noylj

Personally, I buy virgin brass and don't worry about it. Military brass may be cheap, but that is all you can say for it. I just have a brass catcher on my AR so my brass is not flung all over the range (or, I assume that my rifle would throw brass around).

If you mean the rod that acts on the powder measure, I assume that it is to prevent double charging. The springs would cycle over a much smaller handle movement, while the rod doesn't return to pick up powder until the ram is almost all the way down. I tried using it but on two 1050s, the potion was just too jerky and the charge weight was affected by the jerky motion one time and smoother motion the next. I believe that it is a lawyer-induced improvement and I put all mine back to spring activation. Now, if you think there could be some reason that the springs might fail to return the slider, you might want to use both.

Where is loading data for Solo? Accurate seems very reluctant to print any Solo 1000 data.

I highly recommend getting the Dillon 1050 DVD. Lots of little details in how the presenter does things like lower the ram to remove and reinstall the primer slider actuator arm and things like that. Pay attention not just to what is said, but how he does things.

I know the blue Kool-Aid rung thick here, but anyone interested in a progressive press should look at the Hornady and the Dillon (I would include the RCBS, but I don't know that machine). There are several aspects to the 550 and 650 that keep me from liking them and I know the Hornady is a better machine for me. You should download and read the owner's manual for any presses you are interested in and watch the company's videos and YouTube. Be sure, when you are spending so much money, that you are really getting the best press for you.

Just thought I would pass along my thoughts on the ChargeMaster. I find that my CM is far superior to the Pact dispenser I had previously. I have read where some people complain that it doesn't dispense consistently. I have never had any issue; however, I do know one thing that frustrates even though I know it shouldn't. The issue is getting an "overcharge." I find that if I am dispensing a 5.5gn load, I get about two charges that read 5.6gn. I know that there is really no issue and that my powder measures are no more consistent, but I see 5.6gn and I want 5.5gn. In reality, all the normal reloading balances are +/- 0.1 gn. This means that an "actual" weight of 5.46-5.55 gn will read 5.5gn. It also means that an "actual" weight of 5.56-5.65 will read 5.6 gn. Thus, one charge of 5.55gn will read 5.5gn and one charge of 5.56gn will read 5.6gn. Then, you add the fact that the dispenser has no control over how much powder falls into the pan when it makes the smallest turn. I have seen where it took 4 turns to go from a 5.4 reading to a 5.5 reading and the next time it took 2-3 turns. Thus, each of the smallest turns dispenses somewhere around 0.02-0.06gn per turn. Thus, unless you slowed things down even more, any reading has to be at least +/-0.01gn and could be +/- 0.03gn or slightly more. In fact, the times that it takes more than 3 turns to reach to next higher weight are almost always the ones that read 0.1gn over the target charge. As I said, it is better than a powder measure but I still tend to throw the charge back and wait to get a reading of 5.5gn. Stupid, but human. The one big benefit to the ChargeMaster over the Pact and old RCBS dispenser are that calibration is not necessary. However, I find that the first charge dispensed with a given powder is always an over charge and is generally 1-2 grains over. Because of this, I always set the first charge for about half of the target charge. This charge is then poured back in the hopper and I input the charge I want and hit "Mem" and "Dispense". This charge is always correct (or that 0.1gn "overcharge"). This has the benefit of the charge count to be right. When I want to input a higher charge weight, the machine has already dispensed the "old" charge. I just input the new higher charge and hit "Mem" and "Dispense." I leave it on all the time, though I have never seen any drift or other errors when first turned on, nor have I ever seen any problems with the fluorescent lights or other equipment in my reloading area. The only thing I could complain about is the plastic pan with a $300 piece of equipment, but the pan does its job just fine.

Are you fretting over some cosmetic issue that I can't see? Do they feed and chamber? Have you pulled a bullet to look for any damage to the bullet? If there is no bullet damage and the round feeds and chambers, I would say that you are sweating something that isn't an issue and function trumps looks, hands down.

If you are loading for a revolver, you want a roll crimp. I sincerely recommend that you separate bullet seating from roll crimping (I believe the same for taper crimping, but it is not quite as problematic as a roll crimp).

