doc38

TGO, you are right. I shouldn't have posted here. This thread obviously isn't the place for a new shooter's perspective. Where's the door around here, anyway? I will try not to let it hit me in the rear on my way out.

Here is one new guy's perspective. I like revolvers. I daily carry revolvers or single stack 1911s. I am going to buy an 8 shot revolver, a 627. I will shoot wherever I can. USPSA, IDPA, whatever. Right now I will shoot my 625 JM and be happy. I sincerely wish I had known enough about the game end of USPSA to buy a 627 to start with, but, hey, I have made mistakes before. A 4" 625 is still the boss IDPA ESR revolver until they change something.. There are a lot of things I do not like about USPSA and IDPA as well. I know nothing about the other revolver games. I just know that for me, a revolver makes the most sense and I will compete anywhere I can with mine. It would be nice to win a trophy or advance in the rankings to master or GM one day, but I am basically using the whole sport as a problem solving exercise anyway. At my age and in my physical condition I don't see too many trophies in the future. The harder the odds are stacked in favor of a semi auto the more I benefit. If you are ever going to learn anything, your reach has to exceed your grasp. I shoot weekly fun stuff with a USPSA revo master. I can't beat him if I am shooting my Cz. I really don't think 6 shots, 8 shots is going to be a factor in my performance until I learn a lot. I guess to sum it up, three things I just don't care much about. One, what someone with beu coup money is shooting. I don't have millions, and wouldn't spend it on revolvers or any other guns I can't carry daily, anyway. Two, what someone with forty years and several trips to the nationals is scoring. I CAN'T beat them until I invest the time to get the skill. (Or until they get decrepit ) 3 I don't give a rat turd about some kind of gun I wouldn't carry daily. I see the other divisions as being as different as a shotgun or a rifle. I just don't care if folks can shoot clay pigeons with their shotgun. I flat don't care if folks can shoot 30 rounds with out a reload. What I do care about is My ability to make A zone hits rapidly, repeatedly, and not fumble reloads or make bad decisions under the stress of competition. I suppose all the rules and such make a difference if you are the competitive sort. I am pretty much here to learn. I like revolvers, I daily carry revolvers, I hunt with revolvers, so I will shoot revolver . I almost bought an 8 shot 357, anyway, and would have but for IDPA. A 5" N frame, 8 shot 357 is a mean piece of hardware on the deer blind, calling coyotes, and under my sports coat at church on Sunday. If I can load it with specials or short Colts on Saturday afternoon and get some trigger time, great. Until I get the money for one, I will shoot my 4" 625 and be happy.

I think I kind of answered my own question. You guys just re enforced it.

I want to get an 8 shooter. I guess my question is regarding the 38/.357. Is the 627 a dead letter with the new 929 on the market? I LIKE .357/38 special. I would also EDC a 627 with 357 loads and feel great about it. I LOVE 5" N frames. Would be crippled with a 627 shooting short Colts for competition? Is the 929 just easier for folks to feed, or are there some other real advantages to it? My life would be easier to stick with 38/.357 because I already load huge amounts of ammo for those calibers. I am 100% confident in .357 for deer and varmints ( two and 4 legged) and I have found 5" barrels to be about the best EDC in large revolvers.

I was worried about this for a while. From everything I have studied, dust and smoke from primers is the culprit. I am transitioning to wet media tumbling. The rest of it is just good hygene. I don't worry a second about casting lead bullets, other than just basic hygene.

I am just starting out, too. Unclassified as yet. I can easily shoot all Alphas. I can even get through stages that required no movement about as fast as the really good shooters. I just suck at moving. Being 45 yo, fat, and stiff from a lot of hard manual labor in years past works against me. The best encouragement I ever got came from a real old timer. He said " You can't miss fast enough to win" The way I look at it, Coming to this game already old, slow and fat just gives me the incentive to do two things. One, get technically perfect. No wasted movement. Nothing but Alphas. Second, get in better shape. I shoot revolver, too, which forces me to slow down and make good hits. I tend to " get excited" when I shoot 1911 or Cz. My plan is to just practice each element until I have it down cold. Get in better shape, and One day, of I live long enough, I will be a master or GM. This game is SIMPLE. it is not EASY. GO as fast as you can shoot well, and get faster all the time. That and magic diet pills!

I call those guys pocket knife collectors. There never was a gun that was made that doesn't have " a gold trigger", isn't " custom shop", doesn't have " All the papers with it".If you look at wally world early in the morning you will see the same fellows buying all the 22 ammo. I guess that is the down side of capitalism. I am sure it beats any other system. Being the end user type I just can't understand buying something on speculation.

