sawacs

Gents, I am about to begin reloading for a Winchester Model 70 Pre-64 in 30-06 and wanted to get some advice on reloading with the above mentioned bullet. The powder I will be using is IMR4064 and Winchester large rifle primers. Does anyone have a recommended charge weight that has worked well? The Hornady and Lyman manuals do not state a charge for the exact bullet but I was toying with a charge of 47.0 to work up from. The latest Hornady and Lymann manuals do not have this exact bullet listed. After checking with Noslers site, they have the exact bullet and charges but not with the 4064 podwer. Thanks, Shawn

I am right there with you.. My machine is working flawlessly 2k rounds later and their customer support is up there with the "Are you kidding me!) in a good way because their support is so darned good! Cheers, Shawn

I think you might have missed what I was trying to say in the original post.. Nowhere do I say I am loading minimum loads.. The H110 manual says to reduce the 19 grain max charge by 10% to start which comes out to 17.1 grains of powder. 17.1 grains is lower than the minimum charge listed on their website.. Which one is correct? Btw, I ended up going with 18.5 grains of H110 over the 300 grain xtp which=compressed load.. Cheers, Shawn

Hello gents, After completing my marathon load run in 44 Special/Mag on the 650, I decided to put my old Rock Chucker back to work loading some experimental loads. I picked up a few boxes of Hornady XTP's in 200, 240, and 300 grain rounds. Basically, I am trying to load the 300 grain XTP's right in the middle of the min and max load using H110 powder and Winchester LPP's... According to the Hodgen's free "Basic Reloading Manual" picked up from my local reloading supplier, they list the max H110 load as 19.0 grains and recommend reducing by 10% as a start. If I reduce the 19.0 grains of H110 by 10%, that equates to a starting load of 17.1 grains. Here is the real kicker.... The following line comes directly from the manufacturers web page with regard to the 300 XTP load. "300 GR. HDY XTP Hodgdon H110 .430" 1.600" 18.0 1393 35,100 CUP 19.0 1473 38,800 CUP". Notice their website min load of 18.0 grains vs the reduce by 10% which is 17.1 grains as stated in the manual. So, anyone know which is the correct minimum starting load? Btw, this load will be fired out of a 9.5" Super Redhawk.. Respectfully, Shawn

Thanks for all the advice... I finally solved the problem with the crimping issue but the solution was not what I thought it would be. After tinkering with the dillon crimping die until I was blue in the face, I decided to grab a 3 die set of lee 38 spc dies just to try the crimping die out.. Well, problem solved:) When using the dillon die, I would either have too much crimp which left the case mouth standing vertically or not enough crimp.. All the rounds now have a nice little roll crimp and they look great! http://www.pbase.com/sawacs/dillon_650_reloading The very first image at the link is the lee crimped 38's.. Other than this little hickup, the 650 is running like a swiss watch! Cheers, Shawn

Thanks, I will give the above mentioned advice a try later today.. Cheers, Shawn

Nope, I'm done.... The crimps aren't right for 158 gr LSWC.....

Copy all.. I will try that.. I just came from crimping 44 cases so the 38's are probably feeling a little different.... less pressure... However, it seams like the brass is crimped too far in the rear.. I will try you recommendation and see what happens.. Thanks, Shawn

Fellas, I wanted to say thank you for the replies and advice.. It is funny that I have went from bullseye, 231, unique, and then to trailboss powder and will probably stop with trailboss as it meters perfectly in the 650 with absolutely zero powder spillage.. To top it off, TB fills the 44 mag case up so I can create a semi cowboy load using a 44 mag case: I love this stuff! From here on out, I really cannot see trying a different powder other than TB although I have a substantial amount of 44 special loaded with "bullseye" and "unique". Cheers, Shawn

