DoBell
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Posts posted by DoBell
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That's a beautiful gun, but...man, that $4,000 could sure go towards something else.
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I just bought dirty .40 brass on amazon for a little over 3 cents each. Usually it costs a little more if its tumbled.
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Grafs has 2 different Vectan pistol powders in stock right now--no experience with that powder but if you need some, it looks like its in stock.
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If you have 1.5# titegroup, you're set for a little while--it'll get you started. I like bayou bullets or Blue bullets--coated lead bullets that shoot quite cleanly with titegroup.
Get the Lee U die and you can shoot glocked brass with no problems.
I like 4.3 gr titegroup 1.155 oal in my glock--you can probably load longer in your gun. That's 175 pf in my gun. 180 grain bullets.
Blue bullets and Bayou bullets are cheap and you can buy sample packs.
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I check every 50 rounds or so, but it never varies by more than .2 grains so it's probably not really necessary. This is on a lee turret press so it's not like I'm interrupting the loading process much to check real quick.
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I'll be of some limited help: I shoot Bayou bullets and Blue bullets in .40 and 9mm. With titegroup, coated bullets are pretty clean to shoot and are very accurate. Every time I try a jacketed bullet, I always go back to coated lead, whether they're Blue or Bayou.
Personally, I enjoy shooting coated lead bullets because they're clean and accurate, and inexpensive. They're also good conversation starters at the range with folks who have never seen bright blue bullets, let alone bright blue bullets going into a 9mm open gun.
As far as differences, pros/cons between the different coatings, I have none. I just know the 2 brands I shoot are clean to load, clean to shoot, and work nicely. Plus, you can order sample packs of them and try small batches.
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I could be wrong, but I thought they were the same die.
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The Lee turret press was my first choice when I started reloading. I've loaded about 15,000 rounds on it and it's still going strong. At some point, I'll buy a better press, but on a budget, it was a great choice.
It's obviously slower than a progressive press but very easy to set up. I can load about 100 rounds an hour, which is fast enough for my taste for now.
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I definitely like how titegroup smells, can't say it reminds me of baby powder but it's pleasant.
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I'm not sure why the seating depth is becoming inconsistent. I load 9mm and 40 until something is visually wrong with the case. For 9mm, I've got about 2000 cases that are on their 12th load and they still run just fine (not loading major power factor).
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It's a good price for sure. The hazmat fee should be the same $28.50 whether you buy 1 pound or 10 (up to their limit, whatever that is). That's why buying powder online becomes much more reasonable if you're willing to buy in larger quantities.
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I hadn't heard of that powder until the other day, and now I'm intrigued. It would be pretty fun to try something new.
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Building up a surplus of powder and other supplies isn't hoarding, it's smart and it's the only way to shoot as much as I like to shoot. Plus, if another disaster happens down the line and supplies tighten up again, I'll still be able to shoot for a while. It's not always hoarding, it's just thinking ahead.
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Mine is inside on a hardwood floor in the breakfast nook, the best lit part of the house and the nicest view. Makes reloading much more fun. If you have it on carpet, a barrier of some sort over the carpet would be good so you don't have to vacuum spilled powder.
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Titegroup is a great powder for this combo, everyone will say it smokes a lot and it will with lead, but if you're using coated lead bullets like Bayou's the smoke will be minimal.
For 180gr lead FP:
3.6 gr titegroup at 1.135 oal is soft shooting through my G22 KKM barrel.
4.5 gr titegroup at 1.135 oal should be major or close to it, but I don't have a chrono.
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My favorite powder with my 9mm XDm was titegroup. Accurate #7 is great also, but I like titegroup enough to stick with it. 3.5 gr with a 124gr Bayou Bullet is a soft shooting round.
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Like others have said, I have carbide dies and didn't lube for quite a while, but now that I've tried One Shot, I'll never go without it again. The bag trick works great, the cases are easier to size, and I just tumble the rounds for a few minutes afterwards to remove the lube.
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I experiment until I find something that works well, then load that until a supply issue makes me start experimenting again. Since I only have one press for 2 calibers I tend to load several thousand rounds at a time before switching dies so I like having one reliable load that I like so I can just crank them out and know they'll shoot exactly how I want them to.
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Thanks to grafs finally filling a back order, and Precision Reloading having some stock, I now have 5# titegroup and 5# HS-6. I officially don't feel desperate for powder anymore! That's nearly 2 years of powder for me.
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I'm loading 9mm brass that's on it's 10th load or more, and they're still going strong. I've had one case split in the last 12,000 loaded. I just take my time after I tumble the brass and inspect every piece before it goes back in the bucket.
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District Forester for the Texas A&M Forest Service, supervising 6 wildland firefighters covering 3 counties in the Pineywoods of southeast Texas. Also provide technical forestry assistance to private landowners.
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Mine is in my breakfast nook...I live alone, and it's a nice, well-lit place to have it. Climate controlled and near a door in case I need to make a quick exit.
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Ordered a couple 1lb jugs of HS6, thanks for the tip on Precision Reloading. I hadn't heard of them before.
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I just have limited experience with jacketed bullets, but my experience has been that bayous are more accurate than fmj's of equal weight. But that's just what I've experienced in shooting 14,000 bayous and 1,000 precision delta fmj's.
I'm not a great shooter and haven't shot a lot, but I personally think coated bullets are plenty accurate.
Bayou Bullets ok at minor levels in a comped gun like the Steelmaster?
in 9mm/38 Caliber
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Don't know about the 135's but bayou's 124 grain round nose bullets work great at about 1400 fps in my open gun. No problems at all.