Cotys

I hope its a couple 1/10ths of grains. I've not seen that, but I did polish my powder bar and funnel which helped greatly with consistency. This helped greatly with some disk type military powder that was very finicky. Have you marked the bolt face to see if it is actually moving during reloading?

Very interesting, I've never heard this one. I only remember a couple of times when the primer follower didn't do the job. I will take a mental reminder to see when it happens again and maybe try a .45 brass or some type of weight. Still learning from Brian's forum.

+1 on having spare brass. I keep a few resized/deprimed and some resized&primed. If the primer gets stuck in sideways or just will not go in the brass, I remove the primer and brass and insert at resized& primed brass. If there seems to be a primer pocket issue or crimped brass, I just stick in one of the resized/deprimed brass. I use a simple lee hand primer to prime them if needed. I set the offending brass aside and deal with it when I'm through loading. Then I checkout any problem brass.

Hey, I've been there also. I was relocating and lived in a corporate apartment while we had our previous house for sale. I tried a portable bench, but that just didn't have enough stability. It really messes with the powder throw. I ended up setting up my press in a climate controlled 10 x 10 storage unit with a sturdy bench. I stored lots of other things in the unit and didn't advertise the fact it was there. I've seen others that setup a loader in a bedroom. My wife wouldn't go for that one. The foot print of the 650 is pretty small, even with a case feeder. You could do a very small bench, as long as it is sturdy and can be anchored or attached to something. Someone had asked previously, I think press and casefeeder was only 15 or 16" deep. The manual says 24" wide bench, you could get by with less as long as you had room to pull the lever..... The manual says: Locate a sturdy bench at least 24” wide and 14” deep, with 44” of over- head clearance. We suggest a mini- mum of 1” plywood or equivalent, secured to the back wall. The work- bench should be tall enough to place your eye level about 18” above the bench.

+1 - I bought one from Brian. Its handy!

Yes go with a Dillon. I run a 650 and wish I had bought a 1050. I have 2 other presses I use to work up loads. Sometimes I think I'll just continue to load on these, its all setup now. When I switch to the Dillon for a large run, I ask myself, ”What were you thinking?”.

Sounds like it is being fire-formed to your rifle, especially if the empty chambers fine. A lot of people just neck size them once it is fire-formed to their rifle. I still do full length resize on them all. I have a bolt gun and an HK-91. The HK-91 is really a terror on brass. The chamber is fluted and the brass comes out with the flute indented the length of the brass and sometimes a burr on the brass rim from the HK throwing them 30 yards. They reload ok, the flute is still visible after resizing. I buy military brass (Lake City), it seems to hold up better in the HK. I have a bunch of Winchester brass I keep for the bolt gun. I've added a port buffer with a rubber deflector to the HK to avoid denting and throwing the brass so far. Even with the HK being so ruff on brass, they can be reloaded 12 - 15 times. The first sign of worn out brass is typically cracking in the neck. Oops, must have already been typing. Missed the new thread.

A good point, wind will get you even with heavy bullets. How far are the long range stages? I was shooting in West Texas, in the afternoon the wind kicked up terrible. We had a direct crosswind. At 600 yards my buddy's 55 grain Vmax drifted about 12 feet, my 75 grain BTHP drifted about 5 feet. I have shot 75 grain privi ammo (it was factory privi 75 grain match). I was comparing it to 77 grain SMKs. They performed right in there with the Sierras in a 20" 1:7.7 twist Kreiger barrel.

Oh, another sign of over pressure is a bar / scratch on the base of the brass where the extractor sits (don't see it either).

Glad to help corrupt a fellow reloader. I had wondered if the pictures exaggerated flattening a little. Other signs would be cratered primer with a raised rim (don't see it) and carbon around the primer (don't see it). A little flattening is normal. Chrony shows to be right where you would expect. All in all I think it may be interesting with the texturing, but not a problem.

We'll see what people say about the look of the primers. Makes me want to go look at some of mine tonight, if I have any not processed yet. All your data looks good. The actual chrony reading of 2705 says you are in the good range. I even upped the temp to 110 degrees, no problem there with pressures. From looking at the picture, I would say the brass would be fine.

Hornady shows the same load for all their 150 grainers, 7 different bullets. I reran the 46 grain load at 70 degrees(58758 psi)and 90 degrees(60749 psi), with 62000 psi max SAAMI. QuickLoad shows all those loads below max pressure (all estimates of course). The picture came through, you can see the texturing and it looks flattened. What is your OAL? I'll check it against QuickLoad defaults, it can make a big difference. Was the ammo laying out in the sun before being shot? I've read in one test, where ammo laying in direct sunlight increased internal pressures by 4,000 psi. That could put you over the 62000 psi.....

I just checked the Hornady manual, they show 44.9 grains at 2700 fps as a max for Varget with their 150 grainers. I see a lot of loads hotter than that, just FYI.

