ttolliver

Nope, shotgun is a completely different reloading process. A lot depends on your budget. If the difference between $400, $600, and $800 isn't that big of a deal, start with the 650. There is no downside other than cost. If you're really like to keep cost down then we can talk about what you compromise on as you step down to the Square Deal B and the 550. As has been mentioned, the Square Deal B is a great, compact progressive that is ideal for those likely to load a single pistol caliber for a while. You can swap them between pistol calibers, it just isn't a 2 minute job. The downsides are no rifle calibers and no 5th station for a powder checker. With the 550 you also lose the 5th station of the 650 for powder checker. And you can't expand it as far as the 650. The cost is so close between the two that I would only consider the 550 if you're really sure you're not going to go the route of hanging $1000 or more in bullet feeders and case feeders on your press. Sure, the 650 also auto-indexes, but manually indexing the 550 is so natural that it's not that big of a deal. So if you're sure you're not going to want to expand your into full feeder automation then the real decision point between the two for me is to have a powder checker or not. But if you think you might want all the bells and whistles someday then go 650.

Yup, although it's only the same as a standard match fee.

Our club has memberships and an end-of-year prize table as part of our annual meeting. Through working setup members gain eligibility for the prize table and the number of setups they work increases their odds of getting drawn early and getting one of the guns on the table. But truth be told, the small core of hard workers that you'll quickly learn you can rely on to be there working beside you at nearly every single match would be there with or without the prize table. So in the end I think the prize table for us is much more of a thank you to our members for having worked than a magnet for setup help. Congrats on your first match and good luck with the next one!

I have a friend with a STI DVC that Atlas tuned and he can't say enough good about his interaction with Atlas or the work they did on the gun.

Hey Dlister70, here are a couple thoughts. One of the dynamics out there is that when we're first doing load development it's easy to fixate on reducing the felt recoil as much as possible. But then after a while you realize that even though there is a noticeable difference during bench testing you really don't notice the difference when actually shooting a stage. Then as you gain experience you begin to appreciate the faster recovery of the slightly lighter bullets. So it's a whole journey that you'll see repeated time and again in threads here on BE. That being said, I am not of the camp that says just shoot 180s through your 40 now because you'll get there someday anyway. There's no harm in letting that whole process take its course. When I moved into a 40 I tried 220s and 200s both. I was doing it in an M&P40 rather than a 2011 at the time and 220s were so long they had occasional feed issues. So if you're attempting 40 with one of the M&P or Glock type platforms that wasn't originally designed for a longer cartridge I wouldn't bother with 220s. Reliability is the worst thing to sacrifice in our game. Good luck!

I can shed a little light -- but no happy ending. I ran into this issue with an M&P Pro CORE 4.25". I started by emailing USPSA HQ and asking if they had a contact with S&W to check into this. Troy ended up replying that they didn't, but he was happy to change it if I could get S&W to confirm the weight with a magazine. So I called S&W. Everyone I talked to at S&W was very helpful, but confused as hell. I never did talk to anyone who knew who filled out and submitted this info to USPSA. I started with customer service, then talked to someone in marketing, then someone else that I forget the department. That third person gave me the name of the engineering department manager since that team were keepers of all specifications. Turns out that guy is one of those types that never answers his phone or responds to voice mail. After trying 6 or 8 times I gave up. Along the way I was able to confirm with a S&W customer service rep that the weight listed on the S&W website (and that matches the weight on the production gun list) was the weight of the gun without a magazine inserted. So it is definitely wrong on the production gun list. If I were to take a run at it again today I would go back to HQ and ask if they would be willing to pull the form submitted by S&W out of whatever dusty file cabinet it's sitting in. Presumably that would have the name of the S&W employee who submitted it. Then I would call that person at S&W.

Welcome Ropy. Give me a shout if you'd like a little help getting with the local clubs.

I can't say whether those are safe to shoot or not, but I shuddered a little when I read how short you had that loaded. That should give you at least one indication. You didn't say what gun you're loading for, but I'm assuming an M&P or glock that can't load up to the typical 1.180" best for 2011s. I've loaded a fair number of 200gr 40S&W loads for an M&P and found that it would reliably support up to a 1.160" load with the round nosed SNS coated bullet. My recommendation to you is to make some dummy rounds at 1.160 and 1.150 and see if they'll cycle. If they will cycle, then take your 3.2gr load and load a few at 1.150, then a few at 1.140, then a few at 1.130, and so on. Shoot those and watch the primers for pressure signs as you step to each shorter load. My N320 major load at 1.160 was 4.1gr with a coated bullet. So at the longer lengths you should be safe enough. The question is whether you can make it all the way down to 1.071 before pressure signs start warning you off. I honestly don't know. But that's one way to maaaaaaybe sneak up on it safely. Good luck!

