Dirty Rod

3-4. My .308 load is 44.5 and, depending on how I pulled the handle, it might be anywhere from 43 to 47. If I was very smooth I could keep the variances under a grain but not always. With ball powders like WSF, 231, CFE, etc it's +/- .1 most of the time so I've come to the conclusion that stick powders just don't meter well out of my Dillon measures. My Hornady measure is a little better with Varget but none of my Dillon's will meter Varget well.

Varget, like any stick powder, is normally not as consistent as your ball powders. You have to be smooth on the handle or you will get some big variances. I occasionally saw 3-4 gr differences loading 44.5grs for .308 so I went to CFE for .223 and hand measure Varget for my .308 loads.

+1. EB Hardcore or WC Bulletproof. I seem to be hard on slide stops and extractors so, when they break, I replace with WC BP and a couple are at 50k and counting.

~5.3gr of HP38/231 is a pretty popular load if all else fails.

As mentioned, once you use a few different brands you tend to find your preferences. I like the bevel on the bottom of the Dillon sizing dies which helps if your case isn't exactly centered. The micrometer adjustment on the Hornady seating dies and others is great if you use multiple brands of bullets and need to tweak the OAL without breaking out the wrench. Some brands also are easier to break down for cleaning, if you happen to do that, and others are easy to disassemble if you happen to break the decap pins. For someone just geting started, I recommend buying pretty much any name brand dies on sale and, if possible, buy two different brands. I think several of my toolheads have a different brand of die in each station.

No issues having multiple brands of presses. I have two Dillons and an a Hornady and they all do what they are supposed to do. PIck whatever brand meets your needs. I highly recommend going to fondle the various brands of presses or, better yet, go sit with someone that uses the various brands and get direct feedback. Fortunately, I live close to Dillon, so I was able to go in and run some test rounds through under Matt's supervision as well as going down to the local Sportsmans and Cabelas. It was an easy decision once I pulled all the handles.

5.3gr @ 1.260. I've never measured the crimp. I just remove the flare and make sure they pass the plunk test.

I knew that bead configuration had been around for some time, but not that long. Good to know. Have you ever patterned yours to see how high it shoots at 15 yards or so? P.S. Your Gator pic is pretty classy. Gator always patterns his shotties! Mine shoots a little high (4-5") at 15-20 yards with birdshot but only 1-2" with buck or slugs. The wife's has a shorter stock and barrel, no sling, and a heat shield and hers is pretty much POA-POI. She loads the Federal Low Recoil 00 for HD and it's pretty much dead center. Mine has a F/O front so I just attributed the difference to the sight. Definitely close enough for HD so I never really bothered to find the difference.

I have two SD/HD 500s. One is 25 years old and the other about 15 I believe. Neither are ribbed and the bead and fiber sights are on the barrel so they've been selling them that way for a while. In looking at the sight, that seems to be the standard config for the tactical shotguns.

Depends on the parts you change. Much of the break in is for the slide to frame fit and barrel although you will probably want to test reliability with whatever ends up in the gun.

Things like making sure the gun won't fire without the grip safety pressed, firing pin safety catches the striker if equipped, etc. hammer/striker won't release without the trigger pressed, thumb safety blocks the sear properly, etc, etc. Depends on the gun. There are probably threads in the archives on how to do a safety check. Pretty good thing to know so you can do it yourself after cleaning and reassembly.

Exactly my experience. I've sent highly modified guns in for unrelated problems and the aftermarket parts were still in the gun when it came back. I've also had the same situation as the OP where a smith screwed up a trigger job and SA told me they can't return a gun that is unsafe so they fixed it and I got the original parts back as well.

The 33s are a bit thick for rifles. I've been doing well with the Slim Golds for the past 4-5 years with pistol, bolt guns, ARs, and shotguns. Occasionally indoors but mostly outdoor. They have done fine for me for both matches and all day training classes.

I don't know if there is an actual number. Both of the carbide blades they exchanged for me had under 10k cuts. The first I just mentioned in passing while I was getting the replacement spring mentioned above so he tossed it in the box. On the second, I called to ask how long they should last and the guy told me longer than the year I had owned it and sent me another.

Yup. I've had that issue. There is a spring that puts pressure on the faceplate which holds the case in place. When the spring weakens the case will move and you get an uneven cut. RCBS will send you a new spring but I have gotten into the habit of pushing down on the case when trim to keep it aligned and straight. The other thing that can help is to make sure the blades are sharp as that will reduce the chance of the blades grabbing the case mouth. They will also replace those two if the get dull prematurely.

Leatherman

I know a few distance match shooters that load .308 for their bolt guns on 550s and can consistently shoot a minute or better. I get 1-2 minute accuracy out of .223 and 7.62x39 on my 550s.

I think Dillon charged me $49 a year or so back to refurb a 25 year old 550 I found in a friends drawer. Rust, missing pieces, and the pins were frozen. Fortunately I'm close so I didn't have to pay shipping. The best $49 I spent on reloading gear.

There are definitely differences in brands. I use several brands and the EGW 7 round gauges are tighter than all of my others. The pistol gauges aren't as bad but I've stopped using the rifle gauges. About 20% of my rounds fail in my .223 and .308 EGW gauges but pass in the Dillon, Lyman, and Lee gauges as well as my barrels.

You are not going to get a definitive answer. The GI vs FLGR argument has been going on for decades along with the AR vs AK and 9 vs .45 debates. The best advice I can give is to buy one, drop it in, and decide if you like it.

Pull the slide off and insert the mag slowly. You should be able to see what's binding. Often one of the grip screws is rubbing the mag body or the feed lips spread just a bit. If nothing is evident, remove the mag release and see if it still happens. If it's the release, you might have to relieve the side of the mag release. I use the same mags in several guns and I've had to do a little filing on 1-2 mag releases to get them to fall freely.

15-20k is very low. I've got quite a few guns with 15-50k that still group close to when new and one at 60k that's still acceptable. I also know a few comp shooters getting over 100k per barrel. A barrel should be good for at least 80k.

Interesting. I've tried NF and several other brands of polish and, while it cleans really well, it never polishes for me and I end up with dusty cases. Using corn cob all I need is a capful and the cases clean and polished. One day maybe I'll give it another shot.

I don't know. Lots of folks swaging pretty fast on a 600.

If you just need the crimp removed then you can just swage it. The rest is to get consistent depth on your primers which I only worry about on my .308 match rounds. Many folks don't see any difference in accuracy with all the other brass prep. You don't have to. I definitely don't sort. You can generally find a setting that works for just about all of your brass although some primers may seat a little easier than others.