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well, yesterday I took a trip to the range to try out the new handloads (different brand of bullet. was cast lead, now copper-plated cast lead).

trouble.. out of the 100 rds shot, I had 3 fail-to-feeds.

closely examining an old vs the new loads shows that the bullet shape is slightly different. even though the new bullet is 'round nose' like the old, it is slightly more conical and pointed than the old. a pic here is worth many words, but unfortunately I don't have one to show.

this subtle difference in bullet shape means that the case lip now protrudes more and is more apt to catch on the feed ramp.

I'm going to try a couple remedies: 1, increase the final crimp. 2, bump my OAL out. I'll probably make my new target OAL 1.25 (was 1.20). will remove the barrel and make sure my new round at this OAL drops freely into the chamber.

but... on the plus side, there's no puff of smoke on each shot. my barrel is pristine after the 100 rds. no more lead smear in the bore. no more gunk on my extractor and breech face. these new loads are some clean-shootin' ammo. just gotta make it feed right.

Jeremae wrote:I had issues with OAL varying and found that REALLY tightening the lock ring on the seat die fixed the issue and I get less than 3/1000ths varience.

QA testing... I also started out checking practically every round (powder measure, OAL and crimp) but have settled into a routine of:

Start session by throwing 10 powder loads back into hopper.

Measure powder charge and throw back into hopper (I also found the Lee Autodisk powder measure to be boringly consistant using Win 231)

Measure OAL after seating and after crimp (I crimp using Lee FCD).

Test crimp (Press bullet against table top FIRMLY) and remeasure OAL.

Load 24 more rounds and repeat measure cycle.

cool! I'll get out my big crescent and get more torque on the bullet-seat locknut. I'm thinking I'll start reloading 40sw in the near future and I want to have that OAL variance tightened up.

that's a good tip about testing the crimp. I don't do that at present. I don't think I saw that in the 'ABC's' book, but maybe I just missed it.

I just bought that same press 2 weeks ago.

it's a nice machine, but not one that I can look at and say 'wow. this fine machinery will be reloading rds for my grandchildren'.

still, the price was right.

funny. some things it does repeatably every time like clockwork, and other things not so much. my powder charges - every time I spot check them they are right on the money. every time. I was pretty paranoid about that so I measured it almost every round on my first batch of 50. now I just spot-check the first round, then the 10th, then crank out all I'm gonna do for the session. but my OAL is all over the place. trying for 1.200 (45acp) mine vary +/- .015. I tightened the locknuts on my final 2 dies and try to use consistant pressure but they still vary.

I logged the OAL on every round of my first 100. turns out I couldnt tell any difference while shooting. none at all.

out of my first 300 rds, I've had 2 fail to ejects (one was at my last IDPA match). I bumped up my powder charge and havent had any FTEs on my last 100.

I just finished off my first box of 500 bullets. 230gr round-nose cast lead. they were a bit dirty. I bought a box of copper-plated on my last re-supply. hopefully they'll throw less smoke and not leave as much smear in my bore.

I had the same observation on the manual. rather sparse in the details. while waiting for my stuff to arrive from midwayusa, I bought and read 'ABC's of Reloading' . very good introductory reading.

the leeprecision.com site also has some good stuff, and some useful videos.

I'm reloading to feed a pair of XDs as well. if you don't already read over at xdtalk.com that's a good resource. alot of good info in their reloading room relating specifically what loads other XD shooters are using. I picked up the valuable tip to not use 200gr SWC. my bud shoots those in his 1911. just for grins, I tried a few, and my XD had FTFs on almost every round. good thing I didn't buy a 500 box of those!