BigK

I've been carrying a P-32 with a Crimson Trace Laserguard as a BUG for almost 4 years. I've put somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 rounds through mine with no troubles thanks to avoiding flatnose bullets and doing a little polishing of internals out of the box. At 5 yards I can get center mass accuracy as fast as I can pull the trigger, which is what I figure the gun is made for. These little guns are for up close work, not extended fire fights from distance. Keeping that in mind, I have no feelings of inadequacy stuffing it in a pocket in the summer for daytime errands.

I'm jealous. It's been about 5 years since I was able to get my wife to join me at the range and almost a year since my teenage daughter went last. Congrats on getting them out there.

The same kind of people that think guns jump up and shoot people all by itself must be the same kind of people that think no man is capable of stopping at one or two drinks. If I have a Guiness or 2 while throwing darts at Mulligans, that doesn't mean I'll be hurling my Bottelsens at the other patrons or assaulting folks in the parking lot with them when I leave. ...boy, some Scotch eggs would be good now.

I've had a beer or 2 too many at a cookout and have managed not to shoot anyone yet. I've thought about shooting my idiot brother-in-law a couple of times, but ran out of beer before I ran out of patience.

Don't shoot the messenger over this, but I've read that the excessive wear on that part is 100% operator error. I'm not saying it's true, but the 4 things most commonly cited as causing this wear are 1) raising/lowering the ram too fast/hard 2) manually indexing the turret with the ram in the up or down position (rather than in the middle) 3) manually indexing the turret backwards instead of going all the way back around 4) short-stroking the handle I'm not saying anybody is/isn't doing this, just that I read one or more reasons on several sites and all 4 in a single thread on TheFiringLine.com. It may be worth considering, maybe not. I also read a pretty smart reason NOT to make/use a metal replacement part. The square ratchet is only a 50 cent part. Replace it with metal and whatever defect, operator error, wear, etc is causing the nylon part to wear out will cause the auto index clamp to wear when that metal replacement starts to transfer it's strain to the plastic clamp, which is a $6 part. Only a little more? Just kidding, Rock.45. I have a 650 and a Lee 4-hole turret. There's things I love about both, but the Dillon is in a class of it's own. When I started reloading, people like Jonnin and Dolomite gave me excellent advice. At that time the Lee turret was all I could afford and all I could realistically master as a beginner. If I were still shooting < 500 rounds/month, I'd never have sprung for a Dillon. Also, there is NO comparison regarding which is easier to convert to another caliber!!! I can go from .32 ACP to 9mm Makarov to .45 ACP to 7.62X25 and back on the Lee faster than I can remove the shellplate on the Dillon...all for only $10/extra turret.

I've never lubed the aluminum turret interface at the top, but I did slick it up with a Dremel, a buffing attachment, and some polishing compound. Mine had small burrs that looked like they'd snag and bind up the turret when it turns inside the press. Likewise, I ran some 1000 grit sandpaper up/down the indexing shaft to smooth it up where it touches other parts, especially the auto-indexing clamp (that's the housing that the nylon ratchet is inside of). As far as lube goes, I just squirt 3-in-1 oil above the auto-indexing clamp and let it run down the shaft. In fact, there's a recess in the press body where that shaft touches the base. If that recess is overflowing, I figure I used too much. If not, I don't even wipe up that oil. I figure it can't hurt the bottom of that shaft to rest in a little oil. I hope that helps. I know I wouldn't want to be without a press while Lee fixes mine either.

I really LOVE my 15-22. I only shoot Federal bulk ammo in bricks and it runs well. The quad rail is cool and the manual of arms is just like a "real" AR minus the forward asssist.

Thinking about the same gun. A buddy of mine bought one today and I absolutely LOVE it.

@ Ronnin, I owe you an apology for bad-mouthing the Rami before. A couple of weeks ago, I got to shoot one again. Not sure now why I didn't like it originally. Maybe I've spent more time with compacts since then and don't mind them as much, but It's a very nice little gun.

When I look at reviews for any product I'm thinking about buying, I usually see more positives than negatives. I think it's a combination between big-time reviewers not wanting to lose advertisers and buyers who don't want to say bad thing about the products they bought. That's why I always sort reviews from worst to best. I also Google "<product name> problems" to see what issues others have had with it. That way I can weigh the good against the 'known' bad. I'm NOT in any way bashing the P290 or the thread. In fact, I hope you like it. I think it's a really cool looking gun and Ilike the size. I just wanted to make what I hope is a helpful suggestion about product research in general. BTW...nice pics.

