woody1961

Thanks Guy - that clarifies everything perfectly! Woody

Would someone mind explaining this to me (I'm a new reloader). From my observations jacketed loads (generally) seem to be higher than for the same weight lead. In some cases there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason - enough that I won't even consider one for the other. Any schooling on this subject much appreciated in advance! Woody

Stopped by the range today and fired off some more of the AA#5 and 180gr MasterBlaster. I shot 50 rds loaded with 5.75gr @ 1.130 OAL and 50 rds @5.9gr. MUCH less smoke and buildup. When I got home I had the latest Lyman Pistol & Revolver handbook waiting in the mailbox. Several AA#5 loads for the .40, with a sugg starting of 6.1 for 175gr cast/1.125 OAL, so I believe I'm in the ballpark. The 5.75 gr load shot more accuratly for me at the expense of being a little dirtier than the 5.9gr load. Most likely this is because I tend to push the gun down when shooting hotter loads in anticipation. Woody

I'm in northern Virginia. I spent the day out learning why powder is so hard to find - aparently Virginia (according to one fellow I talked with) changed the law requiring powder magazines in the store for those that sell it. I guess I may be stuck with mail order but there is a Gander Mountain an hour and a half away. I may just drive down and stock up tomorrow

Thanks JFS, I may head out this weekend and try to find someone carrying some different powder. Of the 3 local gun stores, only 2 carry powder, and the one with the most variety charges about $35 a pound! So I've been pretty limited in my choices so far - I bought the #5 because my son is planning to buy a 45 and #5 seemed to be the right ticket for his needs. If I can find any of the powders you mentioned this weekend I will probably be back for more details for your minor loads. I'm not in competition - all I'm interested in is going to the range and killing an hour or two each week. Thanks again, Woody

I checked a bunch of Winchester brass tonight. All pickup from me shooting WWB value packs. Most, if not all, was within about 1gr of each other. I also had 6 more pieces of RR - mostly about 4gr lighter than the Winchester, but one piece was a full 7gr lighter. I'll get one of those dental or mechanics mirrors and see what I can come up with. If I could only find one that made things look bigger for my aging eyes Woody

Does anyone shoot masterblaster 180s with AA#5? If so, would you mind sharing your recipe? I'm just looking to plink, but at 5.5gr and 1.130 OAL I'm getting a LOT of smoke. Thanks in advance, Woody

Thanks all. I sat the round aside for now to be safe. I have a bullet puller on backorder so I'll just wait till it comes in and use this as a learning experience. I just ordered 5000 pieces of brass from brassman, but I will sort them myself. Didn't dawn on me to keep to the same headstamp, but it makes a LOT of sense. Fired 200 rounds today at the range (well, actually 199) and was happy with the accuracy. Lots of smoke and a lot of buildup but I don't want to play with the recipe until my chrono comes in. I'm certain the loads are light - I'll see if someone has a known recipe for what I'm shooting in another thread. Does anyone have a picture of the light/mirror setup on the 550B? Thanks again for all the advice! Woody

I'm new to reloading with a 550B and after my last session I started reading on on the web about no/double charges. I got nervous even though I believe I checked every round for powder and went back and weighed the 200 rounds I had just made. 199 of them were within 1 - 1.5gr of each other (all Winchester Brass). One round is about 5 grains light, very close to my powder charge weight. I thought initially it might be a squib, but I noticed the headstamp is "R-P" (I must have picked up a stray at the range), which got me wondering if the case could be that much lighter. Is this round safe to shoot? Does brass weight vary that much from manufacturer to manufactuter in .40 S&W? Thanks in advance, Woody