Dirty Rod

I don't think you are as alone as you think. I only dry fire about 15 mins a week for both pistol and rifle but most of the folks that I shoot bolt guns with dry fire at least 10 times for every round that goes down range. The guys I know that shoot comp pistol spend several hours a week dry firing among the various drills.

Wow. This sounds like you have been in my garage!! I started loading a couple of months ago and went through everything you described plus inconsistent COL but fortunately I've been able to work through all of it and the last 1500 rounds have been fantastic. My biggest issue was the primer feed. If any amount of dust, powder, etc hit my slide I had to disassemble and break out the alcohol. I'm close to Dillon so I went in and described the issue and it turns out I had an old design on the primer bar. Bought my press used and I had the bar with the grooves on the bottom. The lady at Dillon gave me the current design which is completely hollow along with a new plate and I went home, installed it, and haven't touched it in the last 1000 rounds. Before that, if I got 80 rounds through it without it sticking I was lucky. The sticking problem occasionally still happens but it's now much better. I decreased the bell so that it just gives me the minimum amount and about every 250 rounds I run just a tiny bit of lube on one case and it took 95% of the sticking away. If they start to stick again I just add another drop. Again, it's just a tiny bit of lube which is what Dillon later recommended when I was talking about another problem. I also noticed that if I add another capful of polish to the media it also helps. The dropped primers still happen every so often and I just grab a broom when I'm done. You didn't mention OAL but I solved that by tightening down the shellplate and ensuring that my dies were all set with all stations loaded. I still get +/- .4 but it's within my range.

Suddenly I'm glad to be a NF owner.

The Pro Slim Golds (28nrr) ear cups are the same size (height and width) just not as deep (1/2"). They fit my big head just fine. It's the Predators that are made for a smaller head and ears.

I think the fact that you have people from both ends of the spectrum all telling you that their method works means you have a wide margin of error. Once upon a time my pistols were always spotless. These days my range guns only see more than a rag every couple thousand rounds unless they need springs or they've been out in the rain. No need to baby steel and, as has been said, Im sure the 500 rounds per month my favorite gets is a whole lot harder on the barrel than the residual dirt.

I definitely had issues with Unique. I'm pretty close to Dillon so I've been in to discuss metering Unique several times but never solved the occasional +.3-.4 drop. They told me the press should be capable of +- .2 and I've read that some are able to get consistent +- .1 but not me. I've only done 700-800 since I switched so I'm still experimenting but 5.1 with an OAL of 1.265 is working well in all my guns. I just did 20 at 1.260, 20 at 5.2, and 10 at 5.3 to see if there is any difference but my current load has worked well in my 1911s, XDs, and Glock. I don't have a chrono though so I don't have data on them. Just looking for pressure signs, checking accuracy, and trying to stay in the safe range. Once I get to .308 I'll pick up a chrono.

If you want to sell them send me a PM. My Kimber and all my other guns have no problem with them.

One of the reasons that lots of magnification can get in the way is that at distance it can prevent you from seeing your misses. If you are zoomed in too far you won't be able to see your splash which is critical in matches especially if you are engaging multiple targets at varying distances. If you also need to find secondary targets on a hillside then you will most likely have to zoom back out to find them and then fiddle with the focus which takes time. Leaving it at an intermediate setting like 10x gives you the best compromise out past 400 yards. Mirage on a hot day also will kill you with high magnification especially if you have a hot barrel. Since you are talking about ranging targets, then it will be really important to see that miss so you can adjust for that follow up shot. My NF is a 5-22 but the only time I'm anywhere above 14 is if I'm shooting groups at 100 or 200 or out past 700 with no wind. At 500 shooting 6" steel I'm generally 8-10X which gives me a field of view large enough to see the miss even if I get a little bipod hop. You can always zoom out as you say. It may work fine for shooting paper but you may not be able to use it if you get into matches, shoot with changing conditions, or have difficulty managing recoil. I've seen lots of folks spend twice as much money on 32X scopes and never use it. As long as you know the limitations then get what you want. Hope that helps.

Hello All, Been shooting over 15 years but actually learned how to shoot about 7 years ago. Mostly pistols but also ARs and recently bolt guns. Found the site about six months ago when I was researching my first press and eventually found a used 550. Still learning and making mistakes but I've been able to crank out about 2k rounds without blowing myself up. Appreciate all the info and experience on the site. I'll try to avoid asking all the same questions. Rod

Unique worked pretty well for me using 5.9 gr. behind Berrys 230gr plated bullets. I recently switched to 231 though because it metered so much better out of my 550. Unique worked OK but it would occasionally throw a 6.2-6.3 charge that I couldn't explain. I'm sure it was me but I haven't had the issue with 231.