tedbeau

Thanks for the replies. Since I am pretty happy with the load I am using now I guess I will just stick to the 180 grains. For the record, I use a 180 grain Xtreme RNFP, over 4.2 grains of Winchester 231,HP38 with Winchester primers loaded to 1.125 OVL. Out of my Glock 27 it makes 785 FPS (141 PF) which is way more than I need for IDPA. I can drop down to 4.0 Grains and get 750 FPS (135 PF).

I noticed that Xtreme sells a 200 grain 40 caliber bullet and I was thinking of trying some. I am looking for a lighter recoiling load. Since I shoot Marksman in IDPA using a Glock 27 I only need to make a 125 PF and I am not concerned about the slide speed. Looking on few other forums I saw quite a few post warning that the 200 grain bullets were not safe in 40 caliber guns due to pressure spikes, I guess. Looking on the forums here I do see quite a few people that say they are using 200 grain bullets, but a lot of the load data they mention are considerably longer than the 40 caliber OVA length of 1.135, some going to 1.18 and even 1.2. I know from experience I can't load a 1.18 long load in my 40 caliber glock mags. So my question is, is it safe to shoot 200 grain in a 40 caliber, not 10mm?

I'm pretty sure I know what the answer will be but thought I would ask the experts here anyways. I'm just starting to work up loads for a charter arms bulldog in 44 special. I bought 500 starline cases and 500 xtreme 200 grain rnfp jacketed. Plan on using Unique powder. I have an idea of where I want to be speed wise so I loaded a few batches of 5 rounds at different charges. I havn't gotten a chance to shoot them through my chrono yet. My question has to do with overall length. Manuals show the overall length for a 44 Special at 1.61. When I set the bullet seating depth to crimp in the cannelure my overall length ends up at about 1.4X (going from memory here on the exact length. That seems short so I was wondering if that's normal with a 200 grain bullet? I do not plan on loading extremely high pressure so the case volume might not be an issue. How short is too short?

This is what my mentor told, me. When you have a shooter DQ himself that's how you explain it to him. "You have broken a major safety violation and have DQ'ed yourself from the match." It lets them know they were responsible for the error and why the DQ is necessary (safety).

Having S.O.'d and been a match director at a major match for 5 years, I have seen this happen quite a lot. One time a really good and serious shooter did not have any mags in his mag pouch. Shot to slide lock and went to reload, no mags. This is IDPA so the SO' wouldn't normally notice either. I've seen shooters have partially full mags also. Normally my version of this is at our Wednesday night practice sessions. I hate the paddle type holster adapter I have for my competition holster. On Wednesday nights I take my EDC gun out of my concealment holster, put the competition holster and mag carrier on my belt, holster the gun and drive to the practice session. Invariably when it's my turn to shoot I get to the line and realize I didn't put any mags in the carrier. I usually catch it but have to run back to my bag to get the mags.

When I design stages I usually think of one item, and design the stage around that. It could be a prop, or a target array, a part of a scenario. Example, I did a stage where you were stuck in traffic and a caught between two carloads of rival gang bangers in the cars next to you. I had four targets in two arrays and each target had portions blacked out as hard cover, (the car doors or roof columns. This made for reduced zero scoring zones on most of the targets but each zone was reduced differently, either partially blocked on side, or top or bottom. Another time we had a tree fall down in one of our bays so I wanted to hang some targets from the tree, upside down, and that's how Barrels of Monkeys stage was created. I had "baboons" invade your African safari camp and at the end of the stage you had to shoot the last two thru a barrel with the bottom cut out for a nice "Thump" sound. Last night I used a new prop, that gave me the stage idea. We have a nighttime shoot coming up in two months and I wanted to test an idea. We shoot the night match with flashlights. My daughters work gave away some swag gifts that are little plastic boxes that look like a wall light switch. The box has a plastic cover and leds in it. When you turn on the switch the lights come on. I mounted these on a barricade at almost eye level near the edge of the barricade we were shooting around. We turned off most the range lights. Shooting the stage you had to turn on the light as you arrived at the shooting position before shooting around the barricade. This meant that you were shooting at low light targets with a bright LED light between you and the target so it was messing with your night vision. I hate the simple scenarios like, "shoot the bad guys" although I admit I have been lazy at times if I am in a hurry. One of my favorite scenarios was from last years Michigan State Match. "Your daughter tells you there are monsters in her closet. When you go to check, sure enough, there ARE monsters in the closet!" I laughed when the SO read it.

