Home Invader Thwarted

Atlanta Journal & Constitution ^ | 9-6-02 | Staff

[Nat Turner]

Well folks so much for the anti-gun shill on "gun locks" and no guns for citizens....

by the way this is how we do it in the Peacthtree State :)

[AnAmericanMother]

I would start with the .45. It's a very sturdy case, it doesn't taper and creates enough friction on the bullet to hold it with minimum roll crimp on the case mouth (if any), and as long as you keep your cases trimmed to tolerance (yeah, ya gotta buy a case trimmer too . . . they nickel and dime ya to death!) headspace is not a problem. The cartridge tolerates a wide range of powders and loads, as does the 1911A1. Other .45 pistols may be more picky, although we haven't noticed a problem with the Sigs. With the faster burning powders you DO have to be careful of a doublecharge. But placing all your primed and powdered cases in a shell holder and visually scanning the case mouths will catch double or no charges. Downside is that the bullets are large and heavy and hence rather expensive, although you can usually get a deal with some shopping around.

The 9mm is finicky to reload because the case tapers and the tapering and crimp DO affect the headspacing of the round. The taper also makes it difficult to get consistent bullet depth and solid seating.

We have really enjoyed reloading - it enables you to customize your loads for target practice, metallic silhouette, plinking, etc. But it's very much a detail hobby, if you tend towards the meticulous it's fun (think crossword puzzles, embroidery, fine carpentry) but if you don't like painstaking double-checking work it's probably not for you.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Just wanted to share that pic with ya since I heard ya mention the P99. The ppk in the pic belongs to a friend who's Father brought it back from Europe during ww2. It is a very sweet shooting little pistol.

I am very much enjoying all this informative discussion regarding Sig vs. glock, or .40cal vs.9mm....but my favorite gun is the one which is closest to me when I need it...; ^ )>

[dansangel]

"...but my favorite gun is the one which is closest to me when I need it...; ^ )>"

Amen! o~<);-)

A wonderful good night to you, sir!

{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}

[dansangel]

We definitely tend towards the meticulous (both of our jobs demand detail!) so it sounds like we will take to reloading quite well. Thanks to you, too for some great advice. Time for this "old fart" to retire for the evening! o~<);-)

It's great that some good came out of this otherwise frustrating thread. Good night!

[AnAmericanMother]

Sweet! That's before they changed the barrel for the American market. A little holster wear on the muzzle, but it looks like it's in prime condition for its vintage! (I haven't got any unused firearms ... I keep no cats that catch no mice!)

I have always felt that the recoil in the PPK/S was unpleasant compared to my .45s . . . a function of the lighter weight of the pistol itself, I'm sure. Of course, there's something to be said for the old dinosaurs like my .455 Webley Mark VI -- when you run out of ammo you can knock your adversary cold with the thing. It must weigh 3 pounds empty. As a result it has no recoil, so you wouldn't know you had fired it (except for the 2 foot jet of orange flame at the muzzle, the flames jetting out sideways from the forcing cone, and the very loud BOOM! Talk about turning heads at the range . . . somebody down the line yelled, "Is that a Casull?" I was flattered. I think.)

[AnAmericanMother]

Good night! May visions of jolly 9mm pistols and RCBS loading presses dance in your head! :-D

I live in a city full of liberals. I give 'em my side of the story, then they can take it or leave it. Saves a lot of useless heartburn.

[Vigilantcitizen]

And a wonderful good night to you and your hubby.

[Monty22]

What model Beretta? I've had good luck with my 8000 Cougar. My 92F is iffy. The 9000S is not known for reliability, but looks nice..

[Vigilantcitizen]

I hate to admit this, but I have smallish hands. However, I had no problem rapidly placing all 5 rounds into a one gallon paint can from 25 yards with a one hand grip. I felt the recoil of the walther was very negligible compared to other pistols of the same size/caliber.

" Of course, there's something to be said for the old dinosaurs like my .455 Webley Mark VI -- when you run out of ammo you can knock your adversary cold with the thing. It must weigh 3 pounds empty. As a result it has no recoil, so you wouldn't know you had fired it (except for the 2 foot jet of orange flame at the muzzle, the flames jetting out sideways from the forcing cone, and the very loud BOOM! Talk about turning heads at the range . . . somebody down the line yelled, "Is that a Casull?" I was flattered. I think.)

As well you should have been flattered...The friend that owns the ppk also has an old winchester lever action .44-480.(Think Chuck Conners rifleman)It makes a tremendous noise when fired but is relatively tame recoil wise.

[AnAmericanMother]

I watched Chuck Connors a lot, but I've never seen a .44/480 in person. My 3rd ed. (1953) of Phil Sharpe's Complete Guide to Handloading, more or less the bible for old and obsolete cartridges, shows a .44 WCF (.44/40) round for the Model 1873 rifle. All loads with pretty fast burning powders, typical is about 9 gr of Unique with a 200 gr bullet.

If you can ever get hold of a copy of this book, it's a charmer. Very useful loads for obsolete calibers, scathing reviews of cartridges he didn't like (his riff on the Italian Carcano is worth the price of admission all by itself!) Mr. Sharpe was opinionated, to say the very least, but he surely knew his business (and he was personal friends with Col. Whelen and almost all the other wildcatters and gun bugs of his day.)

[Vigilantcitizen]

EEEeegads....work fatigue brain malfunction...It was a .44/40. I believe it's ballistics are similar to a .45acp. It'll make a very big hole from 75 yards in, but drops like a rock after that.

You sound awful sophisticated for a native gal....; ^ )>

[Terriergal]

I wonder if this guy would have had time to eject the "safety bullet" if he had had one in the chamber?

[Terriergal]

Well folks so much for the anti-gun shill on "gun locks" and no guns for citizens....

You think one little common sense story is going to turn THAT particular Titanic? :-)

[AnAmericanMother]

Heh heh. ;-)

Just a city gal, born within the municipal limits of the City of Atlanta . . . but my dad is from Floyd County, upcountry NW GA, and they are hunters and fishermen from way back. Dad had me shooting a .22 as soon as I could lisp the "Ten Commandments of Gun Safety". He used to be a reloader in a pretty big way (he's moved on to other hobbies now, so I keep him in .348 Win for his Model 71), and he's the one that turned me on to Mr. Sharpe. Mom is a city gal too, but her father was a very serious duck hunter -- I mean sharing a boat and a piece of dirty canvas with a wet Lab with your feet in two inches of freezing water in the predawn fog on the Eastern Shore type serious. I have his Browning Sweet 16 and his shooting jacket, which fits me perfectly. Mom herself is a Life Member of the NRA (this gives us all giggle fits because she is a well-meaning but not very politically aware liberal. When she starts in with some gun control stuff we all embarrass her by hooting, "But YOU'RE a Life Member!" Her protests that she joined because she got a deal through her father's gun club are mostly ignored . . . :-D )

[Vigilantcitizen]

I'm gonna send ya a freepmail as we are getting off topic, but my fