NuJudge

I'd have used a Black Powder "worm": http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=856133

Swage them. I've always used the RCBS system. It gives me something to do when the weather is lousy. I particularly like brass with crimped in primers where the caliber is one where the brass frequently fails through loose primer pockets. CDD

Here in Michigan, with 9 million residents, and the requirement to pay either Sales or Use tax on everything purchased, the last number I heard for the number of people who bother to pay the Use tax on their yearly Income Tax return was 45 people. My CPA believes I'm a sissy for paying it, but I sleep better at night. The only sold items that States have had any success collecting the Use tax is when the Internet/Mailorder seller is in the same State, and items such as boats, cars & airplanes that are registered.

Some years ago Ken Waters did an article in Handloader on loading .452" SWC bullets in the .45 acp using 800X, and got excellent accuracy and power. I loaded and shot a lot of them, and while dirty, they did shoot very well. Looking at burning rate charts, AA #7 is right next to 800X. I have a lot of AA #7, which I burn in the .40 S&W. I don't find AA #7 dirty in the .40 S&W, but it does leave a dusting of unburned powder everywhere. My guess is that in the lower pressure .45 acp, AA #7 would be dirtier than it is in the .40 S&W. Has anyone tried AA #7 in the .45 acp? Did any technique such as running higher pressures or hotter primers clean it up any, and how did it shoot?

I've been shooting bullets lubed with Lee Liquid Alox a lot lately, and there really is very little smoke with it. I prefer to use NRA formula 50% Alox 2138F/50% Beeswax, but it does smoke a lot in lower pressure cartridges. On an outdoor range, the smoke is not a problem. In higher pressure cartridges, such as the .357 Magnum, there is every little smoke.

I would not worry about it, except if the bulge is on one side only, if the base of the case is over standard OD, or the cartridges produced do not chamber. I have noticed this happening with my Lee .40 dies also. I am new to the .40 S&W, but have fired several hundred cartridges I've loaded using Lee dies with no problems and good accuracy. I had a bad experience with old Remington .45 acp brass about 1980. The brass was very thin, and ordinary sizing dies did not produce a small enough ID to firmly hold the projectile. Projectiles were frequently telescoped back into the case, a dangerous situation. Ever since, I have insisted on pistol dies that reduced the outside diameter, perhaps more than necessary. After projectile seating, a cartridge of mine frequently has a slight "wasp waist" aspect, but it does not telescope.

Is there some pattern to the Leading in your barrel? Mostly at the chamber end, or mostly at the muzzle end? When you slugged your barrel, was the resistance the same from chamber to muzzle, or did it decrease, or did it increase? Could you slug just a little way in from both ends and see if they are different? Answers to these questions might tell you something. If the Leading was mostly at the chamber, I would suspect bullets too small. If it was at the muzzle, I would suspect lube was failing or running out there. If your barrel groove diameter is bigger at the muzzle than the chamber end, indicated by less resistance at the muzzle, you'll just get blow-by Leading near the muzzle. I hope that helps. CDD

If you're going to shoot light loads, use Lead bullets. The same powder charge will push them faster, and if you do stick one in a barrel they are much easier to push out. Light bullets loaded light do make you lazy regarding recoil control, but they are very pleasant to shoot. CDD

I use a Lee 20 pound bottom pour furnace to cast from, and have a Lee 10 pound to act as a melter. It drips a little, but has proved much more durable that the Lyman furnace I had before. This allows me to run a Lee 6 cavity aluminum mold for hours without stopping. I can easily cast 18 bullets per minute. There are some other things that help me do this. Aluminum and Iron molds are fragile. There is a lubricant available on the Cast Boolits website called BullPlate which dramatically speeds up casting, particularly with aluminum molds. A vanishingly small amount applied with a Q-Tip to the locator pins, the top of the blocks, and the bottom of the sprue plate after the mold gets hot will prevent wear and prevent accumulation of Lead on top of the blocks and on the bottom of the sprue plate. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=3412 For material handling purposes, and because it makes a Lead/Tin/Antimony bullet harder, I drop bullets from the mold into a 5 gallon bucket of water.

I have a Beretta 96G, which has a 4.9" barrel (IIRC). I've cast a bunch of bullets from two molds, the Lee 401-175-TC and the Lee TL401-175-SWC. Unfortunately the first mold drops its bullets in the .404" to 405" range, but the second drops them at .4015", precisely where I would want them. My readings of the manuals says that #7 burns cleanly at the high end of its loads, and produces the best velocities of any of the AA powders for this bullet weight. CDD

I have almost 7 pounds of it that a friend bestowed upon me. It would seem to be just the thing for Bowling Pins. CDD

The smoke is not too bad I usually only notice in the morning when the sun is coming up and in my face. I actually use the round nose non-tumble lube bullet. Thanks. I think I will try the tumble lube version. Unless you have a good reason to not use it. Tumble lube is supposed to work less well in cold weather, perhaps failing when the temperature gets down in the 30s. I have a lot of Tumble Lube, but don't use it in cold weather. Tumble lube works fine on non-tumble lube bullets. Most of the bullets I use it on are conventional grooved bullets, and usually in lower intensity calibers like the .45 acp. If a grooved mold does not work well with Tumble Lube, I can always fall back on NRA formula 50/50 lube.

