ajroyer

I am looking at the box for my Pro Chrono Digital. It says: Competition Electronics, Inc 3469 Precision Dr. Rockford, IL 61109 The chrono itself does not have any markings.

I can hear your frustration. I live in Illinois (third most socialist state in the Union) and we have recently banned bottlerockets and firecrackers. I was irritated at the loss of freedom and then again at my neighbors that were totally ignoring the laws and firing them anyway. We don't have the issues of our state burning down, but I was not pleased at the number of rocket sticks and firecracker packaging that I had to pick out of my yard the next day. I hope that you let the city leaders know how jacked up they are. Good luck. Common sense is not contagious, so you are going to need the luck when trying to fix stupid.

I have always found that scotch or whiskey will improve my condition when I am under the weather. Good luck and get well.

Scrap it, would be my guess. If a ramp is laying in the road is it really theft? I found a bag of cash in the street one time a few years back. $900 plus. I turned it in to the cops and who knows what ever happened with it. I doubt the rightful owner ever saw it again. In general I have little to no faith in humanity. So you are not alone. Well, Everyone has had some very encouraging things to say and I appreciate the input. It does feel good to rant a bit and get this out of my head. On the note of whether or not it is theft, I say yes. Anytime you take anything that you did not purchase or receive permission to take, you are stealing. In this case, one ramp laying in the middle of a country road should make you think that the owner will be back when he realizes he can't unload his trailer. This person's first thought was more like "Hey, free stuff. I wonder if I can find a use for this." Most country roads around here have the same people driving them, and mostly from their house/farm to town. I commend you on turning in the bag o' cash. I would have done the same thing. Whether or not it made it to the owner doesn't bother me as much as the thought of keeping something that I did not earn, deserve, or have any other right to. As a firefighter and also as a Navy Chief I hold my integrity as tightly as I can. Honesty and integrity are the largest traits that are being eroded everywhere I look. Without a values system, we may as well be animals.

I lose a little faith and hope in humanity every day. Some days are worse, like today. My family has a farm that has gone to weeds. Of all my family, I am the only one that tries to clean it up and take care of it. I was out there today with a 20 yd dumpster, loading up the garbage that my cousins, uncle, and brother (and who knows whom else) have piled up out there. I thought 20 yds would be big enough until I started filling it. Luckily I can burn the wood and paper type stuff right there. My grandma is just heartboken at the way the place is run down. Problem is, I keep getting screwed when I try to help out there. Today it started raining and I had to quit. I happened to have my mower on a trailer and lost one of the ramps as I was leaving. Some folks followed me into town (about 15 miles) without trying to stop me or get my attention. Once I stopped and got out they stopped and mentioned that it fell out way back there. I went back and looked all over the place. In under 30 minutes someone had swooped up that single ramp. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY GOING TO DO WITH ONE RAMP!? They could have moved it to the edge of the road instead of stealing it. A couple years ago I locked a generator in the shed at this same farm house. Someone went out there, broke in, and took it. Seriously, the place is run down and weeds everywhere. Who thinks to break in to a shed like that? I am guessing that they had help to get the generator in their truck. Just when I think it is just happening to me, I realize that we have to make sure that the firehouse is locked up before we leave on a call. It has been broken into twice in the last few years. How low do you have to be to steal from firemen? There is a great movie called "The Village." If I ever become a billionaire, I am building my own village in the middle of a reservation like that. It will be a new and great place to live. Everyone that is lucky enough to be invited will live in peace with freedom and liberty. No social programs. No "social justice." No degredation of society. Therefore, no need to steal from your neighbors, no need to hurt other people, no need to be selfish. I don't even have to create the framework, it used to exist. In fact, it used to be called AMERICA.

Is this happening with both bullet types, or just one? Are you crimping the rounds in your process? Are you trimming the cases?

