1.149 2.06 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 5.0 500 1.154 1.38 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 5.0 500 1.154 3.81 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 5.5 500 1.154 1.31 Penn 40/165 165 L-TCBB Power Pistol 5.5 500 1.154 1.38 Rainier 165 plated-RNFP Power Pistol 7.2 WSP 1.78 Speer 165 GDHP PowerPistol 7.8 2.32 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 4.3 500 1.53 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 4.3 500 2.47 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 5.1 500 1.13 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 5.1 500 1.75 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 5.8 500 0.82 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 5.8 500 1.88 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 6.3 500 2.38 NBC 170 L-SWC Power Pistol 6.3 500 2.22 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 4.5 1 1/2 1.215 1.50 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 4.5 1 1/2 1.215 2.31 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 5.0 1 1/2 1.214 2.40 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 5.0 1 1/2 1.214 2.44 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 5.5 1 1/2 1.214 2.03 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 5.5 1 1/2 1.214 2.03 Penn 10/170 SWC 170 L-SWC w/LLA PowerPistol 6.0 1 1/2 1.213 1.69

I screw the shellplate lockring assembly down as tight as possible and then just barely loosen it such that the shellplate advanced easily and yet is tight enough not to visibly tilt. I find the recommendation of backing off the lockring assembly a 16th of a turn is more than desirable.

Ummm, you took it as shipped, added powder, and just started to load? There is something wrong here. It is important to NOT tighten the "nut" on the blast shield that sets the primer tube. Tube must be all the way down and NOT bent by strong-arm techniques. I recommend everyone with a 1050 get the DVD. I think Dillon should include it.

Some people have a W shellplate that will hold 9x19. Mine won't. Some have the 9mm #5 shellplate that will hold .40. Mine won't.

I load 155gn lead SWC in all my 9mms, even P08s and P38s. IT feeds in all of them. Bullet Mfg. Nominal Bullet Weight Average Bullet Weight Bullet Type Powder Powder Weight Primer COL Gun Accuracy Accuracy: w/o called flyers Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.0 WSP 1.025 CZ75-1 1.85 1.85 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.0 WSP 1.025 1911 4.10 4.10 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.5 WSP 1.025 CZ75-1 1.23 1.23 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.5 WSP 1.025 1911 2.02 2.02 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.5 WSP 1.025 1911 2.30 2.30 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 4.5 WSP 1.025 1911 2.30 2.30 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 5.0 WSP 1.025 CZ75-1 1.48 1.48 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 5.0 WSP 1.025 1911 3.12 3.12 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 5.5 WSP 1.025 CZ75-1 1.65 1.65 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 5.5 WSP 1.025 1911 2.93 2.93 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 6.0 WSP 1.025 1911 1.90 1.90 Penn 115 SWC 115 113 L-SWCBB Unique 6.0 WSP 1.025 CZ75-1 2.29 2.29 MasterBlaster 112 110 L-SWC AA2 4.4 WSP 1.067 CZ75-1 2.08 2.08 MasterBlaster 112 110 L-SWC Herco 5.4 WSP 1.075 1911 2.05 2.05 MasterBlaster 112 110 L-SWC Herco 5.4 WSP 1.075 CZ75-1 1.80 1.80

Per SAAMI, .357Sig headspaces on the case mouth. There is a VERY short neck, so the bullet must grip the case over the whole surface of the neck. After you expand the case neck (not bell/flare the case mouth), what is the case neck ID? It must be 0.001-0.002" smaller than bullet diameter. Finally, the .357Sig is NOT a reloading friendly cartridge.

If you have "Glocked" brass (in .40S&W or .45ACP), get a Lee factory crimp die and the Lee Bulge buster to "push-through" size all your cases. I have the little Lee Reloading Press set-up for this job. If 9x19, the best I have found is the Hornady New Dimension Sizing die as it goes lower down the case and can size into the case web. For 9x19, if I ever get some money, I want to see if Lee can make an FCD like a 9mm Mak FCD that could "push-through" size the cases.

