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For cast lead bullets, most use the same alloy, the same molds, and the same machines for casting. Some just do a better job of QC and some let you select the correct size for YOUR guns. Someone will like every one of the companies and someone will complain about every one of the companies. 1) Look for some place close that you can drive to and visit. 2) mastercastbullets.com, Missouri Bullets, Penn Bullets have been my choices for years. 3) For coated, I haven't found any better than Precision Bullets (Kemp, TX?). Work perfect. They are swaged and VERY consistent in weight and dimensions. For Bullseye competition, I use Precision Bullets or Zero swaged lead bullets, as they are the most accurate I have found. 4) Check out prices at Precision Delta and learn that you really can afford excellent jacketed bullets--particularly for 9mm and .38. Order 2000 and you may pay less than plated and many cast bullets.

And, your solution?

1) My tests over the years has always shown that as-cast and unsized are as accurate or more accurate (almost always more accurate then sized bullets). 2) If they fit the gun, they are good to go. Case gage is for those who like their toys. 3) I assume they are not lubricated, so if you HAVE to size them, get a Lee sizing kit and LLA and go town. Per Lee, "For cast bullets, you want to select a sizing kit to be .001" larger than groove diameter." What they should say is AT LEAST 0.001" larger. Too bad they don't offer 0.402 or 0.403" sizers.

Contact die company and ask about getting a custom seating plug that actually FITS the bullet. If you get a custom seating plug, ask for the contact point on the bullet to be as low on the bullet ogive as possible and NOT touch the bullet meplat. If you have to use generic seating stems, find the best fit. Again, call the company and they may have different seating plugs. PS: the marks aren't going to effect anything unless you are shooting handguns at 100 yards or more, but I consider the best way to get the bullet seated straight is by using a properly fitted seating plug.