Since I see that 57K mentioned GFL headstamps, I would like to ask a question about these in particular. I have noticed that when ever I get a case that takes noticeably more force to size the case, it is always a GFL headstamp. I was curious if this was due to over size case, heavy wall or excessive case expansion during firing. These are usually range brass pickup's (40 caliber) so I don't know if they are factory once fired or someone's reloads. I guess I could just take a minute and measure the case wall and OD next time I run across some.

I bought about 3000 once fired brass from a guy on Brass bank facebook page and have been reloading that for about a year and a half. I have also had a few club members give me some range brass over the past couple of years. I now have enough to start reloading it. Since there are not a lot of people around here shooting 40 caliber I figure most of this is once fired from guys that do not reload. After hearing that Winchester brass is a little weaker than others I have decided to sort and use the Winchester brass for loss brass matches. That way I "lose" it before it's been reloaded more than twice. The only other head stamps I sort out are my federal that I bought online if it gets mixed in with other range brass at a local match and Herters (Cabela store brand). The Herters absolutely sucks when it comes to primer seating. I have about 20 cases that I can not get a primer to seat flush in no matter how hard I lean on the press. Now I just toss the Herters into a box I plan on sending into a bullet manufacturer for credit, if they will take them. I have not run into any Federal NT brass that I can recall. One other thing I have noticed is when I get a case that sizes a little harder than others it's always a GFL headstamp. I don't know if their brass is over size, thicker walled or maybe harder brass but I can tell when I pull the lever on the press. I'll usually check the case and it will almost always be GFL.

As I posted in another thread, I won a Charter Arms bulldog in 44 special so I am looking to do some reloading. I have found a few load data specs but most of them tend to be on the higher power end for hunting. Since I just want to plink with it and maybe use it in IDPA local bug matches I am looking to be at a 130 PF. Also since my club doesn't allow plain lead bullets at our indoor range I would like to be using plated or jacketed bullets. Xtreme makes 200 and 240 grain plated. http://www.xtremebullets.com/44-s/48047.htm Since the gun is pretty light and I tend to hold to the theory that heavier equals less perceived recoil I am leaning towards the 240 grains. If I want a 130-135 PF with 240 grain bullets I would only need to make 541 to 562 FPS. My concern is is that to slow and would I be risking sticking a bullet in the barrel? Even using the 200 grain bullets I would be looking at 650 to 675 FPS. This at least seems reasonable Does anyone have an idea of what realistically is the slowest speed you should use for plated bullets. Also anyone that has any actually experience with low end 44 special loads I would love to hear your experience. Thanks

So you used a taper crimp die on them? I don't plan on running full power loads either, just want something I can have some fun with. I may use the gun in the local IDPA bug matches. (I think it fits in the IDPA bug box. I'll have to check that for sure).

I was lucky enough to win a handgun at a gun match this past Sunday! I won a Charter Arms Bulldog in 44 Special. Now I am trying to decide if I want to flip the gun for some cash to buy a semi-auto for competition or keep the bulldog. I shoot IDPA and would like to get either a Glock or XD in 40 caliber or 9MM. I already load 40 caliber for my Glock 27 I shoot in the CCP division but would like to start using a different gun in SSP division. Since the Bulldog is a 5 rounder it wouldn't be as competitive in revolvers since most revolvers in the division are 6 rounders. If I keep the gun I would probably want to start reloading for it. Here's the problem, almost all the bullets I see available are either lead or jacketed/plated hollowpoints. My club does not allow lead/hard cast lead to be shot at the indoor range and the hollow points are pricey for plinking. A few manufacturers list some plated bullets with out the cannelure. I know usually revolvers use a roll crimp in the cannelure to prevent bullet jump, so my questions are: 1. Do I need to buy a bullet with the cannelure or can I use a taper crimp on a straight sided bullet in a 44 special? 2. Where can I find inexpensive ( less than fifteen cents a round) bullets for plinking?

