[azasadny]

Jeff,

I appreciate your concern and advice and do not interpret it as "raining on my parade" at all. I'm new to this and I'm learning and so I need knowledgeable folks like you to help, so thank you for taking the time to help a novice.

I bought the used Speer brass at a local gun show since the local stores didn't have any .45ACP brass. The instructions explicitly called for "small pistol primers" on the label of the bag of brass. The man said "I'd use small magnum pistol primers to get the best results, but you don't have to, you can also use small pistol primers". I made 1/2 of my batch with CCI small pistol magnum primers and 1/2 with Federal match small pistol primers and I shot 8 of each last night in my "new" S&W 645 pistol.

I was concerned because my Lee hand primer said not to use Federal primers and I really didn't like the way that the Lee primer flipped primers and doubled up on primers, so I bought the RCBS hand primer after trying it at a relative's house on Thanksgiving. The RCBS hand primer is compatible with all primers and they don't have a "don't use with Federal primers" note on their instructions. The RCBS primer is much easier to use (for me) and doesn't flip primers or double up primers. I'm very careful to measure, recheck my measurements and methodically go through the entire process to achieve good results. One thing that concerns me is the different recommendations that I see out there for a given load, but I guess I'll have to be diligent and pursue good information and I'm taking good notes on what I'm doing. Do I trust the powder manufacturers info or the info that comes with the Speer brass?

I recovered all of my brass from the range last night and inspected the cases and they are not marred, deformed or damaged in any way that is apparent to the naked eye. Thanks again!