ML123
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Posts posted by ML123
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7 hours ago, Bigharge said:
Have just a basic 5.56 ar platform rifle, a 9mm semi auto pistol, and a sporting semi auto shotgun. Shotgun would probably be the first area we upgrade if he ends up wanting to do it more.
I just started earlier this year with zero background in competitive shooting so here is my take so take it for what its worth. Much of which I learned from this site and other shooters by going to matches. Like most have said just showing up will teach you a lot and that is pretty much what I did but knowing a few things before hand and having a few basic items can make the experience better IMO.
1. A must have is a good belt with holster that will retain the gun. I had several issues this year with this item alone one resulting in a DQ after a supposed "competition" holster I bought fell apart dropping my gun and another time I had a Bladetech Techlok I was using for holster retention come apart almost getting me DQed. Remember you will be running with a holstered loaded gun a and bunch of mags and rounds so make sure you have a good set up that you can run with and will be safe! There are a lot of options out there and they do not have to be terribly expensive. Mag pouches shotgun caddies and gear can be expensive with a lot of options so you may want to wait on buying some of that stuff up front. Just get some basic pistol mag pouches and you can throw extra mags and shells in you pockets to start but you will need a good belt and holster no matter what. Check out Benstoegerproshop.com they have a ton of options there and decent prices and his Hoss hanger is a popular item for holster retention. If you spend any money this is the one place I would start first as it is a pretty essential piece of equipment and it is not one that is easily borrowed.
2. Think about how you are going to move and carry your stuff around. There is a lot of gear to lug around and a small wagon or cart of some sort and good range bag are essential. Get extra chamber flags for the rifle and shotgun too and you will want to bring water drinks and snacks.
3. Its a real PIA to hit stuff with a pistol when your running around. It is much easier with a rifle and even easier with a shotgun. A lot of competitors will start with 2 gun due to having to load a shotgun and deal with the extra equipment which is what I did but may not have done now. With 2 gun you have made 2/3 of the stage pistol since you have to hit a bunch of the shotgun targets with a pistol which is more difficult. Failure to engage and misses are worse than going slow if you have a shotgun even a pump I would probably use it. Your going to be slow at first no matter what, just try not to miss stuff and not get DQed, you will score better.
4. Try not to buy any new guns to start lol! A basic AR is all you need. Most of the time I still use a stock SW Sport 2 with a cheap $40 Tacfire red dot which spits out cheap surplus ammo and works really well out to 100yds, and I have other nicer ARs. Any basic 9mm semi will work well I started with a glock 19 and should have kept using it but I cant resist buying new guns and gear. I did not have a shotgun to start and ended up buying a Stoeger MK3 freedom which I like a lot, it was fairly cheap at $650 works REALLY well has 10 rd capacity and comes setup ready to go for 3 gun out of the box.
Last I believe it was suggested above to start with a single gun sport like handgun which is some really good advice. The handgun is the most difficult to master and learning to move and shoot well with it first is going to be your biggest challenge. I jumped right into 3gun but will be spending more time next year just shooting pistol matches to improve. In the end just showing up having fun and being safe are what it is all about. I had an absolute blast getting into this sport this year and can not wait till next season.
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19 hours ago, MoRivera said:
I was referring to if he wanted to get an additional complete slide milled for optic, like I did. Depending on if you're getting one for an SP01 Shadow or a regular SP01/SP01 Tactical, there is a difference as to which slide will work when interchanging with your lower, since the Shadow models don't incorporate a firing pin block...assuming that he wouldn't take it out of a regular SP01.
This started life as a SP-01 manual safety with a FBP. All you have to do to use a non-FBP slide is remove the FBP lifter from the sear cage and replace it with a spacer which I believe both CZC and GCW sell. It can also be swapped back to a FBP just as easily. I would think this would be more complicated on a decocker model though?
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9 hours ago, George16 said:
There’s no need to crimp unless there’s a cannelure on the bullet you are using in which case the Nosler doesn’t have. I have loaded 55 Gr Nosler Flat base with 24.2 Gr of H335 and I got less than a MOA at hundred yards with my 16” barrels Daniel Defense.
Set up the M die just enough to get the case mouth at .223-.224” so there will be enough opening to prevent damaging the bullet and neck tension to hold the bullet to prevent setback.
Thanks, that is info I needed. The 55g I have are Everglades with a cannelure. The 77g I have are Nosler without a cannelure. Will I set the Lyman M up any differently for the two bullets since the 55g will need to be crimped?
