JohnnyD

Reloading 800-1000 rounds a month on my Lee Turret has become one hell of a chore. I have been saving each paycheck just a lil and will be getting the 650 with case feeder come mid December. The worst is middle of summer and winter in my garage trying to crank out ammo. I've also talked with the wife and will be able to move my reloading stuff indoors once I get my Dillon as well

Pretty sure all of the PRP triggers will move you to ESP. The kits include an aftermarket trigger that has a visable stop.

I run across it almost every time I sort through brass after shooting even if I only have 100 cases. Everyone gets through in the scrap bucket with the AMERC.

I actually got my wifes blessing quite easily...especially after I told her I want to get a 650 after being out in the hot garage for several hours pulling the handle on my turret press 1600 times to get 400 rounds of ammo. I told her it would be around $800 (I already have dies and other gear) and she's like oh okay...as long as you don't put it on the credit card. Been putting away some money every paycheck...So I'm a few months away from having a 650 for an early Birthday/Xmas present to myself

I have been using the Orange D-Lead soap now after shooting, reloading, casting and handling ammo/guns. It cleans the grime off well not sure about lead...I hope it works as claims.

Hmmm guess I'd have to get lucky and find one. I like the all steel weight with a good trigger. I've shot 9mm 1911's and they intrigued me but the relabilty seems a lil iffy and I like the double stack feel more. Thanks

So last night at USPSA practice I got to handle and dry fire a Witness Match in 9mm. Felt really good in my hands, decent stock trigger, etc. Buds/EAA website has all of the calibers listed at 44oz...how accurate is this? Is it easy enough to shave an 1oz off this model with different grips or mags? I want to get a SAO pistol for ESP and maybe USPSA Limited.

I'm officially sold on PC'in. I shot 100 at practice earlier, no smoke and accuracy was the same as the 45/45/10 lube. Just some powder following and maybe a lil lil leading at the end of the muzzle. I am thinking it might have been left over from tradional lubed bullets. I only did a quick clean before hand. More testing will answer this for sure.

Not enough. Currently I live fire practice once a week at a local club that sets up one USPSA stage and runs it a few different ways 4-5x in the evening. I also shoot on average 2-3 matches a month of IDPA/USPSA combined. I really need to start dry firing a couple times a week, I know I'd see a big improvement if I did. Going to order Steve Anderson's book this weekend and use my phone shot timer.

Here is a good read on lead safety - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?12795-Lead-Safety Honestly I'm more worried about lead exposure from tumbling media dust and shooting indoors. I limit my indoor shooting to winter only here in MI (couple times a month) and tumble in my detached garage or outside only. When reloading I wear nitrile gloves. Soon as I'm done reloading/casting my clothes get changed and I take a shower. After handling lead or firearms I wash hands using D-Lead soap. Your diet can also have an impact on lead levels (the removal of it).

Found time to load up 100 of the 9's I PC'ed over the weekend. Should be able to test at practice Thursday.

Random handful of shake and dump 9's, the finish isn't close to perfect but I'll see how they do. I think getting some hardware cloth or a pizza tray like the guy used in that video will help. If they shoot just fine I don't care if my boolits are purty. I was going to try this with the airsoft BB's, but I couldn't find a place with the heavy ones in a small container at a couple of stores.

If your coating holds up, you could use pure lead and it wouldn't make any difference, other than a bullet that weighed a few grains more. That maybe true but I have read a couple instances of people over on the CB Forum who used really soft alloy and their accuracy was crap, when they hardened them up the groups tightened back up. Combine that with I can re-size them much faster I don't see myself not doing it.

I ended up casting and coating Saturday after I got home from an IDPA match as I had several hours before the wife was to be home. I'll get some pics up tonight. Actually went pretty smooth. I probably will load them up next Tuesday and give them a try the following Thursday. I water dropped them as soon as they came out of the oven for a lil extra hardness as my alloy is pretty soft to begin with (but enough antimony and arsenic to gain a lil hardness from water dropping). This also allowed me to size them within 5 mins of them coming out of the oven. If these end up shooting well I probably will get a bigger and better convection toaster oven. My lil oven had troubles getting to 400 according to the oven thermometer I bought and it'd be nice to be able to do several hundred per bake.

