Jamie Jackson

  probably so...make that definitely...but not to me.   I'm with Caster on this. I think I paid $10.00 for my Mechanix gloves and wouldn't dream of running my AK without 'em...too darn many sharp edges! :cool:

  Well...you have obviously been monitoring our recent conversations LOL. That is exactly the conclusions we reached.   Now I just need to get a 300 BLK upper and get my rear in gear.   Thanks Dolo.

Thanks Dolo. We are using Powder Buy the Pound..Red...and it's pretty sharp looking.   One of these days I'll have a weekend off when David is in town...one of these days...   Yeah. The brass finding challenge of 7.62x39 is the exact reason we are looking at switching to 300 BLK. We have a good supply of 5.56/.223 brass on hand already...so it's really a no-brainer in that regard.   I do plan to try revamping a few steel cases as I read that in another post you made. Intriguing concept...just costly to do so in bulk.   We'll be able to cast, coat, and load 300 BLK much more affordably.   I just want to get the 7.62x39 data and concept tweaked for just in case "hard times". You just never know these days.

We finally ventured into casting and powder coating 7.62x39...just in the fledgling stages at this point. Some 150 gr and some 130 gr bullets. Darn brass for 7.62x39 if hard to come by.   We plan to venture into 300 BLK...but down the road...we don't even have a 300 BLK yet between us. That'll probably be next year.   Any powder suggestion on the PC 7.62x39 Dolo?

Glad you found them dryviking. Bit of a challenge, isn't it? :pleased:   Lori and Phil are very accommodating folks. Good people imho and they do have some darn good prices and selection.   I could use some AA1680 as well. Guess I need to contact them too.

Some days I fell like a little Pink Floyd... others days maybe a little LInkin Park helps...ever have one of those day? :cool:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlCC1GOwFw

  Exactly Comms, and they store for a long, long time.   I've used powder and primers within the past year that I purchased in 1992-1992. 100% fine.   And bulk purchases of components help mitigate the cost of HazMat fees not to mention that 8 lb powder and 5K lots of primers are generally at a reduction over 1 lb containers of powder and 1K boxes of primers.   I encourage my non-handloading friends to purchase components now...because if they shoot enough, they'll eventually come around... :cool:

  Yes my friend. These may well be the closest we'll come to the Good ole Days in the foreseeable future.   As the saying goes: "Buy it cheap and stack it deep"...no need to regret it later.

About a year or so ago I actually phoned Lucky Gunner and spoke with a very nice lady there. She said their "business" is located in Knoxville, but they don't store/ship/house anything here. iirc she said they have a warehouse in or around Atlanta as stated above. But I agree, good folks and a good company.         I think the first order to your address and free shipping is still in place. A bud ordered 2 K of 9mm a few weeks back, as as his first order from them he was able to take advantage of this offer. I, and several friends, have use Freedom ammo before and have not had any problems with them.   SGAmmo is a site I use more times than not. Good prices and fast shipping = win/win in my book. :pleased:

Love me some sgammo! :up:   I ordered a thousand rounds of Golden Tiger a few weeks back. From time of order to delivery was about 4 days. And that's normal for sgammo in my experience.   We did some low light/flashlight practice the other day and one of the guys was shooting some 9mm he recently received from Freedom (iirc it took about 7-10 days for delivery from the day he placed his order). He ran through about 150-200 rounds and had no issues with it in any way. I did note the muzzle flash was pretty bright compared to the Unique handloads that 3 of our group were using...no biggie...just an observation and in no way meaningful in practice ammo.

  LOL...Illusions and delusions my Brother. But you'd always be welcome.

OK...I officially now suffer from "ammo envy"...how embarrassing... :ugh: But Good for you guys! You're doing it right! :up:

I concur. Availability is the best it's been for several years now, but we can't count on that lasting very much longer. And Musicman is 100% correct "It never gets cheaper".   I'm concentrating on components at this time myself. If you haven't started casting and handloading...well, What the heck are you waiting for? :cool:

Prayers out David. God Bless you and yours.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  :pleased:   Done.   Thanks.

