Jim Watson

I think the one in Blue Press was about a school or college team loading High-power ammo on Dillons, not Palma. I wish I could find Bart's piece. I'll look again. Not the piece I was thinking of but here is what he said on one occasion Best example I know of was back in 1991 when Sierra's new 30 caliber 155-gr. Palma bullet was prototyped, a few folks worked up loads in their .308 Win. rifles with new, unprepped cases. The most accurate load was selected to be produced on two Dillon 1050 progressives. First one used a Lyman M die to uniform new .308 Winchester case necks' diameter to gently hold the bullets as well as prime them with Federal 210M's. No other case prep was done. Second progressive metered 45.3 grains of IMR4895 (3/10ths grain spread) and seated bullets (.004" max runout). 20 rounds randomly pulled from the loading area were tested in a rifle clamped in a machine rest. All shot into 2.7 inches at 600 yards. A few months later, some of the ammo was used in a big long range match; couple dozen top shots from around the world reported it had no worse than 1/2 MOA accuracy in their rifles at 600 yards.If you're reloading fired cases, a single stage press does a better job of that than progressives. There's more uniformity in full length sizing them than a progressive can easily do. And weighing powder charges will shave another 1/8th to 1/4 MOA off your long range groups. Bullet seating also better with a single stage press or hand operated one.

The Palma match is shot at 800, 900, and 1000 yards, prone, sling, iron sights. Must be .308. Bullet not heavier than 156 gr in International Palma but US only matches allow heavier. (It used to be shot with GI hardball. Shooters kept American barrels and British barrels for the different diameter bullets.) I could not find Bart Bobbitt's article on Dillons for the Palma, but it was in the 1990s. I don't know what they are doing now. I have read of loading match rifle ammo on Dillons but it is not full progressive. Two machines, electric powder dispenser/scale. Probably other stuff I don't remember since the brag article in Blue Press.

I got tired of fooling with SWC in anything, so I just looked and found sources of 200 gr roundnose so I could have the ballistics without the throating and tuning and dinking around. I have some SWC left and a gun or two that will feed them, but when they are gone, they are gone. I looked at a G21 for GSSF but did not know if it would cycle light loads, so went 9mm.

17 lbs is on the low side for a mainspring, I use 19 or 20. USGI is 23, I don't know what Armscor uses. What are the diameters of your firing pins, original and replacement?

I don't get 99.99% but anything that doesn't gauge in my one-hole Wilson, I set aside and when I am done with the rest of the batch, I wipe them off and brush the gauge. Most but not all will fit then. We won't talk about the A-MERC cases that turned up in some range pickup the other day.

It mystifies me why they put a thumb safety on a gun suitable mostly for Production. Seems a G would be better.

CZ85Combat is right. Government restricted magazines have to be made so tight that an 11th round can't squeeze in. A real AWB magazine had to have passed inspection as not "readily convertible." This often results in not enough slack to seat under a closed slide. Are plugged standard magazines allowed in NJ? A glue-in plug could be shaved that half diameter to allow a slide down reload without admitting an 11th. https://www.magazineblocks.com/magento/ https://dawsonprecision.com/limit-10-round-spacer-for-sti-sv-hicap-40-s-w-magazines/

Got me thinking... Would it be helpful to drill through for a cylinder stop spring, plunger, and screw like the old 4 and 5 screw guns? The 3 screw plan of a teensy spring crammed into a recess seems weak.

We get a lot of people who say they want to "shoot what they carry". But they don't shoot LIKE they carry. Wouldn't it be more "defensive" or "practical" if they didn't take the walkthrough? Sure, you can see the targets through the usual mesh dividers, but if you didn't walk through and see the actual lines of fire, plot convenient reload points, etc. wouldn't that be more "tactical?" I know that when IDPA allowed the occasional "surprise" stage, it made me work harder.

I forget just what it was, but Dillon replaced some small S1050 part out of the year warranty. They replaced a pretty big one early on, but I had to call a couple of times to get the rep who told me online that it was covered, the first guy I talked to wanted to charge for it.

True. Last year a range near here had a leg shot when the know-it-all rammed his hair trigger CZ into a speed holster without the formality of setting the safety.

At least the last time I got swept the offender was DQed. Mr Bellybutton wasn't.

I do not want to shoot AIWB. I was once swept by an AIWB which prejudices me. I did not know you could draw that fast from a real concealment AIWB. I do know that when USPSA was mostly still IPSC speed holsters were worn well to the front because a common starting position was with hands clasped in front of body. I had and used one of those steel lined jobs that way at the time, but later went to an open front at 3:00. Not up to the current skeleton rigs, but definitely purpose built. I am sorry I posted. I thought this was the IDPA section and members would be interested in the survey. Wrong, it is just another soapbox for "USPSA is better."

And I see so many of those refined and expert USPSA shooters with bellybutton holsters under their tee shirts.

I OKed it with some caveats. I think bellybutton holsters are a fad that IDPA should accommodate along with electric sights and rifles.

Now, now, Moto, IDPA now has fault lines with little relationship to "cover" and the recent AC's letter makes ESP nearly as wide open as Production.

Oops, right, I replaced the BLUE feed tip. (My yellow pickup tip is kind of flabby, too, which explains my error.) Next I will change what I call the "ivory peg" primer stop pin 14051 and fiddle with the set screw some more. ETA. That helped. I had two tipped primers in 100 and one of those shook into position as the bar traveled. That would have been par for the course in 15 - 20 before I changed the pin.

I cleaned the primer magazine, yuck, it needed it. The screw was very tight, but I finally got it loose and have turned it both ways with no effect. I am getting more primers on edge than ever. They are on edge coming out of the feed, I can see them through the gap between frame and tube, they are not getting turned going through the shell plate. Recommendations?

IBEJ bullets came in, about three weeks. Look, load, shoot well.

I'll give it an alcohol wipe next time it is empty.

My present 550 problem is sideways small pistol primers. I can see between the frame and primer feed that they are coming out of the primer feed sideways in the cup, not flipping against the shell plate. I have caught a number by watching through that gap but sure as the world, I take my attention off of it and I will get one on edge. Primers are too precious to waste, not to mention the delay and aggravation. .45 case on the follower rod to add a little hold down - no help. Fresh yellow plastic feed tip - no help. Varying tightness of the magazine cap holding down the tube - no help. I thought to adjust the cup position set screw #13961 as shown above. I could not budge it. I am getting more now I am loading CCI primers but it wasn't zero with Winchester or Federal.

Amazing. It now appears that unless you are shooting the Right Gun in the Right Division at the Right Power Factor at a high level and bitching about having to reload every once in a while if you should grace Production with your three pound gun and lead flashlight, you are a mere "participant" worthy only to pay entry fees to bolster the prize table for the "competitors."

Beats me, I am trying to hang on until the "supply chain" improves. I have been wondering whether Federal will go over to the Catalyst "unleaded" primer for component sales.

Who do you sell such a thing to? Find a sucker or sell "with full disclosure" to somebody who thinks he can solve problems you can't? And this gun is kind of an oddball, built for one job, pushed into another; I don't know who would want it even if fully reliable. Maybe part it out, the individual bits seem ok, they just aren't playing well together. I'll talk to the gunsmith about that.

If it causes a failure to feed in an already finicky gun like mine, it has made 100% difference. (I am getting the gun worked on, it is beyond my help tinkering with loads and magazines.) So what do you do if you are stuck with some of "those loads?" In the worse cases they have to be ironed out to chamber.