Bill T

My club range goes to 500 yards. I've fooled around out in the desert farther, but nothing but "fun shooting". I try to shoot only on calm days so as not to contaminate groups with a lot of "wind doping". Something I've never been good at, and don't want to wind up badmouthing a rifle because of my inabilities. My best group at 500 yards was just over 4 inches. For a guy like me with aging 58 year old eyes, I'll take a step back and call that good. I'm sure if I handed the thing off to David Tubb things would take a turn for the better, if you know what I mean. I'm very satisfied with this weapon. I spent a lot of coin on it, but it has all been worth it. The stock fits me very well, and it is very comfortable to shoot because of it. It's starting to heat up now, but this coming Fall, I'll be out there sending a bunch downrange! At my age I don't like to sweat. The comfort of the pool and a drink seems to surpass one hole groups in the heat. Bill T.

I have fired only handloaded ammunition in my Kimber 8400. I have 2 other rifles in .300 Win. Mag. and reload extensively for that round. I'm not sure if Federal makes a .300 Win. Mag. load in their Gold Medal line, but if they do that would be one I would consider. Also, I know Black Hills makes a match grade .300 Win. Mag. loading, and their ammo is always of high quality. In my handloads I've been running Sierra 190 grain Matchkings, as well as 210 grain Berger VLD's with very good results accuracy wise. For powder I've always favored IMR 4831. I do have some Reloader 22 and 25 I will experiment with in the future. I'm seating about .030 off the lands. I gotten 1/2" groups at 100 yards quite regularly in calm conditions. The Kimber 8400 is capable of very good accuracy. Bill T.

I have a total of 3 Savage bolt action rifles, one with the Accustock, all 3 with the Accutrigger. I think for the money Savage builds one of the most accurate weapons out there. I've seen them outshoot expensive custom rifles costing 5 times as much. With good glass and mounts, along with some good, accurate handloads, there isn't much these rifles can't accomplish. Bill T.

It is amazing how well the Marlin Model 60 will shoot, even with an inexpensive scope. Bill T.

Sad yes, but however unfortunate, true. I've heard too many troublesome stories when it comes to money and relatives. Much like oil and water, the 2 don't mix very well regardless of how hard you try. They will separate on their own every single time. Bill T.

This is a Marlin Model 60 I fixed up with a Tru-Glo 6-24X 44 MM Illuminated Mil-Dot Reticule Scope with B-Square bases and Burris Signature Zee Rings. It shoots beautiful groups out to 100 yards . It loves bulk Hi-Speed ammo from Federal and Remington "Golden Bullets". The scope I got from Natchez, www.natchezss.com. It has very good clarity and brightness for the money. These scopes sell out fast when they get them in, so it's worth it to put in for a E-Mail notice when they do get them. I got the extra 5" and 3" Sun shades for only $6.00 more. The scope also comes with really nice screw in metal lens caps. Bill T.

I had my last uncle die a week ago Sunday. He was 91 years old and lived in Sun City West. He tried to tell me my mother "owed him" $7,000.00 when she died in 1984. My mother never owed anyone a dime in her life. What he failed to tell me was the time he tried to borrow $10,000.00 from her to help finance his retirement back in the very early 80's before he moved out to Arizona. We never spoke again after her death. In his obituary my name was never mentioned. Relatives are like dead fish. After 3 days you have to get rid of them because they start to stink. Bill T.

I currently own and shoot 2 Sig 226's. An SCT, (Super Capacity Tactical) which ships with 4, 20 round magazines, and a Stainless Elite. Both exhibit good quality and handle and shoot like typical Sigs. Of the 2 I prefer the Stainless Elite because it is slightly heavier and I like a heavy gun. For every day carry the SCT would have to be the better choice. Naturally the 20 round mags in the SCT will fit the Stainless Elite. The slides on these guns fit exceptionally well, and the sights are superb. I'm not too "trigger sensitive". I think the factory triggers on the Sigs are exceptional, but as always your mileage may vary. Bill T.

This is my "Baby" Desert Eagle in .45 ACP. This gun runs like a scalded dog. It is very well constructed and shoots exactly where it's aimed. Extra factory magazines can cost a bit, but if you shop around they're not too bad. There isn't anywhere else I know of where you can still purchase a solid steel framed, double stack, .45 ACP for under $500.00 of this quality. IMI builds great weapons and ammunition. Bill T.

When I received my 2,500 cases I found them to be extremely dusty and dirty. I wanted to wash off some of the dirt before resizing them so I wouldn't scratch my RCBS Small Base Resizing Die. I put them into the dishwasher with Cascade and some Lemi-Shine. They really came out nice and clean compared to what they looked like when they went in. I'm sure the Lemi-Shine helped the cleaning process, but by itself it won't work miracles. Bill T.

