jasond

I started with a lee 4-hole turret, and it's still on my bench next to a secondhand sdb. Neither one gives me much trouble. The turret will get you started- I paid a little over a hundred for it with dies, scale, etc. Extra turrets and dies are cheap too, so it won't hurt as bad to setup for the different calibers. It's auto indexing, so it makes it harder to double charge or skip a case. Lee's trimmers for the rifle are good but slow, like the press. The Lee gets used to load a few oddball rounds here and there, and size rifle cases. The Dillon has got to be triple the speed though, and I don't like reloading.

I'm trying my best against the bottom feeders with my 627 im production. (Some days are better than others). If we have dot sights, etc, then it doesn't count as much. They're already beating me up about the ammo in front this year! We get 0-3 revos at club matches in central florida, and I have enough trouble with 8 round neutral courses. If they let the 8 shooters in revo, I know a few guys that would be in.

My experience is that a lighter bullet same speed shoots lower, which makes sense to me. Faster bullets same weight hit lower though (at close range), which defies logic. Anybody know why?

No, they won't adjust down that far. You have to use the .38 sizer, 9 expander (lets the cases hold the bullets great, too), 9 seater and 9 crimp. I'm using ranier plated, so I have to taper crimp anyway. Somebody here may know if .38 super dies would work instead. Starline brass? You are going to love how much easier it is to reload! It won't be as finicky about the fit of the clips to the brass, either, because there is that much less to wobble around. Using the shorts made me much less bad at this game!

I know the metal markets are volatile, what I'm saying is they need to be up front. I know more than a couple people who use Berry's. I'm loading up the 600 Hornadys as .38 spl, I'll let you guys know how they shoot.

A "lead surcharge" at checkout? If that's true, (and I'll check next time i'm buying), that's one sleazy bait and switch tactic. I did go to Berry's site and saw them for $62, and thought I'd get them there next time.

Oops! I forgot how long I load these things. There's plenty of knurling left showing on the bullet, doesn't look good. I ordered the raniers, i'll load the lead as 38spl plinkers. That way I can use them for matches in a pinch. If I am not mistaken, Berry's are much longer? I've gotta give them a try. Who has them at that price?

I'm going to load some up tonight, 10 ea. @ 3.0grs, 3.1,3.2,3.3 and see how they shoot. I tried hornady hbwc's just as .38spl plinkers awhile ago, and they were very accurate. I shoot .357 jhp's through the gun too, and never find any lead, but I don't remember whether the hornadys smoked much. I wasn't getting great accuracy out of the ranier plated bullets until I backed way off the crimp, but they go into about 2-1/2" now, good enough for uspsa. I've never seen any 9x19 data for bullets this heavy. I can get red dot for $50/4 lbs through my club, and it works, so I'm not about to try anything else. I'll let you guys know how it works out after I try them.

I've been using 158 raniers in short colt cases, 3.3 red dot and 1.150 oal. the load works great, but every time i order bullets they're $5 more. i have a couple boxes of hornady 158 lrns to try. i'll reduce it and work up, but what should I expect? will it take less to make PF? i get about 132 now.

Bullseye is pretty smokey too, but it's been accurate with full wadcutters for me. I buy red dot for $50/4 lbs from my club, so I'm kind of married to it. I use it for 158 raniers/short colt cases, 148 wadcutters in 38 spl, and 158 jhp's in .357 cases for a midrange load. Some of the other revo shooters are using clays. w231 and titegroup will work also. I haven't had luck with the slower powders listed, probably because of the low pressure, so I just use .357. use the fast powders in .357 for a midrange load, instead of slow power in .38. I've never loaded .44, but I imagine it runs about the same. what are you using the ammo for? that will narrow down the suggestions.

not too many autos on the silhouette line - but that's because of the cartridges. I agree both can have their tolerances reduced enough to shoot really well, and that it just costs twice as much to do it with an auto. here's a point not made about the .22's though- both fixed barrel and fixed chamber! best of both, just like a rifle, and super cheap to make. for $3-400 they'll shoot with some pretty spendy centerfires! i'm still hurting for a 617 though, for cheap practice and because they're cool!