Just to repeat history, In the '70s it was quite common to use 0.357" jacketed and 0.358" lead bullets in 9x19. There were few 0.355" jacketed bullets available. Never had any pressure issues. Also, back then, almost every military 9x19 had groove diameters of 0.356 to 0.361". A jacketed bullet can be smaller than groove diameter and still be accurate, but, in all cases with my guns, the best accuracy is with groove diameter or slightly larger jacketed bullets. Lead bullets must be 0.001" or more larger than groove diameter to be accurate and not lead. I don't know about SAAMI, but I use jacketed bullets that are 0.355-0.356" now that the "correct" bullets are available. I also find that most of my guns prefer 0.357-0.358" lead bullet (except for one Browning HP that has groove diameter of 0.3595"). My P08s and P38s NEED the larger bullets. Each reloader needs to find what works in their gun. There is no universal rule for what is best.

PB is very clean

First, call RCBS and discuss it. Second, my ChargeMaster is several years old and has always been totally reliable. No drift. Keep balance on at all times. I still have my Ainsworth electronic balance from the late '70s and it works perfect and has never had any drift or instability. I have no idea what people do to have so many "reported" problems. Be sure the pan is placed consistently properly. Do not EVER turn the unit upside down or shake it.

Start below the starting load and work up carefully. Also, contact manufacturer/gun smith/bullet manufacturer and check if the barrel was actually chambered so short or if your reloading technique has a problem. I don't see the precision 147gn bullets as having any difference in ogive from the 115 or 124gn bullets and I have no problem loading them long (but that is the chambers in my 9mm's and only one has a custom match barrel.

Reload in bedroom. Clean brass is tack room. I am not sure why ventilation is important for reloading--needed for brass tumbling and smelting/casting lead bullets. Get the little lee press and the Lee universal depriming die and mount in the tack room. Deprime as you sort and inspect your brass. This will keep the priming dust in the tack room and you can open and sift the brass outside. Use corn cob media to minimize media dust.

I ran some cases through my Lee Bulge Buster head first. My reason was that when I resized a case with a modest bulge (i.e., I didn't see it visually, so it "couldn't" have been that bad), I would end up with a thin raised line of brass near the extractor groove from pushing the bulge down. If, instead, I pushed it away from the web, it would not have a chance to form that ridge. It seemed to work, but the "push rod" in the bulge buster kit isn't long enough and I did damage a couple of cases doing it. Now, I run my .40 cases through it after cleaning and prior to sizing. What I want to know is why I have just started getting bulged cases in 9x19? Never have until about a year ago.

Why? Are you loading towards max? When you make a bullet/powder change, one hopes you go back to starting load and work up. Every change in bullet and powder is a new load. I wish that I could hook up a transducer to T/C Contender barrels and measure pressure of all my loads for the fun of it, but I don't need to. I would find that a lot more useful than a chronograph, since I don't care about velocity, just effect on target.

Green Dot would be excellent. Bullet Weight Powder Charge Vel. JHP 180 Green Dot 4.8 JHP 180 Green Dot 5.3 1010

If you feed the bullet enough times, you will always get some set-back. You should not ever have to cycle a round more than twice. From here, it sounds like you are over-thinking this. Your set-back does not sound like an issue. Normally, for bullet set-back, they are talking about 0.05" or more. All you need is a thumb "push" test for set-back. Also, this is why you should always aim for the longest COL that will work in your magazine and gun. A taper crimp is really just to iron out the case mouth so it will feed smoothly. Your case needs to be at least 0.001" under bullet diameter before you seat the bullet. This is all the case tension you can get. A case any smaller will simply cause additional case expansion or bullet swaging to bring the two into the 0.001" difference. Pull a bullet and check the case ID and bullet OD. For SD ammo, you are told to always take the chambered round and put it at the bottom of the magazine. Also, if the set-back is visual (not measurable, but visible), you should trash it.

What do your reloading manuals tell you? You are shooting a plated bullet, so you will want to start with a load for lead bullets. In general, changing from LRN to LSWC to LCFP involves a change in COL and the basic starting load remains the same. You can look for load data for your specific bullet and you will never find it (unless you just trust whatever pops up on the internet). You, your magazine, your gun, and your barrel will determine the COL that is right, not some one from on high. When I started loading in the mid '70s, there was very little talk of COL. You knew that loading data was rare, loading data for a specific bullet was generally unheard of, and you learned how to work up a load carefully. This involved creating inert "dummy" rounds as one sets up the dies and using the gun's barrel and the gun itself to verify that the rounds would chamber and feed. Keep the dummy round, properly labeled, so you can return the seating stem to the correct position. Keep seating separate from crimping. You do not load any ammunition until you have established a COL that fits your magazine and feeds and chambers in your gun using at least on inert "dummy" round. You always want the longest COL that functions reliably for a specific bullet in your gun. The loading manuals show the recommended MINIMUM COL in almost all cases. Start with 4.0gn of 231/HP-38 and work up to 5.5gn. Your actual max may be higher (and it may be lower), but that is the range you will most likely find to be very accurate. Your COL will probably be around 1.225-1.250. The bullet needs to be seated deep enough so the round chambers easily. Some RN bullets have an ogive that requires seating much deeper than a SWC. In these cases, working up from the starting load, or even 0.5gn below the starting load is a requirement. The .45, being a low pressure round, will generally perform best with a fast powder. Bullseye, Solo1000, Red Dot, AA2, and 231/HP-38 are all very good. Clays and N310 tend to show non-linear pressure increases as they get close to a max load.

