slodsm

I’ve got them on my CO gun. Have to do a little rounding of the follower to get them perfectly reliable (this is the case with every single basepad out there I think) but once that 2 minute job is done, mine have never let me down in thousands of rounds of use. Definitely worth it.

Ok USPS finally showed up with my collection of random dies hahaha. I ended up using the Hornady sizing/depriming die, Redding expander m-type, Hornady seat/crimp adjusted to seat only, and a lee FCD which seriously is adjusted to touch the top as best. loaded up 90 rounds really quick, not a trace of lead shaving, every single shell measure .422 at the mouth which is the same as the factory ammo I checked, and all 90 will plunk in either direction with ease. Thanks for the tips and suggestions, perfectly happy with this quality now.

I ran a blue SDB for a long time when I only loaded 9mm. I decided to step into limited late last year so it made more sense to me to sell the SDB to offset the cost of a LnL and go with it. The first 100 rounds were rough, there were little things that were rough like burs in the primer slide, the indexing being ever so slightly off on the down stroke (shell plate up) and a few other things. Once I worked out the issues with the , primer feed, got the indexing correct, figured out the appropriate tension on the detents of the shell plate, and a couple of other things I can’t even remember, it runs smooth and fast with no issues. I was just in the garage tonight and I swapped my 40 stuff out for my 9mm stuff, reset the powder throw to what I needed, and started slinging brass. Took 50 minutes give it take to load 300 rounds of 9mm and fill one primer tube. Out of the box it’s not as refined as my Dillon was, but once you make some minor adjustments it’s a caddy and I have no issues with it or with recommending it to someone else.

This has been an expensive day hahaha. I’ve bought about 150 bucks worth of individual dies, some combination of these recommendations will work out and over the course of 2-3 years I’ll break even But seriously I really appreciate all of the advice and tips. Sometime in the middle of next week, the brown truck of happiness will show up and I’ll start piecing this together based off this thread and dammit, I will get a good running 49 round hahaha.

Take your bullet weight and multiply it times muzzle velocity and divide by 100. 125 to 164 is minor power factor, 165 and up is major. Basically a 125 grain bullet moving 1000fps make the minimum floor for minor. Uspsa is the only thing stateside that scores minor vs major for certain divisions (limited and open), every division however must meet minor. IDPA scores everything with a minimum 125 power factor but don’t have a major PF and everything scores the same. Steel Challenge has no power floor at all and you can shoot the softest load that will ring the target there. My steel loads will barely move the muzzle on a poly gun. Hope that helps.

Doug thanks for that info. I’ll look into a push through die as that’s something I’m not familiar with at all. Since my sleep schedule is still a disaster for at least another day or two, I went out to the garage at 530 and started all over again from scratch with the expander and seater/crimp die that I have now just so I can do some load development. Oddly enough, the absolute bare minimum flare on the case produced the best results for now. I had no issues plunking both directions in the barrel and maybe 1 in 20 would have a mild shaving I could flick off with my thumb nail so I went ahead and loaded up 4 different charge weights at 1.130 to shoot some 25 yard groups and chrono and see what will get me right around 168-170 pf. It’s cold today and tomorrow so if they pass in this they’ll be fine in any weather. Thanks for the tips and helping me figure out where to troubleshoot and what to add to the press to make it easier/better.

I did a crap ton of reading for several hours and I came to that conclusion too, thanks for reinforcing that. I ordered a separate crimp die already so hopefully that will take care of the issue. I just wasn’t expecting this or I would have bought a Redding 4 die set instead of a Hornady 3 die set like I’ve been using on 9mm forever with no issue. No sir, 40/10mm expanding die. Sorry for the confusion. I was throwing the 9mm part in there to explain I’m using the same procedure for 40 and I have used for many many thousands of rounds with 9mm and failing miserably so I tried expanding more with the 40 expander and then just made the situation worse in a different way haha. I just came off 14 days of nights and in an attempt to readjust my schedule, I had been awake for close to 28 hours when I wrote that post so a few bits may have been dream typed making it difficult to understand. Thanks for the tips guys. Hopefully a separate crimp die to remove the flare/bell will solve my issue. Also looks like I’ll be shooting factory ammo this weekend at Steel Challenge instead of doing load development today lol.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve been reloading about 14 years, I’m far from an expert but I’m pretty experienced with 9mm, 223, 308, 6.5cm, and shotgun. Tens of thousands of rounds each and I’ve never had an issue until I decided I was going to start reloading 40. I’m using range pick up brass from elite reloading, Hornady lnl ap, Hornady dies and shell plate. I can run 9mm through this thing non stop without issue only stopping to refill primers. I can NOT achieve the same thing with 40. My issue is the expander die, I can’t figure out how much bell to put in the case. The bullets I use are Brazos precision 180’s, they’re coated lead. If I put 9mm size bell in the case, it scrapes the coating off the base of the bullet and it ends up on the outside of the case and fails the hell out of the plunk test. If I tighten down in the expander die a bit, I lose the shaving issue BUT the bell is big enough it seems less than ideal (over working the brass) and leaves a bit of a lip even after going through the seating/crimp die. I’m at a loss, the lead bullets aren’t the issue I don’t think, I use them in 9mm and they’re pretty high quality. Can anyone maybe run a 40 through their expander and take a picture and post it? I'm just trying to get a visual reference for this caliber before I either shave all of my bullets or flare all my brass too much lol. Thanks for any help guys.