I don't know if the rear sight blade only is replaceable, but some birchwood casey sight black will get rid of those white dots on the rear sight. For me, it isn't critical what kind of front sight I have, but anything but a plain black rear blade is confusing.

pick the fuzz out of the screen on the back and don't hold it so darn close! the wife's gets a free cleaning every time i have plastic to bend/heatshrink to shrink

a friend will help you move. a true friend will help you move the bodies.

I don't have any of those guns, but my sp101 ruger's trigger has a longer travel than my smiths, and it shares parts with the gp100. The grip stud on the rugers seems to me a better design because of the options it gives you for grip size.

I'm sayin any auto beat by a revo should be hangin his head pretty low. fun beating up on 'em, isn't it? I have a 627, much respect to all you guys doing it with only six!

here's one i got off of another thread, works in mine (v-comp 627) starline brass fed 100 ranier 158 rn (size is usually .357-.3575) 3.3 grs red dot 1.150 oal gets me 130 pf, burns clean, no pressure signs and brass holds up. i have heard clays works too, never tried it.

thanks guys! i feel much better now.

i have a slightly off topic question for you guys - on my sdb i sometimes get a grain of media on the primer punch that dents a few primers before i catch it. is this going to - -make me have to change underpants by setting off a primer? -make them less sensitive? -irritate me because they look funny? i chamber check all my loaded moons and check for high primers/etc. then. thx!

new brass? boy aren't you fancy! i shoot revo though and always take home more than i brought! figure maybe 2 lbs powder for all them bullets. 7000 grs = 1 lb also, i do some trial runs first because you don't want to be stuck with a bunch of components that aren't really working out- too much smoke, no accuracy, leading, won't cycle, etc. i would imagine that the guys on this forum have some pretty good glock loads, though. good luck! jsd

despite the fact i don't need a flashlight mount and those pretty grips look hard to sneak a moonclip past, i kind of dig it. never fired dropped once?

wow - bullseye used to be even dirtier? all that black soot on my guns and hands cleans up easy though. it's the only one you listed i have used for lead bullet .38s, but it worked really well. I found in my snubs i needed a little more powder to stabilize the wadcutters. the standard load got 650ish fps, and the load got accurate in the 750 fps range, about what is stated for a longer barrel. i'm using a slight overload of red dot, but it's still quieter and softer than factory ammo. i also tried loading a dozen hbwc's backwards to blow up water jugs with - they went sideways!

hear what they're doing in west virginia to promote safe sex? branding the sheep that kick.

I couldn't find one either so i whupped one up on my rusty old bridgeport at work. I made one for my 627 and cut a 3/8 dovetail in my sp101 and made one for it. it's 5/8" long which is deep for a .040 hole! the one the original poster made looks really great!

I understand that since we are maybe 2% of the consumers, and beat these things to death, Smith has little reason to build guns to meet our needs. So then why do they bother with the performance center? I have 2 S&W's, a 642 that has maybe 500 rounds through it over a couple years, and a 627 v-comp i shoot once or twice a week. The 642 runs great and I'll never wear it out. The v-comp I waited 4 months for, and when i got it, the hammer was rubbing the frame, so I shimmed it. The barrel is screwed on just a touch too far so the ball bearing in the yoke doesn't go all the way into the barrel detent and the rear sight had to be set a little to the left. that part i had to suck up. Then, after maybe a hundred rounds and a little more dry fire, the ejector rod unscrewed and shot across the living room. Not cool. I made up the tool to tighten it and took care of that. Why not send it back? I decided long ago that I didn't want anyone else messing with my stuff. I've screwed some things up, but then learned how to fix them right. Nowadays, with great guys like all of you on these forums, everything I need to know to get it right is right here. Would I buy another Smith? Sure. It's the only game in town.