Shoot-4-Ever

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Duane.....that makes sense to me. I will try it with no crimp and see how it goes. My Lee taper die came today, sounds like I may not need it. Carlos......Can you explain a little about the "U" die, what it does, and maybe how it works. Don't think I have heard of the "U" before. Is it used only for the Semi-auto/acp type cartridge, is it available in other calibers too? I have a Blow-back I am using for cary, however I have an interest in the new Ruger but I hear they are difficult to get right now. I have a Colt Mustang that is not mine, but I shoot it often, I believe that could be a locked breach, but not certain. I have my eye on a CZ (think it's a model 82?, can't remember) I think it is a blowback, but not sure. I am looking for a stronger durable .380 that will take a few K rds in a larger gun with the longer barrel, however there are few to choose from. Maybe you have a suggetion on something like that? I like my 9's, but enjoy the .380 the way they recoil etc. The Win 231 in starting charge is a very mild recoil, will see how it does as I work it up. Maybe the blow back design is reason I enjoy shooting .380. thanks for your suggestions, I will make some changes and see what happens.

I have loaded a few .380's over the years, but not much experience with them. Now I am getting into loading .380 with my Dillon 550. Seems I have ssmall amounts of .380 in 95, 100, 110 gr. and maybe others. I have alot more 9mm of about the same wt. in stock. SO I compared them finding some 9mm have a slightly longer straight section for deeper seating...but really not much difference. My only reason for wanting to put 9mm into the .380 is the fact that I have plenty of assorted 9mm in jhp. I usually cary a .380 so wanted to play with some hp loads just for the fun of it. The question is, what should I look for in the bullet when selectting a 9 for the 380? Right now, I am using win. 231 with 100 gr. Berrys plated round nose working up from the basement. Also found that placing a taper crimp on the .380 (using Redding taper die) is very dificult to get a solid crimp. When I use my hammer style inertia bullet puller, I have them seperating with 1 solid blow. So I crimp tighter, and still seperating easily. I tried pushing the bullet into the brass with the tighter crimp and they did move in with a fair amount of pressure from my thumb. So I think I need to do something different. I ordered a Lee crimp die, not here yet, maybe that will help. I know that the Berrys plated bullets should have a very light taper crimp if any. The pulled bullets show progressive markings as I increased the crimp. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Where can I find a good, but simple guide, something like an AR-15 book for Dummies? Have had guns forever, reloaded for almost as long (pistol & shotgun), but only loaded straight wall cartridges, no necked brass. I enjoy reloading as a hobby, it's all part of the shooting sports to me, and I can't stand to pay more than a few bucks for a box of ammo in a cal. that I will shoot on a regular basis. I hear .223 is much like 9mm, it's popular and not that expensive to purchase until now. If I shoot .223, I will want to reload them eventually. I purchased the first AR I could get my hands on because they were near impossible to find. The last two weeks I spent many hours researching the AR format while trying to purchase items for my new S&W M&P. I need ammo, rails, sights etc. as well as all the components and dies to reload the .223/5.56. Can't find much left out there, seems most everything is sold out and on back order. The hype is real; I think it’s mainly due to the recent election and the threat to ban. Usually, I would spend allot of time researching something new like this before buying in the blind, but this time, “THE HYPE” got to me! So if there is a short course available, would like to take a look to get started with some good solid basics. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What is your opinion on the nylon (?) bolt/slide recoil buffers? I see them in the catalougs and what they say about them makes sense, but I have been fooled a few times before. At about 8-10 bucks each, it would cost plenty to outfit even a few of my more often used favorites. And I expect the life of the buffer varies depending on gun, amount of use, ammo etc. What are your thoughts? Will this soften the recoil and make me a little better shooter and possibly add to the life of the gun? I shoot 9mm and .40 often. One on the 40 probably could help me to get back on target with my 2nd shot with less stress onme and the gun. However, it's a Glock and they are invincible right?

I tried my 2.7 gr. BullsEye w/148 gr. HBWC at 12 yds on paper with a rest using 3 different revolvers. They all shot high and one to the left about 2" & one to the right by about 2". They all shot a decent group. Recoil was very manageable and I think I have a good starting point to buld a good load for one revolver at a time. However, one thing I noticed was a very very slight leading marking on one side of the hole in the target. Careful study makes me think they are possibly just starting to tumble, or stabelize. I was not at my range, so had no way to shoot at longer distance to see if I get any egg shape or out of round holes. I think I am being too critical until I get the chance to try 25, 35 yds out etc. Anyone have any thoughts? My roll crimp is very light and I have the bullet just above flush, almost need magnify glass to tell they are high. I now have a Lee taper crimp die so will try some other combinations. More powder, different powder, different crimp etc. are all things to try. This trial & error is what makes this hobby fun.

