gasbag

I am in the kitchen at the moment. I am surrounded by 47 knives. Does that count? I would certainly hate to not have a "man" card.

I'm not a police officer but I know more than any of them could about their job <insert sarcasm smilie here>.

I think the shortages will continue on for some time for one reason: People will see what they want showing up on the shelves and buy it immediately, buy more than they need and continue to buy it because they don't want to get caught short again. That will extend the shortages, which will extend the buying, which will extend the shortages, which will ex.............................but I digress.

I am another one that has gone to a hand primer. It gives me positive feedback when seating and if it does end up being high I see it immediately and can seat it properly. A hand primer reduced my high primers by 90%. 100% if you count the fact that I can reseat a high one before I put it on the press and load it.

It has taught me to put my guns away until this nonsense is over. It is no longer worth the hassle. I have around 7,000 rounds made and everything is cleaned and in top condition. The rest is stored away. I go fondle my Dillon about twice a week. My 1911 a bit more. I ain't using any of it until these idiots put their credit cards away and stop causing their own shortages. My motorcycle needs some miles put on it, my pooches want to play and my grass needs mowing. Life goes on. Oh yeah, I have a wife around here somewhere too..........................

It will continue until people stop buying everything they can whether they need it or not. Ammo is starting to show up but people are grabbing it as soon as it hits the shelves. Cabelas has a line of about 50 people every morning just waiting for them to open. They run up to the gun dept. and grab all the newly stocked ammo off the shelves. The salesman says it is mostly the same people each day. They don't need the ammo, they just need to "win". It's not all the manufacturers and dealers. Idiots like that are just as much at fault.

I have a Miller Millermatic 135 wire feed........120 volt so I can use house current. When I was young and studly I was welding for a living so I became rather good at it. This little Miller is an excellent machine. I have used it for everything from repairing body panels to 1/4" plate. The welds are clean and strong. It can also be set up to weld aluminum. I use a 75% argon 25% CO2 mix. It has been a very useful tool around my home. The above is just my opinion. I am sure others have differing views.

I have worn the same underwear for 11 years now. Well, I think I am still wearing them...............

Yelling at them won't make the situation go away. Dillon is the best company of any kind I have done business with and I can guarantee you they are doing the best they can and a lot better than most. Give them a break. I got through last week by phone. I just stuck the phone on speaker and loaded some rounds while waiting. I ordered my stuff. I was happy, they were happy-------but very busy.

I am using a little Hornady GS 1500. It is battery powered and comes with a calibration weight. It also has a tare weight button to zero the scale out if you change powder pans. I use the one that came with my Dillon beam scale. Best of all it doesn't take up much room. I bought it to double check my balance scale. It turns out to be so darn easy to use it is the one I use most now and check it with the balance scale. It is faster and it saves me a bit of time. I don't know how long the batteries last but I change them once a week just for the heck of it. It takes two AAA's. I really like the little thing and for $30 I think it is a great scale.

Hello again, Just thought I would report back and let those who advised me know that everything is good now. I just got back from the range and everything worked perfectly. I am a happy guy. I ended up using .970 OAL with 3.0 grains of 231. The bullet is a RN TMJ. I also bought a Hornady electronic scale, the smaller portable one, to check my balance scale or actually check them to each other. I have always worried about getting the correct load. Since I am new..............I worry a bit. Next step is getting the chrony, probably next week. Thanks for the advice, it is appreciated. I have no one here to help learn from so I am trying to teach myself and suck off you guys.

I have an SDB and my OAL is consistant within +/- .003 range in all my pistol calibers. I occasionally get an oddball but then I remember who is working the press. I just make sure I stroke the handle from limit to limit at a consistant speed. I am fairly new to this but I was thrilled with .003.

Things are picking up here. I am not a competition shooter so I don't need a lot but I just received 4000 .40cal bullets from my supplier in Florida and just bought 3000 small pistol primers at my LGS today. All at the normal price. I hope all these panic buyers are happy with the shortages they caused. I also hope they are out of money.

I am going to check into chronos this weekend and talk to a few of the guys at the club and hopefully they can lead me to one that is adequate for my needs. My original post was just to help me find out what went wrong and maybe how to adjust things. I found the Hodgdon site for loads and will use what they are recommending for a start. It is different from my info and from what Too_Slow stated it is probably more accurate. I have a lot to learn but I am reticent to ask a lot of questions for fear of sounding like an idiot and boring a lot of good shooters with newbie questions. I think I have done very well up until this problem. Or been very lucky maybe. I just had no idea where to start as I hadn't experienced this problem before. Thanks for the advice. Have a good day. gasbag

Thank you for both of your responses. I appreciate it. Since you both agree on the light load, and it felt like a light load when I shot it, I will change things accordingly. I get my info from my Lyman book, 49th edition, which I have used for my other calibers. That is why I started at 2.5. I have no one where I live to help me so I rely completely on the books I have and of course this forum which I just discovered a few weeks ago. I may be misreading things or even using the wrong chart but it is what I found that corresponds to what I am doing. Like I said, I am basically teaching myself and am always leaning towards the side of caution. There is a huge amount I do not know and am trying to learn without enveloping myself in a mushroom cloud of gunpowder. I will try another 5 rounds at 3 grains and see how it goes on Monday. What you both stated and how the pistol felt sounds like a low charge is it. The reason I mentioned the crimp as a possible problem is because getting the proper crimp is the most difficult stage for me. How it is described in the Dillon instructions doesn't work for me. Finding the point of resistance when adjusting the die is very difficult. I ended up with a very over-crimped cartridge the first time. I went back and slowly adjusted, crimped, adjusted, crimped etc. until it was correct. Thanks again for the help. It is appreciated. Have a good day. gasbag