Hozzie

Hard to tell from the pictures as it doesn't look that different, but my guess is it is much redder than what you currenty have.  Most likely you will have to sand it.  The next problem you are going to have is determining if the woods are the same.  Different woods are going to stain different colors with the same stain.     If you really like them, I would sand them down and determine the type of wood it is.  Then I would buy a piece of "test" wood of the same kind and start to test some different stains.  It looks to me like it could be a mix of Chestnut (for the reddish color) and walnut (to get the darker color) to get the same type of finish.  you will have to experiment to get it just right depending how picky you are.  You will then need a topcoat.  Hard to tell how shiny the one you already have is, but a latex polyurethane is easy to work with.  If you have an hvlp sprayer, it will come out much better.   Before you sand it completely, take a piece of 0000 steel wool to it.  Give it a very good rubbing down and try some walnut stain on a small area inside a leg.  Let it sit for differing times and see if anything happens.  If that doesn't work, you will need to sand and find a stain combination that works.

Titegroup will work for 9mm and it doesn't take a lot. Check with David (dlm37015) as he will have the best price. He can also help you with powders for other calibers. There are a lot of options, but certain powders are hard to find right now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  I agree with you.  The block in and of itself doesn't bother me.  I thought they were trapping it, putting it in and then letting it go.   I am not a fan of the concept of trapping. I don't like to see anything suffer.

I was going to say, if you go with Lee, check TitanReloading.  I think they are right across from the Lee Factory and their accessories and things are about the best price you will find anywhere.  I then noticed the press in your wishlist is actually from them, but I would still check them directly.  I ordered some molds from them and a few small casting parts and they were very quick to ship.

  It may not be, and they may do nothing about it, but I would at least feel better reporting it.  Me and whoever does things like this would have some major issues.  Seems maybe they need this tried on them..

Yes, ammonia is bad.  I prefer Flitz if I tumble.

I'm almost 39.  These late nights are hard for an old guy (tic)   :snore:

I don't care one way or the other as long as my news still starts at 10:00.  I can't stand Eastern Timezone where everything starts an hour late.

[quote name="TresOsos" post="1112758" timestamp="1392693281"]Guess I'll have to fix that....sore *ssed Yankee Mafia Carpet Baggers. Oh and Unions weren't a southern invention, besides the word Union is offensive to southerners, as in the Union and Union troops.[/quote] If your offended by the term Union because of something neither you nor I were a part of, I don't need to say anything else. It's pretty well summed up in the North/South thread and I'm not interested in debating such mundane things. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  That is one nice thing about the Hornady Powder measure.  You can buy just the metering assemblies (like $11 a piece) for rifle or pistol and they easily swap out.  You can also set the measurement each time, but if you find a load you like, it's easy to just remove the meter and keep it with your dies.  The standard meter will go to as low as 5 grains, so if you need lower than that, you will also want to get a pistol meter which goes down to 0.5.

I spend a lot of time on the road and always end up finding a way to spend a lot of money on things I probably don't have to have.  With that said, while doing some research on bullet casting, I ran across this company that has some nice aftermarket accessories for presses.  It is called Inline Fabrication.  http://inlinefabrication.com/ .  I thought some of you may see something you need.  I ended up ordering one of their kits for my LNL AP and am looking forward to trying out the short ergo handle.  I also liked thier holders for the LNL AP dies and shellplates.  I'll let you know how they work when i get home and get to try them out.

Yes, either of those kits will load anything pistol and all but the largest of rifle calibers (50 BMG, etc).  You just need dies and the shellholder for the case you want to load.  

  These aren't Yankee's, they're the mafia.  Plenty of Yankee's who don't like the Unions either.

  Good choice.  In my opinion, everyone should start with a single stage until they truly understand the process and issues that can occur.  My single stage would be my last press to go if I ever had to give any up. 

I don't have any first have experience with a Nano, but I also carry a Shield 9mm.  I have nothing bad to say about it.  Good trigger, light recoil for its size, and accurate.  I wanted something that fit my hand and the Shield did it better than any other small single stack 9mm.

