[Untested ammo]

What brand coated bullets were so inconsistent? Lots of tried and true brands for coated lead out there. Blue Bullets for myself.

 

Even when I lad for practice, I'll take a random sampling out of every ~100 rounds and pop a few into the gauge. If you only get the gauge out match day you may end up overlooking an issue until it's too late. SEE BELOW

 

 

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

UPDATE

 

Shot USPSA Western PA Sectional this weekend and not a single issue. 4 hour car ride was a great time to plunk all rounds 

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

16 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

I don't trust case gauges   …  

 

I PLUNK every round into my gun's  chamber  - no surprises that way    

 

10 hours ago, Bkreutz said:

 What I use it for is when fails the Supermatch, I check it in the chamber, if it passes, it gets used. I'm to the point where I can tell if one is going to pass or fail. The ones that pass the Supermatch don't even get checked a second time. Speeds up my process immensely.

Yeah case gauging and then plunking is going to be the new method. Lessons learned with this one

[Were do I start]

Personally I bought a powder cop and I prefer that over looking into each case. Looking adds another physical movement to each round and time matters to me when reloading. Even 1 added second a round is a lot when it used to take you 6 seconds and now takes you 7. Safety is paramount over speed though, and the powder cop is nice because it raises a little flag up that is very easy to see. Don't like the mirrors personally because they shake around and again force you to pause a little when trying to bang out rounds.

 

Haven't had a squib since i bough the powder cop. 

 

Also, I always top off my powder hopper before starting. Had it run dry on me once and ended up pulling a lot of rounds...

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

2 minutes ago, motosapiens said:

i use lee dies, so the decapping pin generally slips in the collet instead of breaking, but just last week I had a weird stoppage on my 650, very hard to push the handle all the way down. I looked and scratched my head and took out that case from the sizer, next one did the same thing. Finally figured out I had a 9mm hollow-point bullet impaled on my decapping pin. It was apparently inside the first case, and my shoving hard just stuck it onto the decapper where it interfered with the next case too.

Wow this is another one of those things you'd never think of until it happens to you. 

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

 

1 hour ago, Ssanders224 said:

 

If the sizing die was stopping short, and it had not been adjusted in the tool head to do so, then the stroke was not being 100% completed. Which in turn would definitely affect the OAL and crimp. 

Yep now I see what you mean. I bet I thought my sizing die had gotten loose and re-adjusted crimp and OAL.

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

1 hour ago, Ssanders224 said:

Pics aren't working for me... 

 

But if your sizing die was stopping short, then your OAL and crimp should have been affected as well?

If its a 1050, then your primer seating depth also. 

 

Was on a Hornady lock n load progressive.

 

I would not think the crimp OR OAL would be affected from not being sized all the way to the base of the case. It sized about 70% of the case but not down to the bottom. Length of the case is still the same so I would think it would get up into the seating/crimping die just as far. Regardless, I always check the crimp and OAL so if it was slightly off I would have adjusted them to get it back into the desired spec. 

 

 

[This was interesting... a lesson in hand loading]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/f6CSo61bNbfvNxGbA

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SZ1sB7VHe28UeZVj7

 

Ok so I shot a local Steel match last weekend, pretty much Production div. using a gen 4 glock G19 with stock barrel.

 

On 2 separate occasions, different stages, different mags, I got total lock-up of the gun. Bulged cases that won't fully enter the chamber. I drop the mag and bang on gun to get the slide open. Confirm, yep, bulged case. Now to my own fault I *thought* I case gauged every round for the match, didn't do it at home instead did it as I was loading the mags for each stage. Won't do that again, obviously 2 of these slipped by.

 

So I'm like WTF, 1 bulged is going to happen, 2 is cause for concern. Go home, check out my sizing die and what do I find, but a 22LR case the was totally pierced by my decapping pin. It was preventing the empty case from seating completely into the sizing die, resulting in cases that are way too big. No idea how long its been on there. Must have been in with my 9mm brass getting tumbled and I didn't catch it when I placed the case in my press. Pulled it off, reset the die, cases are sized perfectly now. 

 

Also, since its steel challenge style rules, my 2 lockups were obviously my slowest runs on the 2 stages they happened during. Put it behind me and still pulled off a Division Win. 

 

Can't be the first time this has happened to someone, but I figured the pin would have broke rather than making it all the way through. 

 

 

[Why is is so hard to get people to try USPSA?]

As stated before I think a lot of people are pro-2A but not really pro-shooting.

 

I think a lot of people see themselves as being adequately skilled for their idea of what a self-defense shooting would be like. We've all heard the old adages about the average distance of self-defense shootings, myths about home defense and so on.

 

I know I personally got into USPSA with a defensive mind set. Used to just put holes in paper, shoot some steel but sort of plateaued because I though I was "good enough." Then I watched some videos, shot a match and realized how little I knew. 

 

Also trying to get some buddies into Steel Challenge as it's simple, they have the gear already and generally more laid back at least at my local matches compared to local USPSA.