elenius

I learned this the hard way with my M1A, resting it against a barricade on the right. The cool thing was that the op rod handle knocked over the barricade and the gun kept going

Is he local for you? If so, try posting the question in the rifel competition section on Northeast Shooters.com There are some Highpower shooters from Maine that post there. No, he's about as far away as he could be, he was just one of the first google hits... I'm also looking into local options based on recommendations from calguns.net people. Would be nice to not have to ship it. Where are you located? California, bay area

Is he local for you? If so, try posting the question in the rifel competition section on Northeast Shooters.com There are some Highpower shooters from Maine that post there. No, he's about as far away as he could be, he was just one of the first google hits... I'm also looking into local options based on recommendations from calguns.net people. Would be nice to not have to ship it.

I want to get my M1A bedded/unitized. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this guy. His prices look pretty good. http://www.angusarms.com

I don't expect to hit anything at 600 yards, but yes, maybe a bedding job would be well spent money...

I'm shooting Hornady bulk 150gr FMJs out of my MIA scout (18" barrel, *iron sights*, no special accuracy work done to it). I have mostly shot rifle matches in pistol bays, just up to 70 yds or so, so this has been accurate enough so far. However, I want to start shooting some real rifle matches (3-gun/action rifle, not high power or anything like that) with longer ranges, and I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to use better bullets for the longer range stages. I can shoot 2-3" 3-shot groups at 100yds from sandbags with my current load (40.6 gr H4895) on a good day. Is this as good as it gets, or should I try other bullets? I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on them. Oh, and it's a plus if they're hollow point or soft point, because I might want to use the same load for hunting pigs at some point.

The bullet button can be pretty fast (and completely legal). http://www.coldwarshooters.net/index.php?m...products_id=308 You can put some kind of stud on your hand to use as the "tool" instead of using an actual bullet.

I did this on the exact same bullet. But I would push them even shorter. Dave at precision bullets recommended *under* 1.220 when I asked him. ETA: Of course, make sure your ammo is still safe with the shorter OAL, as it will increase pressure.

I have a Vanek GM kit. If I could do it again, I'd probably get the regular kit. I'm not sure the GM kit is worth the extra $95 over the regular kit. The only difference seems to be the custom striker. Note that it's NOT a lightened striker. Charlie told me he doesn't believe in lightened strikers... My other observation is that I would get lots of light primer strikes on CCI primers. I changed to the stock glock striker spring and the problem went away. I'll put Vanek's pring back when I've shot up all my CCI primers... VERY light trigger pull. Not crisp, but light.

If you're a tinkerer, you will play around with lots of different loads, and you will definitely want the digital scale and calipers! I'm very happy with my 550. BTW, the quick change kits are only quick if you stay with one primer size. My least favorite part of the whole reloading process is changing that cursed primer system. If I had more space, I would get another 550 for small primer calibers. Changing the shell plate is annoying too. To my great satisfaction, however, I learned that .308 and .45 acp use the same shell plate and locator buttons (and both use large primers). So I've got the perfect Heavy Metal setup Just need to swap toolhead, and I got powder systems on both

I tried a 13# Wilson and a 14# ISMI in my 1911. The ISMI was MUCH lighter (just by how it felt, no measurement). I ended up where I started, with my 16# stock Kimber spring, which is the only one of the three that reliably feeds lead bullets in my gun.

I have very similar problems with my Kimber Custom II. With Precision Bullets' 200 RNFs, I always get bullet setback, usually about 0.010", which worries me a lot. This does not seem to happen with their 200-SWCs. I also had the same feeding problem you have experienced, when using Wilson 13# and ISMI 14# springs. Sometimes I was able to shoot the gun for a while until it started to get finicky. This was with a very dirty load -- I ran out of Clays and loaded up some Unique load I guess feeding was so marginal that some gunk from shooting pushed it over the edge. I use a .470" crimp. I put the original Kimber 16# spring back in. Will see if mine feeds better this weekend.

I had lots of feeding problems. I loaded them to 1.230" I think, and they would hang up and prevent the slide from going completely into battery. This is with a Kimber Custom II 1911. Should I load them longer or shorter?

I just made a mistake with my mine that they specifically warn about in the instructions. I screwed in the powder bar all the way in to 0.0 (to start calibrating for a different powder), with a full powder measure. The micrometer came out of the powder bar I pushed it back in, and it seems to stick now... maybe I should put new loctite where it goes into the powder bar... Anyway, don't do what I did! Put an empty case under it and pull down the handle before reducing the charge with the micrometer.

Hornady's reloading manual shows loads for 2700 to 3200 fps for the 110gr bullets. 3000 should be perfect, for a PF of 330. I bought a s**tload of their 150gr bulk bullets, which may not have been the best idea... It's easy to make PF with them, but they're the most accurate around 2500 fps, which gives a PF of 375... Wideners is now out of the 150s, and only 2k left of the 110s. Other places have them too though, for just a little bit more (try Lock, Stock & Barrel).

Wow, that looks great! I never heard of that before, but now I'll need to order two of them! Adjusting the powder measure is my least favorite thing in reloading.

I think it was a combination of several things mentioned above. I managed to significantly reduce, but not completely eliminate, the problem, by: 1) Moving the handle more slowly, and staying for a second with the handle completely down (i.e. the case up in the powder measure) 2) Adjusting the powder die so that the powder bar is moved to its end position just as the handle reaches the bottom of the pull. I had it set up to bottom out sooner, which I suppose meant too much powder coming in too fast through too small a hole. 3) Deburring the case mouths. I still don't get very good consistency though. With the same case, i get variations of about 0.2 gr. Are there powders that meter better with 308s? OOPS, double posted, sorry.

I think it was a combination of several things mentioned above. I managed to significantly reduce, but not completely eliminate, the problem, by: 1) Moving the handle more slowly, and staying for a second with the handle completely down (i.e. the case up in the powder measure) 2) Adjusting the powder die so that the powder bar is moved to its end position just as the handle reaches the bottom of the pull. I had it set up to bottom out sooner, which I suppose meant too much powder coming in too fast through too small a hole. 3) Deburring the case mouths. I still don't get very good consistency though. With the same case, i get variations of about 0.2 gr. Are there powders that meter better with 308s?

That's one of the things I'm trying to figure out Oh, I see. Are you talking about the powered thing that you're supposed to clamp a vacuum on to? (i.e. the Rapid Trim 1200B, http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p...0B_Case_Trimmer ) I was going to get a separate trimmer (probably a hand-cranked one, maybe the Lyman).

Do you mean "the Dillon full length sizing die doesn't expand the case mouth"? Hmm, mine has a "carbide expander ball". I thought that was for neck sizing. Dillon don't even make a neck size die as far as I can tell, although they do sell a Redding neck sizer... I'm confused.

So you use both a full-length sizer and a neck sizer? Why?

I noted with some surprise that the Hornady reloading manual lists the trimming step before the sizing step, in their rifle reloading instructions. My Lyman has it the other way, with sizing first, then trimming, then everything else. I thought this second way was the way to do it, because sizing could change the COL. Is this not the case? Is it ok to trim first? This would simplify the process for me when loading on my 550, because I could do all the prep work first, including trimming, and then just do the four stations in one go.

Brian arranged for me to get a refund for mine, as they already "repaired" it once, and it ended up working even worse. I ordered a CED M2 from shooters connection instead.

Thanks, I will try these suggestions. Is it reasonable to expect the same level of consistency for rifle powders that I get for pistol powders? (say +- .1 gr or better).

I just got the reply "Thanks for the order, we will ship your 45-200s on Tuesday, I will email when we ship.". Is this an auto-generated email?