Setting up my Dillon 550 for 300 Blackout with a set of Dillon carbide dies that I picked up off the reloading classifieds from CHSmith for a great price and better than described Thanks again Carl.
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What did you do in the reloading room recently?
- Thread starter DW357
- Start date
Reloaded 100x .577/450 and 250x .577
Ready for some black powder fun as soon as the weather clears.
.45/70, .577/450, .577, 12 gu
Ready for some black powder fun as soon as the weather clears.
.45/70, .577/450, .577, 12 gu
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- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
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I have noticed that also. Adding lubrication to the inside of the neck will minimize this to an extent.
Loaded up 100 light 44 mag rounds for the Henry and DW revolver. 5 gr of bullseye under a 240 gr Xtreme plated round nose. Very fun to shoot.
Organized my reloading cabinet, which was getting out of control, sorted out 1x fired brass that I had been stuffing in there, checked powder and bullet inventory, and put a bunch of 44mag cases into the tumbler.
I have modded my Dillon case feeder to have an additional operating mode, a 1 case only Mode.
This will be helpful when setting up/changing calibers, more importantly it is very useful for cases like 50 Beowulf, that you can not have more than a single case in the feeder tube at a time, due to rim-lock.
This will be helpful when setting up/changing calibers, more importantly it is very useful for cases like 50 Beowulf, that you can not have more than a single case in the feeder tube at a time, due to rim-lock.
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I actually just added one of these lights:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RA1XGK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can flex it right over the powder drop and bullet seat section of the 550, and the flexible goose neck keeps it right up along the tool head. The magnet is strong enough to hold it on the mounting bolt without a problem. I happen to have a small self adhesive metal disc for my cell phone car mount that I stuck on the back of the press and that works really well also.
Also just loaded some 9mm. Going to work on some .45ACP soon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RA1XGK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can flex it right over the powder drop and bullet seat section of the 550, and the flexible goose neck keeps it right up along the tool head. The magnet is strong enough to hold it on the mounting bolt without a problem. I happen to have a small self adhesive metal disc for my cell phone car mount that I stuck on the back of the press and that works really well also.
Also just loaded some 9mm. Going to work on some .45ACP soon.
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GENIUS, will update when its installed.
I haven't touched my bench lately, I think the dust is angry at me.
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Loaded my first few batches of 300 Blackout.
Some subs and some supers. The subs didn't cycle the carbine length system but I think a change of powder or a little increase and I can change that and still stay sub. Let's see what the chrono says.
Also a new adjustable gas block on the way might help if it has restriction than my current block that came with the original 556 barrel.
NOE 311365 coated with hi-tek and loaded over some oil gun sounded like a pop gun going off. Super fun to shoot.
Some subs and some supers. The subs didn't cycle the carbine length system but I think a change of powder or a little increase and I can change that and still stay sub. Let's see what the chrono says.
Also a new adjustable gas block on the way might help if it has restriction than my current block that came with the original 556 barrel.
NOE 311365 coated with hi-tek and loaded over some oil gun sounded like a pop gun going off. Super fun to shoot.
Earlier today I did a 115gr 9mm run. Turns out the powder was just barely off. I thought my 147gr was soft shooting, the 115s were barely cycling my G19. Maybe .2grs and it should be on the money.
Eric H
NES Member
Last night I loaded 350 rounds of .38 Special. 4.5 grains of Power Pistol under 158 gr. Rainier Plated HP. Nice relatively light plinking load in my Model 36 and 4" Security Six, haven't tried it through the 6" Model 19, should be a hoot! I haven't put it on paper, but I can smack the plates on a dueling tree at 20 yards with regularity, good enough for plinking!
Then I unboxed some new .45 ACP dies, converted the LnL over to large primer and .45 ACP for the first time. The #1 Shell Plate for .308, .30-06, etc. held the casing excellently amongst many complaints I've seen online.
Right now I have it set for 230 gr. Xtreme RN at 1.270" over a starting charge of 4.3 gr of HP-38 according to my Lyman 49th. Dummy round passed the plunk test in my RIA barrel and fed fine from the magazine.
I plan to experiment with the HP-38/W231 and Bullseye for this cartridge for now. I have recently acquired a TON of Alliant Red Dot, I'll need to look up data for that powder in .45 ACP so I can use what I have on hand.
Then I unboxed some new .45 ACP dies, converted the LnL over to large primer and .45 ACP for the first time. The #1 Shell Plate for .308, .30-06, etc. held the casing excellently amongst many complaints I've seen online.
Right now I have it set for 230 gr. Xtreme RN at 1.270" over a starting charge of 4.3 gr of HP-38 according to my Lyman 49th. Dummy round passed the plunk test in my RIA barrel and fed fine from the magazine.
I plan to experiment with the HP-38/W231 and Bullseye for this cartridge for now. I have recently acquired a TON of Alliant Red Dot, I'll need to look up data for that powder in .45 ACP so I can use what I have on hand.
I haven't reloaded one round since last September. I've hardly been to the range since late last summer so that's probably why. I did spend a little time in the shop tonight trying to organize it somewhat but my motivation levels have just not been there lately.