  I've read this and it,of course, is a concern. Good advice. Thank you.     I wish the was a Cabela's around these parts. I checked Cabela's for stores in East TN...but found them wanting. :pleased:

Thanks for the input folks.   Comms; S&B brass is a PIA,,,especially in 9mm. I sort it into a separate box and if I really need some brass, then open up the primer pocket a bit...otherwise it's a no-go on my Dillon. :squint:   peejman; I have a bud that picked up a K of 9mm a few years back and your experience seems to mimic his. Not very positive.   jonathon; There's the rub. The cost is attractive, especially when you consider a 20K purchase or so. I'm just hesitant to jump in that deep at this point.   I need to find some locally and pick up a thousand to try...just not that easy to do these days. :pleased:

I have never used S&B primers before and wanted to see if anyone here at TGO had first hand experience with them.   We've gone through quite a few thousand Tula primers (small pistol) over the past year. And I've used thousands of Wolf, Winchester, Federal and CCI in the past. While I would prefer to stick with a known (Tula...which have worked very well for us), most vendors either list "Out of Stock" or "Discontinued".   I'm not yelling Doom & Gloom, but with election year coming up, and it not taking much of anything to cause a mad run on ammo or components these days, I don't want to be behind the curve if things get stupid yet again.   The S&B are running about $20.00 less per 5K than Wolf or Winchester currently...but I don't want to waste my time nor money.   From what I read the S&B are relatively hard primers and sensitive to "improper seating" or "not being seated well enough"...issues in the countless thousands of rounds I've handloaded that I've never experienced.   Any experiences? Thoughts?    

Thank you jlw and Welcome to TGO.   Excellent review Sir. And great photos as well. Beautiful place to train!   Tom Givens is a remarkable individual, a true "Teacher", and always a wealth of knowledge.   Thank you again for sharing your experiences.

LOL Maybe a little, but I like the heck out of the concept. :pleased:   I'm looking forward to seeing the pics after the wrap.

A 147 gr 9mm at 1200 fps sounds pretty darn good to me!   Were these some of your own cast bullets Dolo?   We were discussing casting some hollowpoints and powder coating them...still in the "thinking/discussing" stages at this point.   I'll be on the lookout for some VV3N38. A quick search and it looks like a favored powder for high velocity 9mm's. Sweet!

Very nice powder!   It meters very well through my Dillon powder measure.   We chronoed several loads today and especially like the 6.5 gr loading. It ran 1219 fps with a 130 gr RN Powder Coated 9mm bullet in my Glock 19 and 1309 fps through Brasil's G 34.   It has a very nice recoil impulse to it. I've fired many rounds with a more harsh recoil impulse and 100 fps less velocity in the same bullet weight.   I think this powder has the potential to make some quality self-defense rounds...for those "just in case" times that may be down the road.   Thanks for the guidance and input folks! :up:

I don't know if you pressure can or not, but venison is an excellent meat for such. You can take some of the less choice cuts, pressure can them (pints for 75 minutes ans quarts for 90 minutes iirc)...it will make the toughest cuts incredibly tender. We enjoy the tenderloins and backstraps grilled of course and usually cook the roasts in a dutch oven, but canning the venison gives you some delicious and tender meat for various soups and stews. Canning preserves the meat for several years, quite safely, as well. We ate a quart jar of home canned smoked sausage (from 2010) earlier this week...canned with sliced jalapenos...very tasty! :up:

Thanks for the info folks.   I hope to have some loads chronoed by midweek and see how they run.   As far as what I'm looking for, hoping to achieve? Reliability & essentially match grade accuracy in a practice ammo that is close in recoil and POA/POI to my carry ammo... My main carry ammo is Black Hills 9mm +P using a Gold Dot 124 gr bullet.

  My friend, you just described Randy Harris aka Cruel Hand Luke.   Dolomite's recommendation is spot on. I've known Randy for a pretty long time and train with him a few times each year. He's a great guy (I'm proud to call him a friend) and gifted instructor. You'll not find better imho.   Tom Givens (Rangemaster) is another instructor I hold in high regard. Great guy, excellent instructor, and incredible track record for students surviving real world encounters.   I've not had the opportunity to train with Reid, yet, but hope to do so. He comes across as a solid guy.   I too have trained with James Yeager. It's been more than a decade ago, but I found him, at that time, to be much different than his YouTube persona and a really good instructor.   I stay way out of the "politics" of that industry...way too much drama for my likes.   Congrats to you for looking for professional training. You won't be sorry that you decided to go down that road. Keep us posted on your training experiences.     TMF..very funny vid . Good satire. :up:   Best of luck to you Sir.