chuckols

Just started a run of 45ACP on Dillon 550B. Went to case lube to smooth out ops. Liked it immensely. Neat!! Tried your tumbler ideas using corn cob grit from Wal Mart ( that is very large mesh size ) and it cleaned up a tray of 50 reloads in 5 minutes of tumble. I switched from walnut media to this grade of corn cub last week for general brass cleaning to try and avoid the dusting of walnut media (inherent fines). I found it did a very nice cleaning job inside and polishing outside with Nu Polish in same time or less than Walnut. So I went back and re polished 1500 cases of 45 ACP with 1-2 hour batch tumbles to get a brighter finish than with walnut.

I have only been reloading about 15 months(12K of several calibers) and I have tried quite a few options that happened to work pretty well for myself: 1. MT ammo boxes from commercial ammo picked up at the range with box and plastic trays intact. I have scads of these. 2. MidWay 50 and 100 round plastic boxes. Also use boxes you would use for spare parts to store odds and ends of pulled bullets, recovered primers, etc.. 3. 30 and 50 cal ammo cans for bulk of 1000 or more of a given production lot. 4. MT coffee cans 5. Plastic boxes from WalMart to hold cleaned brass (~300 per box) that I have cleaned or reamed or what ever to keep them apart from my large cartons of clean brass ready for normal practice reloads. Avery labels on everything to include date; primer; bullet type(I have a coded system to keep it simple for me); and grains of loaded powder by name(TightGroup- load all now with this powder). I keep a log on production that records all the specifics of measures of date, bullet, powder load, primer, OAL and crimp and any Chrono data I gather. All production data gets eventually put into spread sheets specific for each caliber. What ever floats the boat seems to best appear on the surface after you try lots of ways and find those that suit your needs best. Since my shooting is currently done at the range only the 50 and 100 round boxes are convenient to load up, handle and easily record the ammo expenditiures, etc.. Peace, Chuck

Sounds like you are way ahead of myself here in Atlanta Georgia Area. Wish I had your acreage! C'est la vie!! Congrats!! Chuck

Oh and PS based on earlier post! I keep the weapons(hand guns and rifles) away- away from the reloading room. I do this for both safety and security issues. If they(bad GUYS) break in they can easily steal my ammo and components but the hardware is safe elsewhere and it will take them time to find them. Time is a rare commodity of a thief !!! Chuck

Compliments. Your cabinetry skills are spot on! The wood looked to us Southerners more like Cypress that Pine but you called it !! You are to be congratulated for all the time/energy put into this great Man Cave project. Chuck

BeerBaron Great response!

I have noticed the same from time-to-time. I am going to try a little case lub on a caliber when it pops up again and see if that remedies the issue. Mainly seen on 40 and 45 calibers, Thanks for mentioning the issue. Chuck

I think danman00 has put his finger on the problem Chuck

YEP! Use mine all the time after the range shoot. Love those baskets! Chuck

Wingnut: For indoors operation of Chrono we have a little experience: Chronos will not operate properly if the light source is fluorescent as the flicker rate of that light screws up the readings-the chron uses the time break of the light intensity between the initial and exit lenses lens ( the bullet breaks the light intensity as it speeds past both lenses)(the onboard computer does the velocity and statistical calculations.). Use LED or overhead incandescent lighting but you must shadow the light source so you don't have direct light on the lenses. Diffused reflected light-ambient bounce light is best. I lay a sheet of tissue paper over the ears that support the diffusers(if your model is built like that) so the bullet passing through the goal posts travels in a wash of diffused light of constant intensity. Outdoors you have the problem of too much light usually; on a sunny day I may have to cover over the diffusers to stop direct sun rays impinging the lenses. Hope this helps. Luck, Chuck

