Hollifer A. Dollar

Kay Sadeeya & I both shoot single trigger Johnny Meadows Baikals (thanks JM, both are great guns!). She went through a spell where hers would double randomly, but when I used the gun, it would never double. We swapped guns for a while & she still had random doubles with my gun. Hmm. One evening we were dry-fire practicing & while opening the gun to dump the snap caps, my finger hit the trigger. When I closed the gun & pulled the trigger, I only heard one click. Hmmm. Tried it again, same thing. Next time we were at a match, I tried it with live ammo. Doubled. Ah HA! Now that we know what causes it, we haven't had any trouble with random doubling... ...except that one stage this year at EoT. While moving from one station to the next, I hit the trigger with the gun open. BOOM! It happens. Holler

I have never had much luck with SWC bullets in my 73. The step on the bullet tends to catch as it feeds into the chamber. I load LRNFP bullets exclusively now. FWIW, the SWCs did work in the 92 that I had & work OK in the 94 Marlin. Holler

It must have been a full moon or something. Yesterday Kay Sadeeya & I had brass separate & stick in the chambers of our rifles (yes plural - her 66 & my Marlin). 32-20 cases, both separated at the shoulder of the case - hers was 2nd shot of the match, mine was 1st round of 2nd stage. I have never ever had a case separate like that, but it happened to both of us. Thankfully I had put her backup rifle in the truck. Needless to say, I will be pulling bullets from all the older 32-20 ammo we have loaded. Holler

IMDB has him in the cast list then says "scenes deleted" - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053221/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

We have been loading BP (real, not subs) on one RL550 for 5 years & on a 2nd RL550 for about a year - 1 for small primers & 1 for large. Nary an issue with the loader. The 2nd press has a case feeder (it was a package deal) - it is more trouble than it is worth most of the time. Holler

When I first started loading on a MEC, I did some experimentation with different bushing sizes & created this chart for Goex, by weight. Numbers in red were the experimental data, numbers in black are the projected values.

I think you can make a case that, with a double barrel gun, only half of the gun is plugged...literally. If the shooter could safely continue with the half of the gun that is not disabled, but is not allowed to continue, you can say that it was the same as a squib in a revolver or rifle that plug the barrel. The shooter would be due a reshoot. JMHO. Holler

This exact situation happened at the match we shot yesterday. I was the shooter, Kay Sadeeya was TO. Single trigger Baikal double. First 2 rounds boom boom, targets down. 2nd 2 rounds, poof boom, 1 target down, 1 target up. I opened the gun, shucked the shells, looked down the barrels, left was obstructed. I said "right barrel is clear, I am loading one!", loaded one in the right barrel & made up the standing target. Continued with the stage. When I cleared the gun at the ULT, the wad was maybe 3/4" past the end of the chamber. Was I wrong to proceed? Was the TO wrong to let me? I knew what I was doing, the TO knew what I was doing, everyone on the posse knew what I was doing. At no point was anything or anyone unsafe because I did things properly. IMHO, you have to apply RO3 in these situations. Sometimes its better to ground the gun (or tell the shooter to ground it) & sometimes you can safely proceed. Holler

I tried this a while back & didn't see much difference - still have about 350 pieces of virgin Starline 357 brass in a box somewhere in my shop. Full case of Goex 2FG, 158 gn bullet. You may have better luck. Holler

A couple of years ago at a monthly match, I was at the ULT clearing my guns when the shooter had a PFFT with the shotgun. He was about to load another round when both the UTO & I hollered "STOP STOP STOP" - the wad was stuck at the end of the barrel. We could see it from the ULT (off to the side on the common firing line), but neither the shooter nor the TO could see the wad sticking out about a quarter of an inch. Holler

Probably. I have never worked with a 650 but the concept should still work. Just replace the powder measure station with the powder-thru expander. I found the funnel at Dollar General, if that helps. Holler

I have been using Goex exclusively for about 5 years, but did dabble in the substitutes when I first crossed over to the dark side because they were cheaper & easier to find. Pyrodex was OK but I preferred APP. 2FG APP was a lot like rock salt - REALLY big particles. 3FG metered a lot better. A big plus to APP is that it works well with regular bullet lube. One downside to APP is that water is the only thing that dissolves the residue so cleanup is a little more involved. Fillers are a pain in the rear. I did figure out a way to do fillers on my 550 - instead of the powder measure, I used a Lee powder-thru expander & found a funnel that fit the top. Pull the handle down, dip your powder from one bowl, dip your filler from another bowl, pull the handle up. It was a lot faster than charging the cases out of the press, but still a real pain. From what I could tell, in rifle ammo, using filler didn't reduce felt recoil at all. It only cut down on the amount of powder used. If you think about it, physics says that is true. After a while I took Driftwood Johnson's advice & decided to use powder as a filler - that is, just fill up the case with powder & don't worry about it. Revolver ammo is different - there I use Cowboy 45 Specials. As an aside, about 2 years after shooting BP in 45 Colt, I made a deal on a 73 in 44-40. Cleanup is a LOT easier - them Winchester guys were right back in 1873. We switched Kay Sadeeya to a 66 in 32-20 for the same reason. TIFWIW. Holler

I use cut-down 45 Colt brass with 454 bullets - nary a problem loading them or chambering them in the guns. Full case of Goex, 200 gn Big Lube bullet, Redding profile crimp die loaded on a RL550. YMMV. I bought the power drive thingie for my Lyman case trimmer. Then I chamfer & deburr the case mouths with a Hornady dual-chuck power case prep tool. Holler

Kay Sadeeya & I will say hey to you Sunday afternoon as we pass through the gate! Holler