D. Manley

AMERC = bad news. You can find a good bit of information on preferred brass HERE.

Yep. Ramshot has added a very effective flash suppressant...great stuff for indoor shooting.

I use 1.26 to 1.265 on most conventional FMJ or plated RN...1.254 for Montana Gold which have a little more "rounded" profile. This is one of those times where the easy thing to do is use a factory round to adjust your seating die and let the chips fall...little individual differences in similar bullets' profiles will tend to pretty well "self-adjust" to acceptable depths when so set.

I just recently did a little experiment which confirmed what I've suspected a good while. I took a good bit of once-fired range brass, picked 100 each .45 caliber Federal, Winchester, R/P, CCI, and GFL (Fiochhi). I ran each group through the U-Die by headstamp and gauged the sized, unloaded casings. Sure enough, about 4 out of 100 would fail to fully seat in the gauge. The problem...extractor dings. I wonder how much time has been wasted trying to figure out what went wrong in the reloading process that caused the problem when it was there from the get-go. And FWIW, to satisfy my curiousity I hit the dings with a little smooth diamond hone knocking the burrs off and, zap...in they went.

I came into a jug of A.S. recently and first trials were 5.4 grains under 185 grain Montana Gold JHP's. I found it very pleasant to shoot, grouped well and clean. That said, I don't think I'll be buying any of it...very large fluffy flakes and took me a lot longer to get the Dillon PM dialed in to throw consistent charges. Seemed like it took forever to completely "settle". For me, there's other powders that do equally well and meter better.

You've already found out why most people clean before depriming. I've done it both ways and found it a bit tricky to keep the media out of the primer pockets if deprimed beforehand. It *can* be done but the media has to be the right size -and- cannot have too much additive whether its commercial, home-brew mix or mineral spirits..."too wet" (lacking a better description) media is the kiss of death when it comes to plugging the pockets. To answer your question directly, I personally don't think its necessary nor, worth the extra trouble.

If you're just "barely" failing to free-drop into the case gauge, check for extractor burrs. I just yesterday had about 4 out of 100 U-Die sized, once-fired, range brass fail the gauge and this was the cause on all 4 of them.

+1. Like most others, I started on single-stages (still have 2 of them), went to a LCT and evolved to a Dillon SDB. The little Classic Turret is a fantastic value and a very versatile tool but I have to admit, I only use it now for "odds & ends"...the Dillon gets all the work.

Yeah but with Silhouette, you miss out on all that impressive, "flash/bang" from Power Pistol. Now with the silly mode off, I've pretty well settled on Silhouette and WSF in my 9MM loads. Silhouette is a great 9MM powder...very linear, meters like water and seems to perform well from mild to wild.

I have'nt but will be interested in the replys. I've wondered the same thing myself.

Most of mine is with 115 grainers...lots of good powders but FWIW, personal favorites are: Ramshot Silhouette Winchester WSF VithaVouri N-330 VithaVouri 3-N-37 I love the VV powders but they're pricey for plinking. Beyond them, Silhouette and WSF are both outstanding using lighter 9MM bullets...flow through the measure like water, accurate , very affordable & forgiving especially, Silhouette.

Nice link and an interesting read. Thanks.

Just for the sake of putting a point on the thread, finally got around to shooting a little of the AS today. I wound up loading 5.4 grains under the MG 185 JHP's @ 1.208. Shot fairly soft and accurate with minimal flash...felt very similar to a modest charge of Solo-1000 to me. Found its a very large, fluffy flake which you wouldn't think metered well but in use it wasn't as bad as it looked...10-throw composites stayed within 2 tenths or so of 54 grains. Shot well enough I don't have any trouble burning it up but don't think I'll be buying any...I sure didn't see anything that would make me dump Clays or S-1000 for it.

As others have said, you'll pick things up as you go. I might offer a couple of other suggestions: 1) If you didn't get a manual, download one from Dillon and print it out. 2) Since you are getting the strong mount by all means, get the bullet tray as well. 3) Consider a spare parts kit...contains most things you'll ever need and although Dillon would send most of the items free if needed, having the parts on hand eliminates the wait and you'll "have 'em when you need 'em". 4) IMHO, *most* primer problems on the SDB is caused by over-tightening the knurled cap atop the primer shield and on which, the low primer sensor sits. This causes the primer orifice to become gauled up, flipping the primers into the cup upside down or sideways. Just snug it, that's all it needs. 5) Consider picking up a few extra pickup tubes...enough you can have all the primers loaded for a reloading session according to your shooting habits. If you see running 500 rounds of a given primer size at a session, have the appropriate 5 pickup tubes. I'd peruse the Dillon site and manual to glean the information you need to make your decisions. The closer you get to where you eventually want to be with 1 shipping fee, the better.

