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Shoot PPC in a weekly league w/ XDm 5.25 9mm and also a 686 snubby. Shot garand and rimfire sporter at camp perry last year - sucked w/ garand (ammo issues..rifle is NOT pistol!) but got a bronze in Tactical w/ the 22 (SW mp 15-22). Workiing at getting into SASS/Cowboy action shooting - still need holsters and boots, but otherwise about ready. To be competitive I'll need a better shotgun but gotta get competing first! Shot some IDPA, would love to shoot Steel Challenge but not aware of it being anywhere around here.

I follow the lead of the top shooters at my club...plastic coffee cans. Just bulk. I have some plastic 100 round boxes I use for working up loads, a lot of plastic inserts I got off a guy (no boxes). I keep rifle in plastic boxes. I have a great affinity for gladware -clear and sealable. Empty ones stack. You can put a 'note' or 'label' in them to identify the contents - Load X or a certain kind of brass or dirty vs clean vs lubed brass, etc. And they stack well when full.

650 for pistol (9, 38 and could do 357 just never set it up yet). Got a lee single stage for rifle (30-06, soon will do 30-30). Rifle seems a lot more case-prep-intensive (well, using once fired mil brass and extruded powder) I prefer digital..but I can measure anything 3 times and get 4 wrong measurements...it's my one and only fault (and no, you can't talk to my wife) I started wtih a balance beam scale..that was bad. Loaded several thousand rounds of pistol way hot (ever shoot a 9mm at 1500fps? I have..over 2000 rounds too. LOVE MY XDm!). I got an inexpensive digital from midway (read reviews) and have since added an automated powder dispenser w/ scale and gotten a better balance beam and check weights. All seem to be in agreement with eachother all the time...

I lube all my cases - even with carbide dies it just makes it all go so much easier. And I don't clean the lube off after (pistol). I take lee lube and put a bit in a squirt bottle with water a dash of rubbing alcohol. Spread the clean cases out on a towel and spray, let them dry (MUST dry - water in the case will stop the powder from igniting...guess how I know this?). For rifle, which I don't load much, I use an RCBS pad. And lube is a must (again..guess how I know this?)

I timed myself with my loadmaster and 450 was the best, 350 more realitic. Got a 650 w/ case feeder and 5 primer tubes and it takes just over 2 minutes to load a tube..if I try to do it quickly, 3min if I don't hustle. I've been going slower with 9 than 38, but w/ 38 I was doing 100 about 8 minutes including primer tube filling..so ~ 5 min per 100. And that's not hurrying. To get a REAL 650-750 an hour is a piece of cake. With 9mm it's closer to 9 min per 100 incl tube filling. I'm hoping to speed that up .. been tossing powder, having the odd upside down case in the feeder, the feeder stop switch catches on the feeder tube, ejection of finished round issues... Not sure I can do anything about the inverted cases, but the other issues I think are now sorted out. Next week I'll give a go and see what I get. I have ~1800 rounds to load. I can saw that my setup ran me $1100 ish (2 calibers but I had dies) compared to $250 for a loadmaster..but I've only had 3 primer issues out of 1200ish rounds I've loaded. The LM would have 3+ per 100. Two of the issues on the 650 were missing primers and one was a high primer keeping the round from going into battery. I do save the time I used to spend inspecting each and every round though!

Plinking? Lead. I have a local bullet caster, 124CN lead is $63/1000. 4.0gr 231 out of an XDm 5.25 is 1050 FPS and no leading. Berry's are probably the next cheapest but I know a few guys that hate them, regarding accuracy. I got MG124's the last couple of years but when I needed this this time they were out so I gave lead a test - works well for me.

Messed about and got it working..it seems. It will be next week before I have a chance to reload as we're going away for 4 days first thing tomorrow and lots to do before then. I bent it to get it as close to the shellplate as possible and tightened the curl around the hex nut. Ran about 15 shells slow, fast, sloppy, etc and had no issues. I've got the thrust bearing and only the top washer, bottom is on the shellplate. thanks

the plate is snug, the wire is not under the bolt head. every 10th round the wire rised up...and then jams. What can I do to keep it in place against the shell plate?

Loaded 9 and 38 on a lee loadmaster for a couple of years and last fall moved to a Dillon 650. Loaded a few thousand rounds of 38 no problem, went like clockwork. 700 rounds per hour, no issues. converted over to 9mm in march and been having a number of issues. I guess 9mm is just more finicky than 38 (on the dillon and loadmaster). I had a heck of a time getting the ejector wire to not jam against a case when ejecting - going slow seemed to work, but any attempt to 'crank it up' would cause the wire to lift (at the end with the hole) and jam against a case. I'm using 231 at 4.0gr and it tossed powder all over the place when the shell plate indexed, so I did the thrust bearing on top of the shell plate...again had to fudge for quite a while to get the wire to not jam and trying to go 'fast' (over 400rnd/hour) it would jam often. Been working like that for 2+ months. Today I cut 1/2 coil off the detent spring under the shell plate as I'm still throwing powder all over the place. Now I can't for the life of me get the ejector spring to work. Tried googling for help and got nothing that seemed to work. It jammed every third round...so I tried bending it a bit trying to make it 'grab' tighter and not rise up..now it's worse than before and won't stay put no matter what. I have it installed correctly - around the top of the hex bolt, not under the head. Any suggestions are welcome!