Overscore

At my club, we use BN Nooks for scoring shooters in the pistol bays. These work quite well, since they're visible in the sun and the battery easily lasts all day with the screen on during the entire match. Rumor on the street is that Practiscore is discontinuing support for the Nooks, so it seems I'll have to replace the devices. Can you tell me what you use in your matches? I've been at a few matches using more traditional tables (Such as the Kindle Fire), and from what I've seen, they require some very aggressive screen timeout settings to get the battery to last all day, not to mention the challenges of seeing the display in the sun. Of course, on the upside, there isn't that distracting lag that the Nook has. Please tell me what you're using and what you see as the pros and cons.

I think the logic is sound as far as how it's cheaper to add calibers to a 650 than a 1050. But it's hard to imagine (for me, and my personality) removing a tool from my life unless it is being replaced by something better. In this case, I would also be looking to augment my press collection, adding a 650 without eliminating the 1050. But, maybe this mindset is why I have so much crap I don't need. If your personality type is such that you can get emotionally afford to downgrade, then I'd say go for it. I know I'd struggle with those moments of, "damn, if I still had the 1050, I could be doing..."

It's always interesting to learn about other people's processes. Mine's a little different. I use a 650 and attempt to do my 9mm in batches of 1000. Sometimes that's a little bit of a stretch, depending on how late I start in the evening. But, I can typically get 1000 loaded before I finish three beers, so figure about 2 hours. My 9mm is already decapped, because I do that separately prior to my wet tumble. I'll typically wait until I have about 10,000 9mm before decapping over the span of a month or so, since it's so monotonous. My big picture process: Collect as much brass as possible before winter comes. Prior to winter, before it gets cold in PA, take a few weeks where I'll spend a night or two a week sitting in my garage drinking beer, listening to Taylor Swift (prior to her #MarchForOurLives nonsense), chain smoking cigarettes (even though I don't really smoke), sorting brass until 2am. Rinse tumble brass and dry it in a food dehydrator over the next week or three Put my XL650 into decapping mode (a tool head with only a universal decapping die). As the rinsed dry brass comes in, decap it. Continue this until all brass is decapped. Wet tumble decapped brass in a vinegar/isopropyl/lemon juice mix to make it nice and shiny If it's 9mm, I'll take it from this state and load it in a normal process. I'll typically try to do 1,000 in a sitting, simply because I have 10 small primer pickup tubes, and the CCI primers come in boxes of 1,000. But, I don't always do 1,000 at once. I'll sometimes reload ammo during meetings when I'm working from home, crank out a few rounds while I'm waiting 6 hours for my kids to find their shoes, stuff like that. The most I ever did in one sitting was 1600, and that was too ridiculous on an XL650. If it's rifle, that's a different sub-process: Resize on a single stage press Wet tumble again to remove case lube Swage (in bulk) Trim (in bulk) Chamfer/Debur (in bulk) Wet tumble Load on XL650 I like to do one step at a time and do that in bulk, as opposed to performing every step on a case at once. I use little checklists in the containers where I store the brass to keep track of where in the process it is (for rifle). My goal is to spend the whole winter loading ammo so that I have enough until the next winter. This allows me to not be enslaved indoors to my press when it's nice out, or it frees up my press for me to learn new loads during shooting season.

It turns out that it was a simple as the primer plunger thing, the part that screws in underneath and has that thick spring around it, was quite loose. I'm not sure how it got loose, but it did. So, back in business.

Yeah, I suppose mentioning it's an XL650 would be a good idea. XL650.

I just converted my press over from "decap-only" mode, meaning I had a universal decapping die in stage 1, removed the plastic piece on the frame that indexes the priming wheel, and had nothing in any other spot on the tool head. Now I just switched everything back over to load 9mm, and I'm finding that my primers aren't being pushed in all the way. They're just barely entering the primer pocket. On the upstroke, the handle is going fully forward without any obstructions. So, I figure that the ram that seats the primer needs to be adjusted up. But, considering I've loaded 100k or so 9mm rounds on this press without ever having to adjust this, I'm hesitant to just assume this got out of adjustment somehow. Is there some other common cause for this that I should check into first? Thanks

It seems CO was originally just production with carry optics. Then they changed the round limit restriction, and it's in this awkward spot. My ideal CO would be the same rules as limited, but add a carry optic to it. Of course, I was this for selfish reasons, because I shoot a single action CZ and want to put a carry optic on it, and, in fact, carry it as such. Because I want to shoot what I carry and shoot it how I carry it, I can only put an optic on my CZ and shoot it in Open as the rules stand now. I obviously won't stand a chance against the people who bring their guns to the match inside a $200,000 Featherlite trailer.