Their site says it only comes with one of each. Maybe Bud's threw that in? Either way, congrats on the new gun.

Me too, Vontar. I have one of his albums on 8-track around here somewhere and several more on vinyl. He's good clean fun and gets me rolling every time not matter how many times I've heard his stories.

I'm looking forward to the big opening. Seems like it's gonna be a really big deal. I probably won't do too much shooting there (membership elsewhere), but it's nice knowing it's an option. Maybe some cold Jan/Feb or some scorching hot July/Aug day, I won't wanna shoot outdoors. Springing for factory ammo for a change might be worth it. One thing I'm sure of, they'll get a lot more of my money with fair gun/gear pricing than they'd ever get in range fees regardless of the bank/insurance rules. Welcome Brian and best of luck

Jerry Clower tells one about a big Brahma bull being delivered to a farm. The 3 existing bulls watch as the trailer backs in. The 1st says, "I've been here the longest and I ain't sharing my herd with him." The 2nd says, "I ain't been here as long and don't have near as many in my herd as you, so I sure ain't fixin to share." The 3rd says, "I just got here a few months ago and I ain't got but 4 ugly old milk cows in my herd. Ain't no way I'm sharin either." As the rancher unloads the bull, they notice how the trailer is a swayin' and a bouncin' and the tires are nearly flat from all the weight. When he kicks at the inside of the trailer they see the dents he's done made in the metal. That beast comes trottin' out and he's forever more huge and mean lookin'. That 1st bull says, "I reckon since I got about 40 cows and can't hardly get around to all of 'em as it is, I'll just give this new feller about half of them." The 2nd says, "Yeah, I got about 25 all to myself, I can spare this feller about 10 or so. I prolly won't even miss 'em." The 3rd starts to pawin' at the ground and commences to bellow and snort and charge the fence. The 1st bull says, "boy you crazy, look at the size of that monster, you better quit if you know what's good for you." The 2nd bull says, "that thing's gonna kill you. What're you thinkin'? Just give him a couple of cows and be done with it." The 3rd bull says, "I don't care about that 4 cows, I just wanna make darn sure that big son of gun don't think I'm a heifer!'

That's AWESOME! I'm telling that one at work tomorrow.

Mixed feelings...on one hand, I don't think theft warrants the death penalty...on the other hand, screw the thieving b@$tard and his ilk, we worked too hard for what we own.

Nice! Before now, I'd only briefly checked out TTAG. Thanks for posting the link. I just spent 3 hours there reading. Good stuff, well-written. I ordered some cards for when I run out of TFA cards.

I understand that you can never really *know* how many times, but my thought process is that most reloaders haul off their brass. That rationale makes me think range pickups seem like they'd be most likely to be once-fired factory brass. Aside from the ocassional reloader that left his brass because he knew it had been reloaded too many times, what am I missing? You're not the first I've heard say this, so there must be a big hole in my thought process somewhere...please help.

I use 115 gr Critical Defense in my carry gun (CZ P-01), because they feed perfectly and expand reliably with good penetration and great weight retention (especially for non-bonded ammo). I also like the idea that they won't clog. In my HD handgun (Glock 17) I have 3 Glaser Safety Slugs followed by 115 gr Critical Defense. I figure my first shots are likely to be my least accurate and I don't want to shoot through walls. By the time I get to the later rounds, I hope to be more accurate. I just bought some 230 gr Winchester PDX1 for my 1911, but haven't tested them yet. From what I've seen the 4X denim and gel tests were very impressive. Testing premium SD ammo for function/reliability sure is expensive!! I'm glad someone else is doing the ballistics testing for me...whew!

I've heard of this problem a lot too, last time I ordered from Lee I bought a couple of extras just in case. I must be one lucky SOB, because mine still has the original installed. I have loaded somewhere near 2000 rds of 9mm, 400 rds of Makarov, and 450 rds of 45 acp on that original part. I don't know if it's because I keep mine over lubricated or just blind-stupid luck.

I saw a bumper sticker that "Obamonomics...Trickle Up Poverty"...I'm going with that one.

You gus Mmmmmmmmm, that sounds freakin' awesome!!!

Amen to that.

Great article. Interesting that he was already filthy stinking rich at the time of the events in this article. If more knew this side of him, I think there'd be less distrust.

I think I'm gonna ask Santa Claus for the full box set when it comes out. I can see me watching this series again and more than once over the years.