Adam: I have been reloading only for 17 months on my Dillon 550B but I have canned 21,000 rounds: heavy on 9mm and 40 and light on 45 and 357 SIG. The problems you mentioned on the " Zero 9mm 147 JHP bullets" were what I encountered when I tried to use the normal 115 gr 9mm on the 357Sig case. The bottle neck case is a real dozie to resize and crimp properly because you don't have much straight side wall to work with and still get the OAL down to the specs -in this case of 1.140". The point here is that it took a bullet especially made for 357SIG use(std 9mm's wont cut it). I found an inexpensive solution to be a Berry special 357 bullet that has a hollowed out interior from the base to enable them to provide a longer straight side as a % of the total bullet length so you can get the OAL down to spec and still have enough straight side to provide for tension of the crimp-that holds the bullet in place and prevents bullet from falling/or being pushed into the case. Long story short- and I think it relates to your issue-if you have no problem with your system and brass on 9mm except the 147 grain you mentioned then I would suspect the bullet geometry is putting you into a very small zone of application that requires the right resizing AND crimp to ensure good bullet retention. Try switching -using all your standard setting etc., -to any other grain 9mm, the heavier the better as the heavier bullets get a bit longer and edge one into this "straight wall" zone to which I refer. Probably telling you more then I know but that's how I saw and resolved my SIG issue and now with the right bullet in stock I find the SIG is no more difficult than any other round I have tackled. OH yes, I nearly forgot. It was critical that I bell the case NO MORE than I absolutely needed to set the bullet by hand for the #3 die to set the OAL desired. Over belling got me back into TROUBLE on "fall through" and "push back". The "kerplunk" test keeps you from under crimping as it warns you of chambering issues from that regard. Luck, Chuck

Thoughts: The OAL looks right at 1.125-27" Crimp should be in range of 0.423-0.425" from my experience. Sizing die-check your setup for full and adequate resizing Crimp-same; I would make some dummies and start w/lightest crimp and gradually increase it checking each dummy for push back and "kerplunk"test. Pull the bullets to check the condition of the pulled bullet side faces. When U get pass on push back & kerplunk your pulled bullets should only show minor line, NO BULGE!. O/W I'd go with thought you have oversized bullets. Seems it would be hard to be having a problem with oversized brass unless you just hit a streak where it dominates your range mix on pickup. Luck Chuck

I have tried and done most of those items suggested but I find that the real test is the "kerplunk" test mentioned on the Forum several times recently. That is the "acid test" as I understand it: When I am setting up the Dillon 550B for a new caliber for the first time I make dummy rounds of the bullet and case w/o powder or primer. That means you must have resized(not essential to deprime), belled and seated the bullet, Having gotten the AOL after seating the bullet in line then I go to the task of setting crimp. I start with no crimp at all essentially to make the point. If you drop a dummy test round into the chamber of the barrel and the crimp is just right the "kerplunK" sound tells you that the round meets no resistance to a gravity fall into the chamber . I use a barrel of the proper caliber from one of my Glocks as the gauge for this test. If there is inadequate crimp(or no crimp) the round will not seat in the chamber. It will stand out an obvious bit. Then I add a "titch" of crimp on the #4 Dillon 550B station, recrimp that dummy round directly and then test the drop again. Sneaking up on the "kerplunk" for the first time is preferred so you don't get into over crimp. When you think you have the crimp right them pull the bullet and there should be no discernable marks on the side wall of the bullet. That's perfection. A line in the surface of the bullet at the neck of the case is something I have been warned to avoid- this is over crimp as I understand it. It can adversely affect accuracy and other measures above my pay grade. If you feel like you have over crimped the round then make another dummy and back off the crimp on the #4 station(a tiny fraction of reverse threading from the die). A combination of "kerplunk" tests and pulling the bullets to inspect for marring of the bullet sides can be achieved pretty quickly in practice. Cheers, hope this helps as it is simply a pass along from others who passed it to me. I find the technique works fine and its pretty simple. Chuck

When I've had trouble finding brass wherever its been thrown outside I found that if I worked on a big tarp laid out to catch the brass then I caught most and at last knew about where to look from their fall pattern on the tarp. Old bed spreads, tarps-anything that's not hazardous underfoot or gets in the way of ur fun. 2Cents worth.. The kids will not find it nearly as much fun...with brass there is no ferrous to excite a magnet so U have to use your eyes, toes, hands/knees etc.. I sure wish I had a place like that all the time to practice...be much more fun that a durn indoor range! Peace and Joy, Chuck

