I have a Dillon XL650 and have been reloading 223 and 40 S&W about a year. I don't have anyone I know that reloads and I haven't been able to find the answer to some questions that I have. BTW, I have had ZERO problems with the 650! It has worked perfectly right out of the box. I want to do this right. I searched the forums before deciding to ask you guys with more experience.
1. How do you clean up spilled powder? Load manuals say not to vacuum it up with a vacuum cleaner. My reload room is a carpeted bedroom turned office and load room so sweeping with a broom won't work.
2. When working up loads, how critical is it to stay with the exact components listed for the load? For instance, Speer says the loads are only for Speer bullets and that pressures and velocities won't be the same with other bullets. Is this just marketing or am I getting into dangerous areas as far as pressure using other bullets, like Berry's? We practice with what we carry (165 grain JHP) and Speer is expensive.
3. I want to work up a load with a softer recoil for the 40s&w. How do you reduce recoil without significantly reducing the charge? I want to stay with the bullet we carry (165 grain JHP) for practice.
4. This last one is really driving me up a wall. I bought some bulk 62 grain rifle bullets from a place that will go nameless in Johnson City, TN. I set up my dies with no problem. I set the bullet seat to seat with an OAL of 2.260". It was dead on. I ran five bullets through and the OAL varied from 2.250 (the first one) to 2.270. I reset the seating die again. Both times I used cases or a loaded round in each station to set the die. Again, the seating die is set to 2.260" on the test round. The lock rings are all tight. I run more bullets through and not a one measures 2.260". If I change to a major manufacturer's bullets, there is no problem and there is no problem loading pistol. What is wrong here? Can I fire what I have loaded and more importantly, can I load the remainder of the 1,000 I have left or just throw them away? Measuring and re-seating a 1,000 rounds on a 650 would mean doing each one seperately and that's no fun.
Thanks for the help guys. I know these are questions you experienced shooters probably can't believe someone is asking, but I want to learn and like I said, I want to do it right.