Reloading Success!

Chrono-ed my new rounds that I made with my new 550B today after the match. Although my Chrony was not working, a fellow shooter Scott loaned me his and I managed to chrono 5 different types of powder weights. here’s the table :

Grains	4.0	4.2	4.4	4.5	4.6
1	733	857	814	844	848
2	744	810	815	856	824
3	747	832	822	856	856
4	752	809	824	843	854
5	702	847	848	864	861
Average	735.6	831	824.6	852.6	848.6
PF	147.12	166.2	164.92	170.52	169.72

all these were Bear Creek 200gr bullets, Wolf Primer & Hodgdon Clays powder.

So in order for me to make the Major Power Factor (165+) I’m going with 4.5 grains of powder. 4.2 is pretty inconsistent so I’ll stick with 4.5. Time to get to reloading those thousands of rounds I have.

OK! I’m reloading!

Took me a couple of days to get my Dillon RL 550B up and running. here are some pics from the project.

Unboxing the 550

As it should be Upgrade kit:

More accessories (ammo boxes, kinetic round stripper, extra primer pickup tubes etc)

The press itself :

Assembled on a Strong Mount:

The frame for the empty case bin and finished case bin :

Here’s how it looks like, one more step, installing the UniqueTek micrometer:

   

Here it is installed with a 4.0gr of Hodgdon Clays setting :

Case gauges (Dillon and EGW Multi-caliber case gauge – better IMHO )

Went with Wolf Large Pistol Primers. heard they were really good :

On the pickup tray ready to be captured by the tubes :

First few cases, primers didn’t seat well. Not really sure why, but after a few tries, it seated properly:

Load up the reservoir with Hodgdon Clays:

Tada! done! .45 ACP rounds with Wolf Primers, Winchester brass & Bear Creek Molybdenum 200gr Round Nose Hollow Base bullets:

     

I also made a variety of loads to try them out on my 5” Kimber (Top to Bottom : 4.0 gr, 4.4 gr, 4.6 gr) :

 

Time to head to the range with my Chrony.

A test for an IDPA Safety Officer

Went to a IDPA Safety Officer training this weekend and sat through hours of rules discussion and sharing of years of experience. Some of the stories that were shared were amazing. You see all kinds of weird things happen during a match. I took my camera out during our “practical” portion of the training to give SOs some real world implementations of the wrong things that can happen when a shooter engages a course of fire.

Take a look at this video, the course description is very simple.

1. Engage T1 to T3 from cover of barricade.
2. Engage T4 while moving to cover of barrel.
3. Engage T5 and T6 from low cover of barrel.

 

 

See if you know what the procedurals were.

Pulled the trigger on a Dillon 550B

Came across a good deal for a Dillon 550b reloader and placed the order right away. I’ve been thinking about reloading ammo for a while now and been tumbling some brass that I bought on the cheap and figured I might as well give it a go. It would save me money in the long run (I don’t shoot that often) and give me the pleasure or working on something when I can’t go out shooting.

 

Will post pics and video of the setup when it gets delivered sometime next week.

Bushing Compensator isn’t much use.

Tried out my FireDragon Bushing Compensator today, really wanted to see if it’ll back a huge difference in felt recoil. Turned out, not much. The only thing that is different, is the sound.

I recorded myself shooting with compensator on and off and overlayed the video to see if there are any visible difference. You take a look :