WOW, I was just about to pick up the phone and make an order for a 70 # US Mail box of Zero's. This is the first complaint I have heard of with the Zero being so dirty. I have 500 plated DEWC from Barrys or maybe Rainier, don't remember. They had a good price so I wanted to give them a try. Have not loaded them yet. They are 158 gr. I think and just a bit shorter than the lead HBWC I have. Will I need to be careful not to crack or deform when I roll crimp? I loaded the lead HBWC just slightly above the flush mark to catch the roll crimp. I found that with the light crimp on a flush load, the bullet could be pushed in deeper with my finger. So tried leaving them up and they seem to be ok, won't know for sure until I shoot them. I sort all my brass for all my cal. loads by headstamp. I try to keep the better looking brass together, but never know how many time fired before. I did have some erratic OAL with some 9mm I loaded. Wish I could get them more uniform in OAL. The .38's sofar have been more consistant. I have asked about trimming the brass and found quite a range of answers. Don't have a trimmer yet, maybe someday if I have problems. While I am here, one more question on the Dillon. I have just a tiny bit of BullsEye left from a very old can. Once that is gone, I have some that is only about 15 yrs old to use up. I expect the current made BE powder is much cleaner to shoot. Back to my question, how far down in the powder measure can I go before I reach a point of irregular powder drops? I have just under 2 inches in measure, I check my loads very often, no problems yet. I know there is a baffle or something that keeps the drops uniform. Can I get it down to under an inch to use it up, or am I asking for problems I don't need in doing this ? ? ?

Sending out my thanks to everyone in this thread. I had some time to work with my loading setup last week, all went very well. Only thing I was extra cautious about was the roll crimp. I did up a handful with different degrees of crimp, took them to the range and asked a few guys to select the better crimp. Well sure, everyone had a different opinion, but ended up with a very light roll, so light, it takes a magnifing glass for me to really see it. So I set up to copy that. Then I hammered away at a few to see how difficult it was to pull the bullet. Everything looked great, no lead dammage and took a few wacks to get them pulled. I did the 2.7 Bullseye that most everyone suggested. I started crankin on the 550 like it was my favorite slot machine...put out about 150 rds. I don't think I have ever done that many before without trying a few first. I was confident with all the research I found for the 2.7 - 2.8 Bull. If I find the crimp is to lite, I can run them again if needed, but think I am ok. Another question, several suggest a taper crimp, who makes a .38 taper die....Lee maybe? Haven't really looked yet, but think I will taper from now on, that should give me a few more loads on the brass. Another ? Some of you mentioned the Smith M 52, I looked it up in my Digest, maybe with a little more research I may decide to pick one up. Everyone boast about the accuracy. I also looked up the mags, knowing they were somewhat unique, but 50 dollars unique??? That is a bit much when I would like to have 5 or so. Anyway, thanks again for your comments.

This thread is Really Old.....I have read every post, but have not become involved yet. I hope to get some targets ready and find some range time so I can play along. Brian has held up his end for a few years now, by providing Part 2. I can only hope he will give me the same info in a few days when I get through with Part 1. Based on all your comments, I can not not do this....it's got to be a super exercise to attract all this interest. Thabnks, I will be along soon in hops of getting part 2. !!! @@@

Just arrived, my order of - HBWC .38's Have 500 to try out on my D 550. They are 148 gr. lead from Speer I think (?) I know I need a roll crimp at very top of bullet, do I need a heavy roll? Do I seat flush or leave them up a little? Any tricks to setting up seating die and Lee Crimp die (4 die station setup)? What is a favorite load for target paper? I have plenty of Bulls Eye if that is a good selection. I tried a few searches, found very little (could be my search methods) in this forum. I asked a few questions before in the forum whenever I came upon the subject, but not enough good info to get up and running with the 550. One of my manuals get into this topic but very basic. I am fairly new to progressive loading, so even the most simple suggestions would be helpful. When I ordered these, they also had copper coated Rainier (on special) or maybe Barrys, can't remember for sure. I have 500 of these to try out too. These are full wad cutter 148 or 158 gr. with solid base, not hollow. They are shorter than the hollow lead, has anyone used these before? Anything special I should know about the coated wad cutters? I expect they will not take a heavy roll crimp without some damage to coating. I hope they work good, I want to shoot them on indoor range. Thanks for any advise you may offer!

