SwissyJim

finally found ONE pound of 4227, and the holy grail, 2 pounds of Titegroup! Finally can get some more 9mm loaded. And at least I can do some test loads with the 4227 and be ready with working loads in case I find more - done that with 4198, LilGun, Reoader7 and a couple of others. I have WAY more loads tested than I actually have powder for anymore. But I'll be ready for when powderis on the shelves daily again (if ever?)

like just today, dropped the wife at work and decided to hit a few stores.... 4# of 1680 and 2# of 5744 are now home with me. Would like to try 4227 but not seen any since I started reloading last year.

oh yeah... load 'em by the bushel! I bought one of the 2100 bulk packs :banana: My 300BLK is my new favorite pewpew machine. Altho I do admit I load and shoot way more subsonic loads. Something about shooting suppressed that tickles my fun bone more than anything

funny how different areas have different supplies. I have YET to see a pound of 4227, but I see a1680 and H110.

It's SUPER easy to make your own brass, if anyone wants to. 223 brass can be had on the cheap (or picked up at your range) and with a small saw and jig, it's fast. I followed a thread on 300blktalk and go the Harbor Freight saw, one of the jigs a guy was selling, and I've never bought a 300blk case yet. All it takes is your time. And seriously, if anyone wants to try the 203g projectiles, I have just short of 1500 of them (buddy talked me into a big batch, then when I started having issues he bailed!). If you pay the shipping, I'll send you 25 or so to test. If they work for you, then I'll make a deal on the rest. I use H110 for my supers, and A1680 for my subs. I know guys are using H110 for both, but there are warnings about loading H110 that low or so they say. I also found A5744 to be good for subs, and LilGun good for supers.

sorry guys, been away for awhile. Regarding BlackoutBrass, seach the 300blktalk forums - not everyone thinks very highly of them. Seems they had some startup issues and some claim they never got their orders or refund. Plus BBB in their area has a bad rating on them. That said, I took a chance on the bullets as I was looking for a cheap alternative for sub plinking. I had no problems with the order, got everything, even got a phone call from the guy. They were uniform in size and weight, at least within a few grains - I think they ranged from 201 to 204? And the diameter was very consistent @ .309. And then the fun began. They have to be loaded SHORT (2.008) and I know a lot of people were having issues, me included. I about gave up, then thought I had found why I was having issues ( could not get loads to go into batery with 100% reliabilty) and just last week I loaded 3 mags full and on shot #3 I had the same issue. And in the threads on 300blktlk the guy has a bad attitude - 'I'm just tired of spending my time trying to help people get up and running who have CRAP CMMG barrels with their CRAP not to spec chambers' - and for the record, I never said I had a CMMG barrel, which I don't. Between my issues with them going into battery, his attitude and everything I've been thru with these, I'm done with them. I have been getting the Nosler 190g CC 2nds for $.17 a bullet so that's cheap enough for me.. If anyone wants to try the 203g Palmetto Bullets (sold thru BlackOutBrass) I have a deal for you.

well, not even a 'job well done'. Cute chick won, followed by the gas mask family. Oh well... maybe next year? Thanks anyways all

Thanks... I see the voting is done. Now I wait to find out if pestering everyone was worth it! I'll probably get a patch, if anything! A new muzzle device would rock tho...

huh.... the direct link works for me, every 24hrs. Not like it matters... pretty sure i'll be top 10, but only top 2 get anything per rules. I'm going off a post I made on their facebook page that hinted at other prizes for us 'lesser folk' Thanks all... it ends tomorrow! I'll quit bugging y'all.

Man, I'm a moron. Never thought to right click on the VOTE icon and copy the link location... Direct Link to vote for my entry! :facepalm: And don't forget to vote for real... LOTS at stake

don't forget to vote!! And for the real election too... <thumbsup>

HAHA! Love the enthusiasm... but there are 1200+ votes to make up. That's a lot of people hitting a lot of anon proxy servers! C:-) Honestly, just happy to have made the final cut. If they run this contest again, I will be prepared! (see what I did there?)

you guys are AWESOME! Just wish I had a snowballs chance in hell of winning. 3 free suppressors would seriously kick arse... all I can do now if try to be the best of the worse!

