Magic Cartridge Still Evades Me

How long have I had my AR15 and my new 1911? Like a year? Well, days, anyway. And I can’t shoot them. Not without getting wet. A ridiculous storm is in the Gulf, and it’s raining all the way over here.

Part of the fun of having firearms is the illusory sensation that you’re a tough guy and a potential sniper, ready to rise up and save his neighbors and livestock from bothersome zombies. When men shoot, they feel like soldiers and spies. When women dance, they feel like dancers. It’s pathetic, but this is how we are. Rain ruins everything. I can’t indulge my Chris Kyle fantasies if it means I have to get wet. I’ll be here when my country calls, as long as it’s dry and I get to shoot in the shade. From a reasonably nice chair next to a full cooler.

Yesterday, we had a tornado scare. They actually said we should seek shelter. Of course, I prayed. Not much else I could do. I texted my friend Amanda to see if she got the warning. I said I promised to wave if I flew by, and I said I hoped the next time she saw me, I wasn’t wearing Hillary Clinton’s slippers.

I have not solved my 10mm problem. I thought I was getting over 1200 fps with Accurate No.7, but yesterday, I made up a few rounds, and I got an average down around 1150. I had maxed out the charge according to whatever data I was using. I had to figure out what to do. New powder? Go a tenth past the maximum? After all, published charge limits ought to be pretty conservative.

I was using a new Storm Lake barrel. Maybe it killed my velocity.

I decided to make 6 rounds with 12.1 grains of powder instead of 12.0. If that doesn’t work, maybe it’s time to look at a different powder.

There are a lot of things to consider when you reload. If you’re making defensive rounds, you might want to think about flash. Criminals like to show up at night, and for all I know, a big flash would make landing a second shot hard. Alliant has a powder called BE-86, and it might be good for my purposes.

I read up on this stuff. When an Alliant powder has the letters “BE” in the name, it means it’s based on a powder called Bullseye. That being said, the Alliant people say it’s like another one of their powders: Power Pistol. It’s like Power Pistol with a flash suppressant added. I guess Power Pistol must be descended from Bullseye.

I would love to have some BE-86, but getting it in my county is an impossibility. There are tons of gun owners here, but it appears that nearly all of them are unsophisticated. Buy a gun at Rural King, leave it unmodified, get bulk ammo, shoot 5 MOA, and be happy. That’s not me. I modified my AR10, my Marlin 60, my two Savage rifles, my SW22 pistol and its magazines, the magazines for my Colt Woodsman, my PSL, and probably some other things. I’m going to modify my AR15 shortly. I reload for all my centerfire pistols.

When you order reloading stuff online, you may have to pay big fees. Primers and powders require hazmat fees. If I order a $22 jug of BE-86, it will cost me at least $50. It’s best to order large sizes when possible and to wait for occasions when you want multiple items.

At the end of that sentence, I remembered there might be a gun show in town, so I looked it up. Turned out I was right, so I shot over there to see if there were any reloading components. No luck. You could probably get together with 4 of your friends and have a bigger gun show in your backyard. The usual venue has been closed because of the epidemic, and it’s still not open, so they had the show in what I would describe as a banquet room. I didn’t see good prices on anything, and I saw nothing I had to have, so I hit the road.

I don’t know why Florida is such a lame state for reloading. Georgia seems pretty bad, too. Tennessee has Midsouth, Natchez, and Widener’s. Kentucky has a number of stores. Maybe deep-Southerners aren’t as gun-savvy as Appalachian Southerners. Maybe they’re happy as long as they can point a gun at a quail and make it go boom.

People are saying I need to use Accurate No.9. My only concern is the flash. Maybe it’s better to have more flash and more velocity.

Anyway, these are fun problems to work on.