calishootr

buy brass??? hehehe i used to do the reloader bendover hunting for brass, now im pretty well set for brass of all calibers, tho between the high(er) prices on ammo and that most scrap places are accepting pistol/rifle empties our local ranges are pretty well picked clean, left up to me, i'd rather hunt than pony upthe cash...

back in the day, i had a lee single stage press which was finefor what i was doing, then i got into competitive shooting...realizing that i was burning on average 300 rds per week, and it was taking me all week to load em forthe weekend, then to start all over again in a big vicious cyclei said no more...plus do the math...1200 pulls on a single stage for 400 rds or 400 and be done with it??? recently it took me 2 hrs to load up 500 rds of rifle on my 550...

im notorious for running mine pretty wet all ofthe time, it has worked for me, cept it did bite me in the butt up in reno nv. where the dirt/sand is like talcum powder and mixed w/ gunoil becomes a paste/valve lapping compound...like was said earlier i use grease, but untill the summertime, the colder months FP-10... side note i just got back from a weekend of squirrel shooting and it never got above 28 degrees, my rifle was lubed with FP-10 and ran like a champ all weekend

some clubs out here have safety group walk thru''s before the match is up and running to de-bug just such a stage.... kudo's to you for not taking that shot/risk

minor power factor across the board??? please....if they do...im gonna go shoot cowboy action...ooops need a wardrobe...

CCI's are supposedly the hardest ofthe bunch, the federals are the softest, very desireable by my revolver shooter friends who have really lightened triggers, me??? ive run CCI's with no probs whatso ever, as for bullets, the berry's are a plated bullet that people either love or hate, some have good luck with em and they can shoot decent groups with em, and others have trouble gettin patterns with em....again me??? i sucked up the price a long time ago and went true jecketed(MG) and havent looked back, the prices have gone up(what in our sport hasnt) but i KNOW what im gettin with the MG's, and am really confident in their product to provide me excellent groups

for my 3-gun rifle its got an older adjustable JP in it, but in recent months ive played with, and liked the Jard series of triggers, both adjustable and non, the non is literally a drop in/plug an play, and last month i put in an ajustable Jard in what is my varmint gun, and WOW...really nice, takes a bit of work to get it 'right' but man is it light and crisp, handed it to a friend, who is pretty finicky about his triggers and he was impressed, one drawback, is that depending on your particular frame, you might have to tap the hole for the grip screw all the way thru(if it isnt already, mine wasnt)

bear trap activators have become some of my favorites, i like our drop turners from GT, but the lead weights have worn, and now they are wickedly fast, the newbies just stand and stare...what was that??? can be heard, past that, a club inthe bay area had this mockup of a door with a opening about 3x5 inches in it that you had to shoot thru typically at a popper usually at 35 yrds to OPEN the door so you could finish the rest ofthe course(that popper was the FIRST thing you hadto shoot, otherwise the rest ofthe stage could not be engaged from the confines ofthe bathroom/closet)

upgrade??? mine is from 1989??? ish and has well over 250,000 rds on it and I've YET to crack a handle on it like my friend's, which i will attribute to him being a over zealous shotgun reloader and not realizing that loading pistol doesnt require near the amount of force, have ya seen the size of the handle of a MEC 9000??? like one of those billy clubs for fishin, and at least for me, its a workout loading shotgun shells on it

about the only thing is use Bullseye for anymore is that 2.7 gr load for target .38 wadcutters(nuttin better in my humble opine) i found it in anything else is basically a 'harsh' recoiling powder, andthere is so much outthere that is better, as for breaking guns??? ive only seen it do that if domeone isnt paying attention and doubles the charge in the case(very easy to do withthe minimal charges of bullseye that are used)

only one that i have personally seen break was off of a friend's machine, who was a shotgunner by trade and loaded ALOT of shotgun shells and as i learned you haveto apply alot of force to mold those plastic hulls, well he applied the same amount of force to his Dillon's handle and....SNAP.....he now knows that loading pistol doesnt take near as much force, almost delicate by comparision...

as for mine(first gen limcat turbocomp) using lots of 3n37 and cci primers you get a LARGE fireball everytime, not that i pay attention to it, but fellow shooters say its fairly impressive, and has on occasion set alight some hay bales that were made into ports(silly people hehehe)

assuming they have come aways since the days ofthe 'jet' comp, i watched a 'jet' comp w/ copious amounts of AA 7 get chewed up in only one season, it would throw sparks as the owner shot it, then we made a pointto measure the baffles once a month and were surprised to see wear....but for me i like a steel comp, love a good boat anchor hehehe

go with the Limcat...Johnny does a great job on em and if you have any problems he is 'semi-local' in that it is a short drive to reno or he comes down here to shoot in northern cali pretty much all the time, and to run into him and have him fix it on the range is not that unusual, he was really goodto me when i got both of mine, the probs i had, were, like i said, fixed at a match

clean it first, then you can inspect itfor any undesireable type cases and or cracks and dents, be kind to your dies, dont reload dirty bras in em, it will make em lastthat much longer

at last check the large dillon tumbler will do roughly 2500 9mm cases at a time??? run it 2 to 3 hrs per batch you mite be done in a couple days...

3.4 is a lil light to be makin major(least in mine) and im running a 13 lb spring in it

try handloads.com??? somthing like that, they have lots of loads for both pistol and rifle, like anything else with reloading take that info w/ a grain of salt, always start low and work your way up...

an i thought that damned texas star w/ the counter rotating shoot/no-shoot stuff behind it was bad....

i shot a first gen IMM gun a while back, andthe thing i did notice was that it was LOUD...and more concerningto me, was thatthe 'shockwave' instead of being around me and basically punishing the RO's, stopped right at my chest, sort of felt like someone with a big rubber mallet thumpin me on the chest with each shot...started to blink and flinch w each shot after only a couple mags with the thing...

for me its not about softening up any 'felt' recoil, been there, done that, with sections of mycarta stuffed in there, im usin em to extend the life of my frame from being beaten up excessively...i know, the shok-buff debate is about as long as 9mm vs. .45.... if ya use em, like any other part inthe gun, check em for wear, change em before a 'big' match, if anything, for piece of mind than anything else

also there mite be some sort of headspace/unlocking/timing problem w/ the aftermarket(i recall you were running one???) barrel??? drop the factory in and see if it continues??? if it still persists, you can borrow my G22 forthe GSSF match at yolo if you want???

assuming you bought a 625 revo??? they need to be used with moonclips, the moonclips will hold the round in the proper position for a primer strike, otherwise as you found out, more often than not the round will sink down to the chamber mouth, and the firing pin will not be able to get at it to put a proper amount of force to set off the round, use the moonclips i think you will find out your enjoyment of your new pistol will improve greatly

apply reasonable caution w/ the primer tubes andyou will be fine, i have also heard of 'events' w/ the 650's priming system, but as was said before, keeping the equipment clean and serviceable, and dont 'force' things your gonna be ok, and by all means WEAR EYE PROTECTION when loading....cant say that enuff....

i realize that email is an great tool, but i still like to place a call, that being said, i do know of a former local smith that had a niche for one particular gun, and if you called him about the status of yours, yours would go to the bottom of the pile...lucky for him, he was never out of work, despite that business tactic not being the greatest...