JDucros

Welcome! You've come to the right place for IDPA and USPSA. I'm relatively new myself and have learned a lot from these guys. Don't be afraid to ask anything even if you think it's a dumb question. Someone will have the answer. I too shoot Glock 17 and I just started reloading this month. Good luck with your matches and let me know if there is anything I can do to help out. Cheers, -James

Ok, well that makes total sense being they are made for competition, not defense. The reviewer was using Double Tap ammo with Montana Gold bullets claiming they were sold as self defense ammo so I think that's where the misinformation came from. As for the OAL inconsistencies with Berry's I have noticed that with the regular round nose. I switched to the Double Struck round nose and have had LESS inconsistency however there is still a small variance. I did notice that the Berry;s are plated all over with no exposed lead but the coating is very thin compared to the jacked on the Montana Gold. After doing some reading on here I've decided to place an order for some MG's..plus i'm not a big fan of Kia's. I've been using the Berry's 124gr round nose so I'm thinking of using MG 124 Hollow Points. Any thoughts? Thanks for the input Sarge. Cheers, -JD

By the way, that's freaking genius! -James

You'd be surprised how much a small squirt of WD-40 can protect threads against the humidity. It's working for me. People who aren't from here and haven't experienced what the humidity here can do to things like ammo and tools don't really understand. As for using the freezer as a dry box, excellent idea. For humidity control inside your freezer/dry box, check out the GoldenRod Dehumidifier. Sells for about $30. It's normally used in gun safes to eliminate humidity. Most of the high end safes at Cabela's come with an electrical outlet inside them for the goldenrod. Cheers, -JD

Would I make myself look like too much of a rookie if I asked what the difference is between jacketing and plating? I understand the cost difference between the two brands and I understand there is a performance advantage the Montana Gold brand is supposed to provide however at some point I think it comes to a Chevy Vs Ford argument. My question is the difference between the composition of the two different bullets themselves and how they effect the overall reloaded round. There are a few guys who review ammo on YouTube. The Montana Gold Jacketed Hollow Points shed their jacket and sent the lead projectile straight through all four layers of denim and all four jugs of water(filled with wet newspaper.) One of the reviewers sounded surprised and disappointed that the MG's jacket broke apart so easily preventing them from mushrooming. The berry's review showed their hollow points mushroomed like they are supposed to. The way the Montana Gold rounds shed their jackets it seemed as though the lead part and the jacket were separate whereas the plated Berry's were sealed to their outer layer. I cut a berry's round nose in half the other day and the copper plating stayed on the bullet and was extremely tough. Cheers, -James

I remember when a box of 100 12ga #7 1/2 bird shot at WallyWorld was $12. Now it's $27. For 9mm 50 round Winchester White Box was $8.50, now it's $15. I'm not going to get into a political debate on this because I think it's pretty useless however one of the best things Obama did for the gun industry was threaten to push for gun control and new bans without following through. I'm not afraid to admit i'm a gun lovin' Democrat but this was a bad move for the Democratic party both economically and politically. < soap box > Economically it helped raise prices on Guns and Ammo making American's hard earned money less valuable when it comes to enjoying one of America's oldest traditions. Politically it made the party look foolhardy and weak. It showed that politicians as a whole don't look at the bigger picture, only what will make better headlines in tomorrow's paper. This is just my opinion and I realize others may feel differently however there is no denying that ammo prices are at an all time high. When I see 20 rounds of MagTech self defense ammo on SALE for $32 I shake my head in shame. All the petty bickering between our two parties not only got us in the financial pickle we're currently in but they also made it even less affordable for American's to defend themselves and their families. < / rant > < / soap box > Cheers, -James

I got your point So, have you really done a detailed comparison to know if there really isn't any difference in practical quality? What differences did you see (or not see) in average group size to make it not worth the extra .00439 cents per round? Hey, if you're happy with "good enough" when just a few dollars would get you something better, knock yourself out. Nope, I have not. I just restarted reloading for the 9mm, and I haven't had a chance to shoot the first 100 of these Berrys I loaded up. (snow on the ground) The only comparison I'll have right now is how the gun shoots with 115gr. Blazer Brass. That's all I've shot in the new G17 so far. IF these shoot as well as the BB do, I'll be a happy guy. If not, I'll start exploring why. I loaded them pretty light, as that's what I wanted anyway for IDPA. If I was getting to +p/major velocities, I don't think I'd have tried them. I guess we'll see this weekend.

