Cburlette

I just purchased the Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler and absolutely love it! My process is: Deprime using a Lee universal Decapping die. Wet tumble with 1 tbs of Lemi Shine ( or any water softener ) and 2-3 tbs Dawn. Thoroughly dry, I use a mesh bag in the dryer on a shoe drying rack. Resize, I shoulder bump for my bolt action gun, and full length for AR15 and AR10. Trim to length, any that do not cut I check for headspace, any that cut too much I check for case head thinning. Chamfer and deburr Flash hole deburr Prime Load My method to separate the media from the cases is to thoroughly rinse the brass in a 5 gal bucket. Once the water runs clean I partially fill the bucket with water, just turn the cases upside down underwater and a little shake and all the media easily falls out. With this method, 1 hour of tumbling gets the brass cleaner than 6 hours in the vibratory polisher, 3 hours and the brass is as clean as new inside and out. Craig

This may help to answer your question. http://www.razoreye.net/mirror/ammo-oracle/AR15_com_Ammo_Oracle_Mirror.htm#milhollow Craig

I'm loading Berry 165 grain plated bullets to 1.15 oal for my XDM 5.25. This is a flat point bullet and the limitation is magazine size, much over 1.165 and the bullets hang up in the magazine. All of my brass goes through a Lee bulge buster before reloading. Have you tried sending your finished rounds through the full length resizer? Craig

Thanks guys, I got a new handle from Dillon, it is improved from my original handle and should hold up well. I overhauled the press, cleaned and lubed it then proceeded to make 1k of 45acp ammo without a single hitch. Craig

Thanks for the reply, I totally agree with you about the Hornady one shot. I use a Lee push through resizing die on a single stage press for both 40 and 45, and lube prior to loading. I get amazingly consistent OAL's on those rounds. The 650 is quite tempting considering I also load 30 Carbine on the single stage press, but I have quite the investment in the SQDB. Glad to hear that the handle has been beefed up. Craig

I have an older Square Deal B that I load 9mm, 40 and 45 for myself and my neighbors. Last year I loaded about 10,000 rounds and I have the press set up the way I like it. I find it relaxing to make about 300 rounds an hour at a reasonable pace. My concern is that I recently found that the handle was cracked resulting in high primers and inconsistent OAL. I have a new handle and bearings on the way thanks to Dillons no hassle warranty. My question is am I expecting too much of this little press? Am over stressing it and can I expect that there will be more failures in the future, or was this a one time failure and I should expect it to chug along for many thousand's of rounds to come? Thanks Craig

I've been using a small bore light, mounted to the side of my SQD press, to illuminate the case in station 3 as a powder check light. It was attached to a small magnet that was epoxy glued to the frame of the press. This setup worked but was not optimum as the light would move easily and was frequently bumped out of position while placing the bullet on the case i experimented with shining the light through the existing hole in the bullet seat die, but this did not allow enough light into the case and was much too sensitive to being mis positioned. I knew the solution was to recess the light into the bullet seat die, so I took a spare 9mm bullet seat die and drilled a 3/8" hole in the top that the bore light will fit into. I also drilled out the existing hole through the center of the die, to 3/16", to allow more light into the case. I found that the bore light fit into the bullet seat die just as well without the shroud attached and seams to get more light down into the case. The bore light is easily removed when changing to a different caliber, or when I need the light to check the bore of my gun.. Bullet seat die drilled to accept the bore light. The bore light with the shroud attached.

I don't think the handle being in the middle affects performance at all. If it were off to the right it would interfere with case loading, and if it were off to the left it would hinder bullet placement. I can load 100 rounds in 15 min's, 12.5 minutes is my record, so when I need to make practice ammo all I need is about 2 hours to make all I need. The biggest hassle is loading up primers, but that's the same for any model dillon press. Craig

Took the speed timer to the range today, got a good chance to run it and check it out fully. I don't think I like having to hold the button for 3 seconds while it resets. It is nice and loud, works great even if you are double plugged, but I may have to go with a CED. Craig

I received a Speedtimer 3000 for fathers day and I am having a difficult time figuring out its operation. The instructions are not particularly clear, and the fact that you use one button for all functions actually seams to make it more difficult to use than the CED 7000 I am familiar with. My main question is, do I have to hold the CTRL (control) button for 3 seconds before every string of fire? I want to use the Range Officer mode for IDPA matches, as well as the delayed start for practice. Thanks Craig

