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Ace38super

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Everything posted by Ace38super

  1. I have been reloading on the Dillon 550 for 20+ years. I'm mostly loading 9 major and using 9.5 AA#7 with a 124. The case is pretty full but with the indexing control of the 550 I have no issues with powder spillage. I'm considering going to the 1100 for the priming on the downstroke and the swaging station. I'm looking for feedback on the auto indexing with respect to how smoothly the case moves when mostly full of powder. I have watched a bunch of YouTube videos but it's hard to tell if the operating handle controls the speed of the moving shell plate or not. I also see aftermarket gizmos to prevent powder spillage. Are these effective?
  2. I shot a 52 back in my bullseye days for the Centerfire match. I used 148gr. HBWC and bullseye powder. I recall 2.9 grains but you should start lower. The bullet should be seated slightly below flush and a roll crimp using a revolver seating die. It doesn't have to be much but the case is definitely rolled over the top of the bullet. There is a Bullseye forum where you could get more info.
  3. The easiest way I have found to remove One Shot is to spread out about 100 rounds on a medium size towel and spray it with a foaming glass cleaner. I use Sprayway but any will work. It can not have ammonia in it! Roll the bullets in the towel to dry and then case gauge. This works with One Shot, I don't know about other lubes.
  4. I have three open guns with the Dawson guide rod and use Wolff variable rate springs. Never a problem for many years. I do put a drop of oil on the guide rod and spread it around.
  5. I bought it when it first came out. It was nowhere near $400. It works perfectly for .38 Super. When used for 9mm I occasionally get an upside down case, which is easy to fix. Overall I like it.
  6. Wolff 9 # variable in 3 open guns. One .38 super and 2 in 9 major.
  7. I'll address your question #2. Pick either Super or Supercomp brass and go with one. You will need a .223 shellplate to load Supercomp and Super brass won't fit. If you use a Super shellplate it is not unusual to have Supercomp brass pull out of the sizing station. Extraxtors are different if you use Aftec. If you use a standard extractor you may or may not be able to run both kinds of brass. I have one gun that will run either and one set up for Super that will not feed Supercomp 100%. My opinion is if your gun runs reliably with all your mags using Super then keep it simple and don't change.
  8. I use patches only. Never a brush of any kind except a chamber brush for that area every 500 rounds or so.
  9. I load .38 Super with Montana Gold 115 CMJ to 1.250 and with Hornady 115 HAP to 1.240. If the OAL is not creating problems with the magazine, feeding or bullet hitting the lands, most .38 Supers can go to 1.260.
  10. I use the Redding micrometer competition die because my current load of 11.4 AA#7 is not a compressed load. I used to run about 9 grains of 4756 which was a compressed load and used the Dillon die. Redding says not to use their die on a compressed load.
  11. First, take the primer assembly apart. Clean everything with alcohol, especially the bottom of the primer slide. Now put it back together after putting a light coat of gun grease on the threads of the 2 bolts that hold the assembly in place. Finger tighten only. Now with the ram in the resting position and the primer seating stem properly centered in the shell plate, tighten the 2 bolts with an Allen wrench. Just a little! Like one quarter or less past finger tight. These bolts will strip out the primer tube threads and cause no end of problems if they are overtightened. I know from experience.
  12. I have been using them for several years in both 9 major and .38 super. I run OAL of 1.165 in 9 major and 1.240 in .38 super. I have done some bench testing and they are more accurate than the Montana Gold and Zero I was using, however I'm not sure if the difference is meaningful given the average uspsa field course. If you have a situation like 50 yard sideways targets that were at Area 3 a while back they do give some extra mental confidence. I use a Lee U Die for both to be sure there is no setback problem. I have no idea about distance from lands. As long as it fits in the chamber and sits a little under the barrel hood without hitting the lands you are good to go.
  13. If that works for you that's great. I posted this comment more than a year ago and stand by my experience with the EGW and Dillon gauges. I have shot plenty of 9 major and had zero malfunctions of any kind. And yes I am into competition. I try to shoot one or two matches a week and at least 6 majors a year.
  14. I just started with wet tumbling before Christmas. I ran a load of 9mm range brass through the Franklin unit using 1 gal water, 1.5 oz Hornady sonic cleaner case formula and 1 tbsp Lemi shine. I do have a water softener for what that's worth. I did not want to use the pins for pistol brass and I did not want to deprime first. After 3 hours in the FART unit I rinsed well, spun off the excess water with the Franklin separator tub and dried for about an hour or so in the Franklin brass drier. The results were outstanding. The brass looked better that new on the outside and about 75% clean on the inside. I left them sit in a plastic bucket until a few weeks ago. No tarnish at all. I use Hornady One Shot and make sure to get the lube inside the case. The powder funnel does not stick on most cases. An added benefit is no more tumbling media to jam my case feeder. The cases were plenty dry right after they came out of the drier unit.
