JSharp

Conventional wisdom these days is to run with the bolt carrier assembly almost dripping with lube. IOW, "wet" I'm not sure how that would work in a really dusty or sandy environment but it seems to work well out here in the civilized world.

I wouldn't worry about corrosion. I pulled my Colt HBAR out of the safe this weekend to check something. It hasn't been fired in 5+ years and I didn't clean it after the last time I shot it. It's still fine. Grubby, but fine. G-Man does have a point though. You want to clean the bolt+carrier assembly before the carbon gets so hard you need a scraper. When you shoot it, run it "wet" and it'll function better plus you'll have less difficulty cleaning it when you do get around to it.

Everyone's availability dates are messed up these days. They never seem to know for sure when they'll get anything. The only thing they know for sure is that they'll sell it right away.

The LNL looks like a really nice press. Crashbox - It seems like all the progressives have vibration issues in one way or another. I have a Lee Pro 1000 mounted on a not so rigid bench. I need to be careful and hold onto the rear of the press as I work the ram or the primer feed gives problems sometimes. I'm sure it would be much better if it were mounted more solidly but as is it's perfectly usable and beats a single station in output a few times over.

I'm still using the Lyman universal trimmer I got with my first reloading set. I added the power adapter so I can use a cordless screwdriver or drill to spin it.

Get a kinetic bullet puller and pull them down. Pitch the bullets and throw the power back in the container. Resize the cases without decapping them. You now have some primed cases that are ready to reload. Out of curiosity, did you check the length of the brass after you resized it? I've never seen a factory crimp die do this. It makes me wonder if the cases aren't too long...

+2. It's a solution to appease anti-gunners and make the inventors some $ I believe in this statement since it takes care of the problem more directly - Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it's empty.

Glad you like your new rifle. Sooner or later I'll get to shoot the AR I bought a few weeks ago. The V-Max bullets are just outstanding BTW. I've shot many of them in .223's, 50g and 55g. The accuracy is impressive for a "varmint" bullet.

Reloading is the way to go. The "factory reloads" in .40 S&W are commonly bad. It comes from the use of brass that was previously fired in unsupported chambers like Glocks, then not fully resized. That's the bulge you see at the base. Start making your own. You'll be much happier.

Dnewton - I'm not sure of your age, but suspect you have good eyesight. I'm 53 and cross eye dominate. I've noticed as my age has progressed I've had more and more problems with open sights. That's especially true in less than ideal light. For that reason I decided to try an Aimpoint on the carbine I just purchased. I bought one of the Chinese copies to see how I like it before I pop $450 for the real deal. I have the sight mounted and it does seem like it'll take some acclimation. In just handling the gun, it seems far easier to pick up the dot quickly than the irons. I won't know for sure until we get some weather and I can shoot. But that's my first impression.

The 2.200" they list is the reference length they used for their listed loads. As RHL70 said it should be a safe place to start if want to duplicate their loads and will likely also feed adequately in most weapons. Generally, going shorter will increase pressures and might cause some feeding problems in some firearms. Conversely, going longer out to the maximum SAAMI length of 2.260 should reduce pressures and feed more readily. A lot of people load longer, out to the maximum their magazines or their chambers will allow, whichever is shorter. This is especially common with long VLD bullets that long range shooters use. In the end you'll have to figure out what works best in your rifle. Until you do, picking a length that's similar to what's used in your loading books and is under SAAMI maximum should be safe and usable in most guns.

I'm not sure if anyone else uses surplus military powder for reloading but I do. The problem is always finding loading data. I found this Army document on the net and figured I'd host it so people can download it if they want. It has the current military ammunition types listed along with the basic specifications for them, associated loading data etc. Keep in mind it's a 1.5Mb+ pdf document so it'll take a while to download. Also, and this is *****IMPORTANT***** THE MILITARY SPEC. POWDERS LISTED ARE NOT 'CANISTER GRADE.' THEY VARY FROM LOT TO LOT AND REQUIRE YOU WORK UP LOADS CAREFULLY. Given that, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I'll only say I've used the information contained as a guideline to makeup loads with reduced starting charges and had good luck with that practice. YMMV etc. http://www.jimsharpphotography.com/posts...arms%20ammo.pdf

Thanks for the info. A friend has one of the ancient and original Atchisson conversions but he's shot it very little. I can see it being a problem in an AR and not too easy to fix with simple cleaning. The handgun conversions should work fine. They typically just convert the pistol to a simple blowback action.

I've only sold 3 guns in my life. A S&W Model 39-2 A US made Walther An old Series 70 Government model. I wish I had the last one back.

I have a large Lyman "Orange Crusher" single stage press and a couple of small Lee presses in addition to a Lee progressive. The single stages presses get a lot of use. They're a lot handier if you only want to do one operation like decapping once fired brass or crimping loaded rounds. Certain rounds that I prepare carefully are always loaded on the single stations. If you start out with a single station press you'll be fine. One of the reloading kits that assorted makers sell that include a powder measure and a scale are the way that lots of people start out. You'll use them plenty if/when you move up to a progressive. I started out with a Lyman kit and I'm still using most of what came with it.

For the people that have .22 rimfire AR conversions - Have you had any trouble with lead fouling of the gas system? I've seen some reports of this and wondered how much of a problem it really was.

I'm North of Champaign. We don't get the lake effect snow that you do but we do get cold and high winds. This year has been tough so far. What can I say, I'm ready for spring!

You must be North of me. We haven't gotten much snow this year but the temps have been brutal. Days of single digits and lows below zero. We always get a few of these days but nothing like this so early in the winter.

Here's one more place though they don't have a big selection of .223 right now - http://www.brassworldeshop.com/ I purchased from them before and been happy.

I have one rifle that always has a good bit of copper in it when I clean it, no matter how little I shoot it. Shooting 100+ moly bullets through it will show less copper than shooting 10 or 20 bare bullets.

That website has a great comparison but it doesn't tell all. I have a Bausch Lomb Elite on a rifle that has a target dot reticle. It's really precise for target and varmint shooting in good light. But both the crosshairs and dot will washout in low light. It's really hard to use in less than good light. Just something to keep in mind if you're buying online. Take the scope and sight through it in typical conditions before you mount it to make sure it's going to work for the application. Most vendors won't allow returns once a scope has been mounted.

I ordered one of these yesterday to try on the Rock River carbine I just bought - http://primaryarms.com/product.sc?productId=18&categoryId=5 It's a Chinese Aimpoint M3 copy sold by primary Arms for $69. 30mm tube, 4MOA dot, etc. I couldn't decide if I wanted an EOTech or an Aimpoint and what dot size to get if I did go with an Aimpoint. So I figured this would be a cheap way to try one out before I dropped $400+ on something I might not like. Some guys on AR15.com seem to love these things. So if I don't like it I can probably unload it. And if it's OK I can move it to my SKS and buy something better for my AR.

Odd. Are you sure that isn't moly powder in the bag? I just bought some moly coated .224 75g's and they're loose in the box like the pic RHL70 posted. I usually coat my own but these were on sale cheap. The V-Max bullets are super accurate by the way...

I purchased .223 brass from Scharch some years back. It was good quality, almost all LC headstamp. That's what I run in my AR's.

.223 brass is so cheap and I have so much of it I'm not sure I've loaded any of mine more than a couple of times. For my AR's I just grab more out the "once or twice fired" bags I have around. To your point, if the case gets dented from ejection the brass may start to split sooner than later. Light loads won't help that.