I think that EAA guns are great, but I haven't much about their Customer Service. If your gun came that way, they should be notified and asked to inspect and fix. Did your gunsmith tell you what the groove diameter was and what diameter bullets were you using?

Not often, since .356" is too small for some of my barrels. Back in the '60s and '70s, almost the only bullets you could find were 0.357" (9mm was not a popular round to reload) and they worked great.

Only you and your gun can determine what COL is needed. It sounds as though residual case mouth flare is not the problem. Did you mark the bullet and case with a Sharpie to determine where the contact actually is? In your case, you are only going 0.005" shorter. Is your set-up so perfect that your basic tolerance for COL using a cast lead bullet will not vary by that much and, more likely, more? I know my presses have never held that tight a tolerance and my guns have never known the difference. You need to worry about bullet set-back of 0.01". My concern is that you will produce rounds that are longer, given the variations in cast bullets, and not chamber. I show 1.120-1.135" as recommended COL, so you aren't going into uncharted territory. It is very good to make up a dummy round or two to prove your set-up. You will start at the starting load and work up. If you actually are concerned, simply drop the starting load by 0.3gn and work up. Load about 20 rounds at the starting load and verify function at the range. Right now it sounds as though you have a tight match chamber and may need to reduce your COL even a bit more so the normal tolerance for COL will still have all rounds chamber.

I had one of the first Hornady progressives (Pro-7??) from sometime in late '70s to early '80s. It was the first affordable 5-station press. Dillon had their 450 (I think) 4-station press that they only sold direct, so it was relatively inexpensive since you were buying wholesale. First time I saw the Hornady press in a magazine, I simply wondered why a press that "simple" hadn't been out for years. Never had any problems with my Hornady and I was able to upgrade my press as different models came out for a reasonable price. Biggest problem I had was breaking a pawl and replacing it. Even had all my shellplates re-worked for about $10/shellplate for the model before the L-N-L. The L-N-L was such a different press, in terms of the bushings and the primer system, that I couldn't upgrade to it. So, I sold my press and bought a L-N-L. It came with 1000 180g JHP bullets for .40/10mm. I know that my decisions are almost always based on different criteria than others have, but I just think that anyone making a significant purchase should take advantage of what the 'net has to offer to be sure that they are getting the press that will fit them the best. I NEVER needed a case feeder on the Hornady. Placing cases into station 1, flipping out the loaded round at station 5 while inspecting the charge in the case at station 4 before placing the bullet on the case was always easy. Until the E-Z-ject system, I never could get the Hornady case ejection system to work reliably. Also, never found any need to worry about it as, see above, flipping off the round while going to place a bullet on the charged case was automatic. At the beginning, there were no die sets expressly made for progressive presses, except for the proprietary dies used in the Star and others. A typical handgun die set had a steel sizing die, a steel expander die that included the depriming pin, and the seating/crimp die. I had to buy special sizing dies that included the decapping pin and separate crimping dies from the bullet seating dies. There were no case-activated powder-through expanding dies so you had to manually cycle the powder measure. Presses that did not place the seating station under the operator's eye had lots of squibs (another reason I so liked the Hornady). I currently have 3 Dillon presses and they are NOT blue. They are fantastic, but they need a case feeder. Case feeders have their own problems and I wish the 1050s were laid out sort of like the Hornady so a case feeder would NOT be a virtual requirement. My own personal recommendation to a beginner/newbee is to buy the Little Lee single-stage press (~$27, or ~$35 with the Lee book) and learn reloading on it. It will only take you a week to a month at the most to learn what you need and then you can think about a "real" press. That little Lee press will always be a back-up and can do small jobs (depriming fired cases before cleaning, working a bulge-buster, or sizing cast bullets with the Lee kit). Get the Lee Perfect powder measure and a good scale (either a decent beam for ~$70 or an electronic for about ~$120. You can start by simply wiping the fired cases clean on the outside, use you gun's barrel as a case gage, hand prime with a Lee or RCBS auto-prime, and weigh your charges or use the Lee dippers for powder measuring. There is really not anything else you have to have. When you have worked out the kinks and fired a couple hundred rounds, you will have a good idea about all the steps and understand what equipment you want to make the job easier or faster. Lots of people want to know "exactly" what each powder charge is, so they use a dipper to get close the the right weight and then use a "powder trickler" to get the "correct" weight. Others are perfectly happy knowing that they can get consistent charges using the dipper and, by never trying for max loads, will load everything with just a dipper. You, if you are like most people, will want a press with a powder-through expander that automatically dispenses the powder. For this, if you get the Hornady it comes with the L-N-L powder measure that is excellent. However, there are a lot of people who can't get the powder-through expanders (PTXs) to work right. I never had any problem and wonder if Hornady changed the design and shot themselves in the foot. Despite the Hornady measure being so good, I always had a Dillon powder measure (with the appropriate "powder funnels"--their term for the powder-through expander) and at least one Lee Pro Auto-Disk measure. I found that there were days when any one of the measures would simply not dispense repeatable loads and I would switch to another. Also, the Lee is an easy measure to switch over quickly when developing loads (I never could get the Lee adjustable charge bar to work, however). People complicate a simple activity such as reloading, but at least my way, you KNOW why you are complicating things.