I see a possible case bulge where the bullet ends. Mark your dummy round with a magic marker, plunk in barrel, and rotate round a little. You will get a "scrape" mark where the round is hanging up. With lead bullets, it is very important to expand the case (not just bell the case mouth but expand the section of the case where the bullet goes) to within 0.002" of bullet diameter. If your bullets are 0.452", then the case should be expanded to 0.450-0.451". If not, the bullet will expand the case unevenly and you will get a case bulge where the case wall is thinnest. You can/will also swage the bullet down in size and start getting leading in the barrel and inaccurate groups. As far as taper crimp goes, you should be able to feel a smooth transition from the bullet ogive to the case mouth and yet, if you run your thumb nail down the bullet, the nail will still "catch" on the case mouth. Finally, your bullet seems to seated slightly deeper than I would consider optimum. Almost any powder will give produce at least +/- 0.2gn charge weight and generally even closer. Don't think I read what measure you are using, but consistency is very important. If a manual measure, then you should rotate the handle and tap it twice, and when you return the handle do a couple of taps. This helps settle powder consistently. If using a beam balance, be sure it is at eye level so you can see it easily without parallax. If measure is mounted on the press, there should be enough "bumping" to help settle the powder, but, again, you must be consistent in cycling the press. The good news is that exact powder weight is NOT as significant as most people worry about, but you should still be within +/- 0.2gn or better.

I liked that priming system. You could visually see the primer being brought over for seating and the spring on the blast shield meant you could lift out the primer tube and blast shield without having primers pour out all over the place.

I have not believed that sorting headstamps would make any difference in group size using a handgun. Since I kept reading about people sorting their brass, I started to sort my brass at the range with my .40S&W (Loaded random cases and sorted at the range). I have a majority of Winchester brass, so frequently, out of 10 rounds, I could sort out 5 Win and the rest a rather bizarre mix of cases. In about 10% of the time, I had 5 Federal cases and the other 5 were mixed. This way, the loading of all the cases was the same so there was no bias. Shooting, all I concentrated on was aligning the red dot in the center of the bull at 25 yards off a pistol rest. The following are the averages and the Std. Dev. for these series: Case Avg S.Dev. Federal 3.54 0.70 Mixed 2.55 0.76 Win 2.67 1.04 Based on this, there is no difference in accuracy between mixed head stamps and Winchester--but notice that the std. dev. of the mixed cases it still less then the Win cases. However, my gun does not seem to like Federal cases very much--although, there were frequently one or two Federal cases in the mixed cases being fired since I estimate that about 30% of my cases are Federal. This may not be totally definitive, but it does represent over 100 5-shot groups.

The only brass sorting that I have found to have any real effect is sort by case length. Save the long ones for accuracy and the rest for action shooting and plinking.

The industry does not publish much .40S&W data for a 200gn bullet. they consider 180gn to be max. The following is the data I have. You can drop the data for jacketed bullets by 10% and work up. Note: Why order bullets if you don't have data for it? .40 S&W Bullet Weight Powder Weight Velocity Start/Max Power Factor COL L-RFNSWC 180 AA7 7.2 0 1.1350 L-SWC 180 AA7 7.2 0 1.1350 L-FN 185 AA7 7.4 871 Start 161 L-FN 185 AA7 8.2 990 Max 183 L-FP 180 AA7 8.5 955 172 L-FP 180 AA7 9.0 1005 181 L-FP 180 AA7 9.5 1053 Max 190 Precision Black 180 N320 4.4 Accurate 0 L-FP 180 N320 5.3 0 swaged L-SWC 180 TiteGroup 2.1 750 Start 135 L-SWC 180 TiteGroup 2.9 696 125 1.1350 L-SWC 180 TiteGroup 2.9 724 130 1.1350 HP-TMJ 180 TiteGroup 4.2 0 1.1300 L-RNFP 177 TiteGroup 4.5 972 172 RCBS 40-180-CM RNFP 180 TiteGroup 4.5 991 178 swaged L-SWC 180 TiteGroup 4.8 950 Max 171 L-FN 205 AA7 5.9 744 Start 153 L-FN 205 AA7 6.6 845 Max 173 1.110

Quote: A fellow shooter uses his mags... he loads 10 or so dummies so that they will load without binding starts long and sets back until they will fit then shortens OAL by a few thou. records OAL then hand cycles them in the intended firearm. Unquote You should always make up at least one inert "dummy" round (used to set-up your dies, verify feeding and chambering, and use if/when you need to set-up the seating die for that bullet again) and start long. The COL in manuals is either the SAAMI requirement (so manufacturers' ammo can fit in all properly chambered guns) or the minimum recommended. In both case, the reloader should try longer COLs.

Why the use of small rifle primers? 5.6gn of TiteGroup with a 155gn bullet should be about the same as the N320 load.