chuckols

Like 'em all and have used some of each from time-to-time when I run a new bullet/powder combo for the first time.

Are you loading for practice and fun or eventually for competition? In any case I'd start on the fun side: go on line and copy and print the loading tables of Hodgdon Powders http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/ to give you an idea on load possibilities for the round you want to start with. They guide you on OAL and powder choices. browse a Lyman Reload Manual at your gun shop or show if available. I use it, online data and the forum to scope anything new I want to try. Clean some brass and make 20 rounds of whatever bullet you like- cheap and great for practice are Xtreme Bullets-plated and no shipping costs. Can buy as little as 250 at a pop. Everyone has favorites but for practice keep the bullet cost down to 8-12cents-doable if you shop 9mm or 40 cal S/W. Outside of these popular calibers you get pricey real fast. I always make dummy rounds(MT case, bullet, no powder, no primer) the first time I make a new bullet combo on an established case size. A case gauge is critical but the acid test for chamber and slide extraction is to run the dummies with mags through the cycles of load and extract by hand. If you don't have a chrono yet don't worry. Stay safe and go slow. Start on the low side of the load specs for powder, get the OAL right, the crimp issue can show up in the case gauge or the dummy tests and then shoot 'em on the range. You'll learn that you can make rounds that have the recoil and feel that you come to like and appreciate. Very subjective stuff. Plenty of Forum ideas but as said above.."everyone likes their's BEST.w/a grain of sale and patience you'll find what floats your boat. Don't over think the matter but be careful and create good habits for safety and common sense aspects. Have fun !! Chuck

BSeevers has it right. Take it outdoors on private property outside of town where you are allowed to legally discharge firearms. Shoot against an earthen embankment or hill and take along friends to work with you to install safety of actions and help in your work. Natural sunlight is perfect for Chrono ops while inside work has to avoid fluorescent lighting. My oldest son and I found that using an indoor range was a pain with setup, halogen lighting and those around you(shut down the range for setup/takedown, etc). A real pain at our Range! We are going back Outside to do our work on reloads when Spring arrives in Roswell, Ga. Luck! Chuck

No waste. No reason why you can't reuse them that I know of. If I've damaged the case, I will deprime and reuse the primer, since I know what it is. Scavanged range ammo, though, is iffy, since the provenance is not known. Just be very careful depriming. I've never heard of one going off, but appropriate precautions seem reasonable. How do they ship? I reclaim primers from reloads that do not pass final inspection in any way. MT out the primer catch pot and after depriming inspect them and discard any that have any deformation or look other than new to you. They are only 4 cents each so go figure. Chuck

How much money do you have? How much time do you have when its time to reload? How long has it taken you to find components? There are lots of other ?'s I can throw out but the controlling factor for the past little time has been the last one. You buy it when U find it and can afford it and you try to stay ahead of it. THAT is the controlling ? of the three posed. Answer that and you have a start on your solution. I have mine. I run 10K per year total of 2 calibers. I now have stock of components that allow reloading for about 18 months of usage based on the most critical(hardest to find ) components(POWDER) and a little as 3-5 months of the less critical(easiest to find) items(plated Bullets). Spent brass is not on the screen as a concern. I recycle them. My answer fits me. It probably fits no one else. So be it. Peace and have fun. I treasure the joy that you and your son get from enjoying the hobby together! Chuck

No! The space that 5000 primers in proper packaging will require is nothing compared to the downside you offer!

The 10' rule between the muzzle of the firearm and the Chron is a means that avoids affecting the light intensity aeen by the Chrono mirrors. Muzzle blast(light source) is the issue. Too close and your data may be badly distorted as the mirrors vision can be erroneously affected by the light input from the blast. The mirrors on each end are used to measure the time between entry/exit of the passing bullet. If you shoot really high over the Chron you run the risk of best detection of the passing projectile. If you want your data to be internally consistent(relatable from shoot to shoot) then you should try to always do things in the same manner-take a tape and measure it if you wish is one example. Shoot in the center, use the same distances for setup and try to always provide good ambient lighting for tests. Light quality(source) is critical to good Chron performance. Sunlight is the best source of full spectrum light but avoid glare. Shade the unit so it has an uninterrupted ambient light source. When you operate indoors then incandescent is the best with fluorescent a NO No!! The flicker rater is a disturbance to the mirror reading. If you have overhead can lights indoors then set the unit so the mirror does not look AT the source but sees only a diffused empty lighted objective area. I put a piece of paper over the forks (canopy). Remember, the Chrono is measuring the time that the projectile takes to pass over the inlet and outlet mirrors, The bullet can be seen by the mirrors as a change in light intensity(shadow?) and the time delta is the input for the software to calculate the bullet velocity and all the other stats the system provides for a string of identical rounds being tested against one-another to measure the volatility of their velocity.

I like all the recommendations and in particular this item of prewash: I use a Lyman 1200 Pro Tumbler because I only tumble 3+ pounds of walnut media with 300-400 dirty rounds(9 or 40). A capful of NuFinish drizzled in the media on every 2nd or 3 batch of brass is dispersed well before dumping in dirty brass. Does wonderful polish job. Run it for 1-2 hrs and DONE!!!