Higher sustained pressures generally gives me less smoke, even with a lubricant known for a lot of smoke (eg 50% Beeswax/50% Alox 2138F). An example is lubricated 158gr grooved Lead bullets in the the .357 Magnum using moderately hot loads of Hercules 2400. If I use the same lubricant in a 9mm, using Bullseye powder, I get lots of smoke. I get even more when I shoot Bullseye with the same lube in the .45 acp. I'm with the poster above who doesn not really care about smoke, mostly because I almost always shoot outside. CDD

Examine the primer pockets for prior crimp that has not been removed. If present, you have to use a cutter or a swager to remove it, and I suggest the swager because one of the chief causes of brass becoming unusable is soft/enlarged primer pockets: Anything that toughens the area up is probably a good idea. Examine brass for excess over all length. This is typically done with a case gauge. Most brass needs trimming after its first firing. RCBS X-Dies eliminate the need for trimming after the first trimming. Case trimming is the most irritating part of reloading rifle ammo. After trimming there is usually a burr on the inside and outside of the case mouth and it must be removed. There are very expensive trimmers that do all of it in an instant. You might want to use a case gauge on cases after sizing CDD

I cannot immagine anything being faster than a Giraud. It trims, inside & outside chamfers, all in one motion. I did 4000 .223 cases in one long evening. It is hard on fingertips, so use gloves. The Giraud changes calibers very quickly, especially between close calibers such as .308 & .303. CDD

I looked before a recent course, and could not find a stated zero range. My observation is that it is about right on at 15 yards.

I bought several of the sand resistant ones recently, and I'm curious what other people's experience has been. My experience so far has been excellent, but I've only been running relatively lightly loaded cast bullet ammo through them. CDD

I have no experience with 5.56mm blanks, but I do have some with 7.62mm blanks. The brass they used was considerably lighter sectioned than the cases used on ball ammo. I have a lot of Boxer primed 7.62mm blanks which I'm afraid to do anything with. CDD

Regarding Lead bullets in 9mm and .45 ACP, it would be nice to know what your barrel groove diameters are before buying Lead bullets. Particularly in 9mm, barrel groove diameters frequently are .357" or .358". If you fire a .356" bullet in a 9mm with a groove diameter of .358", you will have a lot of gas blow-by, the gas acting much as a cutting torch does. The Lead cut off the side of the bullet will in part be deposited ahead of the bullet in the bore as Leading. I like to have cast bullets be .001" larger than groove diameter. Beware that there are firearms that have groove diameters so large that if a bullet large enough to fit them is seated in a cartridge case, the cartridge will not fit in the chamber. I do have 9mm pistols with this problem. For them, they get jacketed bullets only. Bullet lubricants vary widely in their compositions and qualities. For .45 ACP, not much is demanded by the application: low velocity and pressure. On the various cast bullet discussion boards, there are threads that discuss using no lubricant in very smooth bores. The various cast bullet discussion boards also have many threads discussing precisely what a cast bullet lubricant does: lubricant, sealing agent, etc, or some combination. Commercially sold cast bullets usually use bullet lubricants that ship well, and don't fall out of grooves much. They are typically very hard. Those lubricants don't do well with demanding applications, and the 9mm is frequently somewhat demanding, being much higher pressure and frequently higher velocity. I cast my own, so I can use whatever lubricant I want. Some lubricants such as the very effective 50% Beeswax/50% 2138F produce a lot of smoke at lower pressures, an example being the .45 ACP. The same lubricant in a high pressure .357 Magnum produces very little smoke. The 9mm is in-between those two, and produces some smoke in my typical load. The smoke does not matter outside, but inside it is a consideration. I am about to experiment with several lubes that are supposed to smoke less.

I don't shoot IPSC, and I rarely visit the ranges north of Detroit, but I've never seen much of that sort of competition stuff in a gun store. Most people buy it at gun shows or from catalogs. CDD

I shoot almost all bullets I cast myself of Wheelweight scrap plus a little tin,the water-drop to make them really hard. I shoot mostly 147gr SAECO 9mm and .45 acp Lee 200gr SWC. I try to have bullets a little on the large side so I do not encounter gas blow-by. I shoot mostly 231 and Bullseye. CDD

You will find lots of favorites over on the Cast Boolits board: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

I need suggestions for a load that is safe in a .38 Special revolver, is accurate, and has at least moderate velocity, in that order. I actually intend to fire these out of a .357 (I don't own any .38's), but the range owner does not want me to tear up his pins too much and says ".38 Special only". I usually use a .45 acp 1911 with 185gr SWC's for Bowling Pins (very rarely more than 6 shots needed to get all 5 pins off the table). I tried 9x19mm using 147gr bullets and a lot of pins were knocked down, but not off the table. I have the 180gr .358" TC GC mold already, and would like to try it before I buy a RN or TC .429" mold and try .44 Specials. CDD

Some loads shoot well in any gun of a certain make, or any gun of a certain caliber. I'm looking for that sort of load for some Jacketed bullet in the 9mm. I have a Beretta 92 that I shoot informal bullseye and PPC with. I like to shoot full power loads. I believe I favor 124 grain JHP bullets. I'd like powders to flow well through a progressive press. Up to now I've been shooting mostly Lead in handloads and surplus. I am not interested in +P or +P+ pressures, having had a P38 slide crack recently after 3 decades of shooting. Some of my other 9mms also have chambers that do not fully support the case head. Any suggestions? CDD