When I was researching ss pin tumbling I ran across several references to brass losing zinc as it sits in water. Presumably at some advanced state you can get redish spots or it can take on a pinkish hue. I've never seen it myself. And I have no clue how many hours it takes to set in. But that may be what you should watch for. That being said, I run my Frankford Arsenal tumbler on the full 3 hour cycle then pull it out right away -- always within an hour but normally within a few minutes. I find it hard to worry too much about maybe 50 hours of accumulated water time for brass that may miraculously survive in my collection for 12-15 cycles. But if your shooting habit allows you to reclaim a fair percent of your brass I wonder if brass accumulating several hundred hours of water time might get into worrisome territory. Good luck!

I don't know that the official form was ever shared by NROI. I think all clubs just use a word type doc of their own. That's what we do. PM me your email and I'll email you a copy of what we use. To get a jpg of your stage to insert into the word doc use the option: File > Export > 2D Graphic. Sketchup will create a jpg of whatever your current view is.

drogers, First off, you're on the right track with those 124gr 9mm bullets and Titegroup. That is an excellent combination with one minor caveat. In a perfect world it is a bit better for newbies to start with a powder that fills the case a little fuller (say PowerPistol) so that if you accidentally put a double charge of powder in the case it very obviously spills over. Titegroup charges are very small and you can easily fit two charges in a case without spilling any. So that's something to be aware of as you use it. But it is an excellent choice for 9mm and 40. I've never loaded 380, but I would expect it to work well there too. Second, you ran up against the same question all new loaders ask. "But my exact bullet isn't in the book...?!?" Just use the data for the bullet weight and profile you're using. Take standard round nose FMJ bullets. Most bullets follow a very similar curvature from the shoulder to the nose (that curve is called the ogive). Since bullets of the same weight only have so much material, they'll tend to work out to very similar lengths. So as long as you find the same weight and profile bullet in the book as you have in your hand, odds are you're in the right ballpark. The "start low in the powder range and work up to the full charge" approach gives you an added measure of safety as you do this. Good luck!

You know...thinking about it...I think it might actually work if as Beastly points out you can move the bottom bracket for the powder rod to the right. I gave adding a powder checker to my 550 some thought once upon a time. I think at the time the idea that struck me was to combine seat and crimp in station 4 and have the powder checker in station 3. Station 1 would still do all of it's normal function. You would position the bullet on top of the empty case in station 3 immediately before rotating the shell plate as opposed to before raising the ram.

Not the answer you were looking for, but something to consider -- I tried to reclaim a little brass my first year of competition. In hindsight I was new enough to reloading to still be reveling in how low I could keep my costs down. But add up what a typical match costs you in gas, food, ammo, match fee, etc. Now ask yourself...is $3-5 in brass really that big of a deal? Sure, it's a savings in principle. But if someone walked up to me and offered me $5 to do 50 squats I'd laugh. I still reclaim brass with the best of them when I'm at a normal range. But on competition day it's a distraction to enjoying the day. Of course the one caveat is that I don't shoot 38 super. But it's also why I never will, hehehe.

I've always heard that Unique is the jack of all trades and master of none powder. From personal experience N320 is excellent in all 3 major (for me) calibers: 9mm, 40s&w and 45acp. Although it is expensive and sometimes hard to find, it's the powder I would buy if forced to pick just one. Here's one observation -- Even though your goal isn't competition it's interesting that nearly every one of your powders is a really fast powder well suited to competition. No reason at all you can't load with them and enjoy the lower felt recoil for general plinking. But really fast powders do carry some risk. For instance, you can double charge Titegroup in a 9mm case but not HS-6. And I've been warned of kabooming with Clays. And so on. So not saying they are inherently unsafe for an experienced reloader. But it just struck me that you're living closer to the edge for competition type performance with those fast powders.