I think there was only one time that I loaded more than 1,000 in a night. It was more to see if I could. I will typically go on reloading binges and then let the press sit for a while. So, I'll get a batch of 6-8,000 bullets shipped and then load them all over the course of a few weeks. Granted, we're talking 9mm, not rifle rounds here. I quite enjoy turning on some tunes, drinking some beers (scolding will be ignored), and grooving out on the press.

Thanks for the feedback. I understand a bit better now why things are the way they are. I'll just shoot in open, because I'm really shooting just to compete against myself, and the most important thing (for me) is to shoot what/how I carry.

As a USPSA shooter who shoots merely for the fun of it as well as more practice with my EDC gun, I'm curious about the rationale behind the rules of production and carry optics. Currently, I just shoot limited, because I shoot the gun I carry, and I carry it cocked and locked (CZ 85 Combat). I want to shoot carry optics, but in order to do so, I'd have to manually lower the hammer and take a double action first shot (no decocker). This, I do not ever want to do, so if I get a carry optic, I'll have to shoot in Open. What I cannot understand is what the logic is behind the rule for not being able to start cocked and locked. If I were shooting a striker fired gun, it'd essentially be cocked and unlocked. I'm not complaining about the rule; I truly just don't understand the thinking behind it. Can anyone explain why this restriction exists? I don't ever shoot my gun in double action, and it seems odd that I can't shoot it in its intended way in carry optics.

When I'm not loading ammo, I'm often outside working on my outdoor hobbies. My best tool in that part of life is a small Kubota backhoe. The model that I have had a handful of of common complaints that people talked about online. Those complaints: Plastic hood, fenders, and platform When stopping in reverse, the tractor would halt to a stop and the tractor would jerk quite a bit Unable to operate loader or backhoe at engine idle speed The next model of this tractor come out, Kubota proudly announced that they addressed these common complaints, and all were remedied. Kubota is clearly a much, much larger company than Dillon, and they make products that are much more complex. But, I put them in the same category as far as their quality among competitors. I realize that Kubota didn't issue recalls or offer fixes to the existing design (well, they did offer some for the plastic platform), but they still acknowledged and responded to the feedback they got, and they did so in the exact next model. I think this is fantastic. Dillon is completely silent about some problems, which while quite simple, cause a good deal of agita among many of its customers. This is what I find disappointing. I would happily buy fixes for these minor things. I love that they'll replace all the broken things for free, but can't they please address these minor design flaws that have been around for YEARS?

On my press, the ejector wire only gives me problems with .223. I can crank out thousands of 9mm without problem. I'll probably get a second ejector wire and bend it for .223. It's just a little disappointing that this is necessary. I haven't customized anything on my machine. I've pondered a few of the various gadgets out there, but I always hesitate to "improve" a design that has thousands of hours of engineering by many people in favor of something from some guy's basement. Granted, I realize that many mods out there aren't like this, but I just wanted to say that to illustrate my point. The spent primer and live primer issues are out-of-the-box design flaws. My best upgrade so far has been a broom and dustpan to sweep up the spent primers from all over my loading room.

The more I use my 650, which I've had for a few years now, the more I wish Dillon had a recall policy instead of its great warranty policy. I'd much rather pay for the thing that I broke, and just have Dillon dole out obvious fixes. The obvious ones being the spent primer system and the live primer catch. And then there is, of course, the ejection wire issue, where many, many cases get caught up, and if you don't move smoothly enough, you wind up breaking that cheap, plastic indexing ring. Yes, I realize there are after-market solutions to the primer issues, and I guess it's about time that I break down and get them, but the ejection wire is making me want to cut myself, or at least throw this press in the trash and get a different color machine.

