Darrell

There's a fine line here. While a person who takes the time to drive to NY for generators surely deserves to profit from his effort, consider the people who were selling bottles of water for exorbitant prices after hurricane Katrina several years ago. Now, I don't compare ammunition to water, which is necessary to life, but the point is that there is a line somewhere between profiting and profiteering. Profiting is fine, profiteering is ethically indefensible and often illegal.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/sensible-compassionate-anti-covid-strategy/ I get a copy of Imprimis every month, and almost always the articles are thought-provoking. No less this one, with an interesting take on a Covid strategy. I think it's worth the five or six minutes it takes to read.

VERY impressed by your generous offer. I hope it comes back to you with interest.

I was looking at Armslist this morning, and I see that one seller wants $1500 for 1000 rounds of aluminum-cased 38 SPL (+P). Wowzer! But the thing that truly amazes me is the price that some folks are asking, and apparently getting, for primers.

I saw this on a local news site this morning: Recall Notice from Smith & Wesson https://www.mpshieldezrecall.com/ M&P SHIELD® EZ® PISTOL IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL NOTICE FOR PISTOLS MANUFACTURED BETWEEN MARCH 1ST, 2020 AND OCTOBER 31ST, 2020 Smith & Wesson has identified two M&P Shield EZ Pistols on which the hammers manufactured by our supplier were cracked. In those firearms, the hammer failed to fully engage the sear, causing the round to fire, cycling the slide, and potentially resulting in multiple discharges without depressing the trigger. This issue can occur in the following two scenarios: With a loaded magazine in the firearm and the grip safety depressed, releasing the slide (by pulling it back, or releasing the slide stop), may ignite the round as the slide closes, without engaging the trigger. The condition may occur, regardless of the manual thumb safety position if equipped. This may also result in multiple discharges. With a loaded magazine in the firearm, the grip safety depressed, manual safety in the fire position, slide closed, and a round in the chamber, pulling the trigger will cause the round to fire normally, however as the slide cycles, the next round may be ignited as it is chambered by the hammer failing to fully engage the sear, causing multiple discharges. In all cases, the firearm will NOT fire unless the grip safety is depressed. While this condition has been found only in two hammers, and our investigation suggests that these two incidents are very isolated, any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential to cause injury. Therefore, we have established this Safety Recall as a precautionary measure to ensure that all M&P Shield EZ Pistols in service meet our design specifications. Stop using your M&P® Shield™ EZ pistol until you determine whether it is included in this safety recall, and if so, until it has been inspected and repaired by Smith & Wesson, if necessary. PRODUCT AFFECTED: This notice applies ONLY to M&P® Shield™ EZ pistols (including Performance Center® models) manufactured between March 1, 2020 and October 31, 2020, and only to a small percentage of that population. It does NOT apply to all SHIELD™ pistols. To determine whether your M&P Shield EZ Pistol is affected, check the label on the box to determine date of manufacture (see image below), and if manufacture date is between March 1, 2020 and October 31, 2020 – your pistol may be affected. In this case (or if you are unsure of your date of manufacture), simply go to MPShieldEZrecall.com and input your serial number, or call 888-871-7114 .

I have a Winchester MDL 70 rifle that occasionally has light firing pin strikes. In my case, the lube on the firing pin had thickened, causing the pin to move sluggishly. There were light marks on the primers. I used some One Shot (Hornady product, I think) and everything freed right up. But I've had repeat performances. I would think a striker would be more prone to sluggishness than a FP, but I have no experience with Sig pistols.

Do you have a chronograph? And are you comfortable shooting the loads that David recommended? If so you can chronograph five or ten of those loads and figure an average velocity, then go to a couple of reloading manuals to see which powders yield similar velocities with the same bullets and primers. Those powders that yield similar velocities probably have similar burn rates to the powder that you have. If it were me, I'd choose a powder that yields those velocities near max load, and then load your pulled-down powder at minimum loads and work up from there, paying close attention to signs of over-pressure. Another approach would be to see which reloading manual recipes look very close to the loads that David recommended. Checking multiple references should increase your confidence that you have a reasonable match.

Take a look at these threads and see if it helps: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?276605-Pull-down-surplus-7-62x54R-powder-for-use-in-7-62x54R-with-different-bullets https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/8mm-7-62x54r-surplus-powder.29892/ Apparently there was a good deal of this pull-down powder around for a time. And apparently you are not alone in trying to figure out a rough-equivalent powder for reloading data. Please be cautious in making your decisions!

I guess there's something about rings that I just don't "get". I've used cheap rings and mid-priced rings (never have used very expensive rings) and have never noticed a lick of difference. I'm not saying that there IS no difference, just that I've never noted any. I've never had a scope move or be damaged, even with some fairly heavy calibers.

Benjamin Disraeli, if Google is right.

I looked for this kind of information recently, and wasn't able to find it. Kudos for digging it up. I read through a CDC study that DID attribute a lot of excess deaths to COVID. One more example that we live in an era of selected information. Who was it who said there are lies, damn lies, and statistics?