I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these. I really have nothing else to add of value to the thread. I’m just here drooling waiting to buy. I think I’ll pre/back order on Brownells this week maybe.

i completely agree man, in NO way am I knocking your choice to buy them. I am simply stating from my point of view I can’t see the point in them for me when my mags run 100%. Like I said, I spend tons of money on random pointless widgets according to some....... but just as you stated, my money my decision. You’ll never hear me knock someone for what they choose to buy.

I honestly just don’t get it. As a guy who spends the GDP of a small 3rd world nation on crap I don’t need, this magazine is literally pointless even by my standards. Glock OEM mags are completely reliable and 1/5 the cost so in what realm would this be a necessity?

Nothing wrong with research man, I spend a fortune on shooting sports, used to spend the GDP of a small 3rd world nation drag racing so I completely understand. If it were me starting from scratch, I’d pick whatever poly full sized pistol feels right in 9mm and shoot the bloody hell out of it. Get one with an optics mount so you can pick and choose, production, carry optics, limited minor, all with the same gun and factory ammo until you figure out what you really enjoy. THEN you can spend a crap ton of money on that division lol. Limited minor is a handicap but at the same time, it will be a while before you could really see enough of a benefit from scoring major to place any higher. So pick a Glock MOS or an M&P CORE, and go shoot. Gives you the option of three different classes to try out. Then you can go blow cash on a CZ or EAA or whatever tickles your pickle and roll OR become one of those weirdos who spent so much time and so many rounds making the Glock feel right you just keep shooting them lol. I still shoot Glock pistols after about 11 years of playing in different shooting sports BUT as soon as the new Dan Wesson CZ with the 1911 style trigger hits the market that’s going to be my new limited gun.

Many years ago when I shot ATA Trap like mad, I had the exact same setup for my MEC reloader. I was shooting 4-500 rounds a week practicing plus 200 minimum at matches and AA at 9 bucks a box of 25 would have put me in the poorhouse with a quickness lol. Where there is a will there is a way. For me, I reload every single round I shoot aside from my rimfire match stuff. Reloading has been like therapy for me for a long time and I love it. In general I work a 14/14 schedule and I’ll load 1k of 9mm minor, 1/2 that in 40 Major, and probably 100 6.5CM a month. I can buy equal quality ammo and in USPSA ammo is the absolute LAST thing holding me back but I just prefer relaxation if loading my own.

No my first USPSA match lol. It was after a 9 year break from IDPA/steel challenge. I moved to an area where practice was all but impossible. There were plenty of ranges but the cost was a pay by the hour thing and it was static stand on your line and shoot at you 7 or 15 yard target. Going to a place like that after years and years of belonging to ranges that were 150-200 a year with magnetic entry, very nice facilities, 6-10 bays that allowed you to setup however you wanted and run and gun for actual functional practice just made me very blah. I’ll never be a pro, never be above mid pack but I enjoy practicing as I’m going to shoot so without that ability I just lost interest. I recently moved back to an area that has great ranges, the ability to practice like you’re going to shoot etc etc and I immediately joined USPSA, picked up a mulled slide for my 17, and started practicing and reloading again. I love shooting sports, I was great at Trap, plenty of trophies. Pretty damn good at PRS shooting. Just not a great pistol shot. I’m accurate or fast, never been able to combine the two enough to be great at any of the pistol disciplines but they’re still my favorite form.

Old topic but still a goodie lol. My first match was my first time shooting under a buzzer in 9 years (used to shoot rimfire optics in steel challenge and IDPA religiously). I was like 78th out of 92 lol, I wanna say I lost like 80pts to procedurals which definitely helped hahaha. The worst part for me was how big some of the stages were, I’d come up with a plan but when the buzzer went off I’d get lost and forget my plan halfway through. I had 4 targets total over 6 stages I didn’t even shoot at simply because I forgot they were there. Still the most fun I’d ever had with a pistol and hooked me.