What Equipment & Supplies To Start With For....

[41mag]

Hello everyone,

I'm kind of new to this and am a little confused with all the talk about bulged GLOCK brass, u-dies, FCD's and so forth.

I am currently loading 45acp on a Dillion 550b with Dillion dies for my Para and life is good. But I just got my wife interested in shooting and bought her a EAA Witness Match in 40 S&W for a starter gun (I liked it and just wanted one in the safe too!).

I guess my main concern is which dies to order and is buying once fired brass or picking up range brass ok to do?

If you buy the Lee 4 die set does it work with the Dillion powder funnel or what? The 550b only has 4 stations.

Thanks for any advise you can give me to get me off to a good start with the 40 S&W.

41 mag

[yoshidaex]

I've got a xl650 with the following dies:

station 1: EGW undersize die (deprime and size)

station 2: dillon powder die (prime, bell and powder drop)

station 3: empty

station 4: Redding competition seater die

station 5: Lee factory crimp die

The FCD might be a bit overkill since i have a undersize sizing die in the first station. When i started loading 40 s&w i didn't have the FCD. One round of a moly coated bullet (which will remain anonymous ), loaded long caused a jam from hell. Case gauged the other rounds i loaded up in the same batch and found a few other rounds that would have caused the same situation. Used a FCD from then on and no feed issues or jams whatsoever. Not sure if it was the bullet that caused the jam but decided my time is a bit more valuable than sitting there and case gauging practice ammo.

I'm not 100% sure what comes in a 4 die Lee set but IIRC the dillon powder measure requires the dillon powder die. Unless you're going to measure each charge and drop it manually which defeats the whole purpose of a progressive reloader.

I have no problems with once fired brass or multiple fired brass. Its the brand of brass I'm worried about. FC(FC stamp no good, Federal stamp ok), PMC, GFL, AMERC are the ones I avoid. Many people here have had no problems with any 40 s&w brass they reload but i'll stick to the practices I've been using since I had no instance of catastrophic case failure. If you load to minor power factor with a tried and tested load, i'm sure brass culling isn't as critical.

Edited December 25, 2006 by yoshidaex

[revchuck]

Well, I've got a 450/550 and am set up for both .41 Mag and .40 S&W. You've got good taste.

If you do a search here you'll find a thread I started with a similar question. Cutting to the chase, using standard dies almost always works when loading for factory guns with factory barrels, even with Glock-fired brass. I use the Lee 4 die set; the expander goes in the parts drawer never to be seen again. You need to get a "powder" die from Dillon, and the funnel in the shell plate case goes into that and does the expanding.

For the factory crimp die, run the ram all the way up, back the crimper part all the way out, screw the body of the die all the way down until it touches the shell plate and no farther. Then, stick a round of factory ammo at that station and run it all the way up again. Screw the crimper down until it touches the factory round firmly. That's a ballpark adjustment. Most of us crimp .40 ammo to about .420-.421".

My token .40 S&W is a Steyr M40, which has a relatively tight chamber. It runs better with my reloads than it does with factory ammo, and a bunch of my brass was Glock-fired.

[Harmon]

I really dont think the U die is needed,, one caveat of use though...

If you dont plan on lubing cases, plan on a workout at the press.. its a bear.

harmon

[41mag]

Thank you very much. I didn't think you could do it with out the dillion powder die.

Sounds like a couple of choices.

I will want to load minor loads for her and wonder if that decreases the risk of KB when using multi fired and GLOCKed brass. Is there any difference in the longevity of the brass if loaded only to minor versus major? Will it last longer or be safer (major/minor)?

Hope your haveing a great holiday!!

thanks for all the info!!

41 mag

I really dont think the U die is needed,, one caveat of use though...

If you dont plan on lubing cases, plan on a workout at the press.. its a bear.

harmon

Howdy,

you mean if I use the U die without lube it will be a bear? I can load my 45acp with out lube and its not bad but I did try and than learned to like the ONE SHOT(lube) stuff!

thanks and happy holidays

41 mag

[dfwmiket]

I really dont think the U die is needed,, one caveat of use though...

If you dont plan on lubing cases, plan on a workout at the press.. its a bear.

harmon

+ like 1000

I ran out of One Shot once, and figured, 'can't be that much diff'......there WAS. Trust me.

[Joe D]

I have been down the U die and FCD die path in .40. I use neither now. First of all the dreaded Glock bulge is a non-event. What I have found is the regular Lee carbide sizing die works just as well as the U die. The FCD can cause problems if you shoot lead bullets. It was reducing the diameter of my lead .40 bullets to the point where I started getting lead in my barrel. Removed the FCD and the problem went away.

I use a seating die in the 3rd position and a taper crimp die in the 4th. I have loaded thousands of rounds with this set up.

A simple way to reduce sizing effort is to add a little NuFinish car wax to your tumbling media. It also cuts down the dusting.

I don't cull any brass. If it is on the ground I use it. The problem with FC brass is the military primer crimp. It can be used if your "paper clip" spring is set just right.

Buy brass???? That stuff is free for the picking up. Once fired .40 brass runs about $20 per thousand.