brian45acp

LoL, I love it. Break it and slam harder. We don't care...

All my mags rattle. Springs aren't going to change that and just like my 1911s it doesn't affect anything. It does tell the informed around me I have concealed a gun on though, lol.

Yes that helps. I looked at this more and your right the tool head shouldnt have anything to do with this. So I guess there is just a little slop in the machine but I doesnt seem to impact anything. If you look closely on the down stroke with all stations full the tool head rocks a bit. With the tool head down a few clicks if you hold the tool head and push it back and forth it does move so that slop is what I must be notching. This also makes the powder hopper wiggle I think. I'm just used to 550 and 650 where dies are fixed and don't move but even those the tool head moves a bit. My ammo is all within 5 thousandths OAL so it must not matter. Any trick to the expander die setting? I called dillon they said use a wrench to turn the die while the brass is in the due until it stops the back off a bit

Oh well no luck. It kicks out good ammo but I can't keep it from rocking back and forth. There is some play in the machine itself. im going to try and go back to all Dillon parts and ditch the gsi. It seems there just is a little amount of play in the main shaft that the tool head bolts to. If you cycle the handle part way then grab the tool head it can be moved back and forth a bit. The movement is from the main shaft and the linkages from the handle etc. The powder hopper has a little movement back and forth as well. My OAL is quite consistend with only about 3 thousandths variance so there isnt much more I can expect. I still dont know if its best to set the dies with the stations full or not. Seems it would be and when I am done loading I dont typically clear the stations anyway so they are always full when I start again.

I do use case lube. I am right in the middle of having it all apart and starting over. I loosened everything and so far so good it has stopped moving around. I think evyerthing needs to be tightened as the last step. Adjusting one thing at a time and locking it down seems to piss it off.

I am still hopeful there is something needing adjustment. I dont see how the GSI tool head could possibly tilt and the Dillon one wont. Both are sold and 1 piece. It always is the right hand side which looks to move upward at the down stroke like its the first 3-4 stations doing it. I really think its the swage station. The expander die is so hard to set right. I cant spin it with the brass inside so its hard to feel when the pin hits the bottom of the brass.

I am using the GSI tool head so I had to set it myself. I have loaded about 8k on it already but I just keep fine tuning along the way. The bolt was loose and that did cause some of the movement. Still there is so much happening that I cant imagine the tool had not moving some. Some days I think of unbolting the bullet feeder and going back to stock but it is quite nice not having to grab for bullets. If I set my dies to touch the tool head with out the brass in the stations it lifts away about 1/8 inch with the stations full. I think I have the swage station set properly. It seems to be the culprit to the tool head moving. If its not set just right and I over do it then you can feel the handle on the down stroke not come to a solid stop. From that point I back the swage rod off a little and then it seems perfect. Im wondering just how worth it these bullet feeders are. I swear it has been a nightmare to set up and tweak. I think at this point everything is dialed in but I just cant decide which is best for setting the first and last stations which are supposed to contact the shell plate. Seems best to leave the stations full then make final adjustments. But in doing that if ever the stations are empty the first and last stages would be over adjusted and need to be backed off until all stages are loaded up again otherwise they press into the shell plate and you cant fully cycle the handle down.

On my 1050 the tool head seems to tilt on the down stroke as the brass enters the dies. Is there any trick to eliminate that? It's not real bad and I noticed I have to exactly adjust the expander die and staging rod etc or if those are bottoming out too much the right side of the tool head lifts because of it. I guess I'm used to my 650 or 550 where the tool Head doesn't move. The 1050 design I guess contributes to the tool head movement but perhaps it's normal. Also when the resize die is supposed to just touch the shell plate are you guys setting it that way with no brass in the station? If I set the die with no brass in any station once all stations are full the die no longer touches the shell plate. I could adjust the dies with all stations full and then never remove brass from the stations but if for some reason I had to clear all stations I couldn't cycle the handle because the dies now would press onto the shell plate being that they were set with stations full and the handle wouldn't make full stroke. I hope that all made sense Thanks

Yes I did read that the FCD is no good for anything but jacketed. I shoot JHP so I dont have any of those issues. I very quickly could tell that difference when I went to use the bullet puller. Originally I did not understand that the 9mm case was tapered and the ring on the brass at the base of the bullet should be there. Some was worse then others but with the Dillon Reps advice of loosening all the lock rings and cycling the press it greatly improved and the FCD in place is a nice back up to straighten things out. Turned out none of this contributed to the not chambering issue any how but either way my reloads are more perfected so thats a plus. For the JHP I dont see how the FCD could resize more then the diameter of the bullet. In other words all the brass below the bullet wont be resized since whats above the bullet is of greater diameter. The U die at station one will undersize the brass and the FCD at the last station would remove any of the excessive bulging at the bullet base. I believe what causes this to be more pronounced at times is the bullet seating slightly crooked and pressed one side of the brass out as it aligns it self into the brass. The ring or bulge should be even all the way around and the FCD seems to correct this if the bulge were more prominent to one side then the other. I will go test the bullet set back and see if its more or less compared to using the standard Dillon taper die.

