TargetTalk

Good Morning,
I made the mistake of shooting in 3 of the club I belong to 2700 match and have gotten bitten by the bug. I used my S&W model 41 to shoot the first two matches and did fairly well to the point where one of the fellows I got to know figured I needed to be taught a lesson in humility and let me use his spare .45. I purchased a Springfield Armory Mil Spec and sent it to Dave Salyer to have him work his magic. I have a bunch of questions regarding purchasing a reloading press, components, and the care and feeding of a .45. I'd rather practice than reload and am looking to benefit from everyone's collective wisdon.

Reloading
Press: Probably a Dillon 550. Are there others I should consider? Who has the best price?
Brass: Starline
Bullets: I'd like to standardize on either 185 or 200 gr bullets, unless there is a good reason for not doing so. Missouri Bullet and/or Penn bullet brand?
Powder: Bullseye, WST, Titegroup? I'm not sure which is best, if any.
Primers: What brand do you suggest?
Load Data: The gun will come equipped with an Ultradot, what are some good starting loads? What is a good reloading manual?

Care and Feeding
Cleaning: How many rounds before a thorough cleaning. I don't want to be obsessive or go too long. Does frequent cleaning unnecessariy wear the bushing/barrel fit?

Anything else for a guy who is obviously green as the grass new. Thanks
Tom

The Dillon RL550B is a fine machine that will last your entire career; good choice.

The 200 grain LSWC over 4.0 grains of Bullseye has been wearing out X rings since Camp Perry was a pasture. Winchester Large Pistol primers are quite popular.

Sierra, Hornady, and Speer all publish good manuals.

Clean before a match!

I totally agree with Govtmodels advice, I have a 550. Great machine.
Bullseye is still a great powder. Winchester primers are also my choice.
Dave will build you a great gun.
just a couple of comments. Remember you are reloading for the 50 yard line. Almost anything works well enough at 25, so don't "test" loads at the 25 yard line. It is a waste of time and tells you almost nothing about how they will perform at 50.

Also dont be surprised if the commercial reloading manuals are VERY unhelpful. Some of their data (oal crimp, and maximum charge) is fine but you will find few that have any data for the really light loads of hot powders most people use in wadcutter guns. Dave Salyer is building you a gun that should be set up to shoot 4.0 of Bullseye under a 200g bullet when you get it.

The Dillon 550 is a good machine. I purchased mine more than 15 years ago and have not loked at other machines.
Bullseye powder has served the bullseye shooting community for many generations and is still an excellent powder. I use it as well as WST, VV N-310, American Select and E3. I am currently experimenting with WAA Lite.
Winchester primers are excellent but for my favorite 25 yard load I use 3.8 gr. HS-700x and Rem LP behind a 185 gr. LSWC at ca 710 fps - a very mild and accurate load.
I used to use the 200 gr. Speer LSWC but I switched a number of years ago to the 185 gr. Star LSWCHP nad still have an adequate supply for a few more years.

What you want is the Dillon Square Deal B made down the street here in Scottsdale. Great service once you've bought one.

You don't need to crank out ammo for an entire team, so don't over buy.

Speer, Hornady, and Zero make great swaged bullets (my preference), but I've had good luck with the cast bullets from LaserCast.

I have the Dillon 550 and the 650. Both are great machines, but the 650 is significantly faster if you get the case feeder. The other great benefit is that it has a hole to add a powder check die.

If the cast bullets shoot well in your pistol at 50 yards, then that is great. Many folks find that swaged bullets, like from Zero shoot better at 50 yards. Others use Nosler or Zero 185 gr. jacketed hollow points. They are much more expensive than the swaged bullets, but shoot exceptionally well.

I would recommend starting with Bullseye powder for the 185 gr. cast or swaged bullets and start with 4.0-4.2 grains. With the jacketed hollow points 4.5 or 4.6 grains usually produces tight groups. Bullseye is readily available and economical. If you want to try other powders later, then go to it.

Thanks very much for your comments. I've never owned a 1911 before and have reloaced only shotshells. I want to concentrate on shooting technique as opposed to reloading or put another way, I want to reload to shoot, not shoot to reload. It looks like a Dillon 550, Bullseye powder, Winchester primers, and either an 185 or 200 gr. swaged bullet.

How about cleaning, I don't want to over- or under do it. My concern is comments I've heard about wearing the barrel to bushing fit. Thanks Again

Tom

A generic answer is to clean it when it gets dirty and the reason I have to be so vague is because it completely depends on what your load is. I like to shoot quite light loads at 25 yards and consequently they are dirtier and the gun needs to be cleaned more often. The bullseye loads suggested are not that light and will be as clean as you can make them.

Actually, with a slide mounted scope, it is just about impossible to get your load so light as to be dirty because it won't function at that low of a velocity.

When you take it apart to clean it, make every effore to clean the part of the barrel right in front of the bushing before you slide the bushing off the barrel. It should slide off easily with no force. -- Bill --

While I agree with Rover, that the square deal is a fine machine, I don't think the dies are interchangeable with the 550 and the 650 which leaves you with an expensive problem if you ever decide to upgrade.

I clean my gun completely about every 400 rounds. I am more likely to end up with alabis when the gun is perfectly clean, than with 400 rounds or so through it. My guns are very tight and when they are "dry" they are even tighter, so I lube it well for sustained fire.

Isabel1130 wrote:... the square deal is a fine machine, I don't think the dies are interchangeable with the 550 and the 650 which leaves you with an expensive problem if you ever decide to upgrade.

The Sqaure Deal B uses proprietary dies that don't fit any other press.