UW Mitch

Usually if there's a potential 180 hazard or a turn then draw situation I remind people at the beginning of the stage. But I always find it disappointing when someone violates a rule and has to go home. It's what has to be done so that people understand the seriousness of the safety rules. Shrug it off - I hate to say it, but DQ's are just a part of this sport - some are more careful about this than others. ~Mitch

Good choice

What's awesome is when it's marked as delivered, you call the FFL and he says he hasn't seen the package yet. And then your butt cheeks are puckered until you get a call back the FFL called the business next door and they have your gun! ~Mitch

Montana Gold Bullets are my favorite

//like//

Sigh...guess it's good I bought at least some ammo last year when it was on sale. Guess I have to make sure I have enough components to keep me going through the election. ~Mitch

Here's a sub-minor data point for you: --For a powder puff plate load I was using 3.0gr of TG with a 147gr West Coast bullet (over 5 years ago) - that load is definitely sub-minor. ~Mitch

Good thing we dropped them a few years ago, and just re-fi'ed the house and got sold to someone else ~Mitch

Thanks for the response. These aren't for match rounds, just for practice and letting friends come out to shoot at the range. ~Mitch

Damn, Phillip from Sierra just called me to personally follow-up and see if the bullets arrived safely and that I was all squared away. I thought the customer service was excellent, but a follow-up phone call just blows my mind. ~Mitch

I try to collect all of my own brass on the rifle range. If I'm shooting near someone who is shooting all factory new ammo and doesn't seem interested in their brass I'll ask "do you reload and/or are you saving your brass" - if no - "do you mind if I collect it?". Usually the answer is yes I can have it It's a sweet way to get once fired brass. At the USPSA matches I leave my brass on the ground so that I can buy it back from Jan (BEForumite: L-10 Shooter). I do this mostly because of focus. When I started I spent some amount of mental effort worrying about my brass. And now that I'm shooting 9 major, and I try to only buy once fired, I'm willing to let someone else have it. Although I did shoot on a squad recently that assigned one person to be the brass tender, AND no one wanted 9 brass AND there were a bunch of production shooters who were shooting factory new ammo - SCORE! ~Mitch

Congrats Larry! That's awesome! ~Mitch

Anyone???

I hate when I see the top C shooter come in ahead of most of the B shooters at an area match...I'm at 59.97 and hoping that a classifier I shot on Saturday is enough to push me over I'm excited about Nationals this year as it'll be my first one, and I'll be fine to be the last place B if I shoot to my potential. ~Mitch

So a BUNCH of years ago I bought a case of 9 and a case of 45 Masterblasters from Tom. He recommended and I used at the time ZIP. When I moved I loaded up bullets until I ran out of ZIP and that was about 4 years ago I still have a decent number of those bullets and I'm sitting on about 3.5lbs of Competition. I think that should be okay if I've done my forum searching right. Anyone run into problems with moly bullets in 9 or 45 and Competition? Seems like some people start off of the lead data and some off of the jacketed data - I suppose it doesn't matter that much where I start if I load a few then chrono, but I'd rather have a start that's close than a start that's way off (or worst way to high). Have a favorite load for 9mm in 125gr or 45acp in 200gr? Thanks, Mitch

Two separate stories, but just connected by timeframe. Sierra - I'm loading some 175gr SMK's in 308 a couple weeks back. Prime a tray of primers into my prepped brass, put 50 in my loading tray, powder and bullet them up. Put another 50 in my loading tray powder and bullet them up...until I come to the last 2 pieces of powdered brass and find only 1 bullet left in the box. Ooops...99 bullets in my box of 100. No big deal, as I also have a big box of pulled bullets from RMR. But I called Sierra with the lot number, just to let them know their counting scale might have been miscalibrated on this batch. The Phillip on the other end of the phone thanks me for the call and asks me for my address. I let him know I don't need him to mail me 1 bullet, that I'm happy to just let them know about the missing one in case other folks from the same lot call in. He said want my address to send me a new box! DAMN! Black Hills. So about 5-7 years ago when I was working at a gun shop/range, the manager tells me the employee price on Black Hills ammo is really good. So I buy 5 boxes and stash them away, only to go out and shoot a box in my AR a couple weekends ago. Being the industrious reloader that I am I go to pick up the brass - and find that EVERY case is split! I save the brass and call Black Hills. He gets the lot number off the boxes then send me a box to ship it all back in. Turns out the ammo I bought was their remanufactured ammo and it was over 15 year old. They just sent me a replacement with 2 extra boxes of ammo in it. I love the fact that customer service is not gone from this world. I call in not to complain or expect something for free, but to help my favorite companies improve their QC and continue to offer a high quality product. But it's customer service that's above and beyond that really reinforces why I'm a loyal customer - great people stand behind their great products. ~Mitch

I would shoot what you will have fun with. Up here in the northwest, there are good shooters in all divisions. When I started out I was shooting IDPA (revolver, CDP, ESP). When I moved to USPSA I started out with a few matches in production, then SS, then eventually I tried everything. When I got my JPL Open Gun, I have really enjoyed shooting it a lot - so that's what I shoot. If SS or production is in line with your shooting goals (self-defense orientation) and/or you're going to be crossing over between IDPA and USPSA, maybe the same gun for both sports would be a good thing. Shoot what will bring you the most joy. ~Mitch

I reload with latex gloves on. So I just dump my brass in the casefeeder, shoot a little Dillon and/or OneShot (yes sometimes I use both) - stir the brass around in the case feeder and go. So much easier I do like the ziplock bag idea...I'll give that a try. ~Mitch

If you have the money and you think you'll be going to other calibers down the road (trust me, you will) then call Brian and get all fixed up with a 650. I started loading on a Lee single stage. I was so excited - I loaded 100 rounds of 45acp in 4 hours. Woohoo! Then after a month I got a Square Deal with a friend and loaded on that for a few years - loaded at about 400 rounds per hour. Then I got more serious into USPSA and got a 650. When my 650 got stolen I was very sad. It was the week before I was moving. After I moved I replaced the 650 with another 650 I still have the Square Deal but don't really use it for anything. The 650 is so easy to use, and I've got loads developed. So it's easier to change over to another caliber (even switch out from small primer to large primer) and crank out 1000 rds than to load something just on the SDB. ~Mitch

THREAD DRIFT: Wait, when you shoot out of a bolt gun you don't clean AT ALL? When I'm shooting my bolt gun during target changes I wipe the residue off the necks, then I deprime and ultrasonic clean later. There's still some powder residue to clean out of the inside of the case, right? ~Mitch

Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? ~Mitch

This probably goes without saying, but make sure to shoot it a bunch after all of your mods are done and before heading from NC to TX. Nothing like figuring out what's wrong with a gun at a match ~Mitch

I always loved when they chrono - before last year I didn't have one of my own, so it was an extra opportunity to gather data on my loads to confirm the data I collected using friends chronos. I've always loaded with a safe buffer to allow for variation in atmospheric conditions. If you're loading your own ammo an "you had no idea your ammo didn't make power factor" then you're a moron for loading without testing. If you're buying ammo, most factory ammo would make PF. It's fun to watch a guy shit himself when they announce a chrono stage! ~Mitch

What a waste of a laptop. Why not just format the harddrive a few times and then donate it somewhere? Sigh...

If you don't "need" anywhere near the max capacity of your magazine, why have to force that last round in. I loadd 21 rounds into my 140mm stick which is a reload - it can fit 23 if I need to, but most of the time I don't even get into the reload since my big stick fits 29 rounds. Also if I really needed to I could start with 29 in a big stick then reload into another big stick with 27 or 28 rounds. ~Mitch