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8 hours ago, Miranda said:
Hi ML123,
I strongly urge you to add a powder check die/option to station 3.
It is hard to see into a 223/556 case to make sure there is power in there.
(look into that case in any case. It is not easy. So, a cross check is reassuring.)
I have tried a few lighting options.
I mostly poke the case a little to see movement of powder.
223/556 goes through powder a lot faster than 9mm. You can get surprised by a powder out.
Also, let the press stay up a little more time to let the powder pour into the case.
seeing powder chase the case down is an interesting visual.
the clean-up was... all too familiar.
miranda
Thanks I was actually wondering about that lol!
I am only loading 100 cases and will be inspecting everything. I planning to play around with loads to see what works in my rifle which is very sensitive to ammo. It is a PSA 18" 223 wylde barrel with 1:7 twist with Hornady Black 75g Match ammo it is sub 1 moa with me shooting from a bench. With surplus 55g ammo it looks like it puked all over a target at 100yds. I am going to try a few different powder loads so I may be loading them manually or at least weighing them individually. When I find a load that I plan to run in quantity I will use a powder check then.
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4 hours ago, Rookie said:
If you are getting a flare at the neck "...end of the case..." after sizing, then you have a very special problem. If the case will not fit the gauge immediately after sizing, then you need to make an adjustment or get a new die.
Thanks,
I played with the die set up and turned it down further than the Lee instructions indicated. I finally got it to size cases and gauge correctly. I ran 100 LC brass through and only 85 passed the gauge. I cleaned inspected and ran the 15 through again that failed and got 4 of them to gauge correctly so 89% success in sizing is not a great number. I think that small base RCBS die is going to be in my future soon.
At this point I finally have 100 case that have been sized, swaged, trimmed and pass a case gauge! I can now set up the load toolhead for the Dillon and finally load some shootable rounds. I have a pound of H335 and some Everglades 55g and 77g Nosler HPBT I am planning to load. Now to figure out how to use/set up the Lyman M die and whether to crimp or not crimp?
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RMR Bullets has 124g JHP @ 10.2 cents a bullets shipped. I was able to order 1k on 11-22 they show out of stock but you place a BO.
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I found Federal Syntech 150g available, it isnt cheap but its available and I know a bunch of you guys shoot this. Just sharing the info I have no affiliation with these guys
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55 minutes ago, himurax13 said:
You will lose slide lock with the grams kit. I have also found that it to have nose dive issues as well.
When you say nose dive are you referring to FTF issues? I had that issue too with the Grams kits in the CZ 18rd magazines with extended base plates. I inquired about it but never got a response from Grams. I think they work better in the 17rd mag tubes from what I have read?
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Thanks, I read the Dillon instructions and watched the Gary video on setting up 223 dies and how they used the case gauge to set up the sizing die. The Lee die only states to bottom the die out on the shell plate which is what I did and not sure if dialing the die back would get the case to gauge correctly in the Lyman case gauge I have. Which I believe is the same as the Dillon one?
I am decapping/sizing then swaging and trimming all on the APP press with the Lee full sizing die. Plus the cases I am using are all from once fired XM193 rounds I shot out of my rifle.
So should I get the RCBS sizing die for #1 spot on the loading toolhead and resize them? Will they need to be trimmed again after resizing with another sizing die? Should I not use the Lyman M die I just ordered? The Lee neck sizing die is out all together? Dillon dies have been on BO but it looks like I can order a RCBS small base die. I can return this Lee die set if they are worth using. I ran into some of this with 9mm Lee dies too.
Thanks
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I am a new reloader this year and have a Dillon 750XL I got set up to run 9mm and 223. I have gotten the hang of loading pistol rounds and now moving on to rifle rounds, I am getting ready to set up the loading toolhead and I am running into a few questions I could use some help with especially with the sizing die and case gauge.
I have the Lee Ultimate rifle 4 die set that includes a full size sizing dies, a neck only sizing die in addition to a bullet seating die and Factory crimp die. I am currently processing brass on a Lee APP press but plan to eventually do it on the Dillon press.
I sorted 100 Lake City cases to start with. I decapped them with a universal decapping die then vibratory cleaned them. I then lubed them with One Shot and ran them through the full sized Lee sizing die. I then measured them and pretty much all of them were over 1.760 after resizing and none fit the case gauge which I figured it was due to a flare at the end of the case I was guessing is done for the powder charge die? So I then set up the APP press to trim them with the Lee trim die and quick trim kit and trimmed them all at 1.750.