This is why I LOVE Harbor Freight! -JD

Honestly, I think you are over-thinking this for the Austin area that you are living in now. Austin is also several hundred feet higher than New Orleans and that will make a difference as well. The other part of this is, if you are Shooting the ammo fairly regularly, it should not last long enough to have problems with humidity While parked in traffic today I started thinking about this a little. I realized there were some things I was overlooking as well as over-thinking. I think the main reason I'm so concerned with long term storage is because it's somewhat of an investment with loading a large amount to last a year. I don't get to shoot that often(compete about once or twice a month and go to the range two to three times a month) and with my odd work rotation I don't have much time to reload. I was looking at loading between 5,000 and 10,000 rounds and setting those aside and packing up my loading equipment(due to a limited amount of space available) and just shoot from the stored up ammo and then when I need more I'll wait for a break from work and set everything up and load another 5-10k. I appreciate your input on the subject and thank you very much. DO you have any suggestion for replacing a can gasket? I've got some normal sized ammo cans and some larger rocket cans that have long rectangular seals. Is there a product available at Lowes or Home Depot that would work or is it a specific type of rubber?

It may sound tedious however with the humidity we have here I wanted to see how the first powder I was working with metered so I measured 50 loads to check for consistancy. Once I got my Dillon adjusted it threw every load exactly at 4.0 grams(for testing.) Once I started loading rounds and actually seating and crimping bullets I measured each case w/primer and bullet before and after receiving powder to check the weight. I made several batches with different loads and every one of them was exact. Now, this was using Alliant Unique powder. I will be trying out Hodgson's Tite Group next and will do a similar test(just not so large scale this time) to see how the Tite Group measures. By the way, when doing the test the Humidity was at 55% on a dry, sunny day at 71 degrees inside and outside. Thanks for your reply. Cheers, -James

I live in Austin, Tx but I come from New Orleans, La. I grew up hunting in the swamps of Louisiana and even ammo that was stored in dry containers at home were effected by the humidity. Cases tarnished but the powder was also effected at times. My grandfather once talked about when the Navy and the Corps of Engineers had several projects to find ways of storing ammo for long term without being susceptible to the humidity. I don't remember all of the details of the conversation at the time but I do know that in all of his sealed ammo cans at home he kept several desiccant packs in each can. Believe me, it sounds unlikely but ammo is more susceptible to the humidity in the south than you think. One of the guys in our hunting club uses his GameSaver to seal all of his ammo and shells. He's the only one that has NEVER had a dud or delayed detonation. Of all 14 guys my grandfather was the only other one to not have any bullets fail. He had a few 12ga shells fail but that was before he discovered the can they were stored in had a leak in the rubber seal. As for factory ammunition, I know Winchester NATO ammo uses a primer sealant. I wasn't sure if anyone had any newer and less tedious "technology" that they knew of for long term storage of reloads.