Just wanted to follow up. What you mentioned was the final outcome. I have some brass that was beyond max spec some how. at .755 things start to feel sticky trying to lock the barrel as the brass slips across the breech face. At .756 is the limit and that or beyond wont chamber. I was finding .757 and .758 and those seem to make the gun quit. I decided to leave the barrels alone and since I am getting the brass so cheap its worth the extra step to check each finished round in my gun before the match. I just load the mags up and hand cycle them through to ensure they chamber. I thought of alternatives but that ends with having to buy all the tumbling equipment and media etc. I also really enjoy leaving brass where it falls and walk away. I can be more focused on whats happening at the stage and not be a brass crack head running around fighting for it along with the other crack heads. At the match yesterday I measured brass from the CZ crowd and nobody had brass even close to .750 so of course they never heard of the issue I was having. Even the open guns spit out brass in the .740-.745 ranges. I simply got a bad few cases in my last batch and I suppose for the cost savings it is still worth dealing with. I would triple my brass expense and have to invest in tumbling and collecting it again. I feel confident entering in the match knowing all my ammo has been checked through the gun so I think that may become my new practice. I read a great article on Brownells about head space. In short basically ammo manufactures purposefully load on shorter then SAAMI spec for brass to ensure it all feeds in even the shortest chamber. Because of that if one were trying to exactly head space the brass to the barrel and the bullet just touching the rifling for max accuracy it would be impossible on new brass. Fired brass that stretches would allow this to be more possible and the rifle guys seem to make their settings off fired brass seeing as how you cant shorten your chamber but only lengthen it. CZ must build their pistol chambers such that the minimum length is applied so that max accuracy can be attained. Since 99% of brass runs down in the .740-.750 range it means it nearly perfectly head spaces to the barrel so reaming would push that head space further away. I concluded that if I want to shoot out of spec brass or ammo I have a Glock for that I will say these stupid LEE dies really make a nice finished round. I am all Dillon and it bugged me to try LEE again but I have to say the end result is better when speaking of the FCD. With the Dillon crimp die it was difficult but possible to get a bullet with no sign of having been loaded but it would take no more then a medium hit on the bullet puller to pull it apart. With the FCD it takes 4-5 hard hits to get it to release and there is zero signs of it having been loaded.

Production 10 Rounds I'm sorry... Umm... What is the issue you are pointing out again???? I dont understand how you dont understand it. You mentioned you had a double feed and we are all trying to say the same thing here. Slamming the mag in causes double feeds and is also not a reliable way in making the slide release forward from slide lock. The slamming of the mag causes the top round to wiggle loose and move forward in the mag. It would therefore be ahead of the extractor when the disconnect rail picks it up along with the round below it causing a double feed. So now you have one round in the chamber not hooked on the extractor and another round pushing it from the back into the chamber. Slide has to be locked then mag pulled and allow that round to fall out.....

Well one reason not to is the double feed. When I used to over stuff mags or slam them in at slide lock the same happened on 1911 and glock. The top round in the mag bobbles forward and then 2 rounds come out of the mag causing the double feed.

I did run a pick along the head space and it was quite clean. So today I meausred all the brass from the CZ crowd and its all under max spec of .754 so of course they have never had this issue. Seems just a case of bad batch of brass. Oh well, time to move on. I wont be modifying the barrel for crap brass. Honestly the safest bet has been hand cycling my ammo through the gun before the next match. I know for certain I wont have a failure and today was a success. No issues to speak of and just 1 MIKE because of plain old missing. A malfunction sure seems to butcher your stage plan and contribute to MIKEs so today was a relief from that

razorfish: I measured my bullets which are jhp and all are .355. The reamer would taper the rifling for longer or broader bullets but if you keep going it would also cut the head space back as well. My issue is for certain head space with longer then spec brass. Its quite difficult to measure head space on a cz barrel because the hood extends below the brass not above. My guess is that cz has its head space right at the limit of minimum SAAMI .755. I believe the range is .754 to .756. I can crush a .755 in there but anything over isnt going to chamber well. I can let the slide slam closed on a .757 and it will go but I can clearly see the case mouth all dinged up after the fact.

Good find, thanks This is where my final thoughts seemed to take me as well. It seems the CZ is so accurate and some of that is due to how the chamber and head space work on them. With the brass tightly held to the breech face the head space is right at the minimum limit. This allows the COL to be set for the bullet to just make contact at the rifling. The article explains why so much brass is under SAAMI and why the benefit is to have a minimum/short head space for the most accuracy. In the end I may just accept this as a CZ quirk and benefit by leaving the chamber alone. Buying better brass and getting back into tumbling seems to be the only answer to not reaming. Because we shoot handguns and not precision rifles I guess some figure it not a problem to simply ream the barrel. Both options make sense so now I need to choose.

I still dont know why you guys change the stock grips. I love them so much. Perfect shape and arent just flat like the custom grips. Nice contours and fits the hand perfectly.

Is that Leo the Russian holding the timer?

I have my calipers in my bag and am going to harass all the CZ shooters tomorrow at the match, lol. Snatch up the spent casings and measure them. I am going to see which of them have reamed and which havent. Seems so many hear say they dont have to ream the barrel and I just dont see how thats possible if using range pick up brass of mixed head stamps.