Found some ClayDOt. Bought 8 lbs. I hope it isn't a mistake.

I stumbled on SR7625 by accident. It is " da bomb" in 9mm, lead loads. little smoke, soft recoil, low report. FAIRLY thrifty. I heard Hogdon is discontinuing the "SR" powders this year. Figures.

I have had more trouble with 9mm than any other round I have ever loaded for. Different bullet shapes, different chamber sizes, widely varying brass length and internal dimensions are some of the problems. Fast twist, shallow rifling, and varying bore sizes ( although the newer guns seem to be closer to .355 across the board) make 9mm a challenge. I have finally arrived at a load that works in my Cz75b with about any old range pick up brass and my home cast bullets. It just takes time, effort, and watching all the little stuff. There is a lot of good advice on this thread. All I would add is that the more consistent the brass is the easier your job is. For me, being a tightwad, buying 1k new brass and working with it is out of the question. My loads are good enough for what I do with them. If I were a competitive shooter, really trying to bring home trophies, I would certainly pay a lot more attention to the uniformity of my brass. Prolly wouldn't use home made, range scrap wheel weight spit wads for bullets, either. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to load match grade ammo with crap components. If you are willing to spend more on components you can make some pretty good ammo.

I loaded 100 rounds with Winchester Primers, and got 11 or 12 FTF. I just ordered 3K Federal Large Pistol Magnum. I hear back and forth ideas all the way from " Don't ever deviate from a published load" to stuff that will scare you. I think I will be O.K. if I reduce the powder charge and work back up. My loads are no where near max, anyway. I sure will be glad when the ammo companies ramp up production to meet some of the new demand. I was reading FRONT SIGHT the other day. It looks like USPSA is growing, and so is Sporting Clays. 3 Gun is more and more popular. We just had two local girls only shooting clubs open here; Well armed Woman and Girls with Guns, or some such. My Concealed carry classes are full, and over half the students are new shooters. If we get more trained, responsible shooters out there our right to keep and bear arms is more secure. On the other hand, if we can't get ammo or components, what is the point? I can understand the ammo companies make more on loaded ammo than on components, but volume shooters are here for the long run. Most all of us reload. I wonder if a thread on where the components are would be appropriate? Until things get regulated to the new normal it is going to be hard to find anything to shoot.

I finally got al the bugs worked out with my loads for the 625. I just requires more attention to detail. 1911s and 625s have different "deal breakers" and we should be using better practices anyway. I have found a lot of 1911 brass has a ding on the head from ejectors that will cause cylinder binding on a moon clip revolver. Revolver ammo needs a crimp to stop bullet pull. If you crimp a cast bullet too much you can "resize " it down. Bullets smaller than the throats will definitely lead the barrel, no matter what lube or alloy you use. Last, 45 acp revolver bullets need a harder alloy than semi autos because the bullet will "skid" when it hits the rifling. It has gotten up a lot more momentum and it will not engage the rifling well if the alloy is soft. What I have found to work is keep revolver brass separate, use a harder alloy for all my 45 acp bullets.I haven't tried water quenched wheel weight alloy, but I think it may be best of all. Simplest, too. I have heard a lot of comments about reaming the chambers on a 625. Mine hasn't had that done, and I am loading great ammo for it now with no real extra work, just being more careful to use good practice. We did POLISH the chambers and CHAMFER the chamber mouths. The plain fact is I was making crap ammo, and my 1911 would eat it, 625 won't.

700x is all I can find locally. Not a bad price from several different suppliers. I am going to pick up 8lbs. Monday or Tuesday. I can't find Federal primers anywhere. I am down to 3k for Large pistol, and 5 k for small pistol. Having to pay $40+ for 1k here.

I went to a local gun show today and found 3k Federal Match small pistol. All the other guys that were selling reloading supplies just laughed at me. This fellow had 3k, so I bought them. Also, there was 22 LR there! a fellow had a table full of 22 LR, and most of it was $12 a box ( of 50) and up. Bricks were only $70! Some stuff that comes in every week in Wal Mart and gets bought scalpers. It is still selling for twenty something a brick In Walmart.I told him I hoped he was able to buy a truck load! I am praying Walmart will put an end cap with a pallet of the for $18 a brick soon.

THat was the reason for the post. I bought 5k S&B. Not a darn one would go off in my K 38. Had a few FT in my stock Cz. no problems in my G17 even though I had a lighter mainspring. Pretty much useless to me. been sitting there for 2 years now.