[1050 went KABOOM!]

I've never seen a 1050 up close before, but from the drawings I gather that the priming system functions more like the LNL in that the primer comes down the tube and is pushed along a slide into the priming station, as opposed to the 650 which puts a ton of primers in close proximity on the primer wheel. I assume for this reason that when you do detonate a primer in the 1050's priming station it is less likely to cause the remaining primers in the tube to detonate. Is this correct?

[People paying you for reloaded ammo is illegal.]

Actually, I know 3 guys I can think of off the top of my head that have done just that with a simple sight inspection and in residential neighborhoods. All of them quit after they got tired of losing money by selling their reloaded ammo.

In what state did these guys operate?

Incidentally, it doesn't surprise me that they got out of the biz, since the only way to make money in loading ammo is in high volume. One person cranking / monitoring a press cannot possibly sell enough ammo to cover the overhead, at least in an expensive metro area like the one I live in.

[People paying you for reloaded ammo is illegal.]

The answer is 'NO', not without a Class 6 FFL. Having said this I will add that obtaining a Class 6 FFL is not only easy but also very inexpensive.

Easy? Inexpensive? Not in my experience.

The Feds are relatively easy to deal with. It's the state and local approvals that are difficult to get. The first thing the ATF will do when you apply is call your state and local officials and inform them of your request to operate an ammunition factory at the location you specify as the "place of business". This cannot be your house unless your town has no zoning laws or by some freak of nature "ammunition production" is an approved use in a residential zone (hint: it isn't). If the state and local officials haven't already approved your request, the ATF will deny the application.

The kicker in all this is that you need to own / lease the "place of business" BEFORE you apply at all levels, so that means floating the facility costs out of pocket until the approvals come in...usually a year or more. Since the biggest sticking points are zoning related (yes, Mr. Zoning Officer, I'll be discharging 338 Lapua in my on-site test chamber and generating lots of noise and lead waste in the process), that means you have to apply at the local level first, get the zoning approval, then apply to the state, and finally, the ATF.

If anyone thinks they're going to submit a form and a check for $30 to the ATF and be in the ammo biz, I have a bridge to sell you.

[People paying you for reloaded ammo is illegal.]

I'm in the R&D phase of an ammo biz and found this out on day 1. The only way you can produce ammunition legally is to do it yourself using components you purchased for your own use. However, as some have pointed out, there appears to be nothing in the law that precludes you from being in the "reloading equipment rental business" so long as your "customers" bring their own components. If anyone finds out you're loading ammunition in any other way they'll come down on you like a box of hammers. Not worth the liability or jail time.

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

Software that prints a picture that looks like my reticule and has yardage marking for my bullet drop reticule.(There is no program that does this...)

Could have sworn I saw something like this in one of the standalone apps for Windows I saw in my early research. I have to admit that the initial plan (i.e. version 1.0) does not include full ballistics analysis, but it is on the wish list. Thanks for the input.

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

Well I tend to get involved in some sort of project and overdo it. I over-think things. I have to knock myself back to reality sometimes and remind myself to keep it simple. Simple is almost always better.

The one thing that will keep this simple is the lack of time I have to spend on it. But I also want to make sure it's useful to the average reloader, hence the reason I asked for ideas on what is important (and also what is not).

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

For pistol reloading I believe you are over thinking it. I know bench rest shooters are huge into data and logs. For pistol I clean em, load em, and then shoot em. That's after I come up with my load though. That is where you need all the data in my opinion. After that though, KISS method.

My design so far allows provisioning of "generic" components (say, for example, you don't bother tracking your batches of brass), so you could define your cartridge merely in terms of caliber, powder brand/wt, and bullet brand/type/wt and negate all the other traceability features. Nice to hear the perspective on the KISS approach.

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

I'd like to see the an inventory system associated with the loading software. It'll let me know how much stuff I have on hand, as well as the rate I'm using up materials, give me a warning when I'm running low, and most importantly, keep a running cost of how much each bullet made costs, as the price of the materials fluctuate (or more likely go up).

The concept of inventory and the resources required to produce a given set of bullets in a reloading "session" was already in the mix. Tracking costs was outside the initial design scope, but once I'm tracking inventory it's not that much additional work.