I have a friend that will be coming over next Saturday so I can show him how to reload 9mm. He has never reloaded so it should be fun. He's a smart kid, mechanical engineer, loves to tinker. He picked up a Lee single stage press and all the fixin's a few weeks back. He's raring to go.
I have a friend that will be coming over next Saturday so I can show him how to reload 9mm. He has never reloaded so it should be fun. He's a smart kid, mechanical engineer, loves to tinker. He picked up a Lee single stage press and all the fixin's a few weeks back. He's raring to go.
Lots of data for Red Dot with cast bullet loads in rifle calibers, too (when you get to those...).
Eric H
NES Member
I have yet to get into cast bullet rifle reloading, I do currently reload .308 and .30-06, from which I have read prior are good candidates for cast bullet loading with Red Dot. If I recall correctly, you've also made some good posts with 7.5 Swiss cast bullet loads with Red Dot. One day the Reloading Rabbit-hole will steer me into casting my own projectiles...
I acquired all that Red Dot from an old timer getting out of the reloading hobby (just not the shooting part yet) who sold me all his equipment and components at a bargain also included dies for .223 Rem., .44 Magnum, .30 Carbine, and .30-30 (which I also suspect would be a good candidate for cast bullet reloading with Red Dot), and a MEC 600 Jr in 12 Gauge which undoubtedly was his primary consumer of Red Dot.
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Loaded up the last of my 9mm 150 gr blue bullets over N320. Should be enough for another couple weeks of steel plate matches. Got another 1500 bullets arriving today....
Sweet, I just got a sample pack of the 125g in the mail. I had good luck with the 115s. I am on a binge of Acme 124gs right now. I love them out of my M&P and VP9
casting is fun and really can stretch your shooting dollar. I run cast out to 200 yards for CMP vintage and springfield matches and they are just as accurate as any jacketed load I run. they are soft shooting also and depending on powder the only "Expensive" part is the primer and gas check
rep308
NES Member
I tore down, and ultrasonically cleaned my Dillion 550 and my .357 and .44 mag dies. I deprimed and resized 1000 round of .357 brass and ultrasonically clean the cases to remove all the crud from the primer pockets. .44 mag brass is up next.
Reloading to start in a week or two
Reloading to start in a week or two
Haven't tried the Acme's yet.
I had been looking for a cheaper coated 44 cal 240 gr bullet and forgot about a particular bullet maker that I had done business with before. After using a 10% off coupon, I got 500 coated 44 cal 240 gr bullets for $51.30 shipped! It's about $35 cheaper (per 1k) than the JSPs I had been buying. Not a crazy savings but every little bit helps.
Only PITA is the Blue Bullets are undersized compared to the ACME's and some plated bullets for that matter. SO If you are switching back and forth you have to really crank in the powder thru expanding die so you don't shave the case of the Acme's. Other than that I really like them.
I reloaded my first 100 9mm ever. On a Lee Pro 1000.
115 gr Round Nose Copper Plate. 4.2gr Bullseye. Remington #1 1/2 Pistol Primers.
I took it nice and slow. Took almost 2 hours to get these 100. And that was after days of tuning the press.
I found that the powder filled the brass to about 80%, so a double charge would have spilled over the top, so I'm happy with that.
My bigest problem is the primer lockout arm, that should prevent a primer from sliding down on top of the primer push-rod, malfunctioned and caused primers to tip onto their edge. This happened twice. I had to stop the whole process and gently poke the wedged primer out of the way. Any suggestions for dealing with this particular issue?
115 gr Round Nose Copper Plate. 4.2gr Bullseye. Remington #1 1/2 Pistol Primers.
I took it nice and slow. Took almost 2 hours to get these 100. And that was after days of tuning the press.
I found that the powder filled the brass to about 80%, so a double charge would have spilled over the top, so I'm happy with that.
My bigest problem is the primer lockout arm, that should prevent a primer from sliding down on top of the primer push-rod, malfunctioned and caused primers to tip onto their edge. This happened twice. I had to stop the whole process and gently poke the wedged primer out of the way. Any suggestions for dealing with this particular issue?
38ExtraSpecial
NES Member
Loaded some more 300 blackout.
I'm really loving this cartridge.
NOE 311365 over various powders and charges. Hoping one of these combos will cycle subsonic.
I'm really loving this cartridge.
NOE 311365 over various powders and charges. Hoping one of these combos will cycle subsonic.
Apparently there's a "recall" on the blue bullets. Just got an email and apparently one of their micrometers malfunctioned, and some .358" bullets might have been mixed in with the .355s by mistake. Need to send em back and they'll give me $50 towards a future order.
Scratch that, $100 towards a future purchase. SWEET!
Just got done making 900 of .38spl, then I ran out of brass. Now my shoulders kind of sore.
XL650 owners -- any of you install the low mass ball detent and thrust bearing mod to reduce the jerkiness of the shellplate?
If so, did you need to modify the case ejector spring thingy that goes on the shellplate screw? Mine keeps popping off and jamming the casefeeder now. Youtube seems to indicate I should just bend the pigtail end up about 3-4mm with pliers.
If so, did you need to modify the case ejector spring thingy that goes on the shellplate screw? Mine keeps popping off and jamming the casefeeder now. Youtube seems to indicate I should just bend the pigtail end up about 3-4mm with pliers.