1- Decapping doesn't seem to be working for me? Not a huge deal, I've de-capped most of my brass offline w/ a hand-held, but following YouTube vid's, etc., I've been running the brass through that die, b/c it also re-sizes, right? Whenever I attempt to de-prime a piece using the die in the press, the de-primer gets pushed backwards up the die? I've tried tightening it down, but doesn't seem to help. Again, not a show-stopper, I've got bags of de-primed brass already. But I should be running it all through that die to re-size, regardless of primer, correct? Resizes the entire length of cartridge inside dimensions? Turn lock ring all the way up. Raise ram and screw die down until it just touches the shell holder/shell plate. Insert a deprimed case. Does the depriming pin enter the flash hole? If not, raise the ram and, turning the case upside down, try to push the case head into the die so the depriming pin can enter the flash hole. If it still doesn't go in, the flash hole is too small or the depriming pin is too large. Fix the problem. I've never had a problem, but who knows. If alignment is the issue, loosen the lock ring/collet on the depriming rod. Raise a deprimed case and wiggle the rod around until it enters the flash hole. Push it all the way down and lift it up about 0.1" and, while the pin is still in the flash hole, tighten that collet. Remove the die and re-tighten the collet with all your might. 2- Belling die seems to be working OK. I've set it to very slightly widen the mouth, I can just barely slip a bullet in there by a hair, whereas prior to belling, it will not go into case. Over-belling a few cases while setting up was obvious (huge curl, tossed that brass) Sounds like you are just barely flaring enough. I flare more than that, as it is so easy to damage a bullet and destroy accuracy by trying to use too little flare. 3a- Seating bullets - haven't even tried this yet, darned die's got too many adjustable parts and pieces! Can anyone explain (in simple terms!) how all the adjustable parts should be set? Do I still set the die into the press by raising the ram and screwing it in until it touches the mount plate, then fiddle w/ the other 2 components to seat the bullet? There is a sliding sleeve that helps to keep bullet aligned. You don't do anything with it. All you have to do is loosen the lock ring on the seating stem. So, how to seat and crimp with the seating die (I don't recommend it, separating the steps works better): Turn seating stem all the way up. Do not tighten the small lock ring. Turn the die body lock ring all the way up. Insert case in shell holder/shell plate. Raise ram. Screw die body down until the crimp section hits the case (sudden increase in force need to screw the die body down). Stop. Turn die body UP one or two full turns so the crimp section is out of the way. Very lightly, turn die body lock ring until the die doesn't freely move. Lower ram and place bullet on case. Raise ram. Turn seating stem down until it contacts the bullet (sudden increase in force needed to turn stem down). Lower ram and turn seating stem down one or two full turns. Raise ram. This will seat the bullet (NOT at the correct COL, but the bullet is seated). Now, adjust seating stem until you get your target COL. I like to load a couple of inert dummy rounds, so, after partially seating the bullet, I raise the seating stem up and turn the die body down until the crimp section hits the flared case mouth. I take the barrel from the gun and use it to perform a "plunk" test. I turn the die body down maybe ½ turn, crimp the case, and then run a "plunk" test and repeat until the case chambers and makes a PLUNK sound as it drops in the barrel. This should be just enough "crimp" to let the case enter the barrel but may not be enough for your real loads, but all you want is enough to check the COL for feeding and chambering. So, I take my two dummy rounds at the long COL I have and try to hand cycle them from magazine into chamber and adjust the COL until they chamber 100%. Then I might reduce the COL a little bit from that and that becomes MY COL for THAT bullet in THAT gun. The bullets used for the inert dummy rounds may be damaged by seating through the crimp, but they are not going to be used necessarily anyway. I generally label them and keep them. So, back to the seating die. You have a partially seated bullet and a target COL. So, turn the seating stem down until you reach the target COL. When you have the COL you want, turn the seeing stem all the way and now you will turn the die body down to get the target crimp. For taper crimp, I shoot for the SAAMI case mouth dimension or no more than 0.002" smaller. When crimp is right, and the cartridge is in the die, tighten the die body lock ring to maintain alignment. Turn the seating stem until it just touches the bullet (you can easily seat the bullet deeper by hand, so DON'T use any force) and lock it's lock ring. You now have the die and seating stem aligned and the COL and crimp set and you are ready to go. Simply, wasn't it. 3b- Crimping - I've got 1000 plated bullets from Berry's Bullets, and do not see any visible cannelure, do I crimp them when seating (and of course, how do I set the die to do that?) You only need a cannelure for roll crimping. If you are using cheap plated bullets without a cannelure in a revolver, you need to keep the loads very light. If you are loading for a semi-auto, you don't need cannelures or crimp grooves and YOU need to determine the COL that works in your gun and think of taper crimp as NOTHING more than removing the case mouth flare. I crimp separately, but see instructions above. I really have to ask--have you read a couple of reloading manuals and have you read the die instructions? 4- When do I seat the primer? After the 2 sizing dies? Can I slip the primer in the little cup as I'm lowering it from the belling-die (e.g. bell and prime on the same movement)? What two sizing dies? Are you thinking of the expander die as a sizing die? There is only one sizing die. You seat the primers BEFORE you add powder. Where/when doesn't matter, as long as it is before you add powder. Most size/deprime and then, whether on the press or separately, they primer the case. So, you can size/deprime and seat a primer or you can size/deprime, expand, and then seat a primer. It is all covered in the instructions and reloading manuals. NO, you have a primer cup that holds the primer to be seated. Have you read the directions for your press? You could, I suppose, align the primer in the pocket, put the primer/case down on a metal base and whack the case to seat the primer--but don't blame us if a primer discharges. 5- How tight should I be on the powder measuring? I've got an old Lee Perfect powder measure from a friend, in testing on some powder it was oscillating from 3.9 to 4.2, when I was trying for 4.0 grains. MOST of the 20-or-so charges I measured were at 4.0, but there was some variance.... is that an acceptable tolerance? I'm just loading for target/practice handgun, not competition or anything like that. For 99.99% of all loading, +/- 0.2gn is good enough. For all loading, +/- 0.1gn is good enough. The PPM is my most consistent powder measure. Have you read the directions? EVERY single line on every Lee instruction sheet is critically important. In general, disassemble the measure and clean it. Wash the plastic parts with soapy water and air dry (don't rinse). I have NEVER had a powder measure that did not occasionally throw a charge that was 0.2 up or down from the target and it NEVER made any difference. Most of the throws are right on, but out of 50 throws, one will almost always be 0.2gn high or low. If you can't live with it, buy a powder dispenser. This is the same tolerance that all loaders have lived with for at least 125 years (and, really, the same or much tighter than used during the whole history of throwing powder charges since the first black powder gun). Reassemble and tighten the tension screw/bolt. If powder leaks, DO NOT tighten this screw/bolt while there is powder in the measure--disassemble first and clean. Fill hopper with graphitized powder (generally very dark gray/black and it will leave some graphite on your hands) or simply graphite powder itself and run through measure so all moving parts get some graphite dry lube. When you fill the hopper with powder for loading, be sure to shake the hopper lightly to settle the powder. When you move the handle up or down, always "tap, tap" the handle to settle the powder and help fill the cavity. Do not rush and be sure to allow time for powder to leave the cavity and enter the case. Before you ever weight a charge, be sure to throw at least 10 charges (and return powder to hopper) to get the system settled. If you throw and weight three charges and they aren't within 0.1gn of each other, the system isn't settled yet. Whenever you change the charge thrown, be sure to throw at least 3 charges (and return the powder to the hopper).

I couldn't get the Hornady bullet feed die, or the RCBS bullet feed die, to work for me. The design looks nice, but someone still has to fill the tubes. I sort of like simply manually using the Lee Bullet Feeder on my seating dies.

Note: the manual only shows max loads. Start load are a 10% reduction (i.e., multiply the max load by 0.90). Note: the manual clearly shows that the COL (or OAL, as they call it) is the MINIMUM for the data shown.

There is NO speed your .45 can produce safely that a 9-12BHN bullet won't be more than adequate. It is good to about 1500fps and 30ksi. Your .45 ainlt going to get near the limits of that target alloy. Soft can obdurate and seal the bore. Super hard 18-22BHN alloy can not obdurate at .45 pressures and must be well over groove diameter to not lead. If you get a .45 Win Mag, you "might" need that HARD alloy.