musicman

Excellent. I meant to say "don't buy any equipment until you have a better idea of what you want." in my last post, but wifey was bugging me about something so I cut it short. I don't have any 9mm stuff, but I do have the dies, primers, and powders suitable for 45. If you can find them, just get 100 or so 230gr FMJ bullets to bring with you. I've got a few hundred 45 brass cases, and I'll let you start with some of those. If just bring bullets, you'll leave my house with 50 rounds you've loaded yourself. :-)

What are you wanting to load? It won't take but one sitting to learn what to do, but I highly suggest/recommend/require you read the info section of a reloading manual first. I like the Lee book, but of course, I use Lee equipment. (Til I get the cash to buy Dillon!) I'm in Smyrna and would be happy to show a newbie the ropes. In fact, there was a nice dude in Franklin that I visited before I started, and he taught me a LOT!

LOL... you all have wasted about 12 minutes of my time, dadgummit! :rant:  :rofl:   Ugh... I "left" the forum years ago out of uh.. I guess personal shame and economic reasons as I dealt with losing my business and over a year of unemployment (of course, with no unemployment benefits of any sort because I was previously self-employed) that forced me out of actively participating in the firearms hobby.  Everybody's been super cool and friendly as I've started to join the outside world again, and I've been very thankful for the care from a few certain members that reached out to see how I was doing over the past few years.  It meant, and still means, al lot.   Through God's blessing we are now out of debt and able to enjoy some nice things again.  I've shot more in the last month than I have in the preious two years!  It's a little weird being back... I remember being part of tons of conversations on the boards and uh... maybe a little of a postwhore myself, but I just don't feel like I have as much to add any more.  I still read a lot and have posted a bit, but I don't know if it'll be the same for me again here or not.   Regardless of how weird I am and all, I'm very glad for this forum and (most :ugh: ) of the members here.  This place proves there are many, many good people out there and I hope that recent events are bringing more of those good people into conversation with each other.  Sure, we're getting some profiteers and morons in with the tide, but my hope is that they will recede and leave us with a greater, stronger, and more unified group of pro2A people here at TGO.   Thanks for letting me be a part, whether I ever hit 10k posts or not! :wave:

'Nuther M&P fan here.

Titegroup for maximum efficiency (generally the least amount of powder for each round, meaning maximum charges/pound) Another vote as well for HP38/W231. TG won't give you max velocity, but you can load a crap-ton of bullets with a pound of the stuff, and it's been very consistent for me. I never really thought about powder economy until I started loading 20+ gr of H110 in some applications... 300 rounds and I'd be through a can of the stuff! I can get almost 2000 38s with TG. :-)

OOS :-(

A co-worker paid $100 for a Colt AR mag from CTD last week.    Yea.  They are paying $30-40 for mags.  That's actually not as obscene.  I paid $20 for a few a couple weeks ago.  A couple months ago I paid $12 each.  I'd buy more at $20 each right now.

My Academy in Smyrna has pretty much all .40 in stock. That Winchester bonded stuff is just $21.99/box. I got plenty :-D

Sssoooooo I couldn't get the tools marks I'm talking about to show up in a pic. I decided the dremel and mild automotive compound combo couldn't hurt so I gave that a go. I used KIT Scratch-Out and buffed on a medium-low speed for probably 5 minutes all together. It's nice and shiny now, but the underlying markings are still there. :-( I didn't have any 2000+ grit sandpaper on hand so I didn't bother with that. We'll see how she shoots this weekend, hopefully.

Sorry for your troubles getting gear, etc, JWinter. I'm just lucky I'm a hoarder!! :-)

C'mon David, like you haven't tweaked your M&P? ;-) I'll take a pic tonight and see if what I'm talking about shows up in pictures. It's clearly visible in person. Just like my guitars, I want to fix the little things I don't like in this gun.

Thanks for the advice, all. Early on (first 250-300 rds) I had about 7-8 failures to feed, with rounds seeming to stop halfway up the ramp. Other times, even though it would eventually completely cycle and go into battery, cycling felt slow and jerky, almost like the nose was climbing stairs to get into the chamber. I was actually expecting a few ftfs in the IDPA match I recently participated in but fortunately they didn't happen. I've thought about calling S&W for a fluff n buff, but I don't want to be without my gun for a few weeks. I imagine they're quite busy these days! Of course, doing nothing but shooting the crap out of it is always an option, too. I was just wanting to see what was involved in a feed ramp polish. So far it seems about like what I thought. I'm hoping to put 2-300 rds through it this Saturday. If it runs flawlessly, I'll probably just let it be. If not, I may give it a go. :-)

I have a dremel, a vise, and a good idea of what to do, but I'm looking for specifics as to what compounds and polishing bits to use. The gun is fairly new and has roughly 900 rounds to it. I was hoping the feed ramp would wear in faster, but it still is not smooth to the touch and you can see small, horizontal machining ribs along the ramp. I'd like to just smooth those out without removing any measurable amount of metal. Thanks!

Thanks for the heads-up Rickey! I'll make sure to talk to them next time.

I rode with some buddies so I didn't really pay attention to the time, but I would say it was just 35-45 minutes or so. First Sunday of every month. See you there! Yea, comptacs are awesome!

and it was AWESOME!!!  I shot my completely stock S&W M&P 40 full size and had zero malfs. There were plenty of misplaced shots, but zero malfs.  :surrender:   I brought 5 mags and had them prepped for each round, but never needed more than 3.  Everyone was really friendly and put up with my stupid questions and my slow times.  The only holster I had was a serpa, and I will be replacing it SOON!  I know it cost me a good amount of time being super careful with that tab.  It really pointed out some flaws in my carry philosophy shooting like that.  Oh, and I am TERRIBLE shooting from prone!  BLECH!!   I came in a solid 27th of 29 competitors!  :yuck:   Anyways, I had a great time and I can't wait to do it again.    And I think there's a long-slide 9mm (probably XD or M&P Pro) in my future.  :x:

Hey, I'm sorry but I'm going to drop out of the passaround. We've had a recent death in the family and I'm just out of free time for awhile. Y'all have fun without me! ;-)

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside after watching that.

Hot dang!!! I guess that'll be enough.

Any of those Tula primers left, David?

I've know Brian for about 5 years now and let me tell ya folks, he's good people. Also, his basses are PHENOMENAL!! Seriously some of the finest instruments you'll ever play. He also carries the very best from other brands like Fodera, Surine, Ritter, Lakland, and then of course has lots of sweet vintage stuff and tons of amps/gear. Welcome to TGO dude! Glad you're making yourself heard here. :-)

Sup Brian. Who's the promoter for this show? I'm not familiar with any show in Hendersonville, but I'm going to be up there that Saturday. Any idea what the entrance fee is?

Sounds like the retired Sheriff in Williamson county teaching his HCP students that there is firearms registration in TN, and you can only carry the gun you used to qualify for your permit.

Crikey!!! Bet you're going to get much better mileage on the way home with an empty trailer! :-)

We gotta see pics of the 15-2! Great gun!