Press craziness!

[oscarflytyer]

all the new gun owners are getting a real education

 

[Bisley]

all the new gun owners are getting a real education

So are the rest of us, apparently. I didn't know the above part about duplex loads using 50 BMG powder in a progressive reloading setup.

In a more sober vein, I was talking to my barber about reloading and the ammo shortage. He has a 9mm. Stainless steel-cased loads for practice and brass hollowpoints for social purposes. He seemed to listen when I told him you could reload .38 special for less than the cost of .22 rounds, and not to start reloading with 9mm. Get a revolver. Take your time. Now is not the time to go shopping for that stuff.

 

[fiver]

piece of cake if you use the old school spring return setup on a 550 as the second dump.
or prepped and primed cases with it in station one as the first.

 

[Ian]

I just set up two throws next to each other, dump the kicker, swish it level, dump the main charge, settle it with a few pencil taps on the case, sift the buffer in to the right level of compression (oh yeah, nobody mentioned buffer, did they?), and seat the bullet. Case prep/priming expansion/flaring is done in advance in batches.

 

[BBerguson]

I swear, it seems many of these folks seem to think the "reloading kits" come with supplies, and it is just like making cookies.

(Well, except for one of my former co-workers who once approached and asked if I was a reloader. When we got to talking, it turned out that she wanted to know where to buy the "stuff" to re-fill the "box-thingie" on her new pistol.)

I'm headed to a gun show tomorrow. My friends have been loading me down with last-minute shopping lists for ammo, presses, dies, primers, powder, and bullets. "Pick me up a couple hundred 9mm, willya? Here's a $20." Not sure what planet some of these folks are on, and they should know better.

Actually, we were just at a shop last week and they had bullets and powder, not everything but a decent selection. Oh, they had 9mm too for $1 a shot! They aren’t jacking up the price though, the suppliers that have it have a high price on it to start...

BB

 

[david s]

I get the impression that there is some pre panic buying stuff/production runs still in the pipe line but after that this may take awhile to blow over. A local retailer got in some hunting rounds a couple of weeks ago (middle of hunting season) and while there wasn't a line there were quite a few husband and wife teams maximizing on the two box limit. There is still powder here (one pound cans) odd ball pistol (32 S&W Long, 10mm) and rifle (303, 32 Win*) and rimfire and shot gun ammo. On the plus side my crystal ball has never been very good. * The 32 Winchester surprised me as there are more than a few locally.

 

[oscarflytyer]

just saw a post on another/local to me forum. guy bought a MEC to load for skeet. Has no clue. I told him to get help/mentoring - me or ANYONE with experience! even offered up 1-200 hundred primers/hulls/wads to get him started. And also looking at doing some reloading classes at my gun range. I would hate to see someone have a catastrophic bad experience due to lack of knowledge. Crazy times indeed!

 

[david s]

I dont know if it's a true story or not, I think I read it some where. A guys at the range when a young couple sets up near him. The young couple gets out a revolver and load it. The husband takes aim and the revolver emits a pityful "pop". The experienced shooter tells the couple to not firer the next shot and ask to examine the gun. Sure enough squib. The guy ask the couple where they got there ammo and gets the reply that they reloaded it themselves. Turns out they wanted to save money so they reloaded but didn't buy a scale. The load data said 3 grains of powder so they counted out three kernels of powder and put it in the case.

 

[JustJim]

Gun show report: I saw a total of 3 bricks of primers: all small rifle with hard cups for ARs etc; prices were $75-110 per. Saw some shotgun primers, didn't get prices. Jacketed bullets were available, but mostly re-packed bulk bullets, Hornady seconds, or odd-lot leftovers. Brass was available, but prices were high (9mm range brass, e.g., 200ct for $12). There was some powder available, but nothing I use so I didn't think to get prices.

I didn't see any presses or reloading "kits" for sale. The used dies I checked out were $20-25 per set. There were a lot of questions being asked about handloading and bulletcasting, not just by newbies by also folks who've been shooting for years. It looked like folks were doing a good job of offering advice, help, etc. I saw no loading manuals for sale. . . .

Prices for loaded ammo were high. 9mm ball was around $.75-1 per. Saw some 30 carbine, 21 rounds for $23. Bricks of 22LR were $75-100, but I only saw a couple.

Saw two guns I'm sorta watching for, a few TC barrels, a nice Savage 340 (might have been branded Stevens, or a store-brand) 30-30 bolt rifle. Prices on some firearms seemed higher than usual, others seemed low. Didn't see any of the brass on my watch list, did find a set of dies I wanted for spare. I picked a copy of Firearms Pressure Factors (been watching for that one for a while).