TDA

Has anyone else tried shooting your pistol to see how it acts? I have a M&P40 that was absolutely useless. I have numerous pistols that I shoot quite well with the exception of that one. I sent it back to S&W, and even though I bought it used, they warrantied it and replaced the barrel with o shipping charges to me. Now it's not quite as useless...but I really appreciate their time and effort to make it beter!

I'm new to reloading too. I bought a SDB from Brian and a few weeks later a friend told me about a 650 that was locally available. I bought it and within a couple of hours I had it unpacked, repaired, (broken indexing collar) set up and running. Been loading without any issues since.

Couldn't agree more. I bought my 650 from someone getting out of reloading and it came as I described. After using it, I'm going to go back to the standard ball handle and probably dump the strong mount as well, as they both flex too much for me. I have a SDB bolted directly to the same table and it feels rock solid in comparison.

Is a XL650 broken index ring covered under the warranty?

What are you using for a sizing die prior to expanding. The Dillon .40 powder funnel/expander measures .3965" and after running through the Lee Bulge Buster a case will slide right over the powder funnel/expander with no resistance as the case ID measures about .4023". Then after sizing with a Dillon sizing die on my SDB the case will not slide over the powder funnel/expander.. You did not state what press or dies you were using, but it seems that the sizing die you are using just prior to expanding is not sizing to the proper size.

Not sure what you consider "operable". I have one here I run regularly for .45ACP and I just priced it out at $1023.00 from Brian including shipping. Press, case feeder, strong mount, bullet tray, powder check, roller handle, dies, etc.

I loaded 50 rds of .40 last night and had two primers in sideways. It took three tries to get two primers to seat properly in those two rounds. Not crimped primer cases either. I'd vote for a problem with the brass.

Trigger control?

How much time do you spend de-capping and priming brass?

^^^ That's what I do as well.

A spare pin comes with the SDB, or you can order some from Dillon.

I always measure to find the max OAL for a particular bullet in a particular pistol. (I shoot lost of different pistols and am trying different bullets) 1. With the pistol in battery, measure from the muzzle to the breech face with a caliper. 2. Remove the barrel and drop in a bullet of choice. (just the bullet) Hold the bullet lightly against the rifling using a pencil (eraser end) or dowel rod. Slide another pencil in from the muzzle until it touches the front of the bullet and place a mark on the mark pencil even with the muzzle end of the barrel. 3. Measure from the mark in the pencil to the end of the pencil that was in the barrel. 4. Subtract that measurement from the measurement in step 1 above and you have the max OAL with the bullet touching the rifling or throat. I make a list of different pistols with different bullets so I can either load a "one size fits all" OAL or load for a specific pistol and bullet combination. For example, I did a .45 cal 230g RN jacketed, and 230g RN plated, and a 230g RN lead bullet, and all have a different OAL in the same barrel. Just because they look the same doesn't always mean that they are the same!

Lots of dry fire. Concentrate on not moving the sights when pressing the trigger.

I had to research that. Both my 1911 and Sig P220 have conventional grooved rifling. Thanks for pointing that out!

These are 18BHN lubricated lead bullets. I wish they were coated! I have had no problems at all with coated bullets. I ended up with a couple thousand of these and would like to use them if possible. Thanks!

My understanding is that a lubricated lead bullet should be .001" larger than the bore for proper sealing.

It turns out that the barrel on my P220 is .4523" and the bullets are .542", so that doesn't help much as far as leading. I guess I'll try the Clays loads in my 1911 and see what happens, as it has a .451" barrel, which is what I used when I tried the Universal loads. I sure would like to figure out a way to use these bullets and Clays with my Sig though, so I just loaded some up with 3.3g of Clays rather than 3.5. I may try 3.7 or 4.0 and perhaps a bit of obturation may take place and possibly seal up a bit better.

Well, I definitely missed a bunch then! All I saw was one little pistol range with targets set out about five yards, the cowboy action "buildings", and a bunch of different areas for shooting clays. Next time I'm out that way I'll snoop around bit more. Thanks! Edit: Keep in mind that my primary concern at the time was food!

I went over to OK to eat lunch and check it out a bit. I'm not into clays or cowboy shooting, so I wasn't too excited about it.

I went to Okeechobee Shooting Sports in FL last Sunday to try shooting some steel, but it's a 125 mile round trip from my house. I've only been there twice. I didn't ask about Chrono use, as it's not as convenient as I would like. I have a membership at a local indoor range where I shoot a couple of times a week, but no Chrono use there.

Seems about the same to me. My SDB and XL650 are bolted to a 1/2" thick steel table that weighs North of 1000 lbs, so nothing moves at all, which makes it effortless to operate the presses.

No I would get one in a minute if I had some place to use it.

Thank You! Not being coated, and needing an OAL of 1.2" , I'll start a couple tenths below that and see how it works.

I may have missed it, but I didn't see where RMR sells any coated bullets.

I'm looking for a starting load for N320 behind a 230g LRN. The only data I found is 4.9g of N320 with a 230g FMJ-RN, so I'm not too sure where to start with the LRN. In comparing 230g lead with .230g jacketed in the Lee manual, I see where some powders use a full grain decrease for lead over Jacketed, while another powder shows a .5g increase in powder over jacketed. It's a bit confusing, as I'm new to all of this! Thanks!