Thanks for the load data reshoot. I need to decide if I want to use the WSF or the Unique I have. I guess I can load a few different loads of each and see which feels better and shoots better. With the spring match season finally getting close I need to get my supply of ammo built up a little. I haven't been reloading much since I became my clubs match director. We are lucky enough to have an indoor range so we have monthly matches all winter long, plus weekly practice sessions that I have also been running and shooting.

sbo76 said he makes 170 PF using 5.4 grains of WSF and 180 grain plated. and yz125mm700 says he uses 4.9 grains to make major. I guess I'm surprised that there is .5 grains difference in the loads yet both make major. I have a jug of WSF that I may have to use since I am out of the W231 I have been using. Since I shoot 40 caliber in IDPA I only need to make 125 PF. Does anyone have load data for a 180 grain jacketed bullet (delta precision) using WFS and making around 750 FPS? By my calculations, it should be around 4.6 grains.

Mine has the diffusers (pact calls them skyscreens I guess). That's how I knew the unit was never used, the plastic diffuser panels are attached to the metal frame with tape and the tape still had the protective paper backing that needs to be peeled off to attach. I had read a tip from someone else about putting a cardboard target in front. Question though, why cut a hole in it, the cardboard shouldn't slow the bullet down, of course I guess it would be harder to see the relationship of the target and the skyscreens and sensor without a hole, so more chance of shooting the unit if shooting blind. one other interesting thing, I took the battery out and noticed that the wiring harness for the battery connector appears to be spliced. It had electrical tape in the middle of it. I unwrapped the tape and each wire was joined with heat shrink tubing. I'm not sure if it's a factor joint, or if someone replaced the battery connection. IF it's a solder joint it should be ok, if' its not it might be causing power supply issues. If I continue to have trouble I can replace the connector, I have one and I can solder it on to make sure its a good connection.

I have a question concerning polish added to walnut media. I have a Cabelas tumbler and it came with a bottle of polish. I understand it's basically car wax. The very first time I tumbled brass I added a cup full of the polish to the walnut media. When I took out the brass after tumbling and started to reload I found several cases that had big gobs of the walnuts and polish packed in them. I would expect that loading these with the junk in them would be a bad thing. How do you get the polish to not glob up when added to the walnuts and how do you check to make sure there isn't any stuck in a case afterwards. The other thing I noticed is even adding the polish and tumbling for two hours the cases are not as shiny as I would like. The cases I am using were purchased online from the brass bank web site and they seem to be tarnished, not just dirty from powder residue. I think I may try the citric acid soak method to clean them. I know someone is going to chime in with buy a SS pin tumbler setup but I don't think I need to go to that extreme.

as far as distance from the muzzle to the sensors, I paced it off as three paces so that should be about 8 feet, It might be just a little to close. In retrospect as I said, I had reviewed the data for the first string and then tried to check the hornady. maybe I needed to reset the unit. The manual says to push the edit and review buttons at the same time which I did not do, but I thought I did power it off and back on so I would think that would reset it. Ill play with it some more in the spring unless our weird warm weather continues.

