GregJ

I've only loaded on a LNL for about a year, picked it up used, and love it. I have never loaded on a Dillon, so my experience with a AP is limited to the LNL. Besided the initial tweaking and tuning, I have had no issues with mine. I have read several of these primer related posts here and on other forums, and being curious about mine, tried a few things on mine last night. - If you take an empty brass, and with no primers in the tube/shuttle, when the ram in lowered, see if you can remove the cartridge from the shell plate. If you cannot, then the punch has been raised up into the primer pocket far enough to prevent it from being removed, and should be enough to seat a primer. - Take a digital caliper and measure the primer pocket depth and the depth of the primer. I found only about .003" of a difference. If this is all the space in the primer pocket, you wont be able to seat it any deeper. - I took a spent primer, and tried to seat it manually with a punch, and was not able to seat it any deeper than with the LNL. Not sure if this helps any. Hope the OP gets his LNL squared away.

I picked up a used LNL last year and love it!! I had a powder cop die in #3, but I'm changing my loading process up some, and part of that included the RCBS Lockout die. I've not been able to load rounds with it yet, but testing various powder weights with it has convinced me it's something I should have gotten from the get-go. It's easy to adjust, and you dont have to keep an eye on it like the Powder Cop. It's not intended to prevent squibs with low powder, but should prevent very low powder charges and high charged cases from going un-noticed. I set mine up for 5.7gr, and it seems to lock-up with an empty case, charge up to about 3gr and over 7gr. Hope this helps some.

I have a Blade-tech that I use for my B and my SA Target. It's a paddle, and I got it primarily for IDPA, and it works quite well.

I recently picked up a Gold Match II in SS, and my 16yr old son shoots a Kimber Custom Classic. We will be attending our first USPSA match next month. Both guns are more accurate than we are, and seem to be great choices for SS.

I have some 200gr SWC and RN coming from Precision, and SWC from Penn Bullets. If I like the Precision RN, I may just stick with those. They seem to have generally good reviews here.

I too am looking forward to matches there again!!! I have shot at their IDPA matches for the past couple of years. The previous MD (Jay) was always pleasant and the matches were enjoyable. I got the same feedback from the SEG management, when I suggested they have 2 matches a month. As soon as registration opens, all slots are filled within a day or so! Certainly seems like the demand was there, SEG just needed to be willing to provide it.

Interesting feedback. So, my primary focus is getting reliable loads for SS matches. Besides possibly cleaner cut target holes, there doesnt seem to be any real advantage of (plated) SWC over (plated) RN bullets - other than cost (which is why I gave SWC a try in the first place). So, given my primary focus, either I mess around a lot with different OALs (which will require sending a LOT of rounds down range to get any real comparison info), or just stick with 200gr RN bullets. Right?

Thanks everyone, appreciate the feedback! Now to take some of these recommendations and see which works best.

I have yet to shoot my first USPSA match (I have shot IDPA for over 2 yrs), but will soon, and thought I should probably fine tune my loads a little. Lately I've been using Berrys 200gr plated SWC with 5.7gr of W231 at 1.245 OAL. My guns are a Kimber Gold Match II and a Kimber Custom Classic Target. This load works extremely well, and very accurate in both guns, but I have had a few FTF, not many, but enough to start rethinking my load. They work great for range use, but would like more reliability if I'm going to use them at a match. I would like to know what others are using for their OAL with similar loads. I have several brand new Wilson ETM and 47D mags, and recently adjusted the extractors in both Kimbers. I dont think the FTF have happened with a particular mag(s), but I will start keeping an eye on them. The extractor in both guns definatley needed adjusting, as they both failed the loaded round tension test. If I dont find an OAL that works well, I may just stick with the RN bullets. TIA

Another vote for the RCBS 1500 scale. This is my first digital scale, so I dont have anything to compare it to, but the two beam scales I've had. This thing is quick to measure, and so far has been very accurate. I feel it has been one of the upgrades to my loading bench that has not only be worth every penny, but has really sped up the reloading process.

