BigK

Thanks for the kind words. I had fun making it except when my airbrush broke right before I finished the darker dye around the edges. No excuses, I dropped the ball on that one. I know the drill...no pics, it didn't happen. It wasn't until I was almost done when I realized this would have made for good before/after pics. It was too late by then. You would have been surprised...not by the after pics, but by how someone could let a tool they rely on get in such bad shape, LOL.

My father-in-law brought me his raggedy old hatchet with gouges all up the sides and knicks in the blade. He asked me to make him a leather cover for it, so it wouldn't get banged up in the tool box of his truck. Needless to say, I bit my tongue and said sure. I cleaned it up with a brass brush and some WD-40, smoothed out the gouges, and polished it with my Dremel until it shined like new. Then I reprofiled the edge to get the knicks out of the blade and sharpened it real good for him. I mean why bother putting lipstick on a pig, right? Here's the cover I made him for it... He liked it and practically accused me of buying him a new hatchet, since he couldn't believe it was the same one he dropped off. It's always good to keep the in-laws happy.

I talked 2 guns shops about Rugers recently. Neither had any idea when they'd get their hands on an SR1911 or an LC9. Both said they are having major issues restocking new hanguns, especially Rugers. Do you mind if I ask where you got yours?

Thank you again for all the priceless advice and recommendations about reloading. That is not where I expected this thread to go, but I am SO glad it did. My last 100 rounds all cycled perfectly. I had zero failures and all rounds were every bit as accurate as any factory load I've shot. I now feel confident enought to make a lot at a time and even plan to use them at my next IDPA match. I'm going to post another thread soon about choosing and matching components for target/IDPA. I hope I haven't worn out my welcome, b/c I look forward to your input when I get my thoughts/questions together. FWIW...I'm already expanding my operation next payday. I'm getting a set of .38/.357 dies and an extra turret, so I don't have to change/reset dies. I have over 600 pcs of brass polished, deprimed, and waiting to be reloaded!

Big Rob, I'd like to commend you for doing this. I've only been pulled over once in the past 15 years and it was before I got my HCP. However, I can honestly say that I've sought advice/instruction and mentally gone over how the incident should go dozens of times. Each time I consider whether there is anything else I could do to put the officer at ease and make sure he/she knows I'm not a BG. While driving I keep mine off-body, so I don't have to fumble under my seat belt if I need it. This means it is likely visible from outside the car. I worry most about the 2nd officer coming up on the right seeing it and over-reacting. I'd never touch it, make a motion toward it, or let my hands get out of the LEO's sight, but I can only control my actions. I expect that 2nd officer to react appropriately too, but not to shoot me, LOL. You guys put your life on the line every time you stop a car. So, I can easily see how any time you see a gun during a stop there's justification for reacting. Regardless of what you learn through this exercise, I hope none of you guys let their guard down for a second or get complacent in the face of the growing number of good guys with an HCP. A single under-estimated situation could be your last, so I hope all HCP holders realize this too when responding.

I agree with hornett22...I have an alarm system and 3 dogs. I trust the dogs WAY more than the electronics. No alarm that I know of has ever bitten an intruder .

So, if an 18 yr old can go into a bar and buy a handgun from as long as it's not from an FFL, I guess I was only one-third correct, huh? I suspect the anti-gunnners will say that makes them less guilty then, since the law allowed 2 out of 3 things to happen.

Let me get this straight... Malone (19 yrs old) and Garrett (20 yrs old) are not even old enough to buy handguns. Neither can be issued a permit to legally carry a firearm. And being under 21, they are not old enough to patronize the bar in question. I suppose they rode to the bar on a flying unicorn too. I wasn't going to mention that these pillars of the community took careful aim to only wound their victim, but couldn't resist. They are only being charged with aggravated assault, so the law must believe they weren't trying to kill anyone. I'm sure the bystander was only wounded b/c lighting or peanut shells on the floor were distracting. They'll probably sue.

I hate that I missed out, had a sick kid and couldn't make it. will there be another before the GSSF match?

How does $0.84/round for .40 S&W sound? I use ST Action Pro's dummy rounds. They have a nickel case (so the extractor doesn't break the rim) and a bright orange or yellow ABS plastic bullet/primer. They don't have .22 and theirs doesn't have a spring in them, but shipping is ridiculously cheap and the price is great.

Finally talked my son (17 yrs old) into going! The bad part is he wants to use my G34 (a small sacrifice to get him to try it).

up til 2:30 trying to beat Level 14, gave up, dreamed about the damn game...I need therapy

I guess if you're gay and want to adopt, you have to be on Oprah.

Man, you got that right. Bulldogs are some lazy critters.

Banks and insurance companies are out to make a buck any way they can legally get it. You can get joint loans w/out marriage. Business partners do it all the time. Qualifying for loans and getting insurance rates has become nearly a pure statistical game. I thought the adoption agencies didn't have a problem giving gays kids to raise. I must be out of the loop on that one.

DAMN! I just got over the Guns & Ammo app on my iPhone. Now you bring me this! I'll never find time to mow the yard this weekend, now.