As much as having information about PF would be useful, it is only useful if people also fill in the other details as to what gun the bullet is fired out of, barrel length, relative wear of the gun, and what the environmental factors were at the time the PF was measured (eg. temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc.). An additional bit of information needed is whether that PF was a peak value, an average value of 5 (or 10, or 20) shots, a minimum value, etc. Was the data for the averages cleaned by throwing out outliers, or the outliers included in the average? How did the shooter know to throw the data out because it was an outlier and not because it just happened to be on the high end of 2 standard deviations away? In short, if I were to follow the recipe for the cartridge and load it into the same gun, how reliable would the results be to replicate the same claimed PF?

I had thought about supporting "specifications" and some statistics / QA information as part of the process...since I know I'll definitely want to produce a batch and then measure N cartridges then do some statistical analysis over the short and long term (within a given batch and across multiple batches)...data that might be helpful to track parts wear or alignment on the press, etc. I'm definitely limited on my understanding on the full scope of statistics that would be helpful, so if anyone has any further info, please volunteer it.

Thanks for the input.

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

I would volunteer to be a beta tester if you come up with something. I know alot of people that use excel to track their loads

Interesting. That brings up the point of data import/export. I had already planned CSV, JSON, and XML export (since I believe users should always have ready access to the data they enter into any system) but importing could be a challenge simply because I don't know what people typically store in their spreadsheets. Perhaps someone can post one that is popular (as opposed to a one-off that someone made)?

[What would you like to see in reloading software?]

I've been a gun owner for almost 20 years and am new to reloading. I've been doing a lot of reading, watching videos, etc. to come up to speed on the process.

Since I make my living in engineering (software), I'm naturally a bit OCD, but that's not a bad thing when you're talking about the creation of something critical like ammunition. So it should come as no surprise that I've thought about how I could use software to help my reloading efforts.

My first thought was to make the software capable of tracking all the inputs that ultimately result in my completed cartridges, as this would make it practical to search the data for trends or obvious issues (like manufacturer, lot number, etc.). I have also considered designing it to allow both individuals and organizations to share their load data among "subscribers", so this would work for components manufacturers, shooting associations (IDPA, etc.) and even local clubs. This would make it far easier to search load data and share the results of specific cartridges...right down to the specifications (PF, COAL, etc.).

As this is a part-time project my primary goal is to avoid scope creep but it would help to know exactly what new features the average reloader would find helpful during the design phase of the software. Hence the topic of this thread:

If you could use software to track or otherwise help you reload, what features would you like to see? How would you want it to work (i.e. process flow)?

[What NEW product does Dillon need to work on?]

Dillon already chimed in on the other thread and said that they couldn't do a bullet feeder because it would somehow prevent them from shipping to international customers. And they also said they don't believe in wet tumbling so that will never happen.

All I want is a clone of the ammo-load presses for a reasonable price ($3-5K). It would be based on linear motion, include additional stations (say 10 or 12) for validation and tolerance checking, and also be easily adaptable to an auto-drive. Commercial loaders would jump on them in a heartbeat and I would too. I don't need 4000 rounds an hour, but I do need reliability and automation.

[1050 caliber conversion 9mm/223 and 308/45]

Great guys...thanks for the responses. That pretty much means I'm not going to make a decision on the 1050 vs 650 based strictly on the time involved in a caliber change. Thanks also for the caliber conversion link...that's an awesome tool.

[1050 caliber conversion 9mm/223 and 308/45]

Bummer, was really hoping that would work. Anyone know the amount of time it takes to do a full caliber change on a 1050 vs. a 650? Everyone seems to say it's a royal PITA, but really...how much worse could it be? I know the costs involved and that's why everyone says the 1050 is more or less a single caliber machine with the exception of those cases were you don't have to tear down the bottom end...I'm just curious about the time.

[1050 caliber conversion 9mm/223 and 308/45]

I was watching a youtube video by OBXSOLWIND...can't post a link yet but the video id is

14i2WYE3aLk

and he pointed out that his 1050 uses the same shell plate / bottom end to support 45 and 308 so caliber conversions are as "simple" as swapping the tool head, case feeder parts, etc. I was wondering if it's possible to do the same with 9mm and 223. Anybody know?