Forget about the primers, they're not a reliable indication of pressure.

I do see pressure signs in your pic though, and you really should back off that load a bit. Look at the straight lines imprinted on the case heads - that's from high pressure forcing the brass back into the extractor cut in the slide. Brass marks from extractor and ejector cutouts are often a sign of high pressure, or excess headspace in the case of bottleneck rounds.

You've also got indentations in the brass from the ejector, which is an indication that slide velocity is pretty high for that gun. That's another indication to back off the load a bit, or tune the gun for hotter loads.

Personally I don't care what Quickload predicts for a load like this; if you see pressure signs on the brass like that, the load is too hot and it's time to back down.

5gr of Titegroup is a bit hot with that bullet IMO. If you want hot loads, you need a different bullet and different powder. That bullet and powder are both intended for lower velocity & pressure, and you'll find better accuracy if you back off the throttle a bit. I'd back off to 4.5gr or maybe even down to 4gr for that combo.

Thanks for the info Yondering. I don't have a problem backing the powder off. In the picture below I've pointed out what is making the case marks. You can feel the ridge.

I have the lock n load press and do the crimp in a separate step. I also have the Lyman plunk block for pistol rounds.

I bought either the Lee crimp dies or an extra set of dies I needed a crimp die for and use the extra seater di as a crimp die. And then I have an extra resize die incase I get a stuck case I can keep going.


I need to pick.up the two Lyman plunk.blocks they have for rifle calibers. They cost around $32 a piece.

Same here.

Case gauges make your life a LOT easier when reloading. I had separate case gauges for each rifle caliber before I knew the Lyman product existed (or maybe before it actually existed, I'm not sure), so I don't have either of the rifle versions. I do have the handgun gauge, though, and it's really nice . . . and you can't beat the price.

https://smile.amazon.com/Lyman-Products ... case+gauge

Those gauges are pretty nice. I have never seen them before. Just order all 3.

Thanks for the info