jaysouth

Prices seem reasonable, but no details on the site about lube or alloy content.   Most bullet casters advertise 'hard' alloys.  At pistol speed, you do not need a hard alloy and often times this will cause leading.  A softer alloy  in the neighborhood of 10-12 Brinell really shines in .38 and .45 ACP.  The softer alloy gives a better seal in the bore and eliminates leading in the 700-800 FPS range.

These bullets are lubed and ready to load.   Regarding tumbling 'factory' cast loads;  I used to buy 165 gr. .308 bullets from Magnus (www.magnusbulletcompany.com).  They came with lube grooves well filled with a blue lube.  I experimented with tumbling their bullets in 50% Aloz/Xlox, 40% clear mineral spirits and 10% cooked off Johnson's paste wax.     Results were cleaner bore with less scrubbing and less smoke.     Now I cast my own from a Ranch Dog mold.  Tumble lightly, size, tumble again lightly for great hunting and range loads.   Your results may vary, but with cast pistol velocities, you should not need to lube bullets from MB, Magnus, Penn, etc.

I have discovered their are TWO companies named Mastercast.  One is mastercastbullets.com, in Ill, and a mastercast.org in Penn.   Both owners are named Mike, just so you can tell them apart.  The one that I am ordering from is mastercastbullets.com.   I will give you a range report when they come in and get loaded and fired.

I was in the Jackson store yesterday.  I did not see any ammo.  Gun prices were absurd.  I stopped in to look at their display of rangefinders. two of the dozen they had out for display worked or had power.     I kick myself every time I stop at gets-my-gander.

Hmm...............I thought Herters went out of business before the .223 was invented.  However there are others if you want to use such a 'template'.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner

Just to get a feel for your question, what does optimum load mean to you.  Is it the most accurate, cleanest shooting, hardest hitting, or most economical?  Of the four choices I enumerated, you usually only get two.   I have an M&P9 that I load for.  My "optimum" load is 4.5 grs. HP-38 under a 124 cast TC bullet.  It is more accurate than I can hold it, provides enough pressure to obturate that base of the bullet, makes the slide cycle reliably and dumps empty cases about three feet away from my right foot.  At that level of pressure and velocity, brand of primers and cases is immaterial.   I have not chronographed the load, but it's at the low end of the published data.  If I were going to use the gun for self defense,  my "optimum" load would be Federal 3 inch #4 buckshot(41 .25 pellets).  I know, that's not a 9mm load, but that's just me.

The French, nachurally.       Cou Rouge tonjours

Prices seem reasonable and they have most of their bullets in stock.   www.mastercastbullets.com

3d Gen have a 4 digit serial number, as in 6904.  Last digit indicates finish, 4 = blue, 6 indicates Stainless   2d Gen have a 3 digit serial number, as in 469.  First digit indicates finish, 4 = blue   1st Gen have a 2 digit serial number, as in 69 (not sure that there was a 1st gen 69, but there was a 39 and 59).   Number 5 in first or last digit on model number = blue finish carbon steel   The price is good if the gun is in good mechanical condition.  How many mags come with it? These are strudy, reliable, and slick guns that you will NOT wear out.  The double stack 469 and the single stack 3913 have the same slides.  3 1/2 inch barrels.  My experience is that they will shoot anything you can cram in a magazine.    For information overload on this gun, go to www.smith-wessonforum.com and do a search.

It stayed on course longer than most of my OPs do. LOL

Those E landers look good.  Has anyone got any practical experience with them?  2-3 months seems like a long time to wait, but I guess that is the "new normal".

Nashville Sporting Arms on Charlotte Pike is selling used GI AR mags for $20.   They had a couple of new steel H&Ks and a couple of Brownells for $35.

A basic economic principle is that future uncertainty in a market produces spikes in prices.  I don't see anything but uncertainty in the future of sporting goods/ammo/components/guns/mags.  I am still shooting out of a stash of primers that I bought pre-obama for $19 per thousand.

I am interested in meeting and putting a face on 'handles'.

A-H reloading on 4th Ave, S. in Nashville.

AH is selling lead ingots at $ .75 per pound.  Exact composition unknown but a good guess is that it's lead with some wheel weights mixed in, some oxidation.  Also had some pure lead sheets.

I once had this discussion with a BATFE supervisor.  According to him if you buy one gun with the express intent of selling it and making a profit, you need a license to do so.   If you have collected a thousand guns over a lifetime and  start to dispose of them in your old age, that's OK.  Caviat:  Good documentation needed.   If the BATFE was a bad as some think, they could arrest dozens of folks at every gun show held.  I have seen 'door hawks' buy guns and resell them without moving 20 feet.  If I can spot em', the BATFE should have a no brainer arrest.

I went to the goodman show today.  It will be my last show until this insanity stops.  There were a thousand people in line, the space inside looked like a mob scene.  The prices were obscene.  a buck a round for AR ammo, $1,500 for Romanian AKs and 2,000 for run of the mill ARs.   Half the people there were not 'gun show' people.  Everyone was looking for the last bargain before obama takes all our guns, or that seemed to be the mindset of the vendors I regularily talk to.   It sure would be nice if someone promoted a show closed to everyone but reloaders, casters and hunter.  I am sick of these tired old "gun" shows filled with fake indian artifacts, survival food, hip hoppers and tactifool idiots dressed in black BDUs.   Maybe we could start doing a TGO swapmeet somewhere.   Put your thinking hats on fellow TGOers!  Where can we find a vacant lot where access can be controlled?

Ditto on the red dot, I have one on a Topper single shot 30-30 that I hunt with in the bayous.  It has taken a whole bunch of licks and kept on ticking.  I paid 77 bucks for it as I remember.

A couple of really evil players could lure a cop into an ambush and kill him for his guns.  At a minimum they get his issued handgun, a shotgun or patrol rifle in the trunk and maybe a personally owned backup, and lots of ammo.   How would your ammo tax prevent this secenario?  Or did it cause that scenario?  Would some misguided person who wanted to feel good about their beliefs(anti-gun) create a situation where bad guys were killing just to get ammo to circumvent an exorbiant tax?   Ask the doo gooder is he/she is in favor of killing our police or military. 

Broomhead, PM inbound.   Tsprint1, Many thanks for the offer.  I need an execuse to go to the Reloading Bench but have a hectic schedule for the next couple of weeks.  Thanks again.   Hey folks, Is this a great place with a bunch of great folks or what?

I bought a used rifle that had the scope mount holes on the action boogered up.  I would like to drill out the holes from 6-48 to 8-40.  I will supply drill bit and screw tap.   I took the gun to Nashville Armory, they wanted a minimum of $90 to do the job.  They have to eat too, but that was excessive for the work involved.

I start with MINIMUM loads and work up looking for accuracy.  I will take accuracy over speed any day.  No crow, coyote, paper target, beer can or ground hog can tell the difference between 2800 fps and 3200 fps.   I am working my way through an 8# jug of H-335.  When that is gone, I have 5# of Ball C to start on. 

Tonight I was listening to the preeminent firearms expert, Rachael maddow, on MSNBC.   She was talking about plastic pistols like Glock that would pass through metal detectors without setting off an alarm?   What does this deranged progressive pervert know that we don't?  Is this abject ignorance or an agenda that she is pushing?   Sadly, there are members of her audience who believe this to be true.