New voting day!! Vote for my crappy pic so it's not so crappy! :banana: :P :unsure:

can't survive the apocalypse with crappy cigars, now can we? <thumbsup> And another day to vote! No way I'll get top prize, but there may be consolation prizes...

Oh, I fully expect to get my ass kicked. I mean, a cutie in camo with a horse? c'mon already! Just give her the win... :)) And some really great photos - well organized, well lit, and so on. I just wish I had more time (found out late about the contest) or I'd have done something cool on the back deck of my boat, out in some scenic bay on a sunny day. With a hottie in a bikini! Oh well... all I can do is hope, and bribe people for votes! Fishing trip in Alaska anyone? <thumbsup>

I need your help... my photo is in the SilencerCo 'Living in the Red' contest, and I need your vote! I'm a longshot, the underdog, the fat kid to be picked last! SilencerCo has a contest, for 'bugout bags and readiness'. I put mine in, with a few 'fun' additions, and lo and behold my photo was one of around 80 to be picked. Now it's up to Internet voting to pick the winner(s). Help me win!!! Here is the link: http://www.silencerco.com/living-in-the-red/?mc_cid=14d9c7497e&mc_eid=54fea7193e And there is no good way to tell you which photo is mine - their position changes as votes are cast. You have to find it by the name - hold your mouse over the images until you find bugout(1) and that'll be mine. Here is a direct link to the image so you know what to look for and make it faster/easier to find: http://www.silencerco.com/wp-content/gallery/living-in-the-red/bugout1.jpg Pass this request to any and all!! I need votes!!!! You can vote once a day, for a week. If I win, come up and go fishing with me and we'll take the suppressors with us for some fun! Of course, if YOUR photo is in the contest, you can still vote for me... <thumbsup>

another day of fun! Left to right: All shot into gel @ 20ft with my 8", 1"7 twist SBR with Specwar762 attached Hornady 208 A-Max, 1021FPS , 17" penetration, tumbled Gemtech 187, 1011FPS, 23" penetration, did not tumble Remington Hog Hammer 130g, 1987FPS, 26" penetration Barnes 110g TAC-TX, 2123FPS, 17½" penetration Thought this was neat too... proper expansion cavity vs. tumbled cavity

It is, isn't it? Nasty looking to say the least. And here's part of why they open. The guy at Lehigh said I may find this when I re-melted the gel - the plunger that is in each bullet to ensure they expand. Accounts for the weight missing... mine weight 193.4 when I dug it out of the gel.

So, a little addendum to the test/story. I'm cutting the gel up in chucks to re-melt and re-use for more testing this week. In doing so, I realized something my dog should have been able to figure out, that a cross section of the gel shows the bullet cavity very well. Sadly, I did not notice this until after the block I shot the Lehigh Defense into was in many little chucks. But, I got a shot of the block the Hornady 208g HPBT went into. It shows the one dimensional, temporary cavity from both bullets pretty well. As the bullet tumbled, it opened up and re-closed as it passed. I like this view enough, I'm going to sacrifice another Lehigh round to take a pic of the permanent cavity it created.

I load both subsonic to run +/- 1050 fps. I knew the Hornady would not expand... most 308 will not at sub speeds. I use them for plinking and training. But what surprised me was it penetrated the same depth as the Lehigh that DID expand. I surmise it's due to the fact that it tumbled - I actually thought it would pass thru the gel in a nice, clean hole. Another test I plan on is hitting the gel at 100 yards and see what happens. I also plan on trying the 208g A-Max and the 203g coated cast bullets I just picked up, as well as the 110g Barnes. Provided I can melt and re-use the gel enough times to do so.