I was looking on Ebay and found a Pact model one that was about 20 years old but apparently new in the box, never used. The auction started out at $5.00 so I decided to take a chance on it. I ended getting it for $47 dollars plus shipping, so about half the price of anything else available. This model has the two sensors that are connected to the electronics/display by two cables with stereo type plugs. I had to make a frame to mount the sensors 24 inches apart. I took it to the range Saturday. I set it up and plugged the cables into the display and fired my first round thru it: no reading, after several failed attempts I rechecked the cables and of course while tracing them from sensors to display they had crossed and I had them plugged in wrong. After fixing that the chrono worked fine for a 10 shot group. I had grabbed the ammo out of box of mixed loads that were all about the same powder charge, however they did have two different bullets, (same weight, just different manufacturers) and several different primers. they were loaded on different days and the powder charge may have not been exactly the same. Since I am loading for IDPA and only looking to make the minimum power factor of 125 I was only concerned about being to low, and knew I was well below the listed max for the powder I was using. I had estimated the charge based on the lowest listed charges for the powder. Since It's 40 caliber using a 180 grain bullet I need to be just at 700 fps to make the 125 PF. Also since I am shooting a glock 27 in the CCP class I am giving up about an inch in barrel length so I knew I would be a little slower than published data. Of the 10 shots, two or three fell blow 700, my average was 707 and my SD was 25. The extreme spread was 77.7. Based on this I am going to bump up my loads a little even though they would probably all pass if I shot them thru a longer barreled gun, which IDPA will allow if you fail to make the PF with your gun. My goal is to get them all up over 750 FPS so the PF would be 135. I have match ammo loaded already that will probably make that.= I just didn't take any to the range with me. I did however then try to chrono some of my SD ammo. I was carrying Hornady XTP 180 grains. For some reason every one I tried got an error message. I wish I would have switched back to the hand loads to see if they would read or not. The only possibilities I can think of for the hornady's not reading were that the battery was getting low, or the hollowpoints were causing more muzzle blast and the chrono was reading that. I had the near sensor about 10 feet from the gun. maybe I need to move it back more. Next time I'll take a second battery too. oops just looked at the manual and I may have still been in review mode, apparently you need to press edit and review buttons at the same time to start a new string, but I think I actually turned the unit off when I was getting error messages so I would think that would have cleared it, Anyone else ever had issues with hollowpoints instead of round nose?

Another new reloader here, I have not chrono'd any of my loads yet. I am looking to be in the 130-135 PF range because I shoot CCP in IDPA. So far I have been loading to lower end of listed charges for my loads. A few guys have offered to let me borrow their chrono but I really hate to borrow equipment that has a possibility of getting shot! I thought chrono's usually were more expensive than the $70 range I see mentioned above. I may consider buying one since my wife was talking about getting me a $100 gift certificate for Christmas. I have a few questions: What brands does cabelas carry? I may be able to order one and have it shipped to store for free. A lot of people have mentioned the phone apps, but I don't have a smart phone, would that change the recommendations based on not being able to download to phone? Can any of the models save the data to a USB thumb drive to transfer to a computer? I seen to recall that using them inside under florescent lights can be an issue. since my club has both indoer and outdoor ranges which one would be best for use both indoors or outdoors?

I am new to reloading and have just about used up my first pound of powder so I have been picking up whatever powders I can as I find it available. since I m only planning on loading 40 S&W for now and mostly for IDPA practice and completion I have been buying powders that I can find load data for in that caliber. I started with HP-38 and 180 grain Xtreme and Berry's fp bullets. I found a load that shoots really accuarate and is light recoiling (I am shooting a baby Glock Model 27 in IDPA CCP division). I have been able to pick up the following powders; win 231 (I know, same as HP-38), Unique and Winchester WSF. Since I got 600 free bullets from Hornady when I bought the press I am trying to decide which powder to use to load these. The Hornady bullets are 155 grain XTP's. I want to load some for Emergency Self Defense loads in case the supply dries up when Hillary wins the election next year and tries to ban all ammo. I could load some of these as target loads or IDPA competition loads but it seems silly to waste hollow points on cardboard targets. Plus from what I have read it seems that the 180 grains loads are easier shooting out of light guns like the glock 27. Since I am shooting IDPA CCP I only need to make a power factor of 125. That's only 806 FPS using the 155 grains XTP's. Although I would probably keep it up around 850- 875 if I am going to shoot a match with them. I am leaning towards using the WSF powder because the 155 grain gives me a little more case room and the WSF is the slowest powder I have on hand. I think I found some loads for 155 grain bullets and WSF so that would be my first option unless someone can give me a reason to use the Unique for these bullets.