Shucks I just started reloading a year ago with my Dillon 550B and now I do 4 calibers on the one machine: 9, 40, 45ACP and 357 Sig . My volume is not that great--maybe 10K + a year, hard to tell, the volume keeping climbing 'cause I am having so much fun. The 357 Sig run(the first time) was a real event..what a monster to get ur hands around-finally broke the code. Sounds like we all just do what we gotta do and we're having fun in the process. Three cheers for Freedom! Chuck

jriv9I just happened to have been on a web site today that you might find useful. I point you to their FAQ's. My suggestion: "If unbroken, leave it alone; buy lead bullets made by the pros" which is a possible conclusion after you have read the areas to which this link direct: http://www.missouribullet.com/technical.php%C2'> This info is from Missouri Bullet Company. I am not intending to be a wise guy or anything like that but I just read this article today and I think it is spot on to your questions. I hope this may help is some small ways. Regards, Chuck

I have run CCI, Federal, Winchester and Wolf over 10K or so of 9MM, 40S&W and 45ACP and have no real problems with any of them. I have to admit that the only real issue I have had with primers is weeding out the 9mm mil crimps that require the primer pockets to be ( hand )reamed to enable a neat press fit of the new primer. Once I defined the problem I got help in solving that beaut. I avoid military range brass when I see it. Chuck

You can buy a sorting tray for 9mm only or a set of three of 9mm, 40 cal and 45 cal. Check MidwayUSA. I use them for sorting all my range brass pickups. The 380 gets caught in the 9mm sort and is a bit of an issue here and and there but I have learned how to detect it running the Dillon 550B on 9mm. The first stage deprime stroke is very sort-softer than a 9mm case. I catch them that way before repriming etc.. O/W I can occasionally note the difference in length etc. Chuck

Shooters Source: http://www.theshooterssource.com/brass-c-51.html Chuck

Midway has CCI primers on sale at 10% discount. Chuck

Just a flash to those that have an S&W Governor or a Taurus Judge...I found the new moonclips to be a real pain but my pain did not last long. I found this site where Clint Walker has the moonclip tool for $40 and 6 and 2 round clip-paks; you will note these on his order form: http://mooncliptool.com/Mooncliptool%20Order%20Form.pdf The tool takes 100% of the effort out of loading rounds or unloading spent brass to and from the moonclips. The learning curve is just a few minutes and you'll be reloading 6 rounds in less than 30 secs and removing spent brass in the same time frame. W/O this invention there would be little fun in practicing with the guns that feature moonclips to allow the loading of a sub caliber round in the larger chambers. I would think gun dealers would use this loader/unloader tool as a point of sales advantage. IMHO, Chuck

Spot on Razorfish, same here in my opinion. The real test is to complete the reloading of a round and check gage with an MT barrel or your case gage. If it drops in w/o resistance- neatly with a "plunk" - then you are sized properly and the crimp is OK as well or it would be the wide spot on the case and prevent a neat "plunk" drop. { Now this will presume you have already tested and set the powder drop and "bell" in #2, the OAL in stage #3 and the crimp in #4}. Chuck

I found that by getting on Widener's email notification list that I set myself up(luckily) to get Titegroup last year: 4 # 8/21 and 8# 10/16 when I could find no powder anywhere. In 2013 I had been getting SP primers from MidWay but it dried up late last year and I had to rely on Widener's, again thru email notification: WOLF SPP 5K 10/16 ; WOLF LPP 2/26 3K. They still have most WOLF's in current stock, the cheapest around. I find Wolf to be the same quality as CCI and Federal(impossible to find) though I know many feel Wolf are of inferior quality. I guess it comes down to luck, patience and time to get anything like this but Widener's email notification system, unlike some others, does seem to work. A further point of info is that I walk thru WalMart sporting (several) every several weeks and I can comment that there are plenty of rifle and shotgun ammo's available but rarely any 9mm lean amounts of 40 S/W, 38's and 45's. It looks to me like the ammo market is tightening up again though not to the extent as before. The range that I use has plenty of all ammo in 1K lots as both reloaded and commercial new as ranges have priority on the market I am told. Cheers, Chuck

Check the Hodgden website for most of your powder data!

Careless people do dumb things and auctions are where the misinformed really get burned. They are not to be admired or mimicked. Shows what can happen in an economy where too much money is chasing too few goods. Many did the same in the last several years buying anything related to firearms. So firearms related things are just a good example we all understand and an example of what NOT to do if we get a sharp spike in nationwide inflation of all goods etc. There is a pearl somewhere in that pile of .... SAD! We should be better stewards than that! I side with Outerlimits!! Chuck