Ten cent bullets.

[hoz53]

Yeah, I've heard of Dillon's breaking, but do you know anyone personally who ever had a problem? Heck, tens of thousands of rounds on my Dillon 650 and nothing's even come close to breaking, despite my multiple attempts with stupidity.
I shoot cast in my 380, 40 S&W, 10mm and 44 Mag. I have molds for 9mm and 45 but haven't tried them yet.
I powder coated 500 of my 44 mag bullets about 8 years ago and I'm down to my last few -- I'm a convert as a result.
I was planning on playing with powder coated 243, 7mm and 308 in my rifles this summer, with mil-surp powders because I'm a cheap bastige and I want to see how good they can shoot in my hands.

i have a 550 that had a few problems. its an early one and i sent it to dillon at their recommendation for rebuilding at one point. it has worked since then. no cost to me of coarse—-im not saying anything negative about dillon bringing up the fact their higher end machines arent covered by the noBS warranty, just something to consider if youre purchasing a dillon machine. you can bet the commercial users of the 1050s ect certainly have breakdowns eventually. —something to be expected of any machine thats used enough.—your 650 is covered by the noBS warranty— . good to hear about youre casting—. i need to get going with it. And its interesting about the cast/pwdr coated rifle bullets. i have some surplus guns i think it would be fun to try them in. ill look into it. thanks

 

[farmerjohn]

i have a 550 that had a few problems. its an early one and i sent it to dillon at their recommendation for rebuilding at one point. it has worked since then. no cost to me of coarse—-im not saying anything negative about dillon bringing up the fact their higher end machines arent covered by the noBS warranty, just something to consider if youre purchasing a dillon machine. you can bet the commercial users of the 1050s ect certainly have breakdowns eventually. —something to be expected of any machine thats used enough.—your 650 is covered by the noBS warranty— . good to hear about youre casting—. i need to get going with it. And its interesting about the cast/pwdr coated rifle bullets. i have some surplus guns i think it would be fun to try them in. ill look into it. thanks

Hey Feller, I can only say good things about the Dillion. I had a 550 for years and sold it when I took up bench rest. Health went south on me I couldn't physically set up and tear down for the relays and drifted back to hand guns and pistol cartridge carbines because I could do that at home on my own pace. Me and one of my sons bought a 750 about 4yrs ago and a few months later I picked up a new 750 and love them. We'll usually load up 3k rds at a time for the different calibers once I get a load we like worked up and Dillion service can't be beat
Rainey weekends worth of 38s
You won't be disappointed with them IMHO.. John

 

[bozo699]

Hey Feller, I can only say good things about the Dillion. I had a 550 for years and sold it when I took up bench rest. Health went south on me I couldn't physically set up and tear down for the relays and drifted back to hand guns and pistol cartridge carbines because I could do that at home on my own pace. Me and one of my sons bought a 750 about 4yrs ago and a few months later I picked up a new 750 and love them. We'll usually load up 3k rds at a time for the different calibers once I get a load we like worked up and Dillion service can't be beat View attachment 1558139
Rainey weekends worth of 38sView attachment 1558140
You won't be disappointed with them IMHO.. John

What are you loading your 38’s with?
Wayne

 

[farmerjohn]

What are you loading your 38’s with?
Wayne

Depends on what we're going to do with them, as a general rule I don't shoot anything lighter than 158gr cast or jacketed and mostly cast. 231, universal clays, red dot, for velocity up to 850fps... unique for what I call mid range 850 to 1000fps and over that my favorite is 2400. I'm not going to push any of my actual 38 special revolvers (old colts or J or K frame smiths) past 19000psi. My l and N frame smiths and my Rugers I can run them right on up using 38 brass. In the carbines 296 or H110 (same stuff), little gun, 2400, or for just banging on the plate rack at 50yds you can't beat the unique, it'll give you 150fps jump over what it does in a 6in handgun. There's a lot of the new handgun powders that will probably work as well or better than the older ones but I have a lot of the older stuff and half the fun is having gallon can full of sized, primed and flared brass sitting on the counter beside your single stage press and load 6 step out the back door run them over the Garmin, add a little to the next six try them, and when you get the velocity where you want it sand bag it at 25yds and see if it will group. Then try two or three more handguns , see how it works for them. Same way with different bullets and when you get a good load that you're happy with, recoil, velocity, accuracy, ect go to the Dillion and load up enough to shoot for a while... John

 

[joshb]

Joshb,
Where are you sourcing your bullets and 231? If it’s a secret I understand but I think I have some cast 158’s , if I remember correctly there’s lots of powders that work well in the 38 but like your 9mm I think they like Unique and 231, I’m guessing unique is unobtainable. If I can work a good load with 158’s and 231 I want to purchase 16 lbs , I may order a Lyman 158 die and cast my own bullets.
Wayne

I get mine at Rocky Mountain Reloading, Everglades Ammo and Raven Rocks Precision. For your 38, you might think about cast bullets. I shot a ton of cast bullets years ago.

