Mike Morcillo

My 1100 has the "Thin wall" barrel, nice and light, easy to swing. It's threaded to use Colonial sporting clays chokes for easy changing. Good price, too. It, too, is a two hole gas barrel with a lenghtened forcing cone. Favorite load is 1oz 71/2 shot, 17.6 Clays in AA hulls.

Make sure the primers a fully seated.. If the primers are "High" some of he force from the firing pin is absorbed pushing the primers down, not igniting the primer. Check your firing pin for OAL. My understanding is that Federal primers are the softest to ignite, and I hve never had a primer problem in 10's of thousands of rounds.+

Been reloading 12ga 7-1/2 shells for 15 years. My favorite load is 1oz of 71/2 shot, 17.6 grains of Clays in a AA hull. Been using once fired hull during big matches, and multi-fired at practice events. Lowered the cost by using either reclaimed or non-commercial shot. You can tailor your shot size in different color/maker of hull. All loaded on a used MEC jr. Haven't figured the cost, though.

Give Varget a try. Most are using 23.7gr as a starting point, but research the recommended load at Hornady, Sierra, etc.

Put a Dawson magwell on the 1911, it's slick.

Not hot enough to fully ignite the powder, could cause an over-pressure, in my opinion. Not made for it, don't it. Rifle in pistols, that's another story.

Got both. Like the hard chrome for wear, especially over the blue. Just had my worn out finish STI redone in Ion Bond, by Springer Precision. Really like the mat black finish, looks great, but it's the supposed longevity of the finish I like. Advertising says it's tough stuff, but time will tell. Other shooters tell me Kydex will not mar the finish, but I'm using a race holster just in case.

Been looking for a CZ75 lately, but see that the Witness Elite is a clone. Are these pistols reliable for competition, or is it better to stick with the CZ?

I run all my ammo on a Dillon 550. I do all the necessary case prep work, with special attention to headspace on the rifle brass. The only difference is that I run the rifle brass one at a time when loading in order to feel the bullet seat pressure. Also use a Lee factory crimp die to keep neck tension equal. On the 550, stick powders bridge in the powder die. To keep this to a minimum, polish the funnel die, 600 grit will do, then use simicrome polish to finish to a mirror finish.

My Garand with HXP shot 3" groups. Got the HXP brass, reloaded them with 48gr of 4064, Sierra 150 Mk & Shot a clover leaf group. I thnk I'll try 46-47 to save the brass. Used a Lee factory crimp die, too. Worked for me. Don't rely on my numbers, start low and work up. Good luck.

Is the rifle properly headspaced? I've seen pressure rings on cases that are from too much headspace. New brass, fire-formed, neck sized or full-length resized? Standard size dies or are they small base? They all have an impact on brass life. If it's a bolt gun, I'd stick to neck resizing the fire-formed brass, unless you're hunting.

Polish the powder funnel with 600 grit, it solved my powder problems.

It's easy if it's a bolt action rifle. I size the brass using the rifle chamber as a guide. I seat the dies lower until the bolt has some resistance when closing. Now, for the semi-auto, it's a case gauge. Check the fired brass for signs of stress, like presure ring at the case head, primers than have mover back in the pocket. If unsure, get a gunsmith to check the headspace.

Make sure you're using small base dies for the AR. Clean the chamber of the rifle with a chamber brush. Load to overall length of 2.250. If your having hard extraction problems, don't load to maximum pressure. You could be having a problem with over-pressure that is driving the bolt/carrier out of battery too early, especially if it is a carbine. May need a mid-length gas tube.

You'll need the case gauge to check the brass after resizing. We're not talking straight wall pistol brass here. Head space is critical. Too much headspace and you'll get case head seperation. Too little headspace and the round won't chamber full and may be prone to out- of- battery detonation and hard extraction. Ounce of prevention.........

Any time you change components you'll get different results. Some primers are known to be hotter than others. The hotter one's will ignite the powder faster, resulting in higher pressures and higher velocity. Chrono your new load for closer results.

I always use AA's or Remington STS shells for reloading. The AA's are the 7-1/2 shot and the STS's are 9's. Wads are Claybuster pink for 1oz load. Works like a charm. 13.6 gr of Hodgen Clays powder for a 1200fps shot.

If you get a ring around the ogive of the bullet during the seating, there is a solution. I had RCBS make a new seating stem to match the 68gr bullet I use. You can make your own by getting another seating stem and putting a drop of epoxy glue in the recess. Let is skin up a bit, then press the bullet into the cavity. Makes a perfect seating stem. +1 on the Redding seating die. Makes it a lot easier to tune OAL. Additionally, you can just change powder dies for each load instead of readjusting for each cartridge. Make sure you brass is exactly to spec when resizing. There is not room for error with these pressures. I load on the Dillon, but one round at a time. This way you can feel the bullet seat, note neck tension, and catch split necks before you jam your rifle with it.

Had my rotator cuff surgery on March 9th, 2012. Nice to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Was told there wil be NO highpower rifle or shotgun for the first six months. But, bought a 1911 22lr for all the practice sessions and the STI went for an Ion Bond refinish while recovering. It's tough sitting ouot a shooting season and especially tough to miss the big matches. Good luck with your recovery.

I've used Lyman case lube, while rolling cases on a pad, without problem for years. RCBS told me to stay away from spray on case lube, somthing about distorting the case neck, if the neck gets lube on it. Roll 10 at a time. Also, have used dry Mica to lube the necks. Just dump some in asmall tray, dip the case neck after lube, then resize. Doesn't get any easier, and saves the time pulling stuck cases. Tumble the cases in seperate media to remove the lube before loading.

Before I buy a case of Fiocchi slugs, will they cycle a Remington 1100?

To get rid of the "Ring" caused by the seating die, I sent the stem and several bullets to RCBS, who made my dies. They made a seating stem to match the shape of the bullet. As an alternative, you could put a bit of epoxy in the seating stem, let is set up a bit, them press the bullet into the stem. You'll get a perfectly shaped seating stem for tht bullet.

Okay, let's try again. Here's the 100yd three shot group with Sierra HTBP MK 150gr

Okay, here's the pic of the Garand 100yd target, Sierra HPBT MK, 48grs 4064. Barrel is from 1955, USGI. Oops, file too big, won't post.

"]My link[/url]Each case was hand filled, just for load purpose, on my first post. To avoid any problems using the Dillon 550 and stick powders, I polished the powder funnel with 600 grit paper, then Simicrome polish, for a mirror finish. That will avoid the bridging of powder when loading. The Dillon 550 will drop very accurate loads, especially ball powders, but the differences shouldn't be enough to notice. If your shooting 600yds, then I'd weigh each powder drop. I load one round at a time on the progressive, moving it to each station, then checking at the seating step to make sure there is equal neck tension. Lee factory crimp die is the last stage. Don't forget at the seating die to look into each case for powder, you don't want a squib. Once of prevention..............etc. Stick with the medium powders for your Garand, 4064 and 4895, they've been used for years with great success.