I'm curious as to why a shot shell-specific press seems to be needed for reloading shot shells. What is different about the process that mandates a specific press, or is it just a matter of preference, since a dedicated machine surely makes the process easier? I currently have a progressive and a single stage press, and I just load pistol and rifle ammo now. But, getting into shot shell reloading is in my future, so I'm starting to look at presses. Note that I am just curious as to why, not trying to avoid getting a new press.

Thanks y'all. Dillon will be kind enough to send me another. "Hi. My ring indexer broke. Also, the return spring flew across my garage and I can't find it, and I also lost the spring that goes under the hammer thing." "We'll send you all three of these things." It's one thing to replace a broken part, but to also replace things that I LOST is just beyond awesome.

Last night I broke another ring indexer, and in the process of disassembling the press, I believe that I lost a spring or some other piece that goes in the main platform under the little hammer-shaped piece that advances the shell plate. I've attached a picture of the hammer thing along with the spare parts that I have. Can anyone tell me if I have what I need in this tray of spare parts? Thanks

I'm not one to customize pistols, other than maybe replacing the sights or something simple. But, I would like to +1 you on carrying what you shoot. I shoot an 85 Combat (effectively a 75B for carry purposes), and while it can get awkward at my office job and what not, I wouldn't want to carry something that I haven't shot thousands upon thousands of times. When I need a bit more concealment, I carry a CZ 2075 RAMI, which is what I use for IDPA BUG matches.

I started with a plain jane 75B and then later moved on to an 85C. One of the main reasons I went with that was that all my 75B stuff transfered over, and I essentially have a backup gun now that is identical enough to stand in for the other if necessary. There's a good deal of weak hand shooting in IDPA, which is my main focus, so I wanted the ambidextrous controls. And I also like saying, "No, it's not a 75B, it's an 85C," and seeing the confusion.

I find it hard to keep up, in spite of the how quickly I can manufacture ammo. Originally, I was just loading 9mm, and all in just one variety. Then got the point where I realized I needed to use jacketed bullets for reliable match ammo. Then I decided I needed to start loading .223. And now I have thoughts of .308 in my head. In spite of the swappable tool heads, I still tend to try to load in batches of at least 1,000 before switching to something else. But I have yet to be able to get ahead, and I keep having to switch gears. The real problem, if I should even call it that, is the limited amount of reloading time that remains in a middle-aged phase of life with a young family.

I have a surgery pending to get a jammed case out of my small base die tonight, and this was lubed with the One Shot. Perhaps you're onto something there.

Damn, I never thought about the fact that the resizing die is the only die that I have in the tool head, and this could lead to tilting. Thanks. I will try loading up all the holes in the head. I'm using Hornady One Shot case lube. I think that I subconsciously ordered the single stage press first before inquiring about this, since I've wanted an excuse to get a little utility/one-off operation press to have at my disposal.

I have the shell plate as tight as it can be while still being able to index properly, but I swear it wobbles more than it should. I do the resizing as its own step, and then gage everything. I was surprised by how many didn't resize properly. It could certainly be some other issue, but I'll wait to see what luck I have with this Rock Chucker when it comes.

I only recently got into reloading .223, after doing nothing but 9mm for a while. It seems to me that getting .223 to accurately and reliably resize on a progressive press isn't possible. I've resized about 1000 rounds on my Dillon 650, and then about 300 on a friend's Hornady Lock n Load progressive, and about 200 on a friend's single stage Hornady. Only on the single stage did all the brass gage and feed fine. I attribute the difference to the flex in shell plates. Hopefully my conclusion is right, because I just ordered an RCBS Rock Chucker single stage press to resize my .223. Has this experience been shared by others? Thanks

I will sometimes load up to 1,000 9mm at a time, but my solution was to get a whole bunch of primer pickup tubes and comfortably sit at my kitchen table filling them all while sipping some coffee. Then I can just keep the reloading groove going without the interruption of filling up tubes, regardless of the method. That's what is most important to me, not having to stop.

Wow, that is nuts!