Honestly, it's because i'm still so new to reloading that I had no idea. I'm still learning as I go and I have definitely learned a lot so far. Everyone on here has been great about providing information and answering my "newbie" questions. I finally got a chance to give the Winchester NATO cases a chance. So far i've been able to reload them without incident. The primers don't slip in quite as smoothly but so far all of them have seated at the correct depth and have been uniform. The cases have the primer crimp on them but it hasn't been a problem. I had some trouble setting up the primer cup on my Dillon 550 so there is a chance that it has to do with the way it is currently set up(which I think there is a chance that it's not set up 100% properly but it works.) Cheers, -James

Thanks for the input fellas. I've been using them for a few days now and they work great which is what really matters after all. Cheers, -James

Well Bart, I don't know. I went to Cabella's looking for TiteGroup and WST and they were completely out. I went with Unique because it was listed in the Lyman manual and two of the guys behind the counter said they have used it with success. I've since been back and have picked up TiteGroup which I will use next. I figured there was no harm in trying it out. I'm just starting out and figure I might give several different types of powder a try. I've got about 100 rounds of 9mm 124gr in several batches with Unique ranging from 4.5gr to 6.0gr to see what kind of performance I get with it out of my glock at the range. After trying that out I'm going to do the same with the TiteGroup powder. I'll let you know how things turn out at the range. Thanks again for your input Bart, you're always on top of things which is real cool of you. Thanks to everyone else who has helped me out while i'm getting started. Chers, -James

I chronoed 124 Berrys with 6.0 of Unique,COL of 1.135 and i averaged out to 1150 fps Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. -James

I got everything set up and going today. I was again concerned when I saw that 6.2gr takes up the entire case. Once in the third stage of seating the bullet it was clear that there is absolutely NO space left over in the case. Once seated and crimped I could see where the powder would have had to have been compressed quite a bit. I made sure to check with a case gauge and OAL gauge and all the dimensions are correct but it just doesn't seem correct to have that much powder in the case. Unique is the light flaky powder though so could that have something to do with it? I'm going to take them to the range tomorrow and test out the 20 rounds I have loaded in my Glock 17. Thanks guys for any thoughts or comments you may have. Cheers, -James

With the way my schedule is and the way things come up I am not always able to reload on an "as need" basis. I purchased my Dillon press from Brian well over a month ago and haven't even loaded one round on it yet. I'm going to load 250 rounds tomorrow and order some more bullets powder and primers and do one large batch of about 5000 rounds so that I have enough for competitions in the event something keeps me from being able to load on a regular basis. In this situation, what is the best way to store the loaded ammo to protect agains humidity. I love in Austin, Tx an even in the dead of winder(all four days of it) the humidity is still at about 55% and that's about as dry as it gets. Someone recommended using a primer sealer and leaving it at that. Me, I'm the cat that curiosity killed until it got bored. Is primer sealer enough or would an alternative like using ZipLock bags with a desiccant pouch and oxygen absorber tab work? I don't have a FoodSaver but I imagine those would be good for storing ammo. I've also got a few ammo cans with tight seals on them. Would it be enough protection to box up the ammo and seal them in the ammo cans with a desiccant cube? What have you guys found to protect your ammo the best for long term storage.? Thanks, -James

I'm not TOO worried about this but I am curious. I recently purchased the Dillon dial calipers from BrianEnos.com along with their 9mm case gauge and Brian's digital scale. As usual shipping from both Brian and Dillon was lightening fast! I have a friend who uses only Dillon products on his bench and the Dillon calipers he purchased has the Dillon Precision logo on the face of the calipers. The calipers Dillon sent me do not have their logo on them and look exactly like the bargain priced calipers from Amazon.com. Not only that but nowhere on the calipers do they say Dillon or have any markings other than the numbers and hash marks. The two reasons I am concerned with this is 1) I want to make sure these are the actual Dillon calipers and that's how they are shipping them nowadays and 2)in the future should I fall on hard times(knock on wood) I'd like to be able to sell my reloading equipment for emergency cash and fear that I might not get very much for the calipers without the Dillon logo on them. Anyone have any thoughts? Cheers, -James

Use Alliant's data for a 125gr lead RN and you'll be set. R, According to the chart from Alliant they call for 6.2gr @1170 and 31,300psi. The only reason 6.2gr sounds high is because they call for 8.2gr with Blue Dot however a buddy of mine is using the same Berry's bullets with Blue Dot but is using only 3gr which is more than half of what Alliant calls for. I'm not saying he's some kind of bullet wiz but how is it that his 3gr blue dot load works when alliant calls for 8.2 of blue dot? The same friend suggested I load 5 rounds at 5gr, 5 rounds at 5.5gr, 5 rounds at 6gr, and 5 at 6.2gr. Is this necessary or should I just got straight to loading the whole box at 6.2gr for Unique? I hope what I wrote makes sense, I'm exhausted.