What kind of gun are you shooting them from? What type of chamber does the gun have? Is it the same gun that you used to use when you reloaded 223, or a new one? If it is the same gun, or an older used one, have you cleaned the gas tube? My thought is that you are maybe sizing for NATO 5.56 dimensions and firing in a SAAMI spec chamber. Without proper headspace, you can see excessive pressures in the case. Check a few factory rounds that have been fired from your gun with a headspace gage. Set up your sizing die so that after sizing the cases are about .004 smaller. This will allow room for the case to expand in your gun, without excessively working the brass. Also, the Lyman reloading manual states that if you use less than the minimum recommended charge of powder that you can actually see increased pressures (they actually say "dangerously high" page 119 of the 49th ed). They suggest a starting load of 23gr of 4064 for 55gr bullet and 22.2 gr with 77gr bullet. I also wonder if the gun has had a few thousand rounds through it, or a bunch of blanks, or a bunch of dirty powder? If the gas tube is starting to get buildup, it will increase the pressures in the chamber slightly. One way to rule this out (other than cleaning) would be to go back to your DOPE book and check your zero. If the gun used to shoot right on at your zero and now the same zero is hitting high, it could be build up in the gas tube. That pressure has to go somewhere and the easiest path is pushing the bullet, which increases velocity. Speaking of which, what is the velocity of these rounds when you shoot? Do you have a chronograph to check?

Good reason why you should use minimum load data. For plinking 100 yards or less there is no need for anything other than min load. Also that means worries about pressure are much less as well as variances in cases due to mixed brass. Thank you for another vote for safety. I think that everyone agrees that the brass doesn't have as much to do with accuracy, as far as brand is concerned. Other than even neck tension, it is just a container. The original post was if it is safe and ok to use mixed brass. So far, the replies have concentrated on, "yeah, I can be accurate with it." While this is true, the OP needs to give us info on what he is doing with his mixed brass. (i.e. working up target loads, hunting loads, plinking....) Even in the event that all the mixed brass has been only fired from his gun and all the cases have been fired the same number of times, it should be pointed out that each brand of brass has variations from lot to lot. That means that even if I only buy Lake City brass, the lots from different years may have different characteristics. If I have a bunch of LC08 and LC09, one may start to fail before the other for various reasons. If the LC09 brass had 10% of the cases showing signs of failure, and none of the LC08 did, would you want to throw out all the LC08 with the LC09? This is why so many people that reload sort by brand, headstamp (i.e. lot number), number of firings, and whether it is fired from their gun or not. By the way, OP, remember that if the mixed brass that you are using is from another person's gun (like range brass) that the brass has been expanded to fit their chamber. It will be worked a little extra to size it for your chamber. You also don't know if they turned the necks for a bolt gun or fired five times and left it cause they aren't reloading past that point, etc.

correct. see the links below for examples. and remember, the google search function is your friend. http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/ammo-can/128083-9mm-crimped-primers.html http://squibloads.wordpress.com/reloading/get-the-crimp-out/ http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=448194 Thanks to all. These links had great pics. That is what I needed to help figure this out.

So you are saying that there are two types of primer crimps? This is one and the other is concentric?

So, I have been reading about military brass having crimped in primers. The word is, if there is a ring around the primer, it is crimped. Problem is they all look the same to me. Now, I just got some brass from a guy at the range. It has three crimps spaced around the primer. Is this different from military crimp or is this what the crimp actually is? Anyone know?

Sounds dangerous to me. Military brass has thicker case walls than commercial, and the different volumes in the cases will cause different pressures. The biggest concern I have personally is being able to monitor signs of case failure. For example, if primers are starting to back out of FC brass, does that mean that the LC brass is also at the end of it's life? Are you keeping track of how many times the cases are being fired and checking each for case head separation, overpressure, and neck splitting? I am sure that these guys that plink are checking each case for signs of failure, but be careful. It's a question of safety, not accuracy.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/23630/catid/6/AT_500_Auto_Eject_System It's listed under upgrades. Why the auto primer upgrade though? Doesn't the 550 prime in one of the stages?

I have the CE ProChrono Digital ordered now. Hopefully be in this week. I bought a cheap digital caliper at Lowes and it seems to work ok. I have looked at saving up and buying a Giraud trimmer in the future. That or the RCBS trimmer with the trim/chamfer/debur three way cutter. Most people say that you trim once and reload 3 to 5 times before the next trimming. I appreciate the feedback on downsizing accessories. I think that I may start simple and add up later if I really feel the need. I'll get the 550 first and see how it works on everything I want to do. If I'm really frustrated later I can always look at grabbing a single stage and precise powder throws to fine tune. I don't bench rest shoot and the target is bigger than one moa, so I think I'll be good. I like the idea of multiple powder measures for the 550 though. I will have at least two powders when it's all said and done.