I think that a wax emulsion over a very light LLA coating works great. I have not noticed any difference between AA2, 231, N310, Clays, WST, or TiteGroup. Haven't tried Solo 1000. Has anyone tried AA Nitro100? Clays and N310, in my guns, are just freakishly sensitive to pressure spikes by an increase of only 0.2gn of powder. They are OK if I stay very much in the target/mid-range load region, but other powders are just as good and are not pressure spikey. One thing I have noticed with all my guns is that my .45s are not that sensitive to different bullets of the same weight such that a powder charge that works well with one 200gn SWC also works well with different profile 200gn L-SWCs or even L-TC bullets. However, 9mm and, particularly .40S&W, will not shoot the same groups from lead bullets of a given weight as the styles change even slightly. There is just no way that I can say that a given charge is accurate without reference to gun and bullet, whereas 3.6-4.0gn Bullseye (or AA2) is quite accurate with any 185 or 200gn .45ACP bullet.

This is strictly my opinion after using about 6 different crimp die. For .38 Special, you want the Redding Profile Crimp Die and you want to set it to a light crimp. What good is a bullet for a revolver if it doesn't have a cannelure or crimp groove? Bullets tend to move out of the case and bind the cylinder. Even my very light .38 Special wadcutter loads at 700fps needs a roll crimp over the head of the bullet. I like to set my crimp using a factory round that I know has enough crimp for my gun. I really don't understand what the attraction is for a thin plated bullet that costs almost as much as jacketed and has none of the benefits. The plating is easily damaged and I have never read about them being very accurate. If fact, in general, my best groups are with L-SWC and JHP bullets. Yes, I use lead bullets in all my guns and I must admit that I too have to clean my guns--after about 2000 rounds or once a year. Of course, I soak my barrels in Hoppe's #9 for a day or so and the barrels generally come out clean. Most of my time is spent cleaning the gun frame and slide and the reason I am forced to clean is not the barrel or leading.

Any time someone appears to be "swallowing the blue Kool-Aid" without all the facts, I simply must jump in a say: Look at the Hornady L-N-L progressive. It is a great 5-station press. I prefer it over the 550b and 650 I used. I don't really care for the Square Deal B as it uses proprietary dies, has only 4 stations, and, I have heard, is not used friendly to change calibers. None of the Dillons are as easy to switch calibers, or as inexpensive, as the Hornady. Any of these presses are, to me, a major investment and you really need to be sure that you are getting what you need. Also, the only reason for a progressive is because you are shooting a lot of rounds every week or month. Otherwise, get a single stage or a turret. Go to the various press manufacturer's web sites and download and read the manuals. Watch any help videos they have. Go to YouTube and be sure that the press you want to buy is the press for you (and not the press your buddy thinks is the best thing since sliced bread because others told him it was to "best" without reference to the rest of the market. Read the stickys or whatever about starting to reload and what you really need, versus what some people feel you should buy to make them feel that their decision actually made sense. Then, after you get your reloading equipment, you can join the "my brass is shinier than your brass" group.