Your situation may be similar to others here, but your relationship dynamics with your fiance are uniquely yours. However from the perspective of 30 years of marriage and lots of 20/20 hindsight, hehehe... My only advice is to take a hard, honest look at your passion and make sure it's never selfish. Having a wife and a family means giving up a lot of freedom and taking a completely different view of disposable income from when you are single. For instance, if your fiance goes down the deep end in something, are you willing to follow her around, be supportive, and be pathetically bored spectating when you could be at a match you want to be at? Or would you be the first to suggest you just go your separate ways. You see where I'm going there. A successful marriage isn't a one way street. And I think someone slipped this in above me while I was typing, but don't make the mistake of thinking a Saturday spent at home with the spousal unit is a waste and there's no reason not to be at a match.

As it happens I made it to the range today with the CZ Scales for the first time too. It was far from a competition setting with no sweat in the combo, so time will still tell. But I was surprised at the grip they impart without actually feeling aggressive. In fact I was kind of afraid because they don't feel that aggressive as you grip the gun. So these are definitely staying on the gun. I probably won't bother to tinker with any other options until these disappoint me. And that's not likely to be before the summer season hits.

Most of us ss pin tumble because we love sexy brass. No other justification needed, hehehe. But there are pros and cons between wet and dry. Dry tumble costs 20% of wet to get started, is faster and less than half the effort. Wet tumble uses cheap dawn/lemishine inputs and keeps dangerous dust down. Because wet keeps dust down you can also do it in the house safely. If you don't decap you have a small worry about water being held in that area. But if you're doing this for sexy brass why would you leave the primer pocket all grungy?

Yup, I sure have. I dabbled in coating my own cast bullets for both 9mm and 45acp. The bullets retained their normal (excellent) accuracy. Unfortunately it adds more time to an already time consuming process. So while I always enjoy tinkering and learning, it wasn't something I would ever do for any real volume. I used Klass Kote epoxy paint with a touch of teflon powder added. Had I stuck with it I would have moved to the kits that Bayou sells. Klass Kote was just available on local hobby store shelves and easy to pick up in very small quantities.

With one exception I would say it is completely up to whatever sounds the most fun. If you think you're likely to start hitting major matches, you really should have a backup.

Yup, I ended up stumbling across that remedy at the time. Although the condition returned to mine quickly enough to support the opinion to just replace them. If I had to put a number on it I'd say maybe 3 matches and a couple were bulging again. I figure next time I decide to put some time into Single Stack I'll replace them. The old ones will get fixed one more time and passed to friends that are lucky to put 200 rounds a year through their 1911s.

I use them with the CMC extended base pads and a S&A magwell. I shot that gun almost exclusively for an entire season and had zero issues. After another season of intermittent use some of the magazines started developing a little friction in the magwell. Turned out the bodies had expanded a bit. You could detect the fat spot if you ran a caliper down the length. After discovering that I asked around. I'm still not sure which to trust, but I've had some tell me it's normal and just expect to replace them every once in a while and others say they've had magazines for years and years and never that issue. So I don't know if CMC Power mags leave a little on the table over other brands longevity wise or if they all develop similar issues over time.

Also read up on how to recognize pressure signs in the way primers flatten and flow. That's your outward gauge of the pressure spikes you're generating.

It's an uphill battle convincing anyone shorter barrels are better. But as an academic exercise, hehehe... I do think slightly shorter barrels feel like they have more natural point-ability. Take that for what it's worth. The 4.25" won't lose any mechanical accuracy over the longer gun and you won't have a sight radius issue with an optic. As for making velocity...I suspect doing 9mm major safely is probably beyond any factory gun regardless of the barrel length. Although you didn't actually say you were going for 9mm major. 9mm minor not a problem with either length. And I made 40S&W major easily in my 4.25" M&P 40 Core Limited build I shot all season year before last. So unless you're chasing 9mm major, I don't think velocity is really an issue either. Yeah, you'll make a bit more in a 5" than 4.25", but nothing a tenth grain more powder won't solve. All just ideas. Good luck with the project!

SSI CZ Scales on order! The only downside is that it pushed me over the edge of going blingy with the gun and belt rig. I'm going to get razzed mercilessly, hehehe. Seriously though, a friend of mine pointed out the grit getting in the gun issue. I had already mostly discounted that with the thought that we don't drop them or drag them through the dirt on purpose. But we do have a range or two with lots of sand and grit blowing around on windy days. While holstered wind could blow up the magwell and exit the sides, leading to an easier path for wind to deposit grit than a closed grip I'm guessing. So far I've only bothered to cover my custom 2011 in conditions like that. The scales will likely push the SP01 into that category too.

Thanks for the input. I see those CZ Scales too, and they have me thinking. I think the flesh of the hand sinking into the grid is an innovative idea that just might work.