bajadudes

A 5 gallon bucket holds approx 3,800 to 4,000 pcs

Adhering to a rigid process goes a long way toward eliminating errors. We run 3 1050's pretty much 4-6 hours a day, 3-4 days per week and here are the 12 golden strict rules we adhere to. One: not only an individual adjustable bright light clamped to the machine and pointed down on the left hand side AND turned on but a bright room and free uncluttered area around each machine. Clean up powder spills around the machine and on the tool head WHEN THEY HAPPEN not later. Two: No distractions, no head phones, no music, no texting at the station, no cell phone use at all at the station. if you need to make a call, STOP and walk away, more on that below. Three: On a machine with auto drive, if the machine is stopped for any reason, upon start up verify visually that the next few cases coming off the powder drop are being filled properly. On a machine with auto drive constantly listen and know the sounds of your machine, constantly scan and be familiar with all the moving parts. If you are operating the machine manually your eyes need to always be on the powder and bullet drop sations, no where else unless you are stopped. Four: If you need to stop the machine for any reason you must always stop it with the tool head in the full down position unless clearing a jam prevents it. Get into this habit all the time so there is no guessing which way to go with the tool head upon startup. Five: NEVER let the powder bin get less than 1/2 full, even with a low powder alarm on the bin. Six: Very important, SLOW DOWN and be very deliberate in all your interactions with the process. Do not race the machines. Seven: Do not leave the machine with an empty or low primer magazine. If it is empty OR low and you need to walk away for any reason, make sure the tool head is in the full down position, pull out the the primer feed rod and lay it across the tool head and flip up the alarm acuating lever so you know at a glance that the machine should not be started up until the primer magazine is checked and full. Eight: The machine is always tagged with a securely attached note indicating the bullet type, powder type, charge weight, OAL and date it was set up. Nine: The powder bin has a seperate note in big letters indicating the current powder type in the bin. Ten, Do not load powder and primers on the fly with an auto drive unit. STOP the machine with the tool head down, load what you need to and then start back up as indicated above. Eleven: No lot is to be greater than 1000 - 1300 rounds. When you reach that amount stop, tag the bin with a note that stays with that lot for the rest off the process through cleaning, polishing, guaging boxing and labeling. The note must have on it machine#, year, month, day, projectile weight and type, powder type and charge weight. NO BINS LAYING AROUND WITH PRODUCT IN THEM AND NO TAG! Twelve: NO open or unlabeled containers of powder anywhere near the machine unless you are in the process of loading the powder bin. The jug is always kept sealed and placed under the table. No container is to have more than 5-8 Lbs of powder in it at any one time. The other comon sense things are, take the bathroom break and don't stand there twitching your leg up and down while you "just get these last 50 rounds done". Don't work when hungry. Safety glasses ALL THE TIME, no excuses. One job, one focus, if your mind is drifting off to other thoughts STOP and take a break. Clean the machines regularly by taking off the tool head, indexing plate, case and primer shuttle cocks, inspecting and reassembling. If we keep the tool head clean and free of powder spills as they happen we only need to do this about once a week to each machine. While the above rules are particular to us and the 1050's they can be adapted to your personal situation. I encourage you to print out something similar poster style and place it close to the machine. Read it often, don't get complacent. Any activity involving energetic compositions demands your full attention and respect. It's not IF an accident will happen but WHEN it happens....... be prepared.

Powder and primers.

I realize that Works is your last name but I think it would roll off your tongue more naturally if you dropped the s and it was simply "Gunwork Munitions" Other wise yes it conveys all you want it to. Now you have to work on a logo.

I hate that it is even called a crimp in the first place. looks like you may be able to go a hair less on the bell although it's hard to tell in the pic. Over belling will cause premature stress cracking at the mouth of your cases if you reuse them a lot and the bullet will tend to tip more on a progressive press when indexing. I like to just take the bell out so that on a pulled bullet there is no witness line. if you can feel it with your fingernail then there is still room for improvement. That being said, if you are using used brass you are going to have to settle for a happy medium since wall thickness can vary.

4 grains Winchester 231 under a MG 147 CMJ = PF of about 130 out of a Beretta 92 @ 10ft from the chrono @ 70 degrees. 3.9G = PF 127.5 4.15g = PF a hair over 135 Nice feel and very very accurate. Especially the w 4 grains In case you ever decide to get some MG's

Light stain with several coats of polyurethane. Will clean up just as easily and with that light colored wood parts will show up just fine. I think the overhang is too big if you intend on mounting the Dillons right on the edge even with 1-1/2" thickness of plywood. I would shorten it to 1-1/2 and rip a 2x4 in half to put under it. This way you have a small strong lip and it's not to thick to temporarily clamp things to it.