No, I just purchased 2,500, .223 cases from Brassman Brass and after I resize, trim, and prep them, I'm going to tumble them in Stainless Steel Media. I'm just searching for the quickest, most efficient means to do it. I need to invest in a larger tumbling system. Right now I am examining all of my options. Bill T.

The 35-P Model from Pottery Mills looks like a nice tumbler. Do you get sufficient agitation with the round drum as opposed to a hex drum? Also, approx. how many .223 cases do you think you could tumble in one batch on the 35-P with Stainless Steel Media using the red 2.75 gallon drum? Bill T.

+100 On Kevin from Pellets LLC. He has sent me some solutions to test in place of the Dawn / Lemi-Shine mixture. I'll report with photos later on when I use them. I'm seriously considering a 65-T Model Rotary Tumbler from Diamond Pacific. They are supposed to be sending me a catalog with information and prices. They're not cheap, but they manufacture a first class professional grade unit. The problem with all of these cheap "cement mixers" is they are not designed to run for long hours on end. Most do not have quality motors, bearings, or drive units built into them. Most are built for the home owner for the occasional "twice a year" small, 20 minute mixing project, not the avid handloader who cleans tens of thousands of rounds of brass a year. Bill T.

Brassman is out of Las Vegas. This is his website: http://store.brassmanbrass.com/servlet/StoreFront

I just received 2,500 rounds of once fired .223 from Brassman Brass. The price was $110.00 delivered for 2,500 rounds. Bill T.

You cannot use a vibratory tumbler with Stainless Steel Media. You have to use a rock tumbler like the Thumlers Model B. The Stainless Steel Media is too heavy to vibrate, and must be used wet. A vibratory type tumbler will not provide enough agitation to properly clean the brass. Bill T.

Double post elminated.

Why not? I let it clean overnight all the time. This is 150 rounds of mixed headstamp range pickup .223. The stuff was pretty grungy. I started by running it through my Ultrasonic Cleaner with a mixture of hot water and some dish washing soap to get the grit off so I wouldn't scratch my resizing die. I then full length resized and deprimed it with a RCBS Small Base Resizing Die. After that I ran all of them through my Dillon 600 Super Swage to remove any crimp on the primer pockets. Not all were military, but it was easier to run them all through rather than waste time separating them. Next I ran all of them through my Giraud Power Case Trimmer. It does a really nice job of trimming them to length, plus it puts a nice chamfer on both the inside, and breaks the burr on the outside of the case at the same time. It's amazing how much brass it removes from just 150 cases trimming them to minimum overall length. After that I tossed them into the Thumlers Tumbler with 5 pounds of the Stainless Steel Media, a tablespoon of "Dawn" dish washing liquid, and 1/8th teaspoon of "Lemi-Shine". I then filled the tumbler up to within an inch of the top with luke warm water. I then installed the lid, tossed it on the tumbler, and plugged it in at 1:30 PM yesterday afternoon. I decided to let it run overnight because the brass was really dull and dirty, and also because my Thumlers Tumbler has a 1,500 RPM motor. The newer units have the 3,000 RPM motor, and give faster results. I didn't want to rush it, and I wanted the brass to be as clean as possible. THE BRASS CAME OUT BEAUTIFUL! Without any exaggeration the stuff is cleaner and shinier than new brass. The primer pockets and flash holes were absolutely spotless, and the cases shined inside and out. I'll try to get some pictures up later this afternoon when they're finished drying. The only issue I had was partly my fault. The video on this stuff shows them using a Frankford Arsenal Media Separator. Cabela's has them and they're not that expensive. I was going to go pick one up yesterday, but I was too lazy. Melanie and I had a few glasses of wine each, and I wasn't going anywhere. The media separator allows you to float the Stainless Steel Media out of the cases by tumbling them partially submerged in the provided bucket you get with the separator. This is important otherwise the surface tension of the water will cause the media to stick to the sides of the case. I only had 150 cases so I just ran them under a light stream of tap water and it worked fine. I'm going to get the media separator because it would be a PITA to do that with a large batch of several hundred cases. This is the way to go if you want really nice clean brass. I'm still in the experimental stage with this stuff. Next I want to find a method and tumbler for large amounts. It all sounds more involved than it really is. The actual cleaning of the brass itself is an all but effortless process. Prepping the brass is always a pain, but you have to do it if you want good reloads. Remember, this was range pick up brass. It was filthy, dirty, and totally grungy inside and out. Even the inside of the case rims shine like new brass, and they were completely black! This is about the best I could do with my crappy little Sony Cybershot. But it shows how well this media works. The photos show the cases drying in the Sun, and also show how clean the Stainless Steel Media gets the inside of the cases, as well as the primer pockets. It also shows the size of the Stainless Steel Wire Shot used in the process. I just wish I had taken some "before" photos, so you could see how bad they were before I started. If you look closely you can see it even polished the burrs on the inside of the flash hole! No other method I have tried will clean brass this well. Especially the inside of the cases and primer pockets. You cannot distinguish it from new brass! Bill T.