At one point I thought maybe I had the seating and crimping die reversed in the wrong station. I looked at the Lee instruction sheet photo's, (more than once) looking at the bottom end of the dies, I found I had them correctly positioned. One of my main problems is that I don't spend enough time working with my reloading, I grab a half hr. or maybe a full hr. or two here and there, then I don't get back for several days. With my terrible memory, I have plenty of problems. Anyway, after reading the last few replies, I had to go uncover the 550 and yet another look, but I am ok on the proper positions with the correct die. So I went to Lee website (should have done that before) and found a parts list for their 4 die pistol set. Here is a link that has the photo of the collar that slides up and down inside the crimp die. I guess maybe it's another sizer used as a back-up to be sure all rounds are sized properly? http://www.leeprecision.com/graphics/parts/3147.jpg It's still a little fuzzy to me, but thanks for your replies. If the photo helps you with my question, maybe you will have more comments...feel free to jump in. tku

I am not sure, but IMO, CZ does not make a bad gun? I have 3, and one is a 75b and really like it. I shoot all of my CZ's on a regular basis and never had any problem that was the fault of the gun. If these guys are giving you advice on looking at a different model ((CZ) take the info and go get a CZ (any CZ), If it fits, you probably will fall in love within a short time. any CZ model.

This is an old thread, but thought it was a good read!!! As I read all the post in this thread, I could relate to many of the complaints. I really expected to read in some of the post that they have posted a sign at or near the range. I didn't see that? Myself, I hate to see junk signs posted everywhere, but if it solves most of the problems with all the brass whores, I would go along with a sign that was simple and to the point.....such as.......It you didn't fire this brass you don't pick it up. And if you DO pick it up, ALL that is NOT yours, will be placed in the bucket (next to this sign)....or something like that. But now that I mention a sign, I find that it is probably difficult to make a good sign that reads short and to the point, that will cover most of the problems. I have had people help me pick up my brass when I finish the string and they assume that they get 40% of it if I am not watching them (now that's a true brass whore). I would be interested in anyone who does use signs to post about it here. What do your signs say, and does it solve most of the problems? One club I belong to, where I shoot skeet/trap, we have league shoots about every other month and the league rules are...when shooting at any league shoots, you will not pick up any empty hulls, they are the property of the host club. At the end of the day, or between strings if time allows, the workers pick them up and put them in boxes for everyone to sort thru at the end of the day. However, they are usually 30% total junk because they (the shooters) know they won't get them back unless they are member of club working the event. At the end of the day there are always enough to go around. I would often take plenty if no one wanted them. It didn't take long before I had all I needed and didn't take any the next 6 months. We also traded gauges if we didn't reload them. The smart ones shoot O/U guns and they never hit the ground. And yes, there is ALWAYS one or two non-member shooters who think they are exempt from the rules. The basic reason for the rule is for safety and wasted time while someone looks around for their empties. What does your range sign say.....or what do you think about placing a sign or two??? Your thoughts???

I see you have already made your purchase. But FWIW, I have the AA for the Glock. It is very fussy for the first 2,000 rds or so. I have about 20,000 or more thru mine and it works much better. The Mfg. warns about using certain brands of ammo. I found that the Rem. Golden Bullets in the 550 pack (just bought some tonight at WalMart and they have gone up another 2 bucks in the last month or so) works really good for the cheap stuff. I have tried many low end brands and several med. priced brands and the Rem GB's are the best. The Federal bulk packs are terrible in that gun and terrible in several of my other guns too. The AA shoots fair, but not highly accurate. I can shoot 15-20 yds and keep them all in a 10" paper plate with no problem, but a 6" plate I have a few that don't hit. From a rest, at about 13 yds, I get maybe a 3-4" spread (?) as I recall. Not sure how well it is from rest position now that I have 20k thru it. At the time, the AA had about the best reviews and the best price. It came with 3 mags and I got 2 more so I can walk into the range with 50 rds all ready to go...that's one reason it has so many thru it. It goes with me to the range everytime I go and I shoot it almost everytime. I now have a Kadet Kit for my CZ and that is really fussy, but getting better all the time and it is much more accurate. Started out with 3 or 4 malfunctions out of every 10 rd. mag. It's about 1 or 2 bad some of the time, and sometimes I get all 10 out. When I first got it, never had a perfect 10 rd mag, they always had jams etc. I know you don't really need this info, but I throw it out for anyone who may have an interest. AND It Does (the AA) remain open after the last shot when it has a mag inserted. The Kadet also stays open. My 2 cents for anyone who wants it.

A beginner question from an old reloader who has upgraded to a Dillon 550 from an old single stage press. I have a Lee 4 die set with the crimp die being my 4th stage on my Dillon 550. I was changing over to run 9mm and instead of running it all preset in the tool holder; I started with the de-capper and went through the complete setup (mostly for the experience and to make sure I had it set up as needed. When I got to the last die, (the Lee crimp die), I remembered the piece inside of the die that floats up and down while crimping. I can’t remember why this part floats up and down? I understand how it does the crimping, but not sure why it has to slide up and down in there? Does anyone know the answer to this?