Armory Sponsor
Posted: 5/2/2009 4:56:02 PM EDT
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I posted this earlier as "first born" and have now updated with range report;
First I would like to thank you guys who have contributed so much to this forum. Thank you for your patience and being almost, I repeat ALMOST, forgiving with some of the dumb questions I have asked here. Don't worry I am sure I'll have many more. I ended up with the Dillon XL650 with case feeder. This thing is the nuts! It was easy to set up and unfortunately I don't have the Dillon .223 dies yet so I used my Hornady dies that seemed to work well with this machine. I do think I will be investing in the Dillon audible powder check. I have the RCBS but I like the idea of an audible alarm. I used new Hornady brass and all was the same length of 1.75. I also used Hornady 55 gn BT-FMG w/c and have set the crimp fairly lightly just below the cannelure. I didn't go deeper because with this set up going down to the cannelure would have given me a C.O.L. of less than 2.25 closer to 2.24. As it is my C.O.L. is 2.48 to 2.57. Any input on the seating to cannelure would be appreciated. TAC powder with a 23.1 charge (starting slow) I made 12 rounds. So far my cost per round with all the things I have bought (equipment and supplies) is approx. $175.00 per round. This could take a while to see some payback. Hell even if I don't see payback the satisfaction of making my own ammo is priceless. I only made 12 rounds because I want to get these to the range and check performance out of my AR 15 tomorrow or Saturday. Wish me luck. Thanks to all again and here is a pic of my first born. 
I took my 12 rounds to the range. I started with the LC once fired bras that was sized trimmed and primed with CCI 400 primers (purchased this way from Scharch) the 55 gn FMJ BT w/c also came from Scharch. I was a little nervous at first but I started by putting only 1 round in mag. I let the charging handle go and round chambered with no problem. Fired round and it went flying down range. Kinda gave me a tingle up my leg. I inspected the spent case thoroughly and saw no signs of any problems. I did this 2 more times with no problem. Then I loaded 3 rounds in mag and let em fly, no problem. At 100 yds I ended up with a 3" group and I believe my being nervous caused me to stray a little on my first 2 shots. 
I repeated the same process with the new Hornady brass with Midway 55 gn FMJ BT w/c. I might add that in the Hornady brass I am using Remington 6 1/2 primers since that's all I had. The spent primers showed absolutely no problem. This pic is a little fuzzy but CCI 400 on left and Rem 6 1/2 on rt 
At 100 yds I was able to shoot a 2" group 
This is my new Dillon 650 
This is 150 more rounds I made after getting back from range. I made small adjustments to powder and C.O.L. 
My AR 15 with Trijicon TA31F scope 
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If you were shooting off that pistol grip bi-pod, I guarantee your accuracy will improve when you start using a good rest. The only thing you can do to improve the way it works is to put some load on it when shooting so it can't wobble back and forth. Another member I helped at the range has the same contraption on a rifle and I put him on my rest so we could figure out how the rifle really shoots.
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Armory Sponsor