I am now getting ready to set up the toolhead for the Dillon to load the cases and not sure what to use in the #1 position and what I need to do to get them to gauge correctly. I have a Lyman M die on its way that I was planning to use or should I use the Lee Neck sizing die and will either of these get the case to fit the gauge?
For now I plan to continue using the APP to decap size swage and trim cases but eventually I am going to get a Dillon case trimmer along with a swage it on a separate toolhead for the 750. So my process will be:
Toolhead #1 Case prep
full size decapper die in #1
swage it on #2
#3 open and
#4 case trimmer
#5 open '
Second toolhead
#1 either Lyman M die or Lee neck die/decapper
#2 primer and powder charge,
#3 open
#4 Bullet seating die
#5 FCD
Thanks
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I wasn't aware of the Gen 5 Glocks chamber being so tight but it is not uncommon on CZ's and a lot of people have asked the same question including myself. I checked out the RMR site and bought some of their 124g JHP to try.
Here is a really good post on determining OAL worth reading
https://czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=34225.0
Here was a more recent discussion on the subject with a lot of good advice on the topic
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I think you will lose slide lock with the Grams kit too even though you will pick up an additional 2 rounds over the stock follower and a heavier spring.
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I am pretty sure you will need to use a different spring than stock with the extended base pads. I have the Springer Precision extended basepads with their 13 coil spring with a stock follower. It works perfectly and I get 21 rounds in the mag with slide lock function.
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I just set up my press this year and bought all the upgrades and here is my opinion
Snowshooze grand slam kit for the 750 which consists of:
1. Roller cam rod for case feed- Not necessary IMO
2. Oilite bearing, nice upgrade
3. Ball and spring kit- nice upgrade
4. Case Feed Stop Switch-Absolute MUST HAVE
5. Powder Measure Quick Connect- I did not like at all and not using
#1-3 do make the press run a little smoother and gives you a little tighter fit of the shell plate. The whole kit was $87 which I felt was worth the money to upgrade especially for the case feed stop switch which is something press should have to begin with. It makes correcting problems and setting up the press MUCH easier.
The 750 already comes with a roller bearing cam actuator and uses a different primer feed system that does not require a stop switch.
I also got the Primer shoot catcher from Dillonupgrades on Ebay, again nice but not necessary I was fine with the spent primer cup.
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I had a EMP CCC in 9mm 4" barrel. Loved it really nice gun that shot really well but ended up selling it and kind of regret it. I did carry it a few times and it is a really nice gun to carry but I cant see carrying it over my Walther PPS or any glock for that matter. I just feel safer with a round in the chamber in a striker fire than a 1911 cocked and locked. I really don't want to shot my ass off lol!
If you run a defensive JHP round in it for carry or self defense make sure you run a bunch of them through it at the range. I had a lot of issues with hollow points cycling had to send it back to Springfield to have feed ramp polished and chamber contoured. I had no issues after that and it ran Federal HST with no issues.
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I just built a SP-01 into a CO gun with a upper with an accubushing I bought from Stuart. I ended up just sending him the entire gun frame for a total make over. I looked into the different options and I believe CGW has the deepest cut slide but you can not go back or use BUIS which I agree are useless and a distraction. I ended up with the CZcustom plate system which is really a nice option since you can still run iron sights and easily change optics to another brand of dot.
Unfortunately I have not had much time to get to the range with the new gun but did put 150rds through it last night and finally zeroed the SRO. I can't wait to use it in a steel plate match. BTW I have a complete SP-01 upper slide I will let go for cheap if you are interested. If you want a Shadow one without a FPB one I would check with Stuart. CZcustom did an awesome job on the build and I am super happy with it.
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On 11/12/2020 at 9:17 AM, rowdyb said:
I'm 49 years old, have crap eyes and moderate health. (Crohn's disease) Though I am reasonably fit and have plenty of discretionary time and funds. Before I got sucked into competitive shooting in the course of my life I had really been into tennis (3.0), mountain biking (worked for Trek and won Super D races), motorcycles (tons of track days),trail running (sub 21 minute 5k off road), rock climbing (leading 5.10c both sport and trad) and brazilian jiu jitsu (purple belt at Atos with medals in the pan ams). Participating in all of them to a high degree of competency. I like doing stuff.
Looking at this list I seem to be drawn to individual things, outside things, physical things and stuff with a moderate gear requirement. And if you wanted, which I always do, a competitive side to participate in.