The Varget weight seems a little light. Would that be 45 grains? .308 Varget loads seem to fall around 45 to 47 grains. I ran Varget 45 grains, 150 Hornday and a 20" barrel in QuickLoad; it estimates a muzzle velocity of 2698 fps; 47 gr = 2819 fps. One person is showing an actual of 2703 with a 22" barrel and 45 grs of Varget.

+1 on the 75 AMAX being too long for mags (I know one new reloader had it mag length and was blowing out primers, eventually had case seperation, no I do NOT shoot with him) +1 on 25.5 being fairly warm I shoot the 75 grain Hornady BTHP at 500 to 800 yards. I've had good luck with it as well as the 77 gr Sierra Match King. I use either Reloader 15 or TAC. Both powders say 24.1 as max (TAC & Hornady manuals). I attached 1 page from the Ramshot Load Guide. The whole guide is available on their website. My current load is 24 gr TAC (or RL-15) over the Hornady 75 BTHP. I started using this load when a Marine Gunny Sargent told me they were using RL-15 at 24.1 grains over a 77 SMK for 1000 yard iron site shoots. I've found some good deals on the Hornday 75 grain and have used it with good results. TAC 223.pdf

Its always good to hear these stories. Makes you glad you invested in a Dillon.

That sounded pretty shallow, but I came up with 15" from the back of the casefeeder to the very front of the strong mount. Pretty close to mine since target1911 measured to the mounting hole. Looks like you have room to spare.

I've used Dillon, Lymon and Frankford Arsenal. Recently have been mostly Frankford Arsenal due to its fresh citrus smell (sarcasm). They seem to all be about the same from my experience. I just stick some Frankford Arsenal on a Midway USA order to cut down on shipping costs. Forgot to mention brasso. I know some people use it, it does contain ammonia, which supposedly harms brass over time. The tumbler solution you buy does not contain ammonia. Real problem, or a reason for 200% markup??? Anyway, brasso doesn't have that fresh citrus smell. Here's a link where a brasso user thinks he is seeing split brass in long term stored ammo. Brasso User

It will do it. I load match 223 on a 650. You might try the powder bar and polish up the bar and funnel while at it. I normally use TAC and RL15 and get a consistent 24 grs.

I'm setup for 45 auto, you are right, it moved the powder bar .346”. Never noticed it before either, but I normally load rifle. I'm doing a large .45 run.

I'll put a tape to mine later today, but the manual says 24". I'll attach the mounting snippet from the manual.

It looks like you are on track. I think you are right on the basics, 45 will save more money, but you shoot more nines. From my experience, it is easier to load 45 Auto than 9mm. I had more powder spillage from the nines and 38 supers. After loading 9mm, I ended up ordering the needle bearings and washers to reduce the plate snapping into place (it is one of the tips from the board). Fix for snapping shellplate I didn't have as much trouble with 45 Auto. I just finished loading 450 rounds of 45 Auto using 3 different powders to see which I like best. I'm running out of 7 lbs of Military #105 I had been using. I found Titegroup metered fantastic in the 650. I also polished the powder bar and funnel to help the Mil #105 meter. You would be fine either way - 9mm or 45 Auto. Like I said, I find 45 a little easier to reload, but you'll start loading 9mm sometime!

I do all my LR 75 grain 5.56 on an XL 650. TAC and Reloader 15 meter very well. My normal shooting range is 350 to 800 yds. I loaded it on a single stage at first. Volume vs. Accuracy is always the question. For varmint shooting at these distances I didnt see any accuracy decline, volume with the 650 went way up. I've recently moved my .308 from a single stage to the 650. I do a low volume in .270 Win & 400 Bushmaster and do it on a ss press (really a Lee classic turret with auto advance off). It has a switchable 4 die toolhead, I keep each low volume rifle setup. So just swap toolheads and all dies are set. For anything with any volume, I use the 650, even for rifle. Forgot to mention, I use 2 runs for rifle loading. 1st run to resize, deprime, trim (all the brass prep). Then tumble off case lube. I do this in advance and keep a stash of prepped brass. Then when ready, use a 2nd toolhead to load and seat. You'll see lots of threads on this, it is common practice on rifle loads on a 650.

+1 on Brassman

I do it all on the 650. It is so mush faster than doing a single stage. It depends on the volume you plan to do. I use a toolhead for the first pass (size and deprime). I have a couple of dedicated toolheads for sizing(.223, 300 Blackout)for this first step, and I have one floater that I use to swap out the rest of the calibers for size / deprime. I keep a dedicated toolhead for 2nd pass, loading. I still do full length resizing, but I'm shooting an HK-91 and it is killer on brass. Here's my process: Case Lube Toolhead 1 Station 1 - resize / deprime Station 3 - blank (should be using my RT-1200 to trim here, haven't bought the die) Tumble off lube with corn media Inspect / trim Toolhead 2 Station 1 - Lee universal deprimer (remove corn media from flash hole) Station 2 - Prime / powder charge Station 3 - Powder check Station 4 - Seat bullet Station 5 - Lee factory crimp