Whether anyone agrees or not, I think Ross Perot would have been a good president. Therefore, I joined millions of people who voted for him in 1992. That was the LAST time I was able to vote for a president solely on my convictions. What it got us was a split vote and a liberal in the White House. Luckily, in 1994, the country saw the error of its ways and OVERWHELMINGLY put conservatives in Congress to bring balance. Nowadays, the good people who want to help this country heal itself cannot get elected, b/c people like me are scared that if we vote for a good candidate instead of who can beat the guy we like the least, we'll be worse off. It just so happens that this leaves us stuck with only 2 viable choices, R or D. I agree with the 1st point in theory, but not in practice. The gov't has no right to grant married persons OR people with civil unions any preferential treatment over single people either. So, I say no special treatment based on whether you are married, shacked-up, legally bound, or lonely. On the 2nd point...ABSOLUTELY!! The Fair Tax isn't perfect, but it's the closest thing I've heard of.

This is my best friend, Lucy. This is my other little buddy, Barkley This is what they do best. They can be so precious If ANYONE tried to harm them, they'd be on the receiving end of more fury than they could image. Likewise, either dog would do the same for any member of my household. Loyalty goes both ways </:) >

Perhaps I misspoke...The match registration form does have the G34 listed in 2 places (Amatuer & Master Competition and Master Unlimited)...like you said. I disregarded the Master division, b/c I figured I'd only look silly for paying $25 to shoot in it . BTW...do you really have 19 Glocks or are you kidding?

I'm looking forward to it. I wish there was more than one event for G34 (only Glock I have).

I have a question for you two guys about the powder measure. I have a Lee Auto Disk Powder Measure. Their chart said for 4.0 to 4.1 gr of Bullseye, I would use the .43 hole. I see what Jonnin meant about it being unreliable. The .43 hole throws 3.7 gr and the next step up is .46, which throws almost 4.3 gr. I want to use 4.0 - 4.1 gr of Bullseye, so unless I'm missing something I have 2 options: I can get the double disk upgrade to get the extra .3 to .4 gr by adding a disk on top of the .43 disk. This option is around $13-15 + shipping. I can really upgrade and get the Lee Perfect Powder Measure the Dolomite recommended. This option is around $21-25 + shipping. I'm leaning toward option 2, but would appreciate hearing what you guys think. Y'all have a lot more experience than me at this. Also, let me know if I'm overthinking this. Is the difference I'd see from dropping down by a few tenths of a grain worth the trouble?

Not sure if this is sound rationale, so please correct me where I'm wrong. Both of my 9mm's cycle WWB flawlessly. I measured several and used their average OAL as my target for the rounds I made. IIRC, the OAL was 1.15. A few of the first were JUST slightly off (1.125-1.175). The ones that didn't cycle were amongst these that varied before I got it "set" like I wanted it. I suspect they were the longer ones. The feed issues and the "duds" were all 4 in my Glock 34. My CZ P-01 had no issues with any of my loads. In fact, the first 5 went in it and the 2nd 5 went in the Glock. I'd have expected the CZ to have the least consistent rounds in it, but it did fine. I definitely wanted lower recoil round for the range, but I also want a round that I can rely on to knock down steel in IDPA and meet their minimum power factor. The MPF is 125,000, so for 9mm I can achieve this with 115 gr X 1087 fps, 124 gr X 1009 fps, or 147 gr X 851 fps). I can get there using any of these, but I figured the heavier the bullet, the less recoil. Right/wrong? I know this. In fact, I think you even warned me. No excuse other than zeal and lack of good sense. I guess I was over-confident, b/c I got the load data I used from some veteran IDPA guys who reload their own ammo. Any changes/experiments will be smaller batches from now on. The pics of barrells peeled back like bananas, mangled flesh, and exploded polymer frames scared me bad enough. Then I remembered the imprint in a wood beam at my local range from a revolver cylinder when the gun blew up. That's all I could think of when I weighed those first dozen or 2 powder charges to make sure they were right.

I wish I could be positive, but I'm not. In both cases the primer looked as though it was sufficiently dented (not pierced, not flat). After some initial trial and error, I thought 'there has to be an easier way'. Then using a factory round as a gauge occurred to me. It was smooth sailing after that. They only thing I did differently is that I'm using a 4th die to put a factory crimp, so I backed off a bit on the bullet seating die to prevent over-crimping before I dialed the seating knob down til I felt it touch the tip of the factory round. Gotcha, I'm not changing the settings, I'm only making target/IDPA rounds (124 or 147 gr FMJ).

I waded through some troubles getting the flare/powder die and the bullet seating die set to the right depths. I had a few where the bullet would go in too far, b/c I flared the mouth too much. I had a few where the mouth buried itself into the copper jacket or deformed the case, b/c I didn't flare it enough. Once I got that right, I messed up a few more trying to get the bullet seating depth right. I finally got the right amount of flare and the correct OAL. I carried my first 50 rounds to the range today to try them out. Since this was my first batch, I wanted to hide under the bench while I pulled the trigger. I had my daughter with me, so I didn't, though. A couple that didn't go boom and a couple that didn't feed right. They were near the front of the batch, though. The rest worked as good as the factory loads I shot after I ran out of mine. I don't know if it's my perception or what, but they seemed like pretty clean loads. They were fairly light too, which is just what I was going for. I was using 124 gr Ranier FMJ, very clean once-fired brass, and 4.2 gr of Bullseye.

The kind of education he gave that extra is not the kind of message you deliver soft and sweet. Soft and sweet may work when teaching someone BEFORE they pick up a gun. During the act of waving one around...you gotta make sure they realize how serious what they're doing wrong really is. Way to go Tom. +1 on the "what were doing on the Perez Hilton site.