[Finally Had Enough....]

I just load at work.  We had space in the lab area and an extra ESD table I used to mount the 650.  Climate controlled, and I load after work so I miss peak traffic time. If you have the means, I highly recommend it

[Once fired brass? Whos been around the longest without problems?]

The stuff I pay extra attention to are the nickel cases.  When I buy used brass and they are mixed in, I see a lot of split cases on the nickel ones.

[N320 xdm 5.25 .40 idpa ssp 180 OR 200gr]

thanks, that gives me a good on where to start.

My pleasure. Please report back in what you find with your XD. I'll report back in this thread once I have chrono results on the Bayou. I plan to shoot off a bench after that and see if there are any differences in group size between charges and bullet type.

[N320 xdm 5.25 .40 idpa ssp 180 OR 200gr]

thanks for the info, care to share your load?

I'm using 4.0gr VV N320 with Xtreme plated and Berry's plated with a 180gr. Gives me about 740FPS on average (you only need to hit 695FPS to make PF in IDPA). That's out of a Glock 35 which is only a tad longer than your 5.25" (5.31").

As always, work up the load and use a chrono.

I am experimenting with 3.8gr VVn320 with coated (Bayou) bullets and they "feel" the same but I have not had the chance to chrono them yet. Just wanted to see if they would cycle. But the recoil impulse felt almost identical. 3.6gr felt softer, but again I don't have velocity data yet. Probably in a month I will get time to setup and test some new loads.

I used to have a guy load 180gr moly coated with 3.5gr of titegroup for me and they were a little hotter so they could cycle the gun with stock springs. That was before I started loading myself - I will have to see if I can find any of his old stuff in the safe and chrono it next time I have it setup. But for me, the smoke was a turn off. The coated stuff doesn't smoke so that is a plus. I'm still playing with it though.

[N320 xdm 5.25 .40 idpa ssp 180 OR 200gr]

It's way too easy to make power factor in IDPA with 180gr, I wouldn't bother with the added expense of 200gr. I can still make minor power factor with 180gr plated and have problems with stock springs not cycling. They barely make it out, and often stovepipe. I had to go to 15# springs to get it to cycle properly (down from 17-18lb stock Glock springs).

Coated bullets are even easier than plated to get to minor PF.

IMHO 40 is a great round for IDPA since you can mouse fart the loads. Once you have a good recipe down, they are almost as soft as a 9mm but have the advantage taking steel down faster and leaving a bigger, cleaner hole than the 9mm.

[What do you consider acceptable accuracy?]

I am shooting minor loads with a 180gr with a fast burning powder (N320). It's easy to make minor for IDPA, but I am wondering is it better to push the bullets a little faster for better accuracy. I've been using plated bullets in a Glock 23 with pretty good success, but I am going to try out some Bayou bullets and see if there is an accuracy difference.

What are your thoughts on this? Will pushing to 800-850FPS tighten up the groups are make them spread out (I'm running a comfortable 750FPS now - similar to Atlanta Arms minor loads)?

Is plated or coated better for accuracy given the same velocity?

[.45 loads for 625 JM]

Really strange. I have been a little busy teaching, but I got some of the loads that didn't want to chamber well in the 625 and took them apart. Overall length was good, case length was good, and I touched the case head with a file, not removing any material, but just to clean up "dings" from the ejector. Turns out the crimp was fine for the 1911, but the cases weren't dropping all the way into the 625 chamber with the very little crimp I use for the 1911. GO figure...

I crimped the darn bullets about another 2-3 thousandths and no more problems. I till can't figure it out, the case length was 10-12 thousandths short of max length, and like I say, the 1911 like them really well. I think my 625 must have tight chambers and the 1911 loose chamber. Anyhow, mystery solved, and the 625 shoots like a house afire. With my luck the 1911 accuracy will go to pot with the tighter crimp. Haven't tried it yet.

Okay, so I had the same problem - well I guess worse.

At first I couldn't even get the cylinder to close half the time with the loads that worked fine with the 1911.

Atlanta Arms reloads wouldn't fit either

Tried 230gr Bayou bullets using brand new starline brass. Hit and miss. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Factory was TIGHT. Had to use the edge of a desk to extract the moonclip using my weight on the extractor.

Did a little reading and long story short I used a clymer finish reamer on the cylinder. I removed a scary amount of metal, but it functions without a problem now. Reloads are quick in ESR. But I did notice that it feels a lot softer now that I reamed the cylinder. I haven't chrono'd it yet, but I will say that before I reamed it I would get 50fps faster than a 5" wilson combat 1911. I suspect now it is equal or perhaps slower. Once I get the chrono setup I'll report back.

Until then my recipe was:

230gr Bayou with 5.2gr VV N320 - made 167PF

[wst in 45 acp]

You want to see smoke? Try Titegroup. All uncoated lead bullets smoke, but Titegroup takes it to a level that has to be seen to comprehend. WST is pretty low smoke, maybe not THE lowest, but it's in the low end of the spectrum.

I'll second that. Titegroup + Moly = Old Western Movie. My goodness that stuff smokes.

[USPS and beat up boxes]

I had a box that they just decided not to deliver. I finally got hold of a supervisor and they sent a guy out in a truck to deliver it 10 days later. The postal carrier said it was too heavy, so they just don't deliver it. Ugh...

[Latest gen Winchester 40SW casing tends to blow-up?]

None so far, but I've got a match tomorrow and now you are making me nervous

[What would the price point need to be for a machine that would sort 45]

If you have the time to process the brass without primers and then run it through again to load ammunition then your idea is very safe & conservative.

For personal use I don't feel the need to mechanically sort .45 large and small primer brass. Perhaps there aren't enough shooters around here yet with the mutant SPP brass?

I found about 150-200 out of 2200 of once fired brass I bought through Coloradooncefiredbrass.com. That's a pretty good percentage for what I have stumbled upon. I'll just save them and probably use them for the revolver once I have enough.

[What would the price point need to be for a machine that would sort 45]

I was thinking of just running my 45 through the press once (I have a case feeder) to size and decap only without primers. I'm new to reloading and I have run across a few SPP in my batch that I missed in the sort. I didn't pop any primers because I was going pretty slow, but I could definitely feel them before I seated the primer. I figured if I did it without the primers in the machine I would catch them 100% that way.

I'm really paranoid about popping a primer and I am going to be loading federal primers soon.

Comments on that idea?

[What to use/How to Clean]

I tried the Simple Green and it did very little improvement. The Orange GOJo cleaned the powder hopper and fed tube and got rid of all the discoloration. The problem with the Orange GoJo is that since it has grit in it, it scratch the plastic and now the plastic no longer has color to it, but is hazy with scratch marks.

I wonder if Fast Orange without the pumice would work the same without the scratches?

[Small primers in a .45 case?]

Out of 2200 once fired cases from coloradobrass (obtained in the last 2 months), I had over 100 so far that I have caught when sorting. I found about 10 so far while loading . The headstamps are from Blazer and Federal. I checked some of the Blazer brass 45ACP I have in the safe and they are indeed small pistol primers. These were not lead free. I think the Federal American Eagle stuff may also be SPP