Now 8 years on in shooting sports I really wish I could find something to replace it in my life. But I don't want to go back and re-do any of my old hobbies. I'm having great difficulty in thinking of something that:
- Is available to do where I live in San Antiono
- NOT on a Sunday
- That I haven't done before
- Is physical in some way
- Isn't a team sport
- Doesn't have onerous gear requirements
- Has both a recreational and competitive side
I really can't think of anything, but I know I want to consider other options. I thought about kart racing as there is a track near by, a nice scene in Texas but it seems really impractical/low value to the rest of my life. I really do not want to do over something I've done before. And just to make sure I checked out the climbing gyms, bjj schools, tennis clubs and biking stuff here. None of them drew me in again.
Don't take it personal if you reply and my reply is reasons why it won't work hahahah. But I have a block on discovering something new that fits my criteria.
That's an impressive list of accomplishments Rowdy.
Do an Ironman it checks all the boxes you listed.
You have a run/bike back ground and you swim too,.
You can do it anywhere and San Antonio/Austin has a huge multi-sport community which can make it both recreational and competitive, plenty of type A peeps to train with lol!
It is physically challenging
You seem to have the time to spend on training which is a lot.
Moderate gear requirements the bikes are super cool and you can record and track every piece of imaginable data on your garmin watch lol
It is highly individualistic and not a team sport
They have Saturday races but a lot of them are on Sundays.
Or look into the Tactical Games physical with shooting outdoors etc.
I am making this switch in the opposite direction I am new to shooting sports this year and have been doing tris for the last 8 years after getting out of drag racing. I just cleared by bike workbench to make room for my new Dillon 750 lol!
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Thanks Farmer, I saw you posted but for some reason didn't see it till now. That is very useful info. The thicker brass seems to be what I am having issues with especially S&B. I pulled a few bullets and I am not seeing any indentations on the bullet and they are measuring the same as the the new ones .355-.356 so I dont think I am swaging the bullet down with the Lee FCD. I am getting all of my rounds to case gauge well using a Hundo. Some are a little "sticky" in the gauge but so far I have not had one issue firing at least the first 300rds.
I did re-do the press and installed a bunch of upgrades from snowshooze along with the powder funnel from MBF. Everything seemed to help and the press is running really smooth and consistent at this point. The OAL being longer with the S&B cases I am finding is actually the primers not being fully seated. If I measure the OAL off to the side of the primer I am getting a little longer OAL still but still within spec and all really close in size. I saw a few people discussing the difficulty with seating primers in S&B. Its not every case I have an issue with but like 1/10 maybe and if I really push up on the lever when loading them it seems to do the trick. I took a few cases and gauged them with a BA no go primer pocket gauge. They were really tight and few would not fully seat on the gauge. I may continue to separate these out along with crimped brass and de-prime and swage them on the Lee APP.
I know I am new to this and may be a little OCD but I don't see how you can get consistent loads without first sorting the brass. It may not make a difference to some but if you shoot factory ammo it will all be very consistent and to me I don't think my personal loads should be any less. Besides with sorting out the crimped brass, garbage cases and all the 22lr and 380 cases seems like it will make the loading process go smoother and faster anyway so the time factor may be a wash. Then again if I primarily only shot Glocks instead of CZs I may not care either as I think you could stuff a 40S&W round in that chamber and still manage to get it to fire lol!
I am planning to group certain brass together in the following
Blazer and FC together
S&B, WMA, WCC and FCNT FC18 FC19 which I will de-prime and swage separately
I have sorted out the following also and need to run a few to see if I can lump them in with the Blazer and FC or load them separately. I think the R&P are thinner cases and the Win and CBC are thicker brass?
R&P
Win
CBC
The rest I don't get enough of so I threw them all in as a mix. I will probably de-prime them on the Lee APP with the crimped and S&B brass. This is Speer, GFL, PMC, Hornady plus some odd balls. I have thrown out ones I just don't recognize along with Ammoland and any stepped cases I can identify.
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Thanks for all the replies. For me it is all relative to the times. Right now for someone who doesnt reload .60/rd is going rate for 9mm and .50/rd is a deal for factory 115g ball ammo these days and even at my local shops the cheapest I have seen Blazer brass is $22/50rds.
Even if you pay an outrageous $150/1k for primers you are at .15/primer plus .06 for once fired case, .08 for coated bullet, .02 for powder for .31/rd? Who wouldnt buy ammo at .31/rd right now?
