Ben53

Send it back to Dillon for refurbish?

I use Sport Pistol & 147 Blue Bullets for 9mm Minor for USPSA. Works well for me, although I do intend to check out 135's. I know... not a Hodgdon powder, but....

Check extractor tension?

Back about 25 years ago I worked on some Auto-Ordinance 1911's, and they were notorious for being "out of spec", hole spacing being off and things like that. They were not the best to work on. I don't know how they are now, or how old your Auto-Ord receiver is but I'm not surprised to hear you're having problems; as mentioned above "drop in parts" usually aren't on 1911's. I suggest you find a pistolsmith who knows his way around a 1911 and have him try to fit your new hammer.

I hadn't seen that before, so may have to get one and try it in my G34. Interesting!

Welcome aboard. You'll find an encyclopedia of knowledge here.... and be sure to ask questions.

I use single-stage presses for load development as well as all my "precision" reloading. Much slower but also gives me the time to be as precise as possible. I think every reloader should have a single station press around... they come in handy.

Yes, indeed. I did it that way for a couple of decades and it does work. I only moved to wet wash w/media a short few years ago and have come to prefer it. Lots of different ways can work just fine.

I hear ya, Leezway! With the primer/powder shortages I've been doing more brass prep than actual shooting and have a decent stock built up now. If only primer prices would get back to something resembling what we had before. Hard to believe some of the ridiculous prices we've seen advertised by scammers/profiteers, isn't it???

I have a 1990's 550, generally fairly well cared for and no rust at all. Interestingly, I have a 9mm SDB that sat in a garage for about 8 years, and no rust on it, either! That one was a pleasant surprise to me. It was in a box that got misplaced when I moved nearly 10 years ago.

Be sure and watch the barrel for leading, especially towards the muzzle end of the barrel. I have a Marlin .44 Mag and had some leading issues with some types of cast bullets, based on velocity and how much lube they carried. Good luck, have fun and be safe!

I like Southern Shine media. Not pins, doesn't get stuck in flash holes, and has lasted well for me. I haven't tumbled as much brass as many on here, though.

Perhaps you'd like to check out the SwampFox Liberty and Justice models.. I have the Justice and like it.. both models have "shake-awake".

I've been told that after the wet cleaning and drying, run the clean brass through a vibrating tumbler with corncob media and some light polish, and this will put a light coating on the brass to help with the sticking on the powder through expander. I use the wet tumble with Armor All Wash-N-Wax, and haven't noticed any problems with sticking in either my 550 or my Square Deal. Good luck!

I deprime with the Lee APP; extremely fast and easy. Then the cases go into a FART w/SS media with Armor All Wash-N-Wax and some LemiShine; they come out looking like new most of the time. Then they go into my progressive press. I do this to cut down/ eliminate any dirt and primer residue fouling. It keeps the press clean and cuts down somewhat on maintenance. Just my personal preference and doesn't seem to really add any real time to my reloading operation. I have enough brass that I do this in batches and always have some clean brass ready for reloading when I want or need it.

Is it possible to load minor in a pistol with poppels? Any idea what spring weight would be good to start there? Just curious...

Not a .357, but I have a .30 Herrett in a Contender with that size scope on it. I'd start work at 50 yards if I were you, and then experiment beyond. Round is good to 100+ yards, of course. For hunting purposes, I limit my handgun shooting to the range I can hit a small paper plate at. Those small paper plates also make a pretty good target by themselves at ranges beyond 50 yds or so; just "square up" the plate in the crosshairs. Good luck, and have fun!

You probably need small base dies. There's a slight taper to the .223 (5.56) cases so they're not going to go very far into the case gauge backwards. The "+" in a circle is a sign for NATO spec.

True that! I have a couple of single stages I use for some precision loading, but won't be without a progressive or two for pistol ammo, for sure! Good luck and have fun...

I have both the Ruger .22-45 and an Advantage Arms .22 conversion for 1911. Both of them have worked flawlessly and I used them pretty well over our local range matches. I know that's different from the 1911-22, but I can use the same holster and the feel of the trigger is the same, so it's good practice for centerfire also.

My APP is used for 9mm and .40; all I need to do is change the feed height and it runs great with either one. Don't know what the problem is with yours, you might call Lee and ask.

Back when I was shooting International ("Olympic") trap in Southern California, I saw a good number of very high caliber trap shooters with Kreighoff's, Beretta's, and the like. The only Browning to "make the grade", as it were, was a Browning Broadway, which I believe was a Superposed model, NOT a Citori. I started with a Citori, and it was good to see if you liked the game, but it did not have anything like the handling qualities and durability of some of the other brands. I went to a Beretta 680 Trap (wish I kept it), then a Beretta 682 Trap, then finally to Perazzi MX8. Like the Kreighoff's, the Perazzi is a top quality shotgun that will last for hundreds of thousands of rounds. I believe there used to be one at the Army AMU that had a documented 1 million rounds through it... still on the firing line. To perform "at the highest level" one needs a proper tool. Check out Olympic shooting history and see how many skeet and trap events have been won by Remington, Winchester and Browning..

I have boxes like that from years ago... maybe decades ago... when I load them they work fine. Probably best used for practice, though.

I have reloaded some aluminum 9mm with minor loads, Sport Pistol powder and 147 gr. coated bullets. This is once fired brass I got very cheaply. Cleaned 'em in Armor-All Wash & Wax in a FART so left a coating on there. Light lube with lanolin spray. I shoot them once and let them lay, not worth picking up or the chance of a split case.

Of the guns you mentioned, I own both the S&W 29 ('80's vintage) and an Anaconda (Original). The Smith will have the best trigger, period, and is the easiest to work on the action work, in my opinion. The Smith is also more inclined to "shoot loose" with a steady diet of heavy loads (again, IMHO), but tends to hold up pretty well to moderate loads. The Colt is a great gun and is reinforced and I think might stand up better to the heavier loads. Harder to do action work on, I would think. One you didn't mention is the Ruger Super Blackhawk, of which I have several. They are virtually indestructible, even with heavy loads, and can be quite accurate. It's not too difficult to get a good trigger on one, either, and they're easily scoped. Might be worth your consideration.