Reloaders delight!

Posted on Apr 29, 2008 - 04:27 PM Okay all my fellow lever pullers.... One thing I have noticed lately , is that shooting is getting rather expensive. Whod a thunk, right? Many of us have turned to reloading to ease the financial pain that has become an inherent part of our hobby. This has resulted in a bit of a shortage in once fired brass. While it is still out there, you have to look a little harder to find stuff you can buy in bulk. While it is perfectly acceptable for most to purchase new brass, or even store bought ammo. I experienced sticker shock so powerful I could not bring myself to make a purchase. 50 rds of WWB 357 magnum for $27.00 !!!! F-that! How about $16.00 per 50 for europellet? I think its ludicrous! There is relief in the magic lever of your favorite press. Revolver shooters can rejoice in shooting cast ammo, which is very inexpensive. Those of us who prefer brass chuckers, however have to pony up a little more cash to make our favorite firearms sing their siren song. That brass isnt cheap for the new stuff, and as I mentioned earlier its not getting easier to find previously fired brass thats worth a damn. Enter the solution: 357Sig. lobbing a respectable 125gr bullet at an amazing 1550fps is attainable. I have witnesses. It is also readily available from many of the prefired brass houses. Not very many people have reloaded 357 SIG for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was my review on its difficulty last year (or the year before). Uncle Fast_rope has the recipe youve been waiting for to make it easier. Get your stuff in bulk for one. Also, you will want specific dies. deviate form this manifest at personal hazard. For a press, I like the RCBS 2000 Pro progressive setup. it has the most convenient primer setup I have seen. It is stupid easy and cannot detonate more than one primer, should things go awry. Getting the strips for the APS is not the easiest, nor is it impossible. Midway has them in bulk, from time to time. I prefer to order them in lots of 5000. It gives you 200 primer strips to reload with non APS primers using their handy strip loading tool. I originally purchased the Lee deluxe die set, but found the sizing die to be lacking. I then went to a mix of Lee and RCBS dies. In the RCBS die holder you have spots for 4 dies. the 3rd of 5 stations is the powder dispenser. If you set up your dies in the following order, you will get good ammo. 1. Lee .40S&W carbide resizing die - trust me its a LOT easier to 2 stage resize than to do it all at once. 2. RCBS 357SIG resizing die with the decapping pin removed. - This gives you the Neck

and shoulder resize and keeps you from popping out that shiny new primer you just put in the case when you have a mistake somewhere in your chain and have to raise the ram again without advancing the shell plate. 3. RCBS seating die I have had fewer problems with crushed necks with the rcbs die than with the Lee seating die. 4. Lee factory crimp die - Important note: you do NOT want to crimp 357SIG, unless you are throwing copper washed (or hard cast) pills. Copper jackets dont do well when crimped, due to the very small bearing surface the case has to hold the bullet in place. Crimping a copper jacketed round will always result in a weaker bullet retention. You do want it for post-sizing the loaded round, and perhaps a VERY light crimp (not visible). Get the right size bullet. The 357 SIG is not a 9mm in a 40s&w case. It is .0005 wider. You can successfully use a 9mm pill, but retention may be problematic. I like the Montana Gold 357sig fmj bullet. is is a properly designed bullet for this round. It has the right profile and the right diameter. You didnt want to throw away half as many rounds as you get to shoot....right? Trust me on this kiddies, I have a ziploc bag FULL of 357Sig rounds that failed the thumb test, or would not chamber. CCI small pistol primers from midway give you a ready to load solution that is easily replenished as mentioned above. they run $29 for 1000 or $133 for 5000 plus shipping. $286 dollars for 3750 bullets.... delivered. Not a bad price at all. Once fired brass is readily available for about $31.00 per 1000, plus shipping An 8 lb container of AA#9 ($150 delivered) will load all 3750 bullets with the max load of 13 grains. This is a double plus good charge for two reasons. the first is consistency both in measuring, and in velocity when discharged. The second is prevention of bullet setback. the 13 grain load doesnt leave any room for the bullet to move back into the case. the 12 grain load does a good job of this too. $685 get you 3750 rounds minus the occasional oops! that ruins a round. Just over 18 cents per round. Thats a whole lot better than 50 cents per pop. If you dont have a gun that shoots 357 sig, you may have one that can be converted with little more than a barrel exchange. most conversion barrels cost about 200 dollars. This is especially good if you have a .40S&W that you just dont care to shoot. Ill step up to the plate and say that shooting 357SIG is FUN! Big blast, Large fireballs, reasonable recoil, excellent accuracy, and on top of all that, you can download the cartridge to something that resembles light 9mm for introducing lady friends, young shooters, and as-yetundiscovered gun enthusiasts to our fine sport / lifestyle.

Texas petition for open carry

Posted on Jul 07, 2008 - 11:15 PM Click here to go to the petition page were racking up the numbers quickly. Lets see what we can do to get them even higher. Pass it on to others so we can really send the folks in Austin a wake up call. 19,000 and counting Petition is not limited to Texas residents/voters