For me I am trying to make a decision on what to do with my factory ammo I planned to use for practice and matches. Right now I have 800 rd of white box winchester 124g, 400rds of Fed syntech 135g, and an extra 1000rd of PMC 223 rounds I got at good times price wise and dont need for personal protection. I am thinking of selling at current rates on GB and buying primers at current rate and loading my own ammo. I just dont want to buy 5k or 10k primers at today's rate and have them go back to normal price again before I use them. I have seen a few deals for SPP for $100/1k for 5k primers and shipping in 20-40 range from dealer with Hazmat. I have been tempted to buy at that price. Last few primers I have found local were $60/1k and that has dried up for last 3 weeks.
Thoughts?
I am with you guys I think we are in for the long haul on this mess.
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The BBI 147g bullets I have are .356? When you saw swage down the bucket meaning the crimp will be to tight?
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For some of the guys who have gone through similar situations in the past how long do you guys think this is going to last and do you think retail prices for primers will ever go back to where they were?
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23 hours ago, Cuz said:
ML123,
What are you using your ammo for? Most here are action shooters vs bullseye, so none of your variances matter much, as long as your ammo runs reliably.
After 20+ years shooting Berry’s plated bullets loaded on a Dillon 550 with no problems, I have just switched to coated and have hit some roadblocks. I must have gotten lucky way back when I chose 1.139 for my OAL because I never plunked tested, and it works fine in everything. It must be the long slim profile. My measured rounds with mixed brass ranged from 1.134-1.142 but they “averaged” 1.139 so that’s what I call them.
Now, with Blue, Precision, and Black Bullets I’ve found I need to load much, much shorter to get them to cycle, and I’ve finally decided I need to plunk test to ensure reliability. It turns out my Ruger PC Carbine is my shortest chamber, so I use that as my baseline.
Currently I’m working with the Precision 125gr RN bullets, and I have to seat them at 1.057” to get them to plunk reliably. For my 9mm, I use mixed range brass exclusively. I’ll measure about 50 out of a reliable batch of 200 or so and average the OAL. It ranged from 1.050 - 1.060 with most in the 1.056 - 1.058 range, so I call them 1.057”. Heck, I may even label them 1.05x” because I don’t care about the variance, as long as they all cycle.
I also discovered that the Lee FCD I was using for years didn’t seem to work as well with coated Bullets, so I switched to Dillon dies a couple days ago. We’ll see how that works out.
I don’t really care for all this experimentation, but this bullet shortage had me placing orders with multiple mfgs so as different brands trickle in I’ll have to figure out what needs to be done to get them to work reliably.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkI am using the rounds for steel plate and 3 gun matches and possibly USPSA CO class.
I am using BBI 147g coated bullets. I am also looking at the avg and with mixed brass that avg is well over .010 and close to .020 which has me chasing a bunch of stuff to figure out why such a large variation. I seem to be getting closer to .010 the more I keep tweaking stuff. I am waiting on MBF powder funnel and I am going to redo everything again and use S&B brass to set up the dies. Those cases seem pretty hardy compared to other brands and they are giving me the longest OAL.
LMK how the Dillon crimp die works over the Lee FCD which is what I am using. BBI also has info on their site about using the Lee FCD and setting it up to work with their coated bullets.
I have a Ruger PC9 and havent checked that chamber yet just my CZ's and Glocks thanks for the heads up.
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10 hours ago, Sarge said:
Sorry but I disagree with you guys on both counts. The Dillon wrench is junk. I have to readjust mine fairly often but have switched to a 6 point socket.
And, Dillon nuts certainly do vibrate loose over time if not kept pretty tight. Many folks put blue loctite on them
That Dillon wrench is garbage and you need to use a real wrench to tighten them enough if you want them to stay tight. I just set up my 750 and had a heck of a time trying to keep those nuts tight using that Dillon wrench. I did see a few threads on here discussing this and someone calculated 22lb/ft of tq as a setting but have no idea if that is accurate. I saw lot of guys using loctite and even double nut them above and below the die to try and keep them tight. I just used a 1" wrench and snugged them up pretty good and it seems to be working and I do check them often to make sure.
Trap shooting: Benelli Super Vinci vs Browning Citori CXT
in Rifle & Shotgun - Technique
Posted
I am a total newb and have no experience with what I am talking about so take this for what its worth. Someone may have just answered this question for me yesterday when I was shopping for a Citori. I am just getting into sporting clays and have been looking at shotguns. My LGS owner, who is an expert, told me In trap the clay is rising in front of you and the Citori has an adjustable comb you can raise to make the barrels aim higher above the clay. I was told this is specific to shooting trap and for sporting clays you want the comb to be lower. Again, this is just what I was told but the difference between the two shotguns may just be how it fit you.