Abbey

The 25.3gr Varget load has been magic for me. I get single digit SDs and great accuracy. It’s been my go to for accurate AR ammo for years.

Thanks for the links. Looks like a few solid options to try.

Anyone know if Reloading Innovations still has a website? Search results just show their FB page now, and I don't have a FB account. I broke the casefeed stop for my S1050 (my fault, no fault of the product) and was going to buy another but can't figure out if they still sell them or how to buy one.

I wouldn’t go that far (and I’m mostly a P226 guy). I didn’t see any noticeable bulging with any other factory ammo or my typical much softer reloads. But none of my other 9’s have such an unsupported barrel. Even the P365 handled those Underwood’s just fine. People just need to be aware of the unsupported chamber and not run hot ammo or reloads with old weak brass.

I had a similar issue with really hot +P+ Underwood factory ammo in an M17. It’s not a fully supported barrel so do not shoot hot ammo. Mine didn’t blow up but when I picked up my brass I noticed a couple got really close. No issues in other barrels but my takeaway here is “stick to lower pressure in the M17”. This is the wrong gun to try to shoot 9 major.

I use H335 for 55-62gr bullets. Something in the 25gr range. Meters great. Varget is my favorite for longer range precision loads with 69 or 77gr SMK. I usually load and shoot these in smaller batches so I use the Chargemaster to weigh them. It’s slower but not a big deal. I recently loaded some different.308 loads with CFE223 but haven’t actually tried it for .223 yet. If it works even close to as well as Varget, I may switch and quit stocking Varget.

That's a good point. Without a .40 option, and too heavy for IDPA, what is the target market for this one?

I saw some prices posted on a Sig forum for $2200-2300. I don't need to be the first kid on the block with one but if those prices hold out, I'll definitely pick one up. I always wanted one of the old ones but by the time I had the cash for one, they were already no longer imported & hard to find some parts for. I don't understand the extractor issues - I've never had issues with an external extractor and prefer them.

https://www.sigsauer.com/p226-xfive.html?utm_campaign=P226_XFIVE_Launch&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

If you have a subgun, I highly recommend looking into the 9mm tracers (or 45 if that’s what your SMG shoots). super fun doing dusk tracer shoots with my Uzi Edited to add I’ve never reloaded pistol tracers. The projectiles seemed harder to find than loaded ammo.

I’ve loaded lots of tracers. Have always used H335 for 5.56 projectiles and RL15 for 7.62. One note is that tracers usually don’t ignite until well past 100 yards. Take that into account when testing if you’re sighting in at 100 and wondering why they aren’t igniting. To be honest, I find the .22 or 9mm tracers are a lot more fun at short distances. The 5.56 & 7.62 are more fun for machine gun shoots.

I use the short trim head for all trimming - just like the guys from Dillon recommended to me some years ago. I don’t see how it could be a problem. If the short toolhead is OK for converting 5.56 to .300 blk (I.e. lots of trimming), why wouldn’t it work for just light trimming of 5.56 to 5.56 (in spec)? Fwiw, I have 1 trim toolhead with FW arms decapper, FW arms swage backer, then swap out the trim die and Lyman m-die depending on caliber. Apart from that, I have a dedicated 9mm loading toolhead, dedicated.223/5.56, and a 3rd loading toolhead that I change out multiple calibers (but is usually setup for .308)

What do you mean by “stressing”? It’s just a piece of plastic - I don’t really worry about stress. I just have a Ridgid vac with some plastic step-down adapters from Home Depot to connect the vac hose to the trimmer attachment. The vac hose isn’t heavy so I’ve never been worried about nor had any issues with stress.

I saw some H1000 at Powder Valley several weeks ago. I almost bought it but they didn't have anything else I needed in stock so decided to wait. I've had good luck with Alliant powders. RL26, RL25, RL33 (slower, but works great in my .338LM loads). The only problem is that those Alliant powders are even harder to find than H1000.

+1 for the Gladiator. I have the 6' & 8' versions of this bench and they're super solid, easy to assemble, & good quality. I thought about making my own bench but by the time I found a good top, it pretty much cost the same as the Gladiator anyway. And the legs are solid & nice too. Charlie's shelf idea sounds good, but I just store other tools, a shopvac, coolers, etc under mine.

I just bought one full price from buymylabradar. I waited for awhile looking for sales and didn't find any. But backlogs kept getting longer and longer so I finally ran out of patience and figured I'd just got on the list. Rather have it at full price than save $50 and miss our prime shooting season in the southwest.

Primer availability aside, don't you need an FFL to sell re-manufactured primed brass? Anyone with a press can have a side business processing brass - I've been tempted to do low-volume processing just to write off some of my equipment expenses. But I wouldn't make enough money to justify maintaining an FFL.

I tend to save up my brass and trim in one large batch, then load 1-2k rounds at a time. So hopefully the setup overhead won't be quite as bad. (FWIW, I'm using a S1050.) I totally get what you're saying though. I am hoping to not clutter up my reloading area with a bunch of toolheads but it will come down to the fact that my time is more valuable than the cost of a couple toolheads or a little clutter. My workflow will be Universal decap in 1, swage in 2, trim in 5, and debating adding an M-die on 7. Then run them through the tumbler for a short run and be ready to load.

Hi, long time reader, first time poster. After a long hiatus of shooting factory ammo, I'm getting back into reloading given the current craziness and have some questions. I've tried searching but haven't seen an exact response to the question so I apologize if this has been covered previously. Assuming you're going to buy a new toolhead dedicated for case prep, is there any reason not to use a short toolhead for all case trimming? (FWIW, its primarily .223, .308, & 6.5CM, with maybe a couple less common low volume calibers thrown in the mix.) I know you need to use the short toolhead for short cases. I don't reload .300BLK but may in the future. Since the dies adjust from the shell plate, I'm thinking the short toolhead should work for all my cases. And that way I'll be good to go if I add .300BLK in the future. Or is it better to use a normal toolhead with more threads in contact with the die and only use the short one when you absolutely need it?