So... had some fun yesterday. I wanted to test some Lehigh Defense, LLC projectiles but, at $1.50 per PROJECTILE, do they perform and expand as advertised? I found some recipes for homemade ballistic gelatin but I should note, this is NOT official ballistic gel, but rather kitchen gelatin made thicker, to *about* the 10% gel that the FBI recommends. After making it up per the youtube vid and other online resources, and letting it set the required amount of time (day and a half) I took it out to the range yesterday. I had to transport it in coolers, but not to keep it from melting, but rather from freezing! It was a balmy 30 degrees when I was testing today but only 20 when I left my house. My load was the 194g bullet, loaded with 10.5g of A1680 to a COAL of 2.185", using homemade case from LC brass. I used my 8" 300BLK SBR with a SilencerCo Specwar762, and a Primary Arms, LLC red dot sight that I had on my M&P 15-22 that was sighted in for about 15ft due to some squirrel issues. That proved to be a huge time saver, as it proved that it was also mostly sighted in for the 300blk at the same distance. After verifying the sights with some 208 HPBT Hornady subsonic ammo, I tried one round of the Lehigh Defense to make sure there was no shift in POI. There was not, so I let one loose into the gel. I was expecting something cool. A block of gel to jump up. A loud POP in the gel. The whole table to wobble. Anything. But I had to get up and check to make sure I actually hit the gel, it was so quiet and calm. I found a neat little entry hole, and unfortunately the gel is not very clear, but an amber color. It took a few seconds to find the bullet, and the path was a little easier to see. I wish I had a cool high speed camera to do slow motion, but I didn't even have room to set up my GoPro. (Next time I'll take a tripod to use the GoPro) I was able to locate and cut out the bullet...it was perfectly deformed, just as it should be. It penetrated roughly 15 inches of the gel - just into the second block. They are sold at 194 grain bullets, and the recovered weight of this one was 193.4 - and in all fairness, I do not know what it was before loading it. But it's pretty easy to see it did not lose much, if ANY, of its weight. So curiosity got ahold of me. What would a Hornady 208 grain Hollow Point Boat Tail projectile do? Since the second block of gel was barely touched, I turned the sawhorses around and readied for a second shot, this time the 208g HPBT. I actually shot 2, just for the hell of it. And the results were interesting (at least to me) The bullets did not deform in any way. They look like brand new, save the rifling marks from the barrel. Both the bullets was found backwards, meaning they tumbled when they hit the gel. They penetrated the same depth into the gel, roughly 15 inches. The path also showed an area spread apart (wound channel) that I can only surmise is from the bullet tumbling. But it looked to be roughly the same size path as the Lehigh, but more 'one dimensional' from the tumbling. The Lehigh path would take a cucumber to fill the hole, whereas the Hornady would take a small booklet due to it being a flat opening. I have no idea what the temporary channel would be... probably impressive. these are the Hornady 208g HPBT the 2 bullets side by side Pretty cool, and lots of fun (was a GREAT conversation starter at the range!) but by no means an 'official' or scientific test. But, I wanted to test the bullets in MY gun with MY loads. Overall, I've super happy with the results. I actually was expecting the Hornady's to go thru the block, all nice and clean.I'm a little surprised they penetrated the same as the Lehigh Defense. My plan is to re-melt the gel, then form it again and test the 208 A-May subs and if the gel is willing, some 110 Barnes supers.

Ouch! but a good read :banana:

Hornady bulk 147g 9mm (2500rnds) Redding Reloading hat (from bitching about breaking 2 wrenches trying to swap my T7 head) Lehigh Defense 194g Subsonic expanding projectiles (100 count) ...and some new fishing lures!

new Storm Lake barrel kit for my 1911, in anticipation of my Osprey 45 can being released soon... and 2 boxes of LeHigh Defense 194g subsonic expanding bullets for my 300BLK shorty... no more worries about home defense over penetration >:D