I checked both the bullet in the brass and out. No change. I am 120% its not the bullet hitting the rifling and even tried a different bullet loaded to the same brass. Its truly any brass over .755 that wont chamber. The jam is happening at the back end not the front. All rounds pass the plunk test and spin test. I even tapped them with a gun smith hammer to be sure they are in fact all the way in. I cleaned the head space with a dental pick to clear any debris and I have cleaned the breech face with a copper brush to clean build up. I tested with out the extractor and all is the same. I can measure a piece of brass before loading and know for certain it wont feed regardless of crimp or bullet shape/seat depth. The rounds which did not chamber and I dropped the slide on them from the mag slammed in and did lock up. When I took them out to inspect them you could clearly see the brass at the mouth was all dinged up. Its the mouth of the brass slamming into the head space and as a result was all dinged and deformed. I am sure its a short chamber issue and have to make a choice. Better brass and start picking it back up to clean and reload or ream and keep buying bulk once fired. I am leaning toward the fact that CZ has a short chamber yet is super accurate out of the box so leave it alone. I have a glock that will feed any crap ammo out there but it sure doesnt shoot like a CZ. Perhaps accepting that having a CZ means everything needs to be in spec and the benefit is a very accurate gun which shoots tight groups. I have certainly done better at the matches with this CZ more then I have a glock but its not like in USPSA we need 1.5 groups either. I am just surprised nobody else found this out. This is mostly why I am reluctant to change anything otherwise I would just accept it has a short chamber and ream it to accommodate the longest brass in the bunch which is just 5 thousandths over the longest it will reliably chamber.

Here is pic of nickle brass duty round at .748 there should be 3-5 thousandths clearance head space for brass at spec. Spec is .754 to .756 so chamber must just be short. I found something else odd. After chambering a bad round from slide lock and letting it slam in after it seems to fit. It's almost like the head space of the barrel straightened the mouth of the brass or something.

Some pics to determine for certain this will be resolved with reaming and not something else. Cz guys saying it's my ammo but 4 CZs same result. Factory brass is .748 on duty ammo and chambers the failed round .755 wont

The length of duty ammo brass is .748 the failed round above is .755Look at the duty ammo at .748 Cajun Gun Works told me I should have 3-5 thousands clearance head space of brass that is mid of the spec range which would be about .750. U can see there is maybe 1 thousandths clearance with brass at .748 found something else odd. After chambering a bad round from slide lock and letting it slam in after it seems to fit. It's almost like the head space of the barrel straightened the mouth of the brass or something

So if someone can tell me any possible solution other then reaming I would love to hear it. Passes all plunk test and with extractor out still won't lock up into the lugs on 4 CZs

To be clear I'm not firing off these test rounds, lol. I have my press set up properly and it's a 1050. I just got the LEE dies to see if it helped. Factory ammo does feed just fine. Help me understand how sized and expanded brass won't allow the barrel to lock up. I can bore brush the barrels again to be sure no shavings are in there but if a micro amount of build up causes this that's not enough clearance in the chamber. I don't over crimp and pull the bullet to check for deformation to be sure of it. There has to be something else but in my glock there are none of these issues. Of course that's not surprising being glock uses max tolerances on everything. My dies are set touching the plate and all rounds pass chamber gauge and plunk test. I swear I'm Going nuts here. I have reloaded about 13 years so I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this . The chamber can't be wrong because I have 5 CZs and checked in 3 of them so far doing these tests. I have crappy luck but no way 2 sp-01 and a rami all are doing this and it be a gun issue. I'm glad I have the rami since it uses a traditional glock type barrel. With the longer brass the hood won't lock into the slide. I grab short brass and it's fine. This is with no bullet in the brass as to eliminate that part. My understanding of a round passing plunk tests and case gauges but won't allow the barrel to lock up is due to a short head space. On the rami barrel the failed round can be seen just above flush from the barrel hood during the plunk test. It should sit just below the hood. Another piece of brass just 2-3 thousandths shorter is just fine. Ink test checks for bullet seating depth to be sure the O Give isn't hitting the rifling. On the opposite end the head stamp section of the brass hanging out too far because of short head space means the barrel is being pushed forward and can't lock up into the lugs in the case of my sp-01 or in the rami the barrel to the slide.

Dang I don't get it.... I tried adding a rediculous amount of crimp just to see if it helped and it didn't. My luck sucks but no way I would have several CZs all doing the se thing. It's not my bullet hitting for sure because I removed it. The brass is a bit long. Maybe I just got a bad batch of brass for some reason. The lee FCD and EGW U die are quite nice and produced a better finished round. But yet it didn't fix my issues and it's why I narrowed it down to the brass. Maybe I need to think harder and look at this more. I'm going to hold off on reaming anything. This Saturday I'm going to hit up all the cz shooters at the match and see what they are doing. I will bring with me some bad rounds and see what they make of it in their guns. Seems half here team the barrel and half say they don't. But as mentioned teaming for the reason of accepting bullet profiles is different then changing head space