That is similar to how I plan on doing them (I'm going to watch the full video later when I get home). I don't have a tumbler to dedicate to them however I'm going to to the Dry Tumble in a #5 bowl with the Airsoft BB's like it's been done over on the Cast Boolits forum.

Yah, I couldn't pass it up for $9 though, it looks almost identical to that one maybe a generation before. I know most people have better results with convection ovens, if this works for me and I like it I'll probably get a larger convection oven that I can do more at once.

Let us know how it goes. I stumbled into a toaster oven the other day at Salvation Army. Going to cast and coat some up Sunday and see how it goes. Probably won't know for a couple weeks how they shoot.

Does anyone know if the Tristar P-120 would be IDPA legal...I didn't think about the full length dust cover till I was thumbing through the rules yesterday. I know there is the SSP to ESP ruling that can be used for some prohibited features but the 2000 a year production numbers would be hard to prove either way. I know in a club match it prolly wouldn't be questioned but I probably will shoot at least one level 2 match next year.

Are you getting any leading and/or smoke with the 45/45/10? Also, did you slug your barrel (XD9) to come up with the .358 size? I have very little leading at the muzzle end, in the last 1/2" of the barrel. Not enough to really cause any concern or accuracy loss. I'm pretty anal about clean guns, so I I just run a brush or a couple of patches after every session and it's good to go. There is some smoke but all cast bullets that use a traditional type lube will smoke there is just no way around it. However I have only found one instance of it being an issue while shooting. Last IDPA match one of the bays is tucked into the woods, well the one half of the bay was extremely shaded with the sun pounding in from the right. Last array was 3 targets at about 10 yards (1 to body 1 to head), I engaged them really fast by the time I was done I could barely see the last target. All down 0's so it wasn't a biggie With that being said I just picked up some powder coat and once I get an oven soon going to try it out (mainly for indoors this winter). Honestly I've never slugged my barrel, most casters say the biggest bullet your gun can chamber in 9mm is the way to go. I was getting some leading at .3565-.357 with my Lee 356-124-2R mold and not great accuracy. Soon as I switched to the 358-125-RF sized at .358 my groups tightened up and leading virtually disappeared. At that point I didn't care what my barrel slugged at.

There are a lot of options, I'd suggest going over to CB and making an account. Post what guns you are looking to cast for and get some suggestions. I'm currently using the Lee 358-125-RF sized to .358 using a Lee push through sizer and lubed with 45/45/10 in my XD9. I highly suggest a 6 cavity mold...I'm not sure why I waited on getting one...they put out a pile of bullets quick. PM incoming on the seller.

I get away with around 13 BHN in 9mm (estimated based on alloy calculator and water dropping added hardness). I load around 1050 using a 130 gr bullet for USPSA/IDPA. Fit is more important than hardness. Up until I started sizing to .358 I was getting leading with the same alloy. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators If you aren't getting the pure lead well under $1.00 a pound I wouldn't even mess with it and suggest you look at picking up range scrap / COWW (clip on wheel weights) instead. Which you can pickup off CB for $1.00-1.20 shipped per pound. Honestly casting takes some work to get things right but once you do nothing beats how inexpensively you can load up 1000 pistol rounds. Right now I'm at $20 for 1/k 9mm bullets, I've started gathering up range scrap for free to drop the cost per bullet even more.

Why do you think you need 18 BHN? What are you casting for? You can download an alloy calculator off Cast Boolits...the best casting source online.

I've been running them for several months in the standard configuration...haven't tried bullets out yet. Running 5 on a CR Speed Belt with XD mags.

Thanks Guys I'm still trying to decide on the next purchase. Currently shooting a basically stock XD in Production / SSP, kinda want to play in another division. So was thinking XD40 Tactical for ESP/L10, Revolver IDPA SSR only, budget 1911 for Single Stack/CDP or a one of these Tristars for ESP/Limited Minor. First purchase though is a Dillon machine (upgrading from Lee Turret). If I go 550 over 650 I can get something much sooner. Shoot about 1k a month I think the 650 will be over kill and I'm on a budget.

Does anyone here own one of these or played around with one? They appear to be a CZ SP-01 clone for around $400 to your door. Would be mainly for IDPA ESP, maybe a lil Limited Minor in USPSA.