BigK

beautiful revolvers guys! I almost bought a S&W Combat Masterpiece this weekend to go with my Ruger SP101. I've been kicking myself all week for passing it up.

I started reloading 9mm and now .38/.357 on a Lee 4-hole turret press and I'm VERY glad I didn't waste my money on a single. I'd probably have lost interest in a month or two. Setting it up initially was the hardest part for me. That has nothing to do with it being a turret. In fact, with a turret once get the right flare, OAL, and crimp you leave the dies in the turret, buy another $10 turret per set of dies and swap turrets between calibers. I've not been reloading long, but IMO auto-indexing turrets are no different than using a single stage press. You still do one task at a time (per pull), but you get a finished bullet after 4 pulls (3 if you skip the factory crimp for revolvers). You are far less likely to skip a charge or double a charge, since the turret indexes to the next die. If you are using a funnel and scoops this might not be true, but the Lee auto-disk practically eliminates the chance. I think if you can count to 4 you can use a turret press just as easliy. One: deprime and shape the case, two: flare and drop powder, three: place a bullet on the flared mouth then seat it, and four: crimp it.

I have a gun that he traded on a newer model. He'd done a TON of good work on it. The trigger is WAY lighter and smoother than I thought a SA/DA could be and breaks unbelievably clean. The trigger reset is the most amazing thing, though. I swear it can't be more than 3 or 4 mm. There's not much you can do to a P-07, though. You can do a little polishing on the sear/linkage and install a better hammer, but that's about it. No grip changes and little to no trigger work on the polymer frames. On the bright side, you get a darn good gun out of the box for a decent price. Just expect to spend some time dry-firing to smooth out the trigger a little, but not as much is needed w/ that Omega trigger system.

I'll let you try both, if you want. Then you'll know which you prefer. I prefer by hand, but definitely see the merits in both. Biggest plus for me is that since I'm depriming before tumbling, I get to skip that stage on the press and save time by hand priming while inspecting brass.

Just got back from the show. I had no trouble killing 3 or 4 hours and even less spending the money I brought and a little more. I saw some great prices and talked to lots of vendors. It looked really busy to me, but it could be a bunch of lookie-loos. Several said they weren't doing too awfully bad this weekend, which I suspect is vendor-speak for pretty decent. I don't know if this is an accurate way to gauge it, but I saw a LOT of folks filling out TICS paperwork. I got some good deals on a holster, magazine, some Hornady ammoe, and several things I didn't know I needed.

I was impressed how many shooters showed up to. The COF was the star! It was challenging and interesting. Stage 2 kicked my butt today!

IMO...RK Shows has been putting on a MUCH better show lately than Bill Goodman. They seem to draw a pretty darn good crowd and have as many or more tables, IIRC. I wish there was more parking at the Mid-TN Expo in M'boro, though.

I'm curious what you disliked about the CZ that made you trade it...weight? DA trigger? too accurate (just kidding)? I have Glocks, Rugers, Kel-Tecs, CZs, etc. and have rented/borrowed quite a few others. For my hands, the CZ was the first one that just felt like it was made for me. I still like my Glock and others, but I have to adjust my grip to shoot them well.

I've seen that ammo that cheap online, but that's before they add shipping AND only if you buy the whole case (2 tins). Impressive deal!

I resisted too for a while, but it was futile. More pros than cons, plus I wanted to be able to attend GSSF matches.

Near the corner of S. Church St and Middle Tennessee Blvd in the Mid-TN Expo Bldg on Park Ave. www.rkshows.com/south/tennessee.htm

I hadn't considered selling them, since you can buy one with the Zippo logo like you want for under $9 on Amazon. The problem with closed bottoms are you have to pull the lighter out by the lid I stead of pushing it up. I guess you could wear it upside down, though. Besides, making closed bottom cases means soaking/forming the leather is tedious and difficult. See:

I bought some bins like that at Harbor Freight for REAL cheap (around $4 for a set w/ mounting kit). That's them in the background...

I decided to try making a belt pouch/case to hold my zippo. I put this one together this evening just to see how I like the design, so forgive the sloppiness of the edges and all. I was just going for a proof of concept initially. so I didn't put much effort into the edges other than trying out my new embossing wheel. I'm thinking of making another in black w/ a nickel snap using the same pattern and a little more time/effort. Before I do, I'd like to know what some of you think of the design, so I took some pics of multiple angles. Got any suggestions?

There's a gun show in Murfreesboro this weekend! I also promised to teach a friend how to shoot pistol AND there's an IDPA match in Dickson. Unless I come up with some clever time juggling, I'm going to have to miss out on something.

I haven't been to the BG show in about a year. The last several I went to were in Murfreesboro. They're put on by RK Shows, which I think does a better job and it's a LOT easier to get in/out of.

I've read a LOT of reloading posts that mirror what Jonnin says. I still wonder if charging, seating, & crimping without handling the cases b/w each step matches the speed of single-stage reloading, which seems like it has all the benefits of an assembly line. Since I've never used s single- stage press OR reloaded for rifle, I can only go by what those that have done both say.

Thanks for the warning guys. You saved me some time, money, and hurt feelings.

I'm debating whether to go tomorrow or not, b/c the one they have at the fairgrounds is so "hit or miss" lately. If anyone went, please tell me how it was. I'm specifically looking for some reloading supplies/equipment.

I had time on my hands...nothing going on in my life but this thread....so I counted (another public school arithmetic success story) the bullets in that pic on Collier's site. Considering all the places a bullet could land vs the area covered by commercial roofs, recovering 40 bullets by a single roofing contractor is scary, even if they've been collecting them for 30 years (which I doubt).

I may eventually give it go.

Been said several times, but posts were deleted, seriously.

Welcome

FYI...yesterday was UN Radio day (I'm not making this up, I swear). I heard an interview on the radio with some kind of expert on the UN Small Arms Treaty. One thing he emphasized emphatically was that it only applies to the illicit sale/traffic of small arms. He's probably just a liberal nut-case trying to lull America to sleep, but that's what the man said.

I have it on good authority from an unnamed source in Mansfield, OH that the weapon that killed OBL was actually a Hi-Point 995TSRD.