AustinMike

I got one of these to try and it works well. I'll proably order one or two more. Choate shell holder

I love this place! There are few other forums that I frequent anymore. It's a moderated forum, which keeps the quality up there. I'm not sure why some people have a problem with that. Everyone's free to start their own yournamehere.com or a blog if they don't want to be moderated.

My powder measure (old style w/ springs on a 550B) has been doing the same thing for some time (loading pistol calibers.) I've observed the problem with all powders I use and with multiple powder bars. Here's some things suggested by Dillon in emails. Possible causes: bar or spacer out of spec, galling on the bar or spacer, powder getting stuck between bar and spacer. Measure the thickness of the small powder bar and spacer. It should be .356" - .359". Remove both the bar and spacer from the measure. Hold together, see if light is visible at all between them. Any visible galling on the powder bar or spacer? Wipe off the bars and swab out the interior of the powder body with alcohol. I've checked and done everything suggested, but still have the problem periodically. It comes and goes as I'm loading. I've got the failsafe rod on to yank it back over and the charge weight has never been adversely affected. It's just annoying and disrupts the smooth motion. Next time I have some spare cash, I'm going to just order a new measure & rod so I won't be down and send my old one in to have Dillon fix it up.

The barrel in my Kimber got leaded pretty bad when I was trying out some moly coated bullets. Copper chore boy wrapped around a bore brush helped. Kroil works pretty good to help get it out. I've got a bottle that I mixed 50/50 of Kroil and Hoppes No. 9. Liberal squirts of that down the barrel followed by soaked patches on a jag brings the lead out in chunks. Ultimate solution was to start shooting jacketed bullets.

JL called me today and he is a really great guy to speak with. Thanks for all the info and taking the time to answer my questions, JL!

I'd like to get in contact with JL Hardy about the guns he builds. Can someone PM me his number if you have it? I tried to contact him via the forum and haven't heard back, but I don't know how often he gets out here. Thanks!

Yup, never buy a chrono that puts all of its guts in front of your muzzle.

I asked the same question a few weeks back and Shred introduced me to the Hornady 230gr. FMJ/RN ENC. Very nice FMJ with no exposed lead!

Chrony will replace your F-1 for a fee, but it's almost as much as buying that model new IRC. I use a Chrony Alpha Master, that has the "brains" in the remote. Replacement for that model is around $35 if you shoot it. I got mine on ebay for $80 new.

Rebuilt Glock: $365 Mech-Tech Carbine Conversion for Glock $270 Used Remmy 1100 $300 Match fee: $25 Ear-to-ear grin: priceless Is 3-gun the most fun you can have with your clothes on or what?! Can't wait for the next one! Woopin' up on Texas Stars with a 12 gauge is way cool! I highly recommend it. Good job on those stages, General Chang!

A couple of things. First, keep in mind that the loads Hodgdon lists are with an OAL of 1.200". Seating deeper may bump the PF a little. I used 1.260" with the Rainiers, if I remember, and I've been using 1.250" lately with Zero FMJ's and 4.1gr. of Clays to get about 165PF. Second, bear in mind that many of the major PF loads that we use in competition are above the powder manufacturers' recommended maximums. Just use caution and bump up slowly, looking for any pressure signs.

Don't even click the link!!! It will likely take you to a site that will proceed to dump all kinds of spyware and/or viruses down to your system! If you hover your mouse over a link in an email, your client will probably display the actual URL, which will not be ebay, pay pal, etc. It may have ebay or pay pal in the URL, but the actual server (between http:// and the first /) will probably be an IP address or DNS name that is not who they claim to be. You can also select "view options" or something like that from the menu in your client and see that the sender is not really ebay or pay pal. They usually spoof the reply to though.

And I could have it backwards too, wouldn't be the first time.

N310 is a darn good powder for .45. It will burn clean and shoot consistent at higher charges. It took about 4.5 grains to push a 200gr. moly coated bullet to Major PF out of my Kimber 1911. No pressure signs. Note that for a cheaper solution Clays is real close to N310, but I got some primer flattening pushing Major PF with 200gr. bullets. Now, I use 230gr. FMJ's with 4.1 of Clays. It's close to N310 in my opinion at almost half the price.

Reckon I'm there with you.

I haven't played much with 320, but I noticed that even fast 310 gets dirtier and the velocity variation gets wider with lighter loads. Loaded hot, it burns real clean and consistent. This is in .45, but I'd think the trend would hold true in other calibers.

+1 on Lunar Pages. I've been using them for a couple years now. No ads or pop-ups and you get tons of disk space and bandwidth. -Mike www.austinmike.com

Cool...thanks for the pictures, Eric!

Hey, I resemble that remark! This is the undersized sizing die. It sizes a hair smaller and further down than regular dies. I should help against bullet setback, but I think its primarily to remove the "Glock bulge" and help prevent feeding issues. The Lee factory crimp die is supposed to be a good measure of prevention against setback. It basically does another full length size.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's scratched his head on that. I'm about to start reloading for my stock Glock 22. I've heard or read where people say 320 is too fast, but obviously lots of folks use that and the apparently faster Titegroup. Additionally, I believe Titegroup is double based and 320 is single based. Everything I've heard indicates that double based powders are more susceptible to pressure spikes at higher charges, whereas single based powders supposedly have a more linear pressure curve. So, why does it seem that Titegroup is often preferred over 320?

+1 I'd say 3.8 to 4.0 ought to poof nicely.

Eric, is the Novak captured or not?

I liked N310 over N320 with 230gr. FMJ in my 1911. Felt softer to me. After much comparison, I'm back using Clays now. It's REAL close to N310 in performance and feel, in my opinion. N310 is maybe a little more consistent in velocity, but not enough so to make me want to spend almost double the cost of Clays. If all you can get is VV, then N310 is fine powder, just more expensive. Now, if you are going to use 200gr. bullets at Major PF, I'd say definitely stay with VV N310. My experiments with Clays pushing 200gr. moly coated bullets to 165PF led to some pressure signs on the primers in my gun. N310 seemed to do it without so much pressure and it felt soft and was very consistent at a little over 165PF.

That will probably work just fine. FYI, if you feel like experimenting some, the load I used to shoot with 230gr. Rainier plated bullets was 4.0 of regular Clays. It's doesn't get much cleaner or softer in .45.

Wow...this story has really made the rounds on the 'net. Didn't realize it was posted out here too. Since he rarely gets credit for this great story, I'd like to state for the record that this story is the work of a great guy named Daniel Meyer, who I've gotten to ride with on a number of occassions. This and other great stories are on his web site: Life is a road Daniel has published some of his adventures in several books. BTW, the Valkyrie is an incredible machine. I highly recommend it.