Great and thanks, Chuck

Agree--fluorescent are out. They have a flicker rate that fouls up the sensors and they see strange objects. Indoor we provide background room lighting that avoids the sensor staring into a bright incandescent light source. Overhead cans w/65 watt bulbs, out of the line of sight of the sensors, worked well using a Ruger 10/22 test 22LR ammo. We had a 22LR catch target system from WalMart that worked just fine. No ricochets escaped the system. I am going to be doing some Chrono work at my local range in January and I will use a halogen work light to provide a solid light indoor light source for the sensors. The normal range fluorescence lighting will be turned off where they can be detected by the sensors. Hope this helps. Keep it simple. Have fun. Don't shoot the Chrono!!! Chuck

Well said! Blessed was I.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/121081/storm-lake-conversion-barrel-glock-23-40-s-and-w-to-9mm-luger-1-in-16-twist-402-stainless-steel This link will take you to MidWay's clearance sale of Storm Lake conversion barrels. I have Storm's 9mm for the Glock 22 model and I find it an accurate and fun barrel to extend the use of the handgun in a second caliber round. The only shortfall in this conversion was that the heavier slide of the G-22 (that matches the recoil power of a 40 round) requires another 0.2 grains or so of Titegroup in the 9mm rounds to boost the recoil energy output. That avoids "failures to extract and /or eject" FTE/E. I had no FTE/E problems with Storms 9mm conversion for my wife's Glock 23. It handled all my reloaded ammo flawlessly. Lighter slide I concluded and less recoil power required. I am also opining whether I will buy a 357 Sig conversion barrel for that same G-22. It means a new caliber set for the Dillon 550 etc. By the way, load date is not plentiful for the 357 SIG in 115 and 124 plated bullets. Any advice on this matter? Thanks Merry Christmas, Chuck

Sarge has it right I believe. I use a B & D screw gun, chuck in the Hornady small reamer and ream ~ 300 an hour. You can get the feel pretty quickly; I recall I deprimed and reamed a 500 case batch of 9mm in 2+ hours. I only had a few brass primer loading rejects that needed another soft touch of the reamer. Quick learning curve I found though the whole process is a big pain...! I avoid 9mm Mil brass going forward--no idea about 223 etc.. Chuck.

Did U ever get a reply to UR load data ?. I need same info ! Thanks, Chuck

#12 Carl02 Have U run any of the Xtreme plate Bullets? If not I recommend them to be tried. 15% discount sale and free shipping currently. Chuck

Glock! I had a 9mm last month. Lucky that it goy stuck just out of cahamber: removed barrel fom the frame grabbed a wooden dowel long enuf to insert from front end of barrel drove it back out the chamber end alll done aok with that metal jacket stuck u seems like using a dowel of nearly bsame as barrel ill do the job as well. Luck!! Chuck

I have a Black & Decker Workmate that I used as a central worktable in my shop area. When the idea to reload came up, my elder son and I looked everything over about the shop area and concluded that the work table would work fine for the reloader(550) if I supported the 3/4" plywood top with a heavier(2x6) under support at the Workmate clamp mouth, provided for "proud" trim lip around the table (table is 4'x4') to keep ammo cases and such from rolling off and also installed a beefed up connector platform on the top where the Dillon Strong Mount would bolt down. This all did not take too much as I have all the tools and stuff as I work with wood all the time. Voila, I have been operating since mid-May, have run approx 9000 rounds of 9mm and 40 SW and I have no trouble with stability. I stand to operate the press with the shell plate at a level of 42" from floor level and the surface of the work bench at 32" height. Holler if you need more info. The entire operation is very solid but I would not be happy if I had not used the Strong Mount. Be sure to buy one with the press along with the new operating handle. I have the straight one with a knob and its OK but a handle would be better. Chuck

This seems crazy to me also. I get orders shipped NEXT DAY of in stock items from Xtreme Bullets, Midway USA, Mid South Shooters and Weidner's Reloading. Chuck

Since you are looking for good quality and price for plated bullets I would check out Xtreme Bullets http://www.xtremebullets.com/ They have 9mm 147 gr RN right now for about $50 per 500 w/free shipping. I have bought quite a few bullets from them over recent months and I couldn't be better pleased. They are FAST and user friendly. Their stock this instant seems to be only 3 bags though. Check it out!! Chuck

Found one Walmart in Metro Atlanta that has the bottom 2/3rd's of ammo case over half full. Cant recall when I have seen that phenomenon before in several years.

Art I agree with the several comments to get right with Winchester ASAP with all the pictures and hard data you can lay hands on. I would think and expect as a minimum that they will have a Company rep visit you directly in short order. This sounds like a major issue for the Company's quality control systems. Fortunately, no one has received any serious injuries from these incidents. For me I am going to tighten up my range safety habits in case I experience what you guys went through. Thanks for the heads up! Chuck

We have since Chronographed these 40 S&W reloads: On above specs for the 5.5 grn Win 231 powder load, the recorded results are on a 10 round string are lo 967; hi 1004; avg 986; avg=37.4; SDev = 12.6switched to Tight Groups 4.6 grns 10 round string: lo 930 lo; 952 hi; avg 943; xtreme var 21; SDev 8.83 TG 4.3 grns 10 round string: lo=893; hi=933; avg=893; Xtreme 40; SDev =13.1 CONCLUSIONS: Stability not an issue. Round nose 180 gr tearing thin target papers with no cardboard backing. The FN 180 did not have that problem. Regards, Chuck

MainlineSteveI like your ideas on strictures for brass consistency on tests for accuracy. In that way you would be eliminating that variable and are left with several others that seem even more important to accuracy: bullet configuration, powder load, COAL and perhaps crimp (presuming range testing indoors where environmental factors do not play largely). We'll start using that as a criteria when I would otherwise randomly choose 20-30 rounds of a new production (reload) scheme (new bullet type or change in powder levels). I will be interested to see if I can reduce the volatility of performance measures(accuracy, velocity SD, etc..). Interesting! Chuck

varminter22Nica Nica I like that SD and that low grain load! The FPS would suggest a soft recoil as well in your barrel length! Agree?. Chuck

Steve It's in your blood! Great place to be. Chuck