Hello gents.. I took this week off and decided to concentrate on doing a little reloading. After loading 500 rounds of 44 mag, I decided it was time to to a caliber conversion change for the first time.. Everything went very smoothly ( no sideways primers )until I began seating and crimping for the 38 Special. I am using once fire 38 Special brass purchased from a member here and it is all Winchester brass and absolutely beautiful with the exception of a few cases which is to be expected.. My 38 SPC cases measured the following.... 38 Special Winchester brass with an OAL case length of 1.145....( the latest Speer manual states 1.155 for OAL case length ). Every one of the Winchester cases measure between the 1.140 and 1.150 value with none of them above that.. First question, is the Speer manual wrong for the OAL of the 38 SPC case? Second, everything went very smooth until I came upon the seating and crimping.. Initially, I seated the bullet per the Speer manual specs which left a uneasy gap at the rear of the 158 grain LSWC. I decided to adjust until it looked correct and then proceed to crimp the bullet. Well, to my amazement, the crimping die crimped the bullet but it did so at the rear per say and left the front portion of the brass straight.... This isn't really something I can describe but rather show via the following link.. http://www.pbase.com/sawacs/dillon_650_reloading Check out that link.. I have posted a few photos of the issue I am having.. I think photo labeled as 1 show the problem the best with the shell in the upper right hand side.. Currently, I have halted reloading on the 650 until I can get this issue worked out.. Advice would be most appreciated.. Respectfully, Shawn USAF

Hello fellas.. I have been reloading a bunch of 44 Mag 240 gr LSWC plinking loads and was wondering what you guys use.. Basically, I am loading for volume and not necessarily accuracy. Currently, I have loaded 500 rounds of 44 mag this weekend with 6.2 grains of w231 powder and winchester large primers. I have another 1500 rounds to go on the 44 mag side and was wondering if any of you had any alternative loads that might be useful... Im trying to keep the speed down since these are always a plinking round. However, I would be entertained by a low velocity, somewhat accurate, round.. Also, I am in the same situation with 38 special as I am currently in the process of cleaning 2k of once fired winchester brass. My wishful loads are as follows.. 38 SPC=158 gr rnfp.......plinking load 38 SPC=158 gr lswc.......plinking load 44 mag=240 gr lswc.......cowboy/plinking load 44 mag=240 gr lrnfp......cowboy/plinking load My current powders are Bullseye and W231 and I am thinking about adding Unique.. Advice would be appreciated, Shawn

I thought I would share a small update.. Everything is working very well. I really want to say thank you to Dillons support. When I called them about the plastic indexer that had broken, I also mentioned that my powder checker plunger for 44/45 cal was bent and I wasn't sure if I had bent it or not. I told the rep that I would gladly pay for the replacement plunger since I could not confirm if I was at fault. The Dillon rep said no worry and he would send a replacement with the plastic indexer: I just about fell over! When I was having my primer issues, the rep at Dillon told me that I might need an entire new primer assembly. I told him to give me a few and I would see if I could work the issue out and sure enough, I did. The part that amazed me was that they were willing to send me an entire new primer assembly with no questions asked.. In my opinion, this is the best customer support for a single product I have ever experienced in my 40 years of being alive! Cheers to Dillon and to all the feedback from this post. Respectfully, Shawn

Regarding the primer fix, after replacing the plastic indexer after mine broke (Dillon replaced it no questions), and making a few adjustments, the system appears to prime "okay". I managed to run through 50 rounds of 44 mag the other evening with out any sideways primers. However, I am currently using the 650 an either priming system only or a power, seat, and crimp system. I do not have enough trust in the 650 yet to go through the entire process in one swoop. I am sure the more time I spend with the 650, the more confident I will become. When I had the primer seating issue, I had the 650 mounted to a board used for a computer in a closet. The board was plenty thick and did not have any play as far as I could tell. After mounting the 650 to the large Sam's club workbench and loading the bottom down with weight, the primer issue went away. Hopefully, this was the actual fix. Cheers, Shawn

Thanks for all the feedback! I have not had a chance to look at everything to try and figure out the sideways primer problem but will soon.. No worries about having a few wrong parts in there because you guys at Dillon corrected everything immediately and I cannot thank you enough. I'll keep everyone informed. Thanks again, Shawn

With out the picture hard to guess, but if you are loading 9 mm watch out for WCC and GECO brass these have crimped pockets and when trying to seat a primer it gets ugly fast. You also have to check the indexing of the primer wheel this index is adjusted with the plastic piece on the side of the press where the lever that advances the primer wheel rides, if the press index is correct primer seating will normally go well unless you are on a rickety bench in which case you will get some sideways seating. The picture is there.. www.pbase.com/sawacs/misc scroll to the bottom and you will see the photo