Rem223

There's a fairly good discussion on the use of Lee factory crimp dies here... http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=299695 Personally I'm with the bloke who says it's a solution to a non existent problem, but to each their own. Consistency is the what we are after and if the die is adjusted correctly it should offer more consistent neck tension. They are not expensive I suppose it's a case of trying it out.

What sort of ammunition are you reloading? If its a heavy recoiling round and the bullets have a cannelure then I don't see a problem but I'm pretty sure I read in the Nosler manual that bullets without the cannelure should not be roll crimped as this will be detrimental to good accuracy.

If I were you I would get a hold of the Lyman reloading manual. The commercial cast lead bullets I have seen also have grooves for lubricant and if you plan on driving them much beyond 1200fps you will need gas checks. I have cast my own .223 bullets in the past and they worked quite well. I doubt you would get much over 2200fps though without a big build up of lead even using lubricant.

Greg, the best thing to do as newsportshooter says would be to contact the police to find out who is the local firearms liaison officer and have a chat with them.

I used to buy bullet heads from the US and there was a decent saving, even factoring in the duty, VAT and the outrageous "clearance" fee from the Post Office. However the US has tightened up restrictions and I doubt many exporters would be interested in shipping bullet heads. As for ammunition I don't think you would have much joy there at all. You are unlikely to find anyone who would carry hazardous goods at a rate that was cost effective. Unless you are considering becoming a firearms dealer and importing thousands of rounds I wouldn't bother. By the way not to alarm you but I tried to buy primers here in Canada recently and they are becoming very hard to find. They claim all the manufacturing capacity is being sucked up by the military. I would consider stocking up in the UK as when stocks run out who knows how long it will take to get new supplies in.

Well with qualification I would agree with you. However I use a Redding powder measure with ball powders and have checked the results on a digital lab scale that costs about a grand. The results showed variation under a milligram. How many fps variation are you likely to get with a under a milligram difference (0.015 grains)? My guess would be the square root of sod all. With stick powders there was variation so I would weigh out charges, but as far as weighing out individual charges with ball powders I would rather be out shooting.

A friend of mine uses Varget in a Sako75 .243 and gets excellent results. 70gr Noslers with 42gr of Varget a max load. Nosler quote this as their most accurate load tested. The main drawback is it is more expensive than H380 or H414 and doesn't measure as well in a powder measure. It is also supposed to be less temperature sensitive than the ball powders but this probably isn't a major issue in the UK.

Bear in mind that the Nosler load is for Nosler bullets and the ogive is different with these compared to Vmax. Nosler state 23gr of N133 as a starting load with the 50gr bullet which coincidentally was the most accurate at 3190fps. The max load is 25gr for 3412fps. I found that the N133 didn't fill the case as much as say Benchmark, but I got very good accuracy with this powder. If it were me I would load up some starting loads at 23gr and see how well it works. I think when Vihtavuori say lower loads are inadvisable they are talking about really low loads which can be dangerous. Play it safe with a 23gr load and if you don't have any pressure problems (sticky bolts, primers cratered etc.) then work it up slowly.

Good advice waiting for a minute before unloading. If it were me and I had a single dud i would cut the cartridge open. Empty out the powder and burn it somewhere safe. Then pour some oil into the primer which will kill it. WD40 should do the trick. Then it should be safe to dump.

My Sako (1 in 8") worked best with 26gr using 40gr Vmax with N133. With a heavier bullet you would want to scale that back though. 24gr would be a sensible starting load with a 50gr. Nosler quote 25gr of N133 as a max load in their 5th edition manual.

I believe the proprietor of Wilson & Wilson owns a 50cal rifle. He has to get special permission to use it at the military range in Hythe. I'm sure it's interesting to shoot but it burns a hell of a lot of powder.

The .243wssm is an interesting round but it doesn't really offer much over the .243 Winchester. Potentially it could be more accurate but I have read quite a lot of reports from people who have struggled to get them to shoot. You then have to factor in the extra cost of the brass and dies and as JRDS points out choice poor of rifles chambered in wssm. To be honest if it were me I would stick with the tried and tested .243 Win.

Are you using copper gas checks? I made up some loads with .223 and was surprised how well they went. 45gr at about 2300fps.

You would need expanding ammunition on your FAC and to get that you would have to put forward a reason why you need expanding in that calibre. I think you would have trouble explaining that you wanted them to shoot rabbits with expanding .357

Well since they make them they ought to know but Winchester says otherwise... http://www.winchester.com/news/newsview.aspx?storyid=220

Fister I don't think the coating is moly. As far as I am aware it is a metal oxide (lubalox). A friend of mine has a .243 and we loaded up some 55gr CT bullets. Accuracy was fine in a Sako 75. They are very flat shooting, but he prefers the 70gr Nosler.

I bought a box of these when I bought my .223. They were dirt cheap and to be honest less than impressive in a 1 in 8 twist Sako. They are full metal jacket and the cases can't be reloaded. Probably ok if you want to shoot cheaply at a military range but there is much better ammunition available.

For sale: 3 boxes (1000 per box) Remington 7 1/2 small rifle primers. £10 per box. Ideal for anyone reloading 17 Remington or any of the .223 bolt face (.222, .223. .204) I am in the process of emigrating and shipping is not an option Must hold FAC. They cannot be posted obviously so purchase will have to be made in person. I am located in East Kent.