Anyone have any load data for 9mm Berry's in 124gr Round Nose using Alliant Unique powder and Remington 1 1/2 Small Pistol Primers. I've finally got some time to use the press I got from Brian and until I can get some different bullets and powder this is what I have to work with. Also, am I missing something or is there a reason why my Lyman manual(49th Edition) doesn't have any data for a 124gr 9mm round?

By the way, I do reload but I have not had a chance to reload any of the WCC cartridges. I'm almost there though and I'm hoping I don't need to do too much to the primer pockets because i've got about 2500 cases marked WCC. Speaking of primer problems, has anyone had any trouble getting a primer out of Wolf or Academy brand ammo? The primers seem like there welded in there or something. No matter what I do none of them will come out.

I have to agree with Bello. Whenever I purchase ammo for competition I use Winchester NATO 147gr 9mm. The brass is stamped WCC on it. You would think the brass is the same as the stuff in the regular red and white box but this stuff seems to be a LOT tougher and last longer. Has anyone else noticed this?

I have the Lyman tumbler... Before I got a media separator, I would just tip the tumbler, while running, upside-down over a plastic dish pan until no more media came out. It wasn't a flawless plan, hence my spending the coin on the separator. It worked ok until the nut rattled off and brass & corn parts went all over the place! :-P I gave it a shot and I made an absolute mess. My wife came home early that day to find me spilling corn cob all over the place. I'm somewhat clumsy to begin with so I don't know why I thought I could pull that one off. Bought the Franklin Arsenal separator from Amazon.com with free shipping. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'm willing to try anything if it'll save some money.

My new RL 550B just arrived yesterday straight from Dillon. Mr. Enos was extremely FAST with processing my order. It came 4 days after placing the order! I've got it unpackaged and ready to be put together, right now i'm trying to figure out the best way to mount it for a comfortable position. I may end up ordering the strong mounts later on but for now it'll probably be mounter directly to my bench. I tumbled my first batch of brass in the Lyman 1200 the other day. I used the Lyman corncob media with about 350 cases. With the tumbler on a rubber mat on top of the carpet the vibration and noise wasn't all that noticeable in the next room with the door closed. I started it up and added brass 20 at a time. When the noise got to the level where I would have to talk over it for someone in the same room to hear me I stopped adding brass. That was at the 350 mark. I ran it for three hours(the manual suggested 2 to 4.) When the three hours were up I sifted the rounds out and was amazed at how clean and shiny they were. The inside of the cases weren't nearly as shiny as the outsides but they seem smooth and there weren't any large deposits in them. Now, I want to say this about the Lyman tumbler. Anyone looking at purchasing a Lyman tumbler specifically for the built in sifter lid: Don't purchase this item for that feature. It's a great tumbler but trying to use the sifter lid on the bowl produces quite a mess, plus it allows dust to escape while tumbling brass. Once you remove the lid and bowl from the spindle on the tumbler there is no way to fasten the lid securely to the bowl. When you turn it over to drain the corn cob media, stuff pours out of the spaces where the lid doesn't make full contact with the lip of the bowl. I'm going to try an all-thread and carriage bolt and wingnut to secure the lid for sifting next time. If that doesn't work then i'm going to buy a bucket and sifter pan. Thank you for all your hints and tips. I'm going to order some bulk corn cob and walnut and try some of the suggestions mentioned above. As I do I will let y'all know how they do or don't work out. Cheers, -James

I purchased a pound of Alliant Unique today. Using it to load 9mm 124gr and 147gr FMJ. When I find out how it meters i'll let you know.