 

[hoz53]

Hey Feller, I can only say good things about the Dillion. I had a 550 for years and sold it when I took up bench rest. Health went south on me I couldn't physically set up and tear down for the relays and drifted back to hand guns and pistol cartridge carbines because I could do that at home on my own pace. Me and one of my sons bought a 750 about 4yrs ago and a few months later I picked up a new 750 and love them. We'll usually load up 3k rds at a time for the different calibers once I get a load we like worked up and Dillion service can't be beat View attachment 1558139
Rainey weekends worth of 38sView attachment 1558140
You won't be disappointed with them IMHO.. John

Hi John—. Dillon has treated me good with the machines Ive had from them. I have thought of buying a 750 so Thanks for the info about them.

 

[bozo699]

Joshb,
Your loading your 9mm on a single stage aren’t ya?…. How ya measuring your powder?
Wayne

 

[joshb]

Joshb,
Your loading your 9mm on a single stage aren’t ya?…. How ya measuring your powder?
Wayne

With my trusty RCBS powder thrower. With the W231, I can dial in 4.0 grains and throw hundreds of charges within .1 grain. I think the trick is to use the same “force” when raising and lowering the handle.
I’l throw ten charges and weigh each one to dial in the thrower and get my throwing motion right.
I’ll throw ten more and weigh them. If it’s on, I’ll start loading directly into the shells. I’ll throw into a pan to check the weight every ten or so until I’m confident it’s throwing right. Then I’ll check after each 50.
I like the W231 better than the flakes powders like Unique.

 

[bozo699]

With my trusty RCBS powder thrower. With the W231, I can dial in 4.2 grains and throw hundreds of charges within .1 grain. I think the trick is to use the same “force” when raising and lowering the handle.
I’l throw ten charges and weigh each one to dial in the thrower and get my throwing motion right.
I’ll throw ten more and weigh them. If it’s on, I’ll start loading directly into the shells. I’ll throw into a pan to check the weight every ten or so until I’m confident it’s throwing right. Then I’ll check after each 50.
I like the W231 better than the flakes powders like Unique.

I thought that was your process from a previous thread. 9mm and 38 doesn’t take much powder do you visually check each case for powder level before you seat your bullets? I’m only asking these silly questions as I’ve been a 1000 yard guy for so long it’s hard to blindly load so to speak and it’s been eons since I’ve loaded pistol ammo. Ive recently setup a Hornaday lnl ap press and been loading 44 mag on it, I have a powder cop die in it but 24 grains is a lot different than 4 so a little worried about that I guess. Was almost contemplating running two chargemasters and a lee expander powder through die it would slow up the process but charge would be spot on but then again if you got distracted there might be room for error with that process also.
Wayne

 

[joshb]

I thought that was your process from a previous thread. 9mm and 38 doesn’t take much powder do you visually check each case for powder level before you seat your bullets? I’m only asking these silly questions as I’ve been a 1000 yard guy for so long it’s hard to blindly load so to speak and it’s been eons since I’ve loaded pistol ammo. Ive recently setup a Hornaday lnl ap press and been loading 44 mag on it, I have a powder cop die in it but 24 grains is a lot different than 4 so a little worried about that I guess. Was almost contemplating running two chargemasters and a lee expander powder through die it would slow up the process but charge would be spot on but then again if you got distracted there might be room for error with that process also.
Wayne

My safety measure is simple. I put all my prepped cases in a plastic bin next to the thrower. I’ll pull a piece of brass out of the bin, throw a charge into it and put it in my loading block. Once the block is full, I’ll look them over, load the bullets and start over.
The next two charges from the thrower go into the scale pan and back into the thrower because the bullet loading vibration will settle the powder in the measure. Check weigh a couple charges and throw another 50.

Add: The load I pick is always below book max so if my charge is a tenth or two heavy, it’s still under max.

 

[bozo699]

My safety measure is simple. I put all my prepped cases in a plastic bin next to the thrower. I’ll pull a piece of brass out of the bin, throw a charge into it and put it in my loading block. Once the block is full, I’ll look them over, load the bullets and start over.
The next two charges from the thrower go into the scale pan and back into the thrower because the bullet loading vibration will settle the powder in the measure. Check weigh a couple charges and throw another 50.

Add: The load I pick is always below book max so if my charge is a tenth or two heavy, it’s still under max.

Sorry I got busy, I like your system for pistol loading in a single stage. For my rifles I don’t do it that way but then my cases are usually clear full. When loading on my progressive I do as you and leave myself some leeway on powder charge. I think when I fist start loading the 38 I’ll mirror your process then maybe if I feel confident I’ll move to the progressive if not I’ll just do them one at a time I’m in no hurry. Thank you for some great ideas
Wayne