Peachey

Yeah, hits close for sure. I like the closing thoughts on it though. It's true, and it's simple, legislation has never stopped CRIMINALS or those that mean HARM. If everyone would quit wearing their feelings around on their shoulders, then maybe we as a people could man/woman up, and deal with life as adults. Instead we point blame at the physical objects instead of the mindset of the coward. Argh, lol, I could rant on this for hours lol.

Aww shucks..... Thanks y'all!

Ok, got a few minutes so I figured I'd give a update. Got the dies out and reread the directions again. I'm still not set up for trimming 308 brass, so I picked through my stash and found 5 FC19 stamped pieces that measured within .01 of spec. Asked westgadad and he said that should be fine for what I'm doing. Setup the resizing/decapping die per the instructions and lubed the first case. Ran it through and learned a lesson immediately, lube the inside of the mouth!!! I seriously thought it was stuck on the expander. Thankfully westgadad was able to he-man it out and only gave me slight crap for not lubing it. After that lesson, no problems and the next 4 went smooth. Re cleaned the cases and cleaned the primer pocket. Priming was a snap with the exception for one primer that somehow got sideways and wouldn't seat. Again, hubby to the rescue, and I learned to leave my thump on the shell holder to keep it from wiggling ever so slightly, which is what we believe caused the problem. Re checked the data I saved and decided to stick with the minimum charge for these first 5. So I individually measured 42.7 grains of IMR4895 on the digital scale and filled the cases. Re read the directions on the dies (see a pattern? Lol) and set up the seating/crimping die. I adjusted the bullet depth very slowly and wound up nailing 2.75 as is prescribed for this attempt. May go longer in the future with different projectiles, but I was just holding tight to the data for this little experience. The crimp is kinda funky on 2 of the 5, but I wonder if that's me not stroking hard enough (forgive the pun lol) or minute difference in case length? Or maybe I'm just over concerned? Westgadad thinks it's more force than anything. So in a nutshell, I for the first time ever, did the whole process solo other than when I asked for some help. I probably took my constant checking a little overboard, but this is serious stuff so I justified it lol. Really really like the RCBS dies. They just seem more precise than our Lee's that I've used before. Really proud of getting the OAL dead on too. That's been a struggle to maintain with .45acp in my limited experience. As for why only 5? I didn't want to rush myself in my own head or get overwhelmed looking at a whole tray full of brass. This was really a learning time for me as far as setup is concerned. I don't expect much performance improvement over factory, if any from this loading. If it goes bang and heads downrange, I'm happy for now lol. The load is 42.7grains IMR4895, FC19 brass, Winchester Large Rifle primers, and Hornady 165gr SPBT in case anyone didn't want to read back in the thread. Sorry for the blurry pics, don't know why we couldn't get in focus.

Wish I read that a couple of hours ago.... I'll post the details later, but I started with the minimum recommended of 42.7. And yeah, these projectiles were just what they had and we're not expecting much of them in this rifle. I figure I'll use 50 for hunting loads and 50 just to burn up and get my toes wet so to speak. Pics and details coming soon.

You just described me ten years ago lololol. Oh the stories I can't tell in public.....

Oh no worries @98Z5V. I do agree with you though, it's very true that attitude and confidence show outwardly in people that have it, those that don't, don't have it. I guess I try to imagine the bad guy mentality when I think of these things. That's what makes me more receptive and agreeable with the concept of potentially being a target. Of course I've never even been a guy, much less a bad one lol. I do know for a sure and certain fact from experience, that around here it's all about "street cred" or whatever they wanna call it. Our biggest legitimate worry is some young punk that fears his "cred" might suffer. I swear it seems like that's the basis of most of our local violent crimes. With that in mind, that threat is pretty easy to spot and avoid. Now to what I was starting this thread about, that's a different threat all together. That's a more idealized and agenda driven threat, which makes the situation entirely different than a embarrassed small time dope dealer.