I was in the same place as you last year, just reloading for 9mm pistol, and I bought a Dillon Square Deal. I have been very happy with ihis press, I think it is superior to the 550 based on auto indexing alone. I have added 40 and 45 to the mix, but I don't own a rifle so the SQD fills the bill nicely. Over the course of the last year I started loading for a couple of shooting friends, I loaded 2600 rounds in 1 week for the MO state match, most in 9mm and about 1k in 40/45. I am seriously considering upgrading to a 650, mostly because I am considering adding an AR to the mix, but for now the SQD suits me fine. Craig

Donnie offers 4 different flavors of 40 cal bullets, a 140 TC, 180 TC, 155 RN, 200 RN. give him a call and he'll set you up, the only thing current on the website is his phone number! Craig

While I'll be, I have never herd of 9mm having this issue, but I will keep an eye on things as I reload for my Glock. What gun causes this ridge or bulge? I am switching to 40 for my competition gun and I know I have to check for bulged brass in that caliber. So does your push through die shave off the .001 of the rim that is wider than the base of the case? Have you ever had an issue with extraction with a slightly undersized rim? Thanks Craig

Do I understand you correctly that you are running 9mm brass through a push through die? You do know that 9mm is a tapered cartridge, that's why no one makes a push through die for it! Did you have any issues with 9mm brass not feeding properly? I have fired many thousands of rounds of 9mm and never had an issue with one that went through the fcd. Craig

Yep, they look exactly alike! This one is the 1540 grain scale sold by eabco for $32. Craig

The best deal I have found is the E Author Brown 011-JSX electronic scale: http://www.eabco.com/electronicpowderscale.htm $29 and it measures to .1 grain. I have been using this scale for about 3 month's and am very happy with it. If you absolutely need to know to the .01 grain what your load is then drop 10 charges into the cup and divide by 10. Craig

If I were to guess, and it's totally a guess with quite a bit of imagination thrown in, I would suspect that Colonel Hiram Berdan thought that the anvil in the Boxer primer effectively covers the flash hole in the primer pocket. A more effective, and therefore more reliable, way of igniting the powder would be to have holes that straddled the anvil "legs" or "struts" so that when ignited the flash could travel unobstructed from the primer pocket through the flash holes to the powder charge. If you imagine the "flow" of the flash in a boxer primed cartridge it starts from the tip of the anvil, propagates around inside the primer cap after rebounding from the anvil and eventually travels around the anvil legs and through the flash hole. Another way of looking at it would be to say how hard would the firing pin have to hit the primer to drive the anvil back and obstruct the flash hole to the extent that you have a failure to fire? I could see that with an overly powerful, and long, firing pin the anvil would be pushed back into the flash hole and the expanding gas of the primer charge would seat the anvil so tight that no propagation from the primer to the main charge could occur. This scenario could never happen with a Berdan primed case. But as I mentioned at the beginning this is only speculation on my part. Craig

I see the price for these bullets as $66 per K on their web site, that's not bad even figuring in shipping. Craig

I buy a very similar 147gn lead rnfp bullet locally marketed by Suters choice. They shoot quite well, very accurate and are inexpensive. The price I pay is a little more than what is advertised by Dardas, but I'm not paying shipping. Lots of smoke, typical of cast lead bullets or more correctly typical of the lube used by cast lead bullets. Overall I do prefer Berry's plated 147 over this bullet, and I may be switching to Berry's 124gn HBRN plated bullets even though they are less accurate than the FP bullets. I sure wish I could find a plated SWC bullet??? Craig

The term Major or Minor refers to power factor for IPSC competition, the term power factor is also used for IDPA shooting but there is no minor or major distinction. Power factor is simply the weight of the bullet X it's velocity (divided by 1000 for IPSC). To make a power factor of 125 with a 115 grain bullet it would have to have a velocity of 1087 fps. This is a good baseline number to calculate for your reloads, even if you don't shoot competitively, as any gun should be able to handle a round of 125 power factor. As far as powder goes there are more different opinions regarding which is best and why that you can go nuts trying to figure it all out. The powder you have to start out with, AA #7, is just fine, and it has the added benefit of being able to spot a double charge of powder easily. Craig

Hi everyone I am new to reloading and have a question on 9mm case length's. I know that the max length for 9mm brass is .754 and the trim to length is supposed to be .751, but what would be too short? I have a bunch of cases that are.745 to .750 and a fair number that are shorter than .745. Is there a reference that states what the minimum length is? I have looked in my Lymans and Lee manuals and looked online but so far I haven't found anything regarding this issue. I know that many people say don't bother checking the case length, but I have found several that are way too long, .770!!!, and as I mentioned, many below .745. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Craig

Great thread, I am slowly getting my Pro 1000 into shape. I didn't realize that the metal rod sticking through the primer trough was supposed to rub on the support rail! I will have to readjust mine and see how much of a difference it makes. Craig