Jamie Jackson

Looking Great Kev! We've been really blessed with our garden so far. We've been picking green beans for about 2 weeks and I blanch and freeze 2-3 pints of them every other day. We had so much lettuce we had to start giving Walmart bags of it to the neighbors, as there's only so much lettuce a man can eat LOL. We've eaten 4 cuttings of Swiss Chard and I gave away a Walmart bag of it yesterday and a Walmart bag full last week. I had to pull the last of the lettuce (and the chard later today) as the Zucchini plant are getting huge. We've been cutting Zucchini for about 2 weeks as well, already made 2 loves of Zucchini bread and had oven baked parmesean zucchini a couple of times. Gave several nice sized zucchini to the same friend I gave the chard to yesterday. We're almost overrun with pearl onions... I had no idea how large they get. Been eating them, cooking with them, and giving them away as well. Our 6 tomato plants all have green tomatoes on them and only one ripened so far. The cukes went crazy after that last rain and I plan to can some Kosher dill pickles later today. Yellow crook neck squash plants and okra are coming up well. Oh, the potatoes are blooming so hopefully we'll be digging a few soon. Yukon Gold = tasty. I need to get some more current pics, the attached are from the 2nd and 10th iirc ... been busy painting the house and finishing the decks. Pseudo-retirement is a darn busy time

Prayers sent for you and Molly Larry. God Bless you guys.

Love my 686! Purchased new around 1986. I recently chronoed some loads for it. 158 gr Hi Tek coated SWC bullets from Hoosier Bullets & Training AA#5 8.0 grs average velocity 960 fps AA#2 5.9 grs average velocity 1020 fps I don't have the chrono data handy, but I've used 6.0 grs Unique for 158 gr LSWC as my original .357 handload when I first purchased that revolver. I too like H110 and 2400 for Mag loads... but I'm running a bit low on those particular powders and 158 gr bullets at around 1000 fps won't beat you or your revolver up. Congrats on a great revolver!

It's gonna happen LOL My wife just recently picked a dual chambered rock tumbler at Harbor Freight for her "projects". As soon as I pick up some pins and she's not looking... But just in case, do you have a spare couch at your place @chances R?

I've been using the Zilla Lizard bedding media (ground walnut) along with 4-6 used dryer sheets same @gregintenn and @DeepSouthsuggested for a couple of months now. I'm impressed. I toss out the old dryers sheets and add freshly used ones each run. I usually run about 400-500 pieces of brass per cycle ,so once every other week, Run time is generally 3-4 hours. The used dryer sheets keep the Lizard bedding much cleaner and the brass is downright clean, shiny, and much brighter than the products I previously used (Frankford Arsenal or RCBS walnut). There's also definitely less dust in my reloading area. Just wanted to say thanks!

Looking Great @ReeferMac! Grow that Okra brother. Kosher dill pickled Okra is a delicacy where I come from...the Deep South! Horse manure is an excellent soil additive. Well done Sir. I envy you of the space you have. We're muddling through with our suburban raised beds. My 2 little 12 year old fig trees are setting fruit. Now if I can only beat the birds to them as they ripen. It's about a 50/50 kinda thing. Guess we have no choice but to share LOL. We started eating salad greens and onions last week. Sure will be glad when we have some fresh tomatoes though.

Frustrating, isn't it? I think some of the older "how to" threads may have fallen off during some of the transfers and upgrades. Then again, I may not know how the "search function" works... I've searched for various handloading and powder coating topics that I'm sure I've read on here since I joined in '09, but alas no luck. Hopefully someone with better cyberskills than I have can help you. But I agree with your earlier post in that a person can handload shot shells, and mine have always had a much tighter pattern than store-bought. I've done it in .44 spl (for an old Charter Arms Bulldog pug) and those peppy little devils shot nicely.

Squirrel gravy and biscuits ain't half bad actually.

The da#n fluffy tailed rats are digging in my raised beds and have even dug up some of my green beans. That's pretty darn cool @Randall53 . I might just have to dig my pump BB/Pellet gun out and get a little long-gun practice in. BTW I reached Old Fart status some time ago LOL

Amen brother, Amen

Congrats to you all! Awesome! I know you guys are proud of him.

Good points all. I agree, especially with @Grayfox54. Ubiquitous guns, but produced in low volumes for the past few decades as there was the financial incentive to produce a greater volume. Those of us that actually shoot .38 spl and .357 to any degree tend to cast and reload those rounds. I shoot my .38's weekly, but I shoot 9mm 10:1 or greater. I handload all of my target ammo. While I am fine on components for the foreseeable future, I dread what the replacement costs will be down the road for powder and primers. We, as a shooting community, are under fire from the left more vehemently than I can recall for the past 40 years. With our current political situation the possibility of more difficult and expensive access in the future is very real. Things change, I know. But I still dread what it'll cost to replace what I'm shooting and the stores I now have. It'll be some time before that's a concern for me, but the eventuality is there. Couple that with a fixed income and, well it sucks... I did pick up everything I need to start casting over the past couple of Black Friday sales. As soon as I finish the long list of remodeling tasks my Missus has for me I'll start the casting. For now I'll remain focused in my practice sessions and maybe include more .22 LR as was already mentioned. I'm certainly working more dry fire than I was...so that's one positive to come out of this mess.

