musicman

Ditto.

I like #3 best, and am strangely drawn to #1 as well, even though I'm not used to the finger hole design. Looks interesting.

Haha! Makes sense. Yea, it's a good idea to try it in a few guns before committing to making a bunch of any round. For instance, my first M&P which is a full size, ran fine with a particular load. I went home and made 150 more. Tried them in a new M&P compact... no go. I imagine the shorter spring in the compact, as well as it having probably 3-4k fewer rounds through it conspired to cease cycling. Enjoy the new hobby... you're hooked!

Great to hear! Very likely that the load you are shooting is below normal factory velocity/pressure. Of course, paper and pop cans can't tell the difference, so rock on! :-)

I lub my guns. I really do! Since I lub them, they have never given me any problems yet. :-)

I would suggest loading up a few different power levels. Many starting 9mm loads won't have enough oomph to cycle stiffly sprung guns. When starting new bullet/powder combo I usually do 10-15 each of about 3 or 4 loads, depending on how wide the charge weight range is. I usually space them about .2 or .3 gr apart, as most 9mm loads are roughly .8-1.4gr min to max spread. It's a big deal for me to try a bunch at a time, because I don't get to the range often and I can't shoot at home. I need to make sure I have enough loads worked up to find a good one on my first time out so I can pick one and then get to cranking them out. Also, I've decided to stick to 124gr bullets for plinking as I feel they allow me a little more wiggle room with cycling. Caveat: I'm not a professional, and have not tried a whole ton of powder/bullet combos as 9 is a new caliber to me. I just felt like the starting and even medium loads for many powders with 115gr bullets would not cycle properly in 3 of my guns. I had to get much closer to max than I like for plinking loads. When I moved up to 124gr I still experienced the same with starting loads, but once I bumped up to the middle of the range the function with most powders became 100%. The only powder I've not been satisfied with in 9mm is Zip. I've fallen in love with the Accurate Arms powders, especially 2 and 5. Let us know what you find out!

This Abraham Laboriel tries out his new Wyn Fretless: http://youtu.be/XPSriFxA6r0

Find another $150, a used 21, and do both! :-D

As I understand it, the inner workings of the Colt designs are such that they are VERY labor intensive and even at $1k, they wouldn't be making money on them. Rugers are dead simple inside, and generally the Smiths are a happy medium between the two. In these days of MIM mass production and less skilled labor, the business case for the Python just isn't what it used to be.

I've never heard of it, or the company. Looks interesting, though. If it shows to be consistent and becomes locally available at a reasonable price I'd be down.

I'd save up for this. I also hope this would be a great boon for local shops who routinely lose sales due the "Tennessee Tithe" on purchases, as I like to call it.

I'd keep the 6". I will never carry a full size revolver in any concealed capacity. If I was wearing it for show, the 6" is still the winner. The point of a 357 is its great ballistics. You get more of that with a 6" barrel. I will say though, a 3" S&W 686 is probably the most beautiful gun ever made.

Sweet!

For a cheap hi-cap 9, the Smith SD9 is around $300 new. A little more gets you a nice metal framed EAA Witness or a used Smith 2nd or 3rd gen auto, Cougar, Taurus 92 copy or similar. I'd lean towards the Smiths or a Witness, but that's just my preference.

Me me me me!! I have a Witness Elite Match 10MM that I LOVE! Amazingly well built and tuned piece, for under $600! Super smooth action, crisp trigger, and one hefty sumbeech. It's probably my favorite semi-auto to shoot. It's also incredibly comfy to shoot... even wifey likes it!

Another Vortex fan here. I have their cheap (Paid $150 new, shipped around black Friday) Crossfire II on my M&P10 and it's super clear and sharp all the way to the full 18x at 200yds, which is the farthest I've seen through it so yet.

I peed a little.

Done, too! My friends will be so happy when these get here, because I'll finally shut up about how anxious I am to see them! :-D

I used to use MOG which was bought out by Beats about a year ago. I've continued to use Beats, though I preferred the MOG layout/interface better. $10/month and I can stream whatever I want as well as download albums to my phone. I generally use this option and do the downloads while I'm on wifi to reduce my data consumption. The Beats interface is kinda bulky and functions like creating playlists take another step or two than the MOG setup did. I find that not all services have the same catalogs available, and they change... not juat adding new things, but some times you'll go to pull up something you've already downloaded and find out it's gone now, having been pulled from the library. Sometimes it'll come back, sometimes not. It's rare, but it happens. I imagine it's a band's/label's way to get you hooked on something for cheap/free and then try to coax you into actually purchasing the music at retail. I am a picky sunnavagun when it comes to music. I absolutely despise advertising, and I HATE radio because I hate having to listen to 8 crap songs to jear one good one. I am not one of those people who say "I like all music, I listen to anything." That's balogna. Most music is garbage, especially now. Also, when I find a band I like, I want to listen to their entire catalog and follow their growth. (Most good bands definitely change throughout their career.) Also, my wife is logged into my account on her phone and can listen to whatever terrible pop/trash she wants, too. When I worked at Gibson there was a group of 5 or 6 of us that all used MOG when it was still around. When it transitioned to Beats, two of them went to Spotify, but both decided to join Beats after a few months. I don't remember their gripes, but it may just boil down to the familiarities with the old MOG platform we were all used to experiencing.

You'll most likely get by with the 3 die set, but I gotta say the FCD is great. No chance of a round that won't chamber. For me, it's worth the extra step.

Cool!

Cool beans. That's exactly what I needed to hear. :-) I really like those kinda rubbery Ergo grips and have one on the gun I'm thinking about spraying... guess I'll need to swap that for a Magpul or something, as I'm sure a softer rubber would lead to paint splits/cracks/peeling with use. :/

Easy. Out of those two, I pick the Shield. :-)

Ok, I still haven't done this yet... spring maybe? Anyways, I read back through your OP and I have a question... did you spray brake cleaner over EVERYTHING? Plastic stock, rubbery grip, etc? I'm just curious if the brake cleaner had any negative effect on poly surfaces... I know it can be pretty tough stuff.

I won't kick you while you're down, Tercel. I'm at roughly the same stage of life where play money isn't flowing as freely as I like. I'm getting a few guns a year, but not one every time I walk into a gun shop. Also, my wife is the saver, and I am the spender so yes, she usually stops my less-than sane purchase ideas before I get in trouble. While it's frustrating at times, I'm thankful for her. We are now debt free except our mortgage, which we are knocking down ahead of schedule and we always have money for food and necessities. On behalf of TGO, thanks for the heads up on a great pistol!