I know a couple of Amish folks in the Deer Park area. The father-in-law of one of them died of the virus, and another one believes that he himself had it, though he's slowly recovering. The man who's recovering has not been tested, so far as I know. The man who died was tested and had the virus. That's very anecdotal, of course, but it shows that the Amish aren't avoiding it entirely. It's also worth noting that the Amish are, in-general, people who spend a lot of time working hard out of doors. The few I know are lean and in good health, eat the way human beings are meant to eat, and don't sit around doing nothing.

ReeferMac made some great points, whether or not you agree with everything he wrote. The big takeaway for me is that I no longer believe what MSM and the politicians tell me. I always took it with a grain of salt, but now it's much worse. ReeferMac mentions a couple of governors who issued directives and then ignored them. We saw Pelosi ignoring the rules to get her hair done, and Feinstein has been photographed in the capital maskless. Those events and similar tell me that the politicians are probably a lot less concerned about this virus than they let on. The Supreme Court just ruled that governments have been treating some gatherings, like church and synagogue, differently than others, like acupuncture businesses. And on the other hand there's Herman Cain and President Trump himself was hospitalized with the virus. Having said that, I'm certainly not about to ignore the obvious dangers. I'm doing what I can to minimize my exposure without overly disrupting my life. As soon as a vaccine is available, I'll take it, just as I've taken the flu vaccine for the past 40 years or so.

"There are proven strategies for reducing gun violence in urban communities without turning to incarceration. " So we sure don't want to put gangsters in jail, but those of us who've never committed a crime should have our property taxed or be forced to sell it to the government! I suppose I could have quoted darned near the entire article with things I find outrageous. There was one paragraph that I agree with, though. The suggestion that LE be notified any time someone fails a background check. Those who are prohibited from firearms possession and who lie on the 4470 should be prosecuted and punished. SCOTUS will certainly be important in all of this, and with Roberts' record we cannot count on him. Therefore, the senate races in Georgia become extremely important to any of us who value our natural right of self-defense. I'm going to donate a little money to the republican candidates there. I sure can't compete with the Hollywood elites who are pouring money into those races, but maybe a little bit will help. Thanks Randall53, for linking this information!

Yeah, you know, I've had people dump trash on my property. I won't be doing that to anyone else.

You know what, Dave... I'm going to copy that photo and show it to my wife tomorrow as if it came off the camera. She'll never cross the porch again!

I KNEW it!!! I've had a couple of face-to-face encounters with cougars, but that would wake me up!

I've been busily digging up stumps and am beginning to accumulate quite a pile of them. Is there a place near Crossville where I can take a trailer-load for disposal? I know I can burn them, but no burn permits right now and I'd prefer to just take the quick route. Thanks!

I bought a couple boxes of bullets on eBay just a couple weeks ago, but it looks like they are now allow NO reloading components at all. I think I preferred them as they began, with a whole lot of used items for sale. It seems that now they amount to a giant retail conglomerate. Very convenient, it's easy to find almost anything there, but they're all but impossible to communicate with. My biggest new complaint is that everything is now subject to sales tax. I know that's the law so I shouldn't complain, but avoiding the sales tax was one of the most attractive features of buying from them.

Coon huh? It's not like I haven't seen a lot of racoons. I guess it's going to take a while before I get to where I recognize stuff on these cameras. Thanks, Hozzie!

Here's another animal that I can't identify. The picture isn't too hot, this camera goes to B&W at night. I had to look at this photo compared to another one several times before I was even able to see the critter. It's looking right at the camera, left side of the tree that's on the right of the frame. Smaller than the fox, I think. There are a couple of other pics that show it just as a slightly darker spot on the ground.

There are a couple of ads on TN Armslist this morning that list primers well north of $200 per k.

Deep South mentioned dryer sheets, which work very well with your dry media tumblers. And you need not use new sheets, just use one that's already been through the dryer.

I have both dry media and a wet tumbler. That dry media tumbler is almost never used. I HIGHLY recommend the Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler. No need to buy SS pins, just add a tiny bit of Dawn and 1/4 teaspoon of "Lemi-shine" to your brass and it'll come out so bright it blinds you. The media (water) never goes bad and no need to add any renewal agents. But remember, if you're just venturing in to reloading you don't need to clean your brass at all. It's mostly a cosmetic function. I loaded a lot of "dirty" brass for a long time before I ever bought a dry media tumbler with no problems at all. If you're going to reload stuff you pick up from the ground at the range, though, a tumbler will work well. If you only plan to do very small batches, look at the Harbor Freight rock tumblers. You can do 50 pieces of handgun brass at a time with those, though you're better off, in my opinion, with the FA tumbler.

OK, so you disagree that the current shortages of ammo and components and consequent high prices are caused by people hording. To what, then, do you attribute them? And you don't think that selling a box of .22 ammo for $200 or a brick of primers for $130 is profiteering? Capitalism works through adding value. A manufacturer buys raw material, works it into something more useful, and sells it at a profit. That's capitalism and free market. But the guys who recently drove through KY and TN buying up hand-sanitizer at every Dollar Store they could find, then selling it at outrageous prices were NOT engaging in a free-market economy. They were adding no value at all, simply taking advantage of a shortage by gouging folks who needed a commodity.