I've done it that way for quite some time, but found difficulty in seating primers consistently after a couple of firings. Because of the fact I like somewhat clean brass before I go through the resize / deprime operation, I've gone to trying the Stainless Steel Media because it does a better job all the way around, and doesn't require any more time overall if you don't count the drying time which goes pretty fast out here in Arizona, especially in the hot Summer months. Consistent primer seating is really important for me because I reload for 2, Springfield M-1A's, and they are very prone to slam fires if the primers protrude above the case. It takes a little more time resizing and depriming in a separate operation, but I don't know of any other way to end up with really clean brass without any excess resizing lube on it. Also, once you've got everything resized, deprimed, and clean and polished, the cases go through a progressive press like butter, and allow a much better "feel" of what's going on during the progressive reloading cycle. A lot of guys I know who just wipe down their loaded rounds end up with dirt all over their brass because it's all but impossible to get all of the lube off unless you wipe down each individual round with alcohol, and that takes as long or longer than simply going to a 2 step process. The key to all of this is to do it in a high enough volume to make it worth the time. Messing around with a couple of hundred rounds at a time isn't worth it. This is why I'm looking into a small electric mixer. I also shoot .50 BMG, and while I don't reload that caliber as of yet, I will as soon as I accumulate enough brass. There is no way a Thumlers Tumbler, or even a Dillon FL-2000 can accommodate enough .50 BMG brass in a single load to make any of this worth while. Also with the .50 BMG cartridge, clean primer pockets and flash holes are almost a necessity because seating force is much higher. I think the best feature of the Stainless Steel Media is it's long life. The stuff never wears out, and is self cleaning. The more you use it, the cleaner it gets. The opposite is true with Walnut and ground Corn Cob. Bill T.

Nothing changes. All of my brass goes from the ground on the range directly into my Ultrasonic Cleaner. I don't like to run dirty, gritty brass through my sizing dies. I then trim if necessary, I then tumble. The process remains the same regardless if I use Stainless Media, or corn cob. The difference is with Stainless Steel Media you don't have to pick corn cob out of dirty flash holes. Bill T.

Enough to get both the flash hole and the primer pocket itself spotlessly clean. This was my reason to going to it over conventional corn cob, vibratory tumbling with brass polish. It simply does not clean the pockets or the flash hole. Stainless Steel Media cleans the inside and outside of the case to new brass cleanliness. When using a progressive press it makes it much easier to see the powder fill line in a clean polished case, rather than one that is filthy black on the inside. Being able to spot a double charge is a safety reason enough to do it. Not to mention primers seat much easier and more consistently with clean primer pockets. Bill T.

http://www.pelletsllc.com/ I purchased 15 pounds of Stainless Steel Wire Shot from this place for $70.40 delivered USPS Priority Mail in 3 days. They are very nice people to deal with, and less expensive as well. I just had Hernia surgery yesterday so I'll be out of commission for a while, but as soon as I heal up I've got the Thumlers Tumbler all ready to go. If this works out like I think it will, I'm going to purchase a small electric mixer with a plastic drum, and up size the operation to better suit my needs. I'm thinking along these lines: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200356929_200356929 If you order the Stainless Wire Shot Media, the size you want is .265 X .040. This size will pass through the flash hole freely. Bill T.

Anyone ever use this stuff? For years I've used nothing but ground corn cob with brass polish added. It works well, but requires a long tumble for best results. I stumbled on to this stuff, and it looks really good! I really like the way it cleans the primer pockets as well as the flash holes, and it doesn't get stuck in the flash holes like corn cob does. I'm not sure if you have to use it wet or not. It appears so. I have a Thumlers Model B Tumbler, but I haven't used it in years since I got a Dillon FL-2000. I don't think you can use the Dillon model with wet media. The Stainless Steel media also will never wear out. It's avaliable here: http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ I'm going to look into it further, and try to get some more information. If I had more room I would like to get one of those small, motorized cement mixers from Harbor Freight. They have models with plastic barrels that are small enough to be just about perfect for polishing brass with this stuff, and it's obviously no problem to use them wet. Bill T.

+1 ! In 40 years of shooting I have never disassembled a magazine to clean it. For that matter a bolt from a bolt action rifle, or a Ruger Mark II, or Mark III .22 Pistol. Any or all never need disassembly unless they break. Come to think of it, I've never had that happen either. Bill T.