Since the loaded, unfired round was split as well, it seems those particular GFL cases were bad from the "git-go". That said, GFL (Fiocchi) has been good for me, loaded tons of it with no problems whatsoever. EDIT: After posting, I'm not sure the GFL brass you found is new, unfired OEM rounds. I don't have any on hand that are once fired but I seem to remember (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) that Fiocchi uses nickle plated primers in their factory rounds.

Have'nt loaded squat with it yet, Joe...or even opened the container, for that matter. Came by a jug, thought I'd shoot it up to best advange and hoping to be able to mimic my favorite 230 grain (Rainier) .45 loads of 3.9 Clays and 5.0 grains of S-1000. I've got a case of MG 185 HP's enroute and thought I'd try them 1st since it seems to be a bit more American Select data for 185's. I normally don't shoot many 185's but case lots of MG HP are as cheap (or cheaper) than CMJ's and the recent price increases on plated makes them more attractive. I've been using N-310 and WST under the 185's but when the new shipment comes in I intend to try Solo & AS with them as well. The more I shoot Solo, the more I like it.

Excellent idea Mike, thanks...I'll do just that. Thanks Joe, appreciate it. I assume that's a max load for the 185 JHP and the RCBS proggie shows no data for 230's?

+1, I normally do too. Kind of weird with American Select though, Alliant does not even offer load data for .45 using 230 FMJ (230 JHP only) but numerous other manuals do. I was hoping someone here was shooting it for minor (or below) and could offer some insight using specific bullets but no problem, I can just work things up normally.

Close to the approach I've taken. I've got 3 U-Dies (9MM, .40 & .45) using 3 of the 4 holes in a Lee Classic Turret. I do clean the brass 1st and then, run through the appropriate U-Die. I used to remove the HOS by tumbling loaded rounds a few minutes but since starting using U-Dies as above I just run them through again after sizing. Once done, they barely touch the Dillon sizing die and there's need no lube when loading. After burnishing with the EGW dies & re-tumbling, cases come out shinier than new. The little LCT set up this way makes it quick & easy and the double tumbling requires none of my time to speak of.

A little thread drift but your "sunk deep" comment made me think... I use Winchester and Federal (whichever is on hand) and I swear, I believe I can tell what's in the tube just by feel. The Federals feel so much "slicker" when seating and most have a sudden, distinct bump when they bottom out. Winchester's have been good and seat just fine but have a little "mushier" feel going in and are minus the definitive "bottom". I just chalk it up to the chrome plate on the Federals but, who knows?

Thanks but as I indicated above, I have Alliant's data and virtually everyone elses published data as well. Problem is, American Select data varies considerably for a fast powder. For instance, Alliant shows 4.9 grains (only) for a 230 grain JHP @ 780 and according to their data, is a max load (which, I have trouble believing). Sierra, on the other hand, goes from 4.3 (750) to 5.8 grains (900) with their FMJ & JHP and Hornady from 4.7 (700) to 5.4 (800) with their XTP. Differences are even greater with 185 grain jacketed data. I can work up a load with no problem, I'm just looking to shorten the grudge work by getting a little real-world information from anyone that cares to share it. I'm thinking that 4.6 to 4.8 grains is gonna' be close to what I'm looking for but doesn't hurt to ask.

I've went through a stack of data manuals about 2 feet wide and I've gleaned about all I can through the search function so I thought I'd check with the braintrust on specifics... I recently acquired a jug of American Select and intend to play with it mainly using 230 grain Rainier RN. Although published data always varies, for some reason there seems to be extreme data differences with American Select. I'm looking to just load up some good, accurate, pleasant-to-shoot loads comparable to the 3.9 grains of Clays or 4.8/5.0 grains S-1000 I normally use....PF is not an issue. I also have a a shipment of MG 185 JHP enroute and if American Select works well with that bullet for you, any load data there would be welcome as well.

Good to know...everyone I've seen use it is actually using it for something else other than, magazines. Since its marketed for mags I figured it was worth a shot for the OP.

How about MAG SLICK?

I almost hate to ask but here goes...no chance you're seating small primers with a large punch, right?