Welcome, from another Va noob. Where in VA are you located? Here's the IDPA web site's VA Club listing, you should be able to find a local range putting on matches.

You can try something like this, or maybe this. I've used both on ground hogs, seem to work quite well.

Will do. Thanks !

If it's tumbling, it's also called "key holeing", beause the hole/tear in the paper looks like the old style key hole. Here's an image I found:

I use the Possum Hollow case trimmer chucked into a drill press for my 223 brass. It's cheap and seems pretty accurate - it trims based on the distance from the case datum. Can be a PITA to get adjusted, but using a caliper and patience helps.

I'm in the process of getting our gear together so that my son and I can start competing in SS. I have several Wilson ETM mags, all new. I was practicing reloads last night, and one fell on the garage floor, and the base plate popped off. The possiblity of this happening during a match concerned me. I suppose it may not have been on securely from the factory, and that's why it popped off. But I have had this happen to me with Tripp mags (IIRC) for my 9mm SA Loaded, during an IDPA match. Has anyone else had this happen to their ETM mags? Anything to worry about, or take some special precation for - besides the obvious like tapping them on a table to make sure the baseplate is sercure (possibly drilling/taping and inserting a screw into the baseplate?). TIA

I've run a few thousand Berry's 200gr SWC through both my Kimbers, and they work great. With 5.7gr W231 @ 1.245, they are my 16yr old son's favorite round.

I dont have any answers, but I noticed the same thing with a Springer Loaded 9mm I used to have. I cant remember the mags, I think it did it with Tripp and a coule of other mfgrs. It ran fine, but when I dropped a mag with rounds in it, the top round would either fall out, or barely held by the mag lips. I didnt, keep it long enough to figure out what was going on with it. Good luck on finding a solution.

Here are my "goto" 9mm loads for W231. The 124gr are awesome in my CZ Target. My 75B and Sigs seem to like the 115gr. 9mm Case mouth = .377" Bullet Bullet Mfgr Type COL Primer Powder Grains Disk Notes 115gr Rainer Plated TCJ RN 1.156 CCI 500 W231 4.8 H Data: Sierra 115g FMJ 3.8-4.8 124gr Rainer Plated TCJ RN 1.145 CCI 500 W231 4.5 H Load for CZ SA Target, makes one ragged hole

I was thinking seriously about it, but didnt think a classifier would be a good first match. I'd like to get a few under my belt before I attempt a classifier. Hell, I havent even had a chance to go to an IDPA classifier yet!

Thanks. That is what I figured made the most sense. I guess I need more practice with my black-on-black sights to get comfortable with not having a dot for POI/POA.

I am planning on shooting my first USPSA match very soon, and will be shooting my Kimber Gold Match in SS. I was recently reading some threads about preferring black-on-black sights over FO, which had me thinking (often a dangerous thing). My GM has these sights, and I had painted a small dot on the front sight as it seemed to help in accuracy. I have all my pistols set up for POA/POI at 7-10 yrds (distance I typically shoot at my range). And in particluar, my CZ Target - my usual IDPA gun, with a FO front sight is sighted in the same. So what is the preferred or generally accepted sight pic when shooting black-on-black sights? If POA/POI, it seems to be difficult to do as there is no dot to aid in focusing the sight the sight on the target. Sorry for a totally noob question, and if this has been discussed ad-nausium, but I tried multiple searches and couldnt find what I was looking for. TIA

Welcome from another NOVA noob. I'm sure we'll be meeting up at local matches soon.

I already have a 75B 9mm that I could use in Production, but I just dont like the long trigger pull on either DA or SA - it really needs some work on it. I really love the Target, and of couse my Kimber GM. I also have a Sig P226 that if I were to shoot Production, I like it's trigger much better than the 75B, and would probably use it. I want to get my 16yr old son to go with me, and he shoots a Kimber Target, so both of us in the same Div would be fun, which is why I was leaning towards SS if I couldnt use my 75SA Target.

Yes, it is a 9mm, so I guess at least for now I'll be better off just using it for IDPA, and using something else in Production or SS to start out with. Thanks guys.