I couldn't make Remington 110 gr soft points work. I never could strike a balance of long enough OAL and enough bullet in the case to be secure. I was using a Lee FCD, and I had setback issues. I also tried sizing without the expander ball, so the neck was tighter on the bullet. After about six or seven attempts with visual setback or deformed necks after chambering, I called it quits before I created an issue. I don't doubt that a better and more dedicated loader could make it work, but I don't think there's going to be a lot of forgiveness for any variable.
I'd love it if someone else figured it out, because I've got 1,950+ of those stupid bullets left from a box I won at auction...
I ordered 500 Nosler 190 Custom Competitions "overruns" they had on sale from their Pro Shop. Will start with those (plus excuse to try subs and use my suppressor). I am going to watch for a deal on 147 or similar pulls also. Will watch for deals on 125s.
Will also look for 1680, H110, etc. powders also to try - had Lil Gun on hand for 350 Legend.
To elaborate a little bit, my goal was to spend less time on the trimmer. I am doing it with the process I posted about here, but still, the less time I spend holding the case while it trims the better. My hunch was that if I sized the neck down to 308 prior to cutting it off I could adjust the cutoff saw maybe a little closer.
I thought it would maybe take extra effort to size the case while it still had the shoulder on it, but I was sizing in the 650 and it was no problem. Maybe doing it in the APP there might be a noticeable extra effort? Cutting them first is probably theoretically better, but I was trying to cheat the trimmer as much as I could.
ETA: I also used my experimental process of not expanding the neck until after they had been trimmed, obviously you couldn't run the 308 expander ball down the neck until it had been cutoff.
Last edited by mmc45414; 04-25-2020 at 08:49 AM.
Like mentioned before, I’ve used 1680 and H110. A few pounds of CFE BLK sit unopened on the shelf. You might try American Reloading for cheap pull-downs for practice. I’ve been using Remington 165gr PCLSP’s I had in bulk until I discovered an old Swiss K31 loved them. I have not had good luck with anything Nosler. The Barnes 110gr work about the best for non-practice but can be difficult to come by. Mine doesnt seem to care about brass...reformed or factory shows no difference. Then again, it’s not a precision round. Be careful with the H110 as you reach the top end, things happen quickly. I don’t load those on a progressive and I weigh the charges.
Working diligently to enlarge my group size.
When I put together my 8.5 pistol a few months ago I was pretty much set on loading the 150 gr gold dot bullet for practice and for defense as initial unofficial reports looked good and it was cheap enough to shoot a few mags a month at the range (28 cents per bullet or so).
I’m loading a Lee Classic, and using the powder charge bar on the auto disk powder dispenser. Also using a 38/357 expander to flare the case mouth just enough to seat the bullet base.
Been using Lil Gun since I have a couple of lbs laying around. As others have mentioned Lil Gun runs hot, and with the GD bullet, a 1 grain difference between start and max loads. My shoulder can definitely tell a difference between shooting 55 gr 5.56 out of 16” barreled carbines and 150’s out of an 8.5” barrel. Not that it’s too bad, but there is noticeably more felt recoil.
I’ve seen where people really like the Speer 125’s and 130’s. I’d imagine one of those bullets loaded down the 1700-1800 FPS might be a nice target load.
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"I'm a tactical operator and Instructor and also retired military."
-read on another forum
I also have one of the AAC uppers. Either 8.5” or 9”. It is actually one of the better shooting ones I’ve tried.
Use at your own risk!:
As for loading the 125TNT, I have settled on 18.2- 18.3gr (loaded on a 550) of H110 at a OAL of 2.060”. It is fairly accurate, with a 1-4 lpvo, I can manage 5-10 shot groups of 1” @ 50 yrds. Velocity is ~ 2050 FPS.
I need to re evaluate my 125 SMK load. I had a few that I loaded years ago and they say I was using 19.2 gr of H110. This load is over max for some manuals. But it is under the max for Sierra. It looks like it is all OAL dependent. They shot well, and no pressure signs were noted. Velocity was ~2050 when I tested the ones I had left.
I just found a box of 500 125 SMK buried under my bench, so I am going to run some tests with them soon.
I tried lil gun with the TNT and was not impressed. Plus, it has a reputation for excessive heat and cutting in magnum revolvers.
I wanna run a quick follow up here -
Who is running a Squirrel Daddy cut-off jig?
Are you decapping and sizing as .223, then cutting, re-forming, and then trimming?
I'm thinking of doing the cut off jig and ordering a bunch of, not yet processed, Lake City brass. Cutting them and then decapping and forming in the same step with trimming after that?
What dies have folks settled on?
What primers are folks using?