Moved my 223 dies over from me Lee Classic Turret to my Dillon 550. I will still resize on the turret, but do everything else on the Dillon. Time to crank out some rounds.
Loaded 191 rounds 38 SPL 125 Gr SNS bullets. I would have loaded more but my brass supplier left me out in the cold [emoji31]
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I have never used coated bullets before. How do you like them and is there anything you need to do different when loading them?
I like coated bullets because they shoot cleaner than regular lead bullets and they are very reasonable priced. The quality of the coating varies from vendor to vendor.
The SNS bullets shown in the picture above are excellent and you can handle them without getting anything on your fingers. I have bought 38, 44 and 45 calibers and all have been excellent. And I will tell you, no one in the business does a better job at packing their product!
The Blue Bullets are excellent too but you will get "Smurf fingers" from their coating. The quality of their bullets are first rate.
The worse coated bullets that I have ordered recently were Bayou Bullets and that was because they had applied the coating very thinly and a lot of lead was showing on the 1000 rounds I bought. I was really disappointed in that order because of the coating errors. I was quite surprised because generally speaking, Bayou Bullets have been excellent in the past.
To me, the most important things to look for are the quality of the coating (no lead showing) and a consistent weight. SNS and the Blue Bullets are very good on those two points.
There is nothing you really need to do differently when loading them. Just make sure you flare the case mouth to avoid scraping the coating off when you seat them. Also, make sure you don't over crimp because that will affect accuracy and damage the coating. Use only enough crimp to remove the flare and leave just a barely visible crimp line on a pulled bullet (just as you should with any bullet). Depending on the bullet manufacturer, you may need to vary your regular powder drop less by a few grains than you would for a FMJ.
Loaded 191 rounds 38 SPL 125 Gr SNS bullets. I would have loaded more but my brass supplier left me out in the cold [emoji31]
what lockout/powder checker you running?Moved my 223 dies over from me Lee Classic Turret to my Dillon 550. I will still resize on the turret, but do everything else on the Dillon. Time to crank out some rounds.
My eyeballs.what lockout/powder checker you running?
My eyeballs.
with .223? you must have better eyesight than my 17 year old. Good luck cranking out the rounds safely.My eyeballs.
I think all of my various 223 loads fill to the bottom of the shoulder or higher, quite visible to me. Even better with my press light.with .223? you must have better eyesight than my 17 year old. Good luck cranking out the rounds safely.
What @Beef15 said. I stand when I run the Dillon, I have a press mounted light, and have no problem seeing down into the cases.with .223? you must have better eyesight than my 17 year old. Good luck cranking out the rounds safely.
Bought another die set and a bunch of small pistol primers. This makes 3 years of collecting reloading crap and I've yet to load a single round.....had to feather dust my loading bench :/
You see now, that just makes me sad. All that equipment and a nice set up with so much potential. Even wet tumbling - a man after my own heart. What's the hold up?
My exact answer tooMy wife calls my yearly renewed interest in shooting/reloading my "post deer season slump". Holds me over till boating season....lol I don't really have an excuse though, so this may just be the year!
post deer season slump". Holds me over till boating season
but I have bought LOTS of powder.
Spent the day organizing loaded ammo and components. Decided that the lead has to go for now (~800lbs).
BTW, the shelves don’t match, that’s how I know I don’t have OCD.
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