tcoz

That's exactly why I give a light crimp but most people think I'm crazy.

That's a great price. I'm anxious to see a review once all of your snow melts. Around here they cancel school and businesses don't open if there's even a chance of snow in the forecast.

Another vote for Monmouth Reloading. They consistently have the best price on all quantities of both 55gr and .30 caliber 150gr FMJBT projectiles. Their shipping is also very reasonable.

I chamfer and deburr only the cases that I trim but I'm also using boat tail bullets. If you use flat base bullets you might have to do all of them.

I've loaded in a carpeted guest bedroom for years. One advantage to the carpet is when you drop a primer it doesn't go bouncing off into unknown territory. I've never lost one yet. As for the inevitable powder spills, I once left the drain plug open on my Chargemaster and had quite a bit all over the carpet. It vacuums up easily but the key is to not walk on it and grind it into the carpet before you vacuum it.

I've been using X-Treme bullets almost exclusively for the last 4-5 years. I've read in a few places that their standard plating is slightly thicker than the others, thus able to tolerate higher velocity. Most including X-Treme recommend a max of 1200fps but many people regularly push them to 1500. I'd recommend that you buy a small quantity or a sample pack, load them and shoot them then recover a few and check the plating to see whether it's still intact. X-Treme has a daily email special that's 5% off on a specific bullet or bullets and it rotates daily as to which one or ones it's on so you would want to get on their email list. Their CS is also very good. I recently received a mis-shipped order from them and along with their apology they told me to just keep the ones I received and they'd immediately send out the correct ones. Sorry, I can't speak for Berrys, Ranier or anyone else since I don't have any experience with them.

I've been loading XTreme 230gr PRN projectiles over 4.8gr of Bullseye for a number of years. They shoot well, clean and accurate. No pressure signs, very controllable recoil and at 4.8gr they're still loaded under the standard government load. I've looked at the fired plated projectiles and the plating maintains its integrity at this load.

As you can see, I didn't receive any responses to my question her but I did receive a few responses on another forum where I posted the same question. The responses were all very positive and indicated the unit performed exactly as designed. I septillion haven't purchased it myself yet but I plan on doing so and I think it should fit your purpose very well. One thing i'd definitely recommend is that you also buy the extended warranty protection program that the offer as an option. As I remember it was really inexpensive (~$30?) and fully covers the unit even in the event that it gets shot.

I check every empty sized case and every loaded round with my Sheridan gages. The only problems I've had were some 300 BLK rounds and some .30-06 rounds (M1 Garand) that wouldn't pass. The 300 was due to some "oddball" headstamped brass that was too thick and the .30-06 was due to some surplus HXP cases where the head was a little chewed up and the burrs wouldn't allow it to drop fully into the gage. In both cases, the Sheridan tipped me off that something was wrong because it's exactly sized to minimum SAAMI spec. I love those gages.

The problems some people have with auto indexing and the little square ratchet are fairly commonplace yet I've used my LCT for many thousands of rounds over a number of years and never have had to replace the ratchet or had an auto indexing problem. I have no idea what the secret is but there must be one.

I really got a chuckle out of this statement. Yep, there are days when I also fumble seven out of ten large primers then there are days like today when every single one pops right into the little cup. There's definitely a "feel" that you have to develop. Some days I have it and some days I don't.

Don't load below published minimum loads. Loads that are too low risk secondary pressure spikes. Research it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

This is why I stick with dry tumbling. I can't see any reason to add extra steps and then try to figure out how to get the brass dry all just to improve the appearance of it without affecting performance one iota. The media that I use gets brass looking almost like new with a lot less effort. I've never had a dust issue either.

Sheridan slotted

Rather than having to mess with drying brass again, I'd probably just use a dry tumbler to remove lube. All it takes is 1/2 hour.

Firewood, that's very true. I read an awful lot of reloading forums and I've seen very few positive reviews of the Loadmaster. I don't have any experience with progressive presses because I've never seen the need to switch from my classic Turret, but if I did, the Loadmaster wouldn't be my choice.

If you read this thread from the beginning I think you'll see that a lot of people here favor the LCT. If it's between that and the Loadmaster, for a beginner and especially loading .223 it's no contest. The Classic Turret is the best.

slavex, I would agree with you if I had large amounts of brass to do but I'm kinda anal about cleaning brass each time I go to the range so I'm always dealing with small quantities. That being said, you know how us reloaders are.....I'll probably get a bug up my butt one of these days to try it and I'll love it. Thanks for the info.

I agree about wet tumbling seeming like extra work. Draining then drying don't appeal to me since I like to take my brass directly from the tumbler to the container I store it in and stash it away. I recently bought some new media being offered by East Coast Arsenal and it's the best I've used, and I've used a lot of different things. It's treated so I'm no longer adding NuFinish or brass polish and except for the primer pockets, after 3-4 hours it comes out looking like it was brand new. I've used it 4-5 times so far and haven't noticed any degradation in cleaning. The 20/40 grit size is also small enough that it doesn't get stuck in the flash holes. Great stuff. https://eastcoastarsenal.com/product/treated-corn-cob-media/

I'm just speculating here but I think it's possible that what you're calling a crimp isn't a crimp at all. After seating the bullet, the die might just be slightly closing the flare, not necessarily be design but maybe just in its normal operation. If that die was actually putting on a crimp, you'd be able to recognize it. Roll crimps are very distinguishable. Also, with the FCD it isn't necessary to actually crimp the bullet in as much as just removing the flare. Don't overdo it. The setup instructions for the FCD give you a starting point. That will give you a medium taper (crimp). Start there and it's often enough to keep the bullet from seating itself deeper during the chambering process which is what you're trying to prevent. With 9mm & 45acp using plated bullets, I found that dialing it out about 1/3 from that point was all I needed. Too much crimp not only can be dangerous if you at or near max loads but also can negatively affect accuracy.

Taper crimp can be used with or without cannelure.

The Lee seating die has a built in crimp ring which if you use it and don't dial it out will give a roll crimp. The factory crimp die gives a taper crimp and when you use it be sure to dial out the roll crimp in the seating die. If you're going to roll crimp, you need a cannelure. I don't know about roll crimping coated bullets. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they shouldn't be roll crimped because it'll cut into the coating but you'll have to research it to be sure. I'm sure the companies that sell coated bullets will have the info you need on their websites.

sustratiotes That's an excellent video and explains the differences in a nice concise manner. I believe the lever/hinge system on the Classic is also constructed to give more leverage which comes in handy when sizing large bottleneck rifle cases. I'd like to suggest that you post it on the Amazon page for each of the presses since a lot of people purchase their Lee reloading equipment on Amazon. Thanks for your efforts.

I wouldn't even consider the aluminum base press. In addition to the cast being much stronger, it has a tube that catches all of the spent primers as you pop them out. The aluminum press doesn't so you'll be popping them all over the place. Some people cut a hole in their table and tape or otherwise attach a receptacle underneath to catch them.

If you don't want to wait until you collect 1000 pieces of range brass, you can find a number of people selling 9mm brass on just about every forum. The going rate for 1000 cases is generally about $30-35 so it isn't much of an investment. Once you buy those to start with you can go about picking up the range brass. Don't forget to check out local gun shows for components. Sometimes you can find powder and primers at decent prices and avoid the hazmat fee and sometimes the stuff is way overpriced.