It was my desire to use the gun for deer hunting this past season, but with all the difficulties with the scope, I used my Sako. Burris fixed the scope, of course, no charge, but I got it back on the last day of November, the last day of deer-rifle.
As far as the .45 ACP, the problem seemed to be more of diameter size of the bullet itself. Everything seemed to measure correctly. FC cartridges also seem to be hard priming and I've resorted to keeping them separated and unused. With the .454, we're using the same die--I haven't used cartridge gauges--sounds like a good idea, and I've heard reports about hazards of .454 re-loading, but nothing specific, but your post gave me a better idea of that. Thanks again.
I've considered re-loading .50 BMG, but with the availability of ammo, it doesn't seem like it would be cost effective. I use the old Berdan-primed brass for target practise--it stands up slightly better than aluminum cans.
.45ACP was the first cartridge I started reloading. My Springfield 1911 was getting pricey to feed. I built my initial brass reserve shooting CCI ammo. That brass is very good for reloading. As time went on, I couldn't always get all my own brass back at the range. I also found a bunch of other headstamps that yielded unpleasant results. I paid my kids to sort the brass and removed the difficult stuff from the reserve for reloading.
I've considered re-loading .50 BMG, but with the availability of ammo, it doesn't seem like it would be cost effective.
There's lots of good plinking grade surplus available. When you get ready to reload, you'll probably have to get a dedicated press that is a bit longer internally than the average press used for handgun rounds. Unless you are doing really long range precision shooting, it is probably not a big advantage to reload.