Cotys

I have one, I did the Bushmaster AR-15 upper. I’ve killed a couple of white tails and hogs. With a 250 gr SST, they drop hard. I believe Ruger now has a bolt gun for the 450. I had read it was for people in your situation. I have a 11-87 slug gun for Iowa. I would pick the 450 over it.

I bought one for my 650 years ago. Definetly worth it.

Yep, works for rifle also.

You adjust a "V" on the powder measure rod. The buzzer has a pin that aligns to the V, if not aligned, it buzzes. I watch where the buzzer fits in the V, if it looks low, you can measure it. It will definitely alarm on no or double powder. It will alarm at low or high powder also. I've never tried to put a hard number on it, but yes it will alarm on a squib. When I used corn cob media, I've had a few that had a small amount of left over media in a 5.56 brass, it alarmed and gave me a good reason to check out the load.

I have the Dillon powder check die and think it is a good safety check. I have no complaints!

From my experience, the max load is normally not the most accurate load. I'm sure there are examples where max is most accurate. I typically end up picking my most accurate load somewhere South of max. Depending on the caliber, it could be a grain or two.

I've had the 650 for 10 years or so. I love it, wish I had bought a 1050! Even more progressive blue.

I've seen similar results with cheap ammo out of a standard carbine. I had some Silver Bear that was probably 5 MOA. I've had great results with the XL-650 and loading long range ammo. I have a Krieger match barrel with a 1:7.7 twist. My favorite load is 75 grain Hornady BTHP with TAC or RL15 powders. These are sub-MOA out of the progressive. I've taken many prairie dogs at 800 meters, a few at 900 meters. We are trying to find terrain this year that would allow us to do some 1000 meter work. I have also loaded some of the 55 grain Varmint Nightmare bullets from MidSouth Shooter Supply. I don't have as much experience with these, but they did pretty good for me last year. They only sell them bulk and they are about 1/2 price of most varmint bullets. On a two day hunting trip, we'll shoot a minimum of 500 rounds each and have gone through as many as a 1,000. Loading that much on a single stage would be painful!

Sorry, referenced the exact same article. You beat me to it. Non-construction allows up to 60, not sure why. Workers can return to work at 40.

The baseline for adults is 5 µg/dL. Workers are to be removed from the environment if >50. Here's a CDC article. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ables/description.html

I tumble and reload in the garage. I use nitrite gloves to both keep my hands clean and a little to avoid the nasty in the tumbler. The guys at the deer lease used to make fun of me for wearing them while I cleaned a deer. Then they asked to borrow some of mine. Someone will bring a full box each year now. We use the thicker black or blue mechanics nitrile gloves. I owned and managed an indoor shooting range for years, never had a problem. I'll ask my Dr to include lead test in my annual this year. You can get a lead (heavy metal) blood test for @$40 at any testing center if you're really concerned about it. I say don't chew on bullets or eat paint!!!

I agree, I would weight them on a digital scale. I weight all my long range 556 rounds and set aside any that vary. To speed things up, weigh 5 known good rounds and get the total weight. You can use that baseline to weigh 5 at a time. If you find a variance, you can weigh each one and find the offender. If you find a heavy one, I would use a bullet puller and save the components. You might loose a couple of flakes of powder with a puller, but you could weigh the powder and confirm your suspicions.

A marine gunny sargent gave me a long range load. It is 24 gr of Reloader 15 with a 75 gr Hornady hollow point match. We shoot 500 - 600 yds a lot in West Texas while prarie dog hunting. We shoot 800 yds early before the heat and wind kick up, the mirage makes 800 really tough later in the day. Prarie dogs become fuzzy specs that shimmer around with heavy mirage. I've found TAC loads about the same as RL-15. You can download TAC data for free in a PDF. I see Hornady lists CFE & 68gr starting at 22.5 up to 26.3 max. They also list ARComp and Varget. I would work up some 68 gr loads and try it. Some folks swear by them. I've tried a few 68 grs before and they did fine for me. I would find what works for my rifle and go with it.

I agree with those above. They are hard to get clean, but function fine. A port buffer helped a lot with dented & damaged brass.

I use a Dillon full length die in #1 and the trimmer in #4. Since it has be resized in #1 including the ball expander, it is uniform going into the trimmer. I use Dillon case lube and tumble it off after this. Since it is a 650, I use a Dillon swager.

+1 on TAC. I use it for 75 gr 5.56 long range (800 yds) and to feed an HK91.308. The HK is not a long range gun, so I cant speak much to accuracy on .308. TAC loads well on a 650 and is versital.

Looks like Lapua markets this brass as .223 Match. 223 has a weaker web (internal base) than military brass. At this OAL you are just over the pressure line (with QuickLOAD calcs). At least it is only 100. I prefer a die type bullet puller, but also have a kinetic bullet puller (I call the suicide hammer).

I do lots of Hornady 75 gr BTHP, but not the AMAX or 80 gr Sierras. I saw a guy at the range blowing the bases off of brass with 75 gr AMAX loaded to mag length (2.250). Don't remember what his load was. You are quite a bit longer than that. I ran your load in QuickLOAD - 80 Grain SMK, 23 gr AR2208, to a length of 2.385. Is shows 56897 psi, which is below the max of 62366. That puts you about 8% below max pressure. I do not know the case capacity in H2O of the Lapua. QuickLOAD is showing 28.49 grains H2O to do the calcs. Quickload is showing 2661 fps at this configuration. Just curious, you loading them one at a time in an AR or a bolt gun? EDIT: I re-ran with commercial brass SAAMI specs. The max for .223 SAAMI is 55000 psi. This would be in the red and over pressure by 323 psi. I would expect Lapua to be milspec brass for 5.56, but I do not know.

I went with Dillon and it worked for me. I did add a Lee Factory Crimp die to avoid any bullet set back in my AR-15.

Is it gummed up with lube or crud in side? It shouldn't wear out for a long, long, long,.... time.

I have Dillon for all my standard calibers and have been very pleased with them. For odd ball cartridges that Dillon doesn't have, I've purchased Wilson case gauges. I've been pleased with both. Quality seems to be good on both.

Since it is Remington brass I would assume it is commercial. The thicker webbing in mil brass can make a diference. I have a 7.62 book that gives lots of warnings in loading hot loads in mil brass. I use all nato brass, it does have slightly lower capacity than commercial, which effects pressure. I start a tad lower and work up.

Ive also noticed that when I have a bullet tray of 500 bullets, when I get through I have roughly 500 rounds of ammunition. Its funny how that happens. I also use a mechanical counter. I preload primer tubes and run large batches of 500 or a 1000. With the counter you have an immediate view of where you are in the process. I have also found through empiricle evidence that using a counter provides more consistent OAL and more accurate powder throws! You really should get a counter.

Mostly I crimp for auto loaders where I worry about the bullet being set back. You will probably get a 100 different opinions. Some say crimping impacts accuracy, some say not so much. I expect like many things, it may depend on what your rifle likes. You could try some for accuracy with and without crimp. I've never loaded for my Garand, I would probably crimp like I do for other auto loaders.

I load every thing 75 gr like you say and just shoot them. Your RL15 is very accurate, I use 24 gr with the 75ers. I've found TAC identical to RL15 in the .223. I've had good luck with the 69 and 77 gr but settled on 75