I feel for ya @gregintenn! "Youth is wasted on the young"... <sigh> As I've posted before, we use raised beds here in suburbia. We added a bit more this year and we now have the equivalent of six 4x8 ft and one 4x4 ft beds plus a 2x8 ft bed. We've already planted Sugar Snaps in one bed and they're growing well. We have Swiss Shard, salad greens, and Zucchini coming up in another. Our onion sets are doing well, as are our Yukon Gold potatoes. My okra seeds have broken ground in the 2x8 bed... probably too early, but I have plenty of seeds. We had planted some bush type green beans in two of the 4x8 beds, obviously too early as we had 2 days of frost to freezing temps Thursday before last...needless to say I had to replant the green beans. We plan on putting out a few tomato plants and some cukes this week. We are limiting ourselves to only 3 tomato plants this year as we still have 10+ quarts of tomatoes vac sealed in the freezer and I've already used about 30 quarts making marinara sauce this past year. I just want some fresh eating tomatoes. We really hope to have a good crop of cukes this year as we have a kick-ass recipe for Kosher Dill pickles and already a jar of grape leaves on standby (for crispness). Some pickled okra would be great too! I'm hoping we're past the cold snaps. I reckon we'll see.

First of all welcome @Gomer2000. Good question for these challenging times. I, personally, haven't purchased any ammo for a few years and my reloading components were purchased several years back. Ammo at current market value and sometimes a bit below is sold periodically in our classified sections. Best of luck to you as things have certainly changed in the past 10 years. fwiw I only shoot my handloads (reloads).

Sad isn't it? It looks like everything related to handloading and shooting is either not available, has a long waiting list, or ridiculously priced...or any combination thereof... I'm still using 35 year old dies for .38/.357 and I fortunately started handloading .32 S&W a couple of years ago. Thankfully these things last if you take a bit of care with them.

I pretty much agree with all that has been posted...but especially this. I sometimes wonder if folks simply hadn't explored their posting options. Bedside simply editing the title, we have multiple tags at our disposal. I'm an old technotard but seem to be able to muddle through this. Maybe if listings were properly tagged, in a timely fashion, we wouldn't see so many 2-3 year old listings with a "Is this still available?" posting from new members...

Thanks for the link and info @Grayfox54. I'm actually pleased to see companies looking into .22 LR defensive ammo development. While it certainly isn't the ideal self defense round by any stretch, it is most definitely a used in such a role frequently. By Good Guys/Gals and bad. Greg Ellifritz and Claude Werner have written about actual .22 use several times. Obviously they agree to carry and use the most effective (i.e.largest) caliber you can. But the majority of civilian shooting are a "Get off me" "Break contact" type of situation. I will carry a .22 frequently, albeit as a second handgun. My primary being a 9mm or a .38 spl. The .22 is my "Off hand" gun. It's an LCR that with over 2000 rounds fired through it this past year has proven incredibly reliable. I have had one, possibly two, rounds fail to fire on the first strike... and those were with old (circa 2012) Thunderbolts very recently... go figure LOL But a second pull of the trigger got me to the next round. Nice that revolvers can do that. I have a few hundred rounds of Federal Spitfire solids and I keep the little LCR loaded with those. I'll shoot the cylinder full out when I go to the range 3-4 times per month. I've seen folks shot with pretty much everything that fits in a handgun. Most folks survive handgun shooting fwiw...all handguns are pretty anemic. Placement counts! I am in no way suggesting a person should handicap themselves by carrying a less effective round, but I do think the .22 has it's place in the stable. I'm carrying a Glock 19 loaded with 147 gr HST as I type this... but that little .22 is in my pocket. Options are a good thing. https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/using-the-22-for-self-defense https://www.growingupguns.com/2014/09/13/the-special-application-22lr-for-home-defense-part-1-weigh-the-evidence-and-make-a-decision/ ETA part 2: https://www.growingupguns.com/2014/09/16/the-special-application-22lr-for-home-defense-part-2-the-setup/

Me too Greg, me too. <sigh>

I stand corrected. "Affordably priced " readily available ammo LOL I shot a good bit of Wolf and Tula ammo, in both carbine and handgun ( 9mm and 45 acp). I've found it a bit dirty, but totally functional.

I agree with @No_0ne. Once available, try as many brands as you can, in the bullet weight of your choice, for reliability and point of impact with your sights, on your chosen gun. The twist rate of your AR (5.56) should direct you to bullet weight ranges. I have a preference for Federal handgun ammo. But Federal, Winchester, Speer, Hornady, Remington (and several others) make quality ammo. Maybe they'll be readily available again... one day.

People are certainly paying more than I've ever seen before. I don't doubt pricing will trend back some once herd settles down but it certainly looks like a +10-20% may be the new norm... sadly.

I've seen a "letter" reportedly from Winchester floating around the interwebz...so take that with a grain of salt. But in that "letter" Winchester stated essentially that ammo will see a price increase of 8-10%, components 10%, and primers an increase of 25% starting in May (as best I can recall). I have no reason to doubt this. I'm just glad to see some availability out there for the folks new to our addiction, errr passion. It must be daunting for the new shooters. I'm in good shape myself and will barter or trade if needed, and certainly help out those I choose to help. But having been a shooter during the Clinton era ban and all that has followed helped me lean toward the preparation side of things...and I encouraged my friends to do likewise. Most did.

Congrats! It's like striking gold isn't it?

I can only speak for myself. But I probably would try them. I've used some metal can 3031 and cardboard container 2400 and W 231 over the past couple of years with no problems. (The powders and primers were from the early 1990's). Of course the powders and primers were mine, and I knew the storage conditions. I would want to see and handle the containers personally, but it sounds like you did and have not found them wanting. But it's always a risk with these things. Powders and primers keep for a mighty long time if stored properly.

Love to see some pics of your bed design @ReeferMac. Sounds like you have a system going on. We have one 4x8 raised bed planted with Sugar Snaps (a derivation of snow peas) and they are doing well. Our other beds are primed and ready, but as @peejman and @Raoul mentioned, still a bit cool to do any serious planting. But soon!