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Thanks for the link! What a nice site with tons of great info. Ordered the RCBS Lock-Out today. Sal Well, the problem still exists on a 450 or 550 of having to insert the bullet at station 4 and also to seat and crimp in one stage. Someone on thsi forun was working on some sort of electronic powder check for the 550 that could be used on station 3. Anything ever come of that?

I used to shoot plates with a 5" Kimber and a 4" Kimber in the same match. The 5" was inherently more accurate, and did not recoil as much, but the 4" ALWAYS had faster times. The 4" is an alloy frame model and it recoiled a bit more, but with the lighter mass and shorter barrel I was able to get from target to target a bit faster. I no longer have the 5", but will likely never part with the 4".

If you're going to leave station 3 empty, you CAN install a powder check intended for a 650. I have verified with Dillon that this will work. They don't recommend the idea because of ergonomic concerns of seating a bullet at station 4. With a bottleneck case, this might be a viable option.

Look at Clays or Tightgroup for some clean burning light recoil loads. Unique tends to be a bit dirtier at low pressures. Look at .38 spec starting loads and add a couple of tenths to compensate for the larger case.

+1 on the H&G #68. Never met a 1911 it wouldn't feed reliably in.

For practice rounds in the .357, check out the .38 special load data. You may have to increase the starting load a couple of tenths to compensate for the difference in case volume. Bullesye, 231, Clays, Tightgroup, etc. would be good powders. Unique will work well also, but at lower pressures tends to be a bit dirty. Same goes for 231 to a lesser extent. Clays is very clean burning and produces soft recoil. Be wary of hot loads with Clays. The pressure spikes very rapidly as max levels are reached. A great powder for low to medium range loads. Not so great for max power loads.

+2 on the 231. I use it for 9, 40 & 45. I agree it is not the cleanest. I have been told it is tempature sensitive too. I also hear VV320 is cleaner and a great performer. But, this also comes at a higher cost. FWIW, with jacketed bullets (40major) I use Titegroup with very good results. But for lead, moly, and plated I prefer 231 Good luck +3 on the 231, though Clays would work well also.

Are we talking about a .45 ACP @ 1200 FPS here? Sounds pretty stout!

I have a box of Speer 200 gr JHP's from about 20 years ago. What is the stock number of the "flying ashtray"? That's probably what these are. It is easy to tell if it is a flying ashtray. Take a pencil with eraser, if the eraser fits in the hollow point it is a flying ashtray. Well, the pencil eraser fits, so it must be the ashtrays. Speer number is 4477. I seem to have most of a box of them. Now I'll have to decide what to load them with and then what to do with the loaded rounds.

I have a box of Speer 200 gr JHP's from about 20 years ago. What is the stock number of the "flying ashtray"? That's probably what these are.

I just checked their website. According to their inventory, they have almost nothing in stock.

Personally, if I had a choice I'd load .357 brass to .38 velocity. You get the bullet closer to the forcing cone and don't leave a ring inthe cylinder that might interfere with using .357 after shooting a bunch of .38. Just my .02.

There are a couple of guns I have issues with if I use CCI primers. Both work just fine if I use Winchester. Typically around here, CCI and WW are about the only brands commonly available.

I have Lee dies in all the calibers I currently load on the 550. The last set I bought, 9mm, was a 4 die set with the FCD included. With the others I had to buy it separately. Very pleased with the Lee. I'm sure the others are fine too, but cost twice as much. If the FCD significantly increases effort to run the press, it must be making some major adjustments to your loaded rounds. I can barely tell it's there on my 550. I think its a good insurance policy, and there is a lot to be said for crimping and seating in separate steps. I probably would try to get away without doing it on a single stage or a turret, but on a progressive where it takes no additional effort, why not use the FCD?

I have a smaller Frankfort Arsenal tumbler. I do not experience a buildup of residue in the tumbler. I am using ground walnut with some Dillon rapid polish for the first stage. That gets the brass clean enough for most people by itself. Being anal, I then run it for a few more hours in corncob, also laced with polish. That gets "presentation grade" brass. The older and dirtier your media gets, the longer it will take. Try putting some cut up pieces of drier sheet in with the media. It attracts and holds a lot of the dirt and dust. You can change these out every load and do away with a lot of the crud. Also, you need to use some cleaner/polish. The Dillon stuff works real well. Some folks use car polish. Some use Brasso, which always starts a debate as to whether or not it weakens cases due to ammonia content. I have used the same media for more than a year. Just recently changed it. The old media was REALLY dirty, but it still worked. It frequently takes a lot more than an hour to clean brass. Fresh brass that isn't really that dirty might still take a couple of hours. Some I run overnight. I find I need to add some polish fairly often, but not necessarily every batch. Fine ground walnut is readily available at pet stores sold as lizard bedding. Fine ground corncob is more difficult to find. You may have to get it from a reloading supplier, or from a distributer of abrasives. Both benefit a great deal from the addition of some cleaner/polish.

After reading the one millionth post on another forum regarding the alleged propensity of the 550 to double charges, I called Dillon and asked if the 650 powder check system could be used on a 550. Of course it can, but one has to seat/crimp bullets on station 4 which is inconvenient at best. Anyone tried this method? If so, how's it workin' for you? Anyone got any other type powder check system for a 550? Personally, I try to look in each case as I rotate the shellplate and I think a double charge getting past me is unlikely. However, anything can happen.

If you like Unique, just buy some current production stuff. It is considerably cleaner than the Unique of yore.

I think a little measuring is in order. Do you by chance have some large RIFLE primers that are mispackaged?

I have the same experience with my 550. Ocassionally when changing charge weights, I have difficulty getting the weight I want, but once I get it settled, there is little or any variance from charge to charge.

I have a similar rig next to my 550. With .45's it's easy to see the powder charge as I place a bullet on the casing. However, with .38/.357 the tall skinny case is harder to see into.

The load used on target #2 looks like a keeper.

If it's a Dillon die, they are slightly flaired at the bottom and will not resize as far down the case as a conventional die.

I shoot for about .471, pun intended.

I just got done tinkering with it. I had adjusted it as you suggested and it seemed to work pretty good. Finally found the directions in the manual. It says the spring should just not touch the case when it's all the way in the shell holder. I backed it off a couple of thousandths and it seems to do fine now. it was apparently too tight, but I started having the problem before I tightened it in an effort to resolve. oh, well, I'll try to load a few rounds tomorrow and see how it works. in ant event, I apparently had it too tight.

I have a fairly new 550. At this point I guess I have loaded around 3-4000 rounds of .45 ACP on it. Recently, I have been having trouble with the case in the #1 position being held in by the spring. The spring seems to want to catch on the rim rather than the groove above the rim and tilt the case just enough that it doesn't want to start in the sizing die. It doesn't do it every time but it is getting frequent enough to become a real annoyance. Any suggestions? BTW, I'm not trying to load at warp speed. I do a fairly deliberate 300 rounds per hour or so, and rarely load more than 100 at a time, so it ain't an operator fatigue issue!