  15. I have 2 550B. I bought the 550 case feeder when it came out. I installed it on the machine I used to load .38 Super. It worked quite well. The only problem was once in a while a piece of tumbling media would get caught in the drop tube adapter and a case would get wedged in. No way to clear except take the whole drop tube off and push the case out. I found I was shooting more 9mm and now the case feeder is on the 550 that is dedicated to 9mm. The other machine is for Super and .223. The situation with the media jam still exists, although I recently changed to wet tumbling so I wont have that problem going forward. There is one new problem using 9mm. Every 100 to 200 rounds a case will go into the drop tube upside down. This never happened with .38 Super. This makes the case fail to feed into the size/deprine station and the case is usually flat on the slide and can be removed without problem. Thanks to the manual advance on the 550 it does not create too much issue. On the whole I would buy it again.
  16. I shot this stage yesterday. If you stepped on the top of the pedal it would activate. If you stepped lower the range of motion would not be enough to pull the hinged support out from under the swinger. The RO was very clear in the briefing and shooters had plenty of time to try them out. The real challenge was if you had ballet dancer moves you could scoot right along and pick up some real time. Others like myself were concerned about tripping and were slower. Like any activated prop there was some variation depending on who set the activator at the swinger end but they were certainly much easier to reset than the traditional stomp pad.
  17. Sorry, I'm out of town and don't have my dial calipers. I recall something like .330 but maybe someone else here can measure theirs.
  18. Don't try to use STI feed lip specs on a SV mag. If you look at the mags you will see the SVI lips have a different shape. The old style SV mags are tough as nails and the feed lips don't bend often. I like Grams springs and followers. The .38 Super follower works for 9mm also. Dawson or TTI base pads. Others will also work but use a mag gauge as the wrong base oad can put you over.
  19. I have the same gun. I used 9.0 4756 with Zero 125 jhp for the load until my stash of 4756 ran out recently. I developed loads using AA 7 with Zero 125 jhp and Hornady 115 HAP. I liked the 115 best with 11.5 AA 7 and an OAL of 1.240. The Super case will hold a ton of AA 7 so that load is not compressed. Use a chrono and start low. Small rifle primers also. It's too bad they stopped making 4756. It was soft shooting and low pressure. The downside it was inverse temp sensitive. It created some pucker factor at the chrono on a hot day.
  20. I have the same gun. Try shooting it as is for a while. The arched mainspring housing wont make a difference in the balance. The comp is a one piece Tru Bor barrel unless someone put in a different one. You getting a reliable pistol. Mine has over 60k rounds with exactly one malfunction, when a piece of supercomp snuck in.
  21. When I first started loading 9 major I had 3 case gauges. An EGW 7 hole, a Dillon and an old Midway. I found the EGW was useless as it rejected most of my rounds which were fine using the plunk test. I used the Midway gauge which rejected about 10%. I shot those rounds in practice and only a few were bad. I then ran a batch of saved practice rounds through the Dillon and all of them passed. I now only use the Dillon and the rare round it rejects goes into the box I'll pull for components some day. My die set up uses the Lee U die. I'm loading either Montana Gold CMJ or Horenady HAP. The odd thing is the .38 Super model of the EGW 7 hole gauge works just fine.
  22. Just toss the factory spring and follower and replace with Grams .38 super kit. Use 13 coil for the 170, 11 coil for the 140. You may not get more than 28 rounds in the 170 but the reliability is more than worth a maybe 29.
  23. 9# Wolff variable rate recoil, 15# mainspring. Also extended firing pin which is a good idea with the 15# mainspring.
  24. With the barrel you have I would use AA#7. You want a slow powder and lots of gas. I use it in 9 major and .38 super. In my opinion a jacketed bullet is better. If you want a round nose, Montana Gold 124 CMJ works well. I use an oal of 1.250 with that bullet. Crimp is .378 Any small rifle primer will work. You should start low and use a chrono to get to major.
  25. Before you start bending feed lips or messing with a gun you know runs with other mags, try to use a Grams spring and follower for STI/ SV. If you have a 170 tube get a 13 coil 38 super spring/follower set up. The rounds are not stacking correctly in your picture. I would use a 1.250 OAL for a round nose and 1.235 to 1.240 for a JHP. I had to ditch the MBX spring/follower to get mine to work. They are for Caspian but the principle is the same. They have been flawless with the Grams internals. Also, the MBX feed lips look more like SV so I would not use STI dimensions to judge if yours are out of spec. Ask MBX what the correct dimensions should be.
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