For me this falls into the proverbial "who cares" category.  If you're that hung up on one caliber over the other and can't grasp that someone else may have other, also valid reasons for wanting whatever caliber they want, then no one can help you.  I don't need to debate with people like that.  It just confirms my already diminishing view of most people and I am cranky enough as it is. :up:

DVOR.com has a lot of Lyman things on sale right now, including molds.  I just bought a 147gr 9mm 4 cavity mold and a .358 150 grain SWC 4 cavity mold for about $30 less (total) than on MidwayUSA.  It was also free shipping.  If anyone hasn't signed up before for DVOR, let me know and I will refer you.  Not to be greedy, but I will get a $10 credit for each referred person.  Just send me a PM with your email if you are interested.   DVOR is affiliated with OpticsPlanet if I understand it correctly.  Anyway, worth a look as they have a lot of molds and other Lyman stuff on sale.  You can also use the code 10off for $10off of your order I believe.  Of course I forgot to do that when I ordered.

Thanks Superman.  I planned to powdercoat so I can shoot them through my suppressors if I want without as much worry about leading, although my 9mm suppressor is take apart so that helps.  I will probably end up lubing some too, but good info to think about.   Also, has anyone noticed an issue when powdercoating bullets with the lube groove in them.  I can see where not having them would make it easier for powdercoating, but would there be a peformance issue (greater leading concern mostly) by having the groove and not really needing it?  There are a couple of group buys as you mention, but I am not sure if I should wait and see if I can find moulds without the groove in them.  I am thinking about the MiHec 125gr group buy with the penta and blank pins in .357 so by the time I powdercoat they aren't too big.   http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?229442-MiHec-9mm-125-gr-four-cavity-HP-or-four-cavity-solid-7th-rerun

Thanks Red.  I signed up for CastBoolits and have started reading as well.  I know a lot here do a lot of casting and I take your opinions highly, so that was my main reason for asking here. 

While not likely, I sincerely hope this is a case of a someone who really didn't have the intellectual ability to understand what they were doing.  I would feel bad making fun of him if that is the case.  If it isn't, well then lets hope his gene's don't make it any further than that snow.

Thanks.  I have read that before and am pretty aware of the health hazards, but reinforcement is always good.  I am probably a little on the side of overcautious if anything. 

So I have decided to start purchasing the things needed to start casting my own bullets (or at least have it when I am ready to).  Not so much to save money as the initial cost will be relatively high, but as more of an insurance policy against the future availability and accessibility of bullets.  With that said, I am looking for some advice on recommended equipment related to moulds and those items needed to do the job effectively.  Cheap is not the goal, quality and value are more what I am looking for.  If the least expensive has the best quality, no problem and even better, but I am of the buy once, cry once mentality, so good quality is more important that price (within reason).   I am not one who is going to go running around looking for wheel weights and such on a regular basis, so that isn't a big concern.  I have already purchased an initial order of 92-6-2 lead from MBC and I will solely be using it for doing this.  I really want to be able to just grab an ingot and put it in the pot and not worry too much about the chemistry part of it.  I think it will work fine for everything I want to do.   Right now, I plan to get an RCBS Pro-Melt.  It seems to have very good reviews and will appear to do what I need it to quite easily.    What I am more interested in is recommendations of bullet moulds, and whatever else is needed to actually cast.  I see good reviews of the NOE bullets moulds and I also know that a lot of people use the Lee Bullet moulds.  I see where NOE has some brass moulds and some are aluminum.  I would think Brass would be better, but don't know if that really holds true.  It would seem to keep a more consistent temperature, but that may not be true in this case either or even have some negative affect I don't know about.   I will start with moulds for 300blk (220-245gr), 357 158 GR SWC, a 44Mag mould, and probably a 9mm mould.  I am sure there will be others, but those would be what I would probably start with.   Any recommendations on mould grips and any other equipment I may need would be greatly appreciated.  I do a lot of research on things and am usually comfortable about making a decision on things, but this is one thing I have no current real world knowledge about, just what I have read on a few different sites.   Thanks!

I would be in for a Rimfire section.  I am really into 22's more than anything and spend a lot of time of various aspects of them.  I would think there would be as much interest in a separate Rimfire section as there is Black Powder.

Good point Mark.  It just literally baffles the mind.

How in the world do they come up with the guns on this list?  You can no longer buy a Ruger Mark III Competition, Smith 617, or 648-2.  Lots of others that make no sense either.  Some 22lr, some larger calibers, but a lot of revolvers.    Check out this list of new (as of Feb 14th, 2014) pistols that are now removed from "the list" and can't be bought there legally.     http://oag.ca.gov/sites/oag.ca.gov/files/pdfs/firearms/removed.pdf   Not looking for a California bashing thread as we all know the state of affairs there and do that quite well already.  We all know that they want to take them all, but this really has me scratching my head on a few specific ones.