Here in GA it's perfectly fine (legally) to open carry completely. Of course there are stipulations, but it goes back to your own personal responsibility and situational awareness as to wether or not it's a good idea. I completely understand and agree with the whole first target mentality regarding bad folks who would target a open carrier. I guess it's a balancing act of sorts for me. Same regular grocery store, gas station, etc etc, fine no problem open carrying. Date night in the city, no way.

@98Z5VWe're just pushing the whole "what doesn't kill you" thing to it's limits. That's all.... lol

Bwahahaha, too funny!!!

@98Z5V I was just now reading the instructions lolol. Maybe tomorrow we'll get some free time to mess with them and I'll post some pics.

Die set arrived today!!! Mixed it up with presents for my daughter and didn't realize it was MY package until just now!! The decapping pin sure does stick out a lot further than a Lee style does. Really like the locking rings though.

Yep, spot on there. Generally speaking I open carry. I know that's not ideal either, but I'm also not going to the "wrong part of town" that way either. It's been so drilled into me to take constant mental inventory and to have a natural situational awareness because I open carry. This situation is strictly accounting for the kids and their natural curiosities. My own child is very well informed about firearms. It's nothing abnormal for her for Mommy to have a pistol, frankly it is the norm. However I have zero control over other people's parenting styles or how their children react to the presence of firearms. So in a nutshell, the whole concealment issue is more about out of little sight, out of little minds.

@98Z5V That thing was so fun. Had a Deputy show up because of a anonymous noise complaint while I was shooting that one. He was pretty impressed too lol. Got a kick out of me and the PA10 as well. Super nice guy, we were well within the law on everything, so he just hung out and chatted for a while.

@shooterrex that's great to know!

Especially for someone like me with a small build. I gotta be able to wrap up in a sling for anything other than prone. If I'm going to be remotely accurate that is.

I'm gonna keep my mind open about it. Westgadad is really not wanting me to carry a .380. I'm really curious how the size compares to the 238/mustang size though.

And a obligatory pic of the .357 experience. I'd gain weight to be able to carry that bad boy lol.

What? That's not cool! Haven't they heard of lunchroom rules?!? That pistol was yours fair and square!

Wouldn't surprise me at all!!!

Ouch! I'm sure it's nice, but idk about $1200 nice.

@98Z5V you must've been talking to Westgadad lol. He is pushing the 9mm Kimber too! Biggest reason I'm hung up on a 1911 style isn't so much that it's 1911ish, but that they're all metal frames. I like the extra weight. We have a Kimber dealer locally, I may drop by one of these days soon and see how it compares to the 238. I was just really pleased with the size of the 238, but as you and westgadad are saying, something 9mm will give better options.

As of right now they can't decide for sure what it was. Just read that now the local police spokesperson retracted the SKS comment earlier and is back on the AK variant. Other outlets are saying it was specifically a Romanian WASR 10. I'm sure it'll come out if it was a AKM, if it's a SKS it'll probably be swept under the rug.

Well, just to update. Double bit of good news I guess. First off is that there are some other security measures being taken on the outside of the building where I was asked to start carrying, so my timeframe to make a purchase is slightly expanded as it's not as seemingly urgent at the moment. Secondly, I/we went to the range again yesterday, and it just so happens that one of our regular partners showed up with a Sig P238 that I fell in love with. So I'm now decided for certain on either a P238 or Mustang, just depends on what I find the better deal on. Also, just for giggles, I got to shoot a big ole .357 Mag that was a blast, literally!

Well just figured I'd update y'all. We went to what is supposed to be "the world's biggest gun store" and supposedly have "all your reloading needs". Well, not all my needs lol. Really small selection of powder and projectiles. But we were there so we got what we could at least. Wound up with IMR 4895 and some Hornady 165gr SPBT to try. Got on the web and found some published load data for that combo from Hogdens interactive manual site. We/he have never used IMR 4895, but it has quite the following and a bunch of published data for 54r and 30-30 which is a plus. So now I'm just still awaiting my die set to get here and hopefully I'll have some nice 308 handloads to show off lol.

Scratching my Hellbilly itch