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Hey Rich, taking a dip in the murky waters of hand loading eh?

Mate, no need to crimp however, it can drop your ES by slightly rounding the neck tension. I do for my 556 but really only because I dont want any feed issues and they things are also FL sized for that reason.

I would start by mimicking the length of a standard round (as it will be mag fed) and sort the load out first, then, if you fancy it you can tinker with the OAL but thats up to you.

The reload swiss powders are a bit missunderstood really. RS50/TR140 is NOT a direct replacement for N140, it is a tad slower but shoots well.

RS52 is less spitefull and the quick test I did in my 556 shows it to shoot better than the other powders I have tried (IMR4895/Wildboar/N140). My old FTR lot swear by it and depending where you get it the price is comparable and its obtainable. It might go well in the Dagunov with a heavy old bullet.

However, do (when you get into it) establish several loads that work so that if you cant get something.....

No real need to purchase a loading manual these days as the things are constantly being updated and most manufacturers either publish the data on line or will send data to you....or find a friend with quickload. Most if not all are sensibly conservative so you should be fine.

Talking of parts and saving money, the Murom/Muron/PMC/Wolf/Moron primers are good value and work well (the red standard ones do in any event) from Myles Robertson at the NSC or HPS.

Enjoy, take it easy and you wont damage anything

Yes mate, got some brass sorted out ready.I hear what you say about mimicking the oal of a standard milsurp round as they sit in the mag with very little room to be much longer, actually if I shoot 174gr Sellior&Bellot ammo there is literally approx 0.5mm clearance between the bullet tip and the front face of the mag.
I have had a thought about a manual and figured there wasn't much point as I will probably only ever load for 54r so the rest of the data will never be used, also am I correct in thinking that some calibre specific data is included with the Lee dies?

Manuals are not only valuable for the data but also for the handloading instruction and advice.

The Lyman is about the best

The Lee data with their dies is pretty narrow as it is for their dippers and they tend to err on the low side, a good manual will give far better data than the Lee stuff. It is good enough to get you started but will not take you anywhere.

Dromia, do you think this would serve my needs?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lyman-9780016 ... 6ERJcAMFXw

The data is good but the loading information isn't as in depth as in the current manual, for the little extra cost I'd get their 49th reloading hand book.

But if things are really that tight financially then the calibre data is good.

I recommend the Lyman 49th manual its a damn good read and the load data is a bonus. For what it costs its a no brainer as far as I am concerned.