My sort-of-weird path back to reloading--a bit long.

[jeffreybehr]

I had been reloading for around 50 years...initially rifle but then for handguns and shotguns, too.. I turned into a pistol guy maybe 20 years ago and have been carrying for almost that long.. Started with a 40S&W Glock 35 and went thru that caliber, 45GAP, 45Auto, 357SIG, 10mm, and the wimpy 9.. Finally this summer(1) I settled on 40S&W again, traded for one of my former M&P 40s, and bought a new one, arriving next week.

After deciding that the 40S&W was what I wanted to shoot and carry until my children inherit all my stuff, I bought LOTS of of premium PD ammo, mostly Federal HST(2) 180s plus a case each of Federal Bondeds and Winchester PDX1 bondeds.. Only after I ordered all that did I see that MidwayUSA was selling Barnes TAC-XPD ammo for just over a dollar per cartridge and bought ten 20boxes...then tried to buy 30 more, but twenty-one was all they had left so I ended up with 31 20boxes on the way.

While this stuff is on the way, I started sorting thru my surplus reloading supplies and found a partial box of Barnes TAC/XP 140g. bullets, so I assembled my own version of a premium PD cartridge, using my favorite LO-FLASH(3) powder (HS-6), the 140g. Barnes, and a few of the maybe-400 empty, primed Federal nickled cases I had accumulated.. The first samples shot well yesterday so I've assembled three more sets to test.. My goal is a just-subsonic (that is, around 1090FPS) round that's HIGHLY effective.

I'll not be reloading anything else, and if anyone wishes to inquire about my surplus components and supplies, pls PM me.


(1) In Phoenix, we have six months of summer and six months of nonsummer.. It's HOT here...115dF today...and I don't go out in it much.

(2) I suppose I'm a bit of a firearms nerd, and I've expansion-tested MANY bullets over the decades.. I determined that Federal's HST is the best--most reliable and consisitent--popularly priced bullet around and that the Barnes TAC/XP all-copper bullet is the BEST-bar-none PS bullet available.

(3) I've research and documented that, too.

 

[AJ]

I have been reloading for 50 years too. I do not worry about expansion so much. Accuracy is the key to me. I shoot lots of cast lead and just shoot paper with it. Bullet placement to me is of utmost importance. Hits in an extremity with an expanding bullet are nice and may slow things down. But centermass hits with most anything will put a stop to any festivities.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

SHOOTING

I have been reloading for 50 years too. I do not worry about expansion so much. Accuracy is the key to me. I shoot lots of cast lead and just shoot paper with it. Bullet placement to me is of utmost importance. Hits in an extremity with an expanding bullet are nice and may slow things down. But centermass hits with most anything will put a stop to any festivities.

Hard to beat that MARINE training. Accuracy is pretty much it for me as well. Never mind much else-- if you cant hit it nothing else matters, at least in my book. OP - if you have any 0.360 bullets laying around I would be glad to take them off your hands. Only been 40 years for me so I'm still new at it.

----------
USMC- 1962-1967

 

[jeffreybehr]

FIRST and most important--to AJ and JR, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY.

If '0.360' means 0.360", I've never heard of one.

 

[1&done]

...But centermass hits with most anything will put a stop to any festivities.

I have heard it quoted that "the first hit tends to win a gunfight".