There already is a large enough lip on one side to place a 1/4X1/4 strip under it. All I need is similar on the opposite side. I do see how it would add material and cost however. I may simply "add" something like aluminum angle to extend it. Sarge on the 9mm there is enough room along the edge to drill and tap for some small 6/32 legs. On the 40 there is enough room to drill and tap for some 8/32 legs

I don't like the feet idea. I like the fact that you can put it flat on the table. It's kicks them out as pointed out above and it instantly shows you a round that was not seated properly and is longer than the others. We don't use the flip into a case idea. We cover half and dump 50 into a shallow large cardboard box so we can roll them around and do a final visual check for split cases. Then we package them.

ok so I run a small ammo manufacturing facility and we have both a 9 and 40 of these fine guages. I have only one suggestion for these 2 items. A little more lip around at least 2 of the edges so that you can stick some 1/4" square wood strips to hold the guage off the table. This way I have an instant headspace feedback while loading the guage. Once the guage is loaded I can pull out the strips and see if any rounds are loaded to long. I know I can lift the guage up to check headspace but we do this hundreds of times a day and it is not an efficient motion. otherwise thanks for a great product. We want 2 more in 9 and 40 and are looking forward to 45.

I second that emotion.........

The metal bullet tray is a very worthwhile accessory to have. Brian includes it if you order the 1050 from him otherwise it's like $40 or something.

Always look at the manufacturers load data for a start. They don't have data for lead but they do have this for a 124g jhp If it were me, I would start at around 5g and work up in .2 increments. As pointed out above a chrono is your best friend if you want to do this right. 100-200 dollars well spent.

The D spring mod will help with the single action pull but not do much for you on the DA pull. There is a lot of discussion on this topic over at the Beretta forums

+1 especially keeping the primer slide area clean. Equally important is safety. I have worked in the explosives industry on and off almost my entire life and the one saying that always sticks with me is "It's not if an accident will happen, it's when an accident happens." be prepared and the effects of the accident will be mitigated. Glad you were wearing safety glasses.

I use a cement mixer with a plastic tub and a ratio of about 40% media 60% brass. water enough to cover plus a few inches more and a little dish soap. let it run about 2 hours. then I place a 1/4 mesh galvanized steel screen over the mixer opening that is held in place with a ratcheting tie-down strap. Tilt the drum to the empty position and just let it run over a big shallow plastic bin to separate out all the media. Every once an a while spray water into it with a hose to rinse while still spinning. 5-10 min gets it all out and the brass rinsed. Dump onto a tarp and leave it to dry for a day or two on the warehouse floor with a fan on it. Does a 5 gal bucket full at a time sparkly clean with a min number of fuss and steps.

I take it you sell commercially reloaded ammo? Yes, reconditioned brass and when I can find it at a reasonable price, new brass. Lic and insured FFL-06 Been thinking of ponying up the bucks to be in the dealer forums here but the only thing that has stopped me is the fact that I can't even keep up with my local demand. The situation right now is truly insane.

We have a customer with a 92fs comped Beretta that claims it runs better than anything he can purchase off the shelf ( he is not a reloader ). Understand that we have to load something that will be safe and run in most guns for the general public. In all probability you can increase OAL and charge weight to get even more gas if you want it but that is custom experimentation that is up to the individual reloader. We can't load and sell something custom like that and keep pricing competitive and guarantee a safe product in every gun it's shot in. I posted the recipe as a good, known safe load that will make more than the average amount of gas I think the basic point is that it's a dense gassy powder that runs nice and clean.

HS-6 is awesome in comped guns. very dense and will produce a tremendous amount of gas. When we have HS-6 we run 6.8 grains under a 124 jhp MG. very very accurate and just under 1200 fps. OAL is 1.120 +/- .004

No issues here with Winchester primers and I have gone thru 100's of thousands. I prefer federal but I can't always get them. I like the wooden boxes Fiocci comes in. CCI has the most compact packaging.

google sunny metal inc. look at their stainless steel microfibers for concrete reinforcment or if you are into it shred their stainless steel wool meant for packing mufflers. Then get a $175 electric cement mixer with a plastic tub. Mine has been running about 4-6 hours a weekday for over a year. Does about a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm at a time.

+1 and depending on how you feel about it...the nuclear fireball is quite impressive and intimidating to other shooters.

I still have a lot of 2230 that I am willing to share at whatever the going rate is at PV, maybe about 100 lbs left. See this post for original details. It started at over 500 lbs but members of this forum have been taking me up on the offer. One forum member local to me bought 19 8 pound jugs for his club members!!! And he is coming back this week for another 5 jugs. Once it's gone I will not be getting any more rifle powder. We are sticking to hangun loads. I have also been hoarding about 200 Kilos of AA 2460 that I am now willing to sell off. Same deal as above. This is strictly for the benefit of the shooting community. Please do not ask me to sell you this powder if you intend to flip it for a profit. I will also trade for Clays, HS-6 and Power Pistol if you can legally ship hazmat or are local.

I load a 180 grain MG jhp at 5.0gr of wc 231 and get an average fps of 875. I found that less and slower was not as accurate. This is out of a Berreta 96 Vertec with a 4.6" barrel. It's a little snappier than clays or N320 but still very nice. 231 tends to burn dirty at the min end of the scale but much cleaner towards max.

We run about 4,000 mixed range brass per day 5 days a week through our 1050s, three of them. Tweaking the machines is not rocket science but it does take patience and observation. By keeping the tool head and indexing plate vacuumed and clean I can get away with breaking it down for a good cleaning once a week, usually end of week. It's a solid sturdy machine that will talk to you. Once you get to know it, it is not finicky beyond an occasional curse word.