I have only had my LnL for a couple of months and I have occasionally had this problem. Mine is definitely in the decapping/sizing station. Sometimes the press starts to return then hangs up. What I have determined, although I can't explain why, is that the primer punch out pin is hanging up on the spent primer and cant retract out of the case. If I remove the case in the powder charge station to prevent a double charge and re-raise the press ram up I can actually here the spent primer then fall free into the primer catch bottle I have on the end of the spent primer tube. Once the spent primer is all the way out the press lowers with out a problem. I originally thought that perhaps I had the primer punch pin sticking down to far and it was wedging itself into the primer hole in the case. I raised the pin and it happens less often but every once in a while I still get a hang up. Every time I do I find raising the ram up again and hearing the primer drop clear clears the jam. The only explanation I can think of is that the pin is wedging it self into the primer body between the anvil and the primer wall, although I can see where a bent pin would hang up on the primer hole also, but it seems like that would happen more consistently. Perhaps the primers are pierced from overpressure loads and the end of the pin is actually sticking though? I don't know, I guess I could try and catch one that hangs up and see what it looks like.

I have a LNL, go t it over a month ago. I did have a little problem with the primer feeder tube not fitting down into the base. Hornady sent me a new tube and a new base, no problem. Since I got it set up the only problem I have had is some primers will not seat flush. Then I noticed that all the cases that I have a problem with are Herters. (40 S&W by the way). From now on I am going to sort out the Herters and decap, ream the primer pocket then prime and load. I am going to have to check out the inline products, I had not heard of them before. I was going to look into a light to mount on the press. I think Hornady offers one. Then I saw a you tube video and the guy had a cheap LED flashlight mounted on his by wrapping a wire around the top of the seating die and aiming the light into the press over the bullet load station. Since I had a light laying around I got a piece of scrap wire from the scrap bin at work and made my own mount. I had to get a pretty stiff wire. I would guess it's 10 gauge. It works ok but does look ugly, but function maters more than form in this case. Still I think I'll check out inline for there accessories.

I'm new to reloading and have a question concerning crimped primers. TheotherErik said that S&B primers are crimped. I have some S&B cases that I have shot and I don't think they are crimped. I think I have probably loaded some in the last two batched of ammo I shot. I have been having trouble getting some primers to seat fully, using a Hornady AP progressive press. When I checked the head stamp on the eight cases I cold not get the primer flush seven of them were Herters and one was a CBC case. Even looking at the cases I cant tell if they are crimped or not. Perhaps I need a better picture of a crimped primer. Dose someone have a picture showing how to identify crimped primers? Please? In any event I have started sorting my brass now, putting all the Herters and CBC in a separate batch to process by decapping then using a primer pocket reamer to clean the pocket before reloading. I haven't done this yet because I haven't gotten a reamer tool yet. I suppose I am going to have to sort out all the S&B cases now for reaming.

I am new to reloading, less than 1000 rounds so far. I was having trouble with the primers. About 4 or 5 rounds in a hundred I would get one that would not seat fully. Sometimes just over half the needed depth. The primer would jam up my press, (Hornady AP progressive) because the primer was sticking out and catching on the base plate. I could sometimes rotate the press back to the priming position and press harder on the handle and get the primer to seat. Sometimes this took several tries and sometimes it took considerable force. There were some that I could not get seated with out really "Leaning" on the handle. These I set aside. In researching the problem, thinking it might be a primer issue (Winchester small pistol) someone mentioned some brass being tighter than others. The brass I am using is mostly once fired from my gun (Glock 27). There is some range brass mixed in. I decided to check the head stamp on the eight rounds I had that I could not get the primer seated into. Of the eight rounds seven were Herters (Cabela's) and one was CBC. I'm not sure who or what CBC even is. My solution now it to sort the brass after cleaning. Then I'll set the Herters and CBC aside and load it later. I am going to remove all the dies and powder measure from the press and except the seating/decapping die. After I decap the brass I'll use a primer pocket reamer and then try seating the primers. I haven't tried this yet because I need to pick up the primer pocket reamer this week. So for now you can put me in the sort brass category.