I’m Ready for my Close-Up

I am finally getting my routine down. I am now able to anticipate a lot of the things that will go wrong when I make ammunition, so things are going much better.

I bit the bullet, so to speak, and dismantled my 40-plus questionable rounds and reassembled them. And I polished a new batch of cases while I was doing that. I thought I was done, but there I was with primers in the tube and brass ready to go, so I decided to crank out a few more bullets.

I looked at the kitchen clock and went to the garage. The clock read 8:38. I ran off 50 rounds and went back inside. The clock said 8:47. That press is really good, once you figure it out and you learn how to cater to its weaknesses. If it continues to work this well, I should be able to finish off my 500 remaining Laser-Cast bullets tomorrow. I have to remember to clean out the punch once in a while, and I have to watch the indexing on the decapping die; other than that, it seems pretty reliable.

Whoops. I don’t think I have 500 cases. But I probably have 300; that will put a severe dent in the Laser-Cast supply.

I am not sure about this, but I strongly suspect that Oregon Trails includes a few extra bullets. I have shot 50 rounds, and I have 400 in fresh ammunition in the garage, and I ruined a few. And it sure looks like I have 50 or so left in my first box of 500. I wish primer manufacturers did that.

Reader Mike W. was really onto something when he recommended these bullets. My gun’s barrel cleaned up fast, and I suspect that they were the most accurate .45 rounds I’ve used. The Unique powder may be a little grimy; it’s hard to know how much of the crud is powder and how much is lube. Other people say it’s dirty. I was somewhat worried that the gun would get gunked up and quit chambering rounds. But while it looked a bit nasty when I got home, it worked okay, and clean-up wasn’t particularly bad. As noted before, I used Hornady’s wonderful but expensive One Shot cleaner. I think the key to using this stuff is to fire very short bursts. It will get the gun clean without spewing too much of the pricey cleaner out of the nozzle. I still say the economical alternative is Hoppes #9 followed by Liquid Wrench dry spray lubricant.

I have the Lyman tumbler figured out. When you’re emptying the media through the little hole in front, and it gets slow, you have to pop the top and toss the cases around to get the cobs out of them, while the machine is running. Then you have to tilt it forward to get the media to the hole. If you do all that, it will empty fast, and you won’t have a lot of problems with cases full of corn cob.

I have started throwing out nickel cases. Reader Jdunmyer says they don’t hold up well, and I’ve noticed they seem harder to work and more likely to jam the gun. I have like 95 nickel .38 Super cases; I won’t be throwing those out. But the few nickel .45s I have are going in the trash. Brass for the .45 is free, and the supply is inexhaustible.

I was talking to George Moneo the other day, trying to find out when he was going to man up, buy a .45, and start hitting the range. He informed me that I was going to make his ammunition for him. I gave him some helpful information too, i.e., he was insane. But now that it’s getting to the point where I can crank out ten rounds every minute, I suppose I might help him out. Up until now, every batch has been a living hell, but things are changing in a hurry.

Oh, he’s buying his own components. You can be sure of that.

I figure I am now able to make .45 ammunition for about $8 per box. That’s not the figure that was quoted to me in the past, but it beats Cheaper Than Dirt’s lowest current price, which is $13.20. At a savings of five bucks a box, I’ll pay for all the equipment I bought in a scant 32 years.

It really does shoot better. That’s worth something too. And it’s a big relief. Some people were telling me it wouldn’t.

Here’s something useful. You can now buy adjustable low-profile sights. My SW1911 came with Novak carry sights. Now Novak makes sights the same size and shape, with adjustment screws. The .38 Super has sights which appear to be fixed (maybe you can move them with a tool; not sure), and I really don’t care, because it’s a pimp gun. But I might want to upgrade the .45.

I don’t know much about Novak sights, but they look great, and they appear to be designed to clear holsters and clothing with ease.

I’m going to get extra Glock magazines. I’m tired of unloading my expensive Cor-Bons before every range trip. I’m also tired of spending five minutes at the end of the day, trying to cram .40 S&W rounds into a 9mm clip. I think I’ve done that twice now, standing in the parking lot swearing. My practice has always been to keep two magazines loaded with extra-nasty ammunition, and Glocks only come with two magazines. I figure if I can’t kill you with 21 or 31 shots, there is not much point in continuing to try. I would like to have magazines for the range so I could keep my pricey ammunition where it belongs.

Useful information: you always hear that leaving magazines loaded will ruin the springs. Some guy at Glock–can’t recall where–says this doesn’t really happen. Other brands? I dunno.

Reloading is working out. Not sure what I’ll whine about now.