MacEntyre

Just got off the phone with Dillon... we figured out that the shell plate on our 650 is out of alignment. They are sending an alignment tool. It was hard not to notice the problem. 15% of the cartridges produced had primers inserted sideways. Some were upside down. When I cycled the 650 without any shells, I could see that the primer hole in the shell plate is not lining up with the primer sitting on it's lifter. Sometimes, the edge of the primer hits the shell plate as the primer is being lifted, and the primer flips on it's side, or all the way over, before being crammed into the shell. Anybody else had this problem? What makes the shell plate go out of alignment?

The destination must be an FFL, but not the origination. Sometimes a receiving FFL will insist that the shipper go through an FFL, who knows why. Only one FFL is required, on the receiving end, so that the federal requirements may be met.

I have recommended to my father, who lives in his RV, that he load on the road. Instead of a scale and a powder funnel, get a Lee Powder Measure Kit. (That would save enough to buy a small progressive press!) The Lee kit has small scoops calibrated by volume. It includes a weight conversion for chart for most powders. I have found mine to be very accurate and precise. Once you develop your load, you only need one scoop. I like the suggestion that you clean at home. However, you could clean on the road without a tumbler. Put your cartridges in a net bag and toss them in with your laundry. Dry them by dunking in rubbing alcohol. I bet you will enjoy reloading very much when you do it this way! I'll offer one warning and a suggestion. Be sure there are no regs that prohibit carrying powder and primers in the cab, which might depend upon what you are carrying for a load in the back. If you are allowed to carry factory ammo, components are probably ok. Make the press look like a general purpose workspace. Keep the powder, primers and bullets in a gym bag, so they look like personal effects. You never know when you will meet some do-gooder from the DMV or state police who feels compelled to make up rules on the spot. Enjoy!

I heard several people talk about problems with Federal primers. We had a lot of them get stuck in the primer tubes. We stopped using them.

While I'm talking to myself, I'll post the results of Cat's Sneeze work... For Savage 99 / 300 Savage, I found two ultra light loads that work. 1) 47 grain ball (00 buckshot) with 0.5 grains Bullseye powder... quiet as 22 CB cap, but harder hitting. 2) 165 grain Meister cast bullet with 1.5 grains Bullseye power... slightly louder than 22 CB cap, and much harder hitting! These will be fun to use! P.S. The ball stayed in the cartridge without any trouble. I just set it on the opening and tapped it with a wooden hammer!

Here's an article by Paco Kelly about loading black powder in 45 ACP and other cartridges. http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/black_powder.htm

I solved the shaving problem by finding a punch that I could use to ream a slight flare in the mouth of the cartridge. The shaving problem was only with NEW BRASS! Apparently, firing has the same effect.

I received the Meister 165 grain .309 cast bullets and tried some. In the Wells seating die, the casing shaved off the excess lead, leaving a lead lip where the bullet stopped going into the cartridge. In the Lee seating die, the cartridge shoulder collapsed a bit before the bullet seated. My Lee Loader (powered by a hammer) did a better job seating the bullet. However, it still has a lip at the end of the brass, where the bullet stopped going into the cartridge. I'll have to research adjusting the sizing die. (None of the directions include anything on adjustments.) Regarding the .311 lead balls... they work just fine! I have not shot one yet, but to load them, I just set the ball on top of the filled cartridge, and tapped it with a small wood hammer. It turns out the balls are not spherical, but they have so little area, it won't matter a bit.

I recently got a Savage 99 in 300 Savage, and a friend gave me a Lyman ST turret press. I just got the press set up to load jacketed target rounds. Now, two special needs have arisen. First, another friend invited me to a vintage rifle get-together. His steel targets won't take jacketed bullets at rifle velocities, so I have to load some cast bullets at reduced charges. Second, I am intrigued with loading ultra light loads, which use the heaviest lead bullet you can find, over the lightest powder charge that will get the round beyond the muzzle, plus a little more. They pack a lot of punch, but are nearly silent in a 24" barrel. It's the same idea as .22 CB caps. Q#1: I've found 165 grain Meister bullets at Midway for $24/500. Other sources charge 2-3 times as much. Where else can you get 150 gr and 200 gr cast .308 diameter bullets? Q#2: How much do I need to reduce the charge so that I need no gas check? Q#3: Can I load a lead ball that is .311 diameter and shoot it safely? Seems like it would become an oblong .308 diameter slug very soon after I pull the trigger! Thanks!

Me and my buddy Dave never reloaded before, but we're both engineers. We chose the 650 with all the bells and whistles and are very glad we did. We each have hand-me-down single stage presses for R&D, and rifle loads. If you will reload only 40 cal at 20K per year, then the 650 is a no-brainer. The payback for you will be something less than 6 months. Component prices are skyrocketing, so it may be even less than that. BTW, we would not be so happy if we had not had Brian's help with the order. Thanks, Brian!

We had no trouble making 2000 rounds of 45 as soon as we got the 650 from Brian. We also had no trouble converting to 380. My partner gave me the following report after making 200 rounds of 380 last night: I made 205 rounds. We need to have a phone call with Brian about 380. It took me almost as long to do 200 as it took us to do close to 1000 45s. The machine would jam dropping a casing every 4 or five pulls and half of the cases would not take a primer unless you fooled with it’s location and sometimes even then I had to pull it off the press. I could not get a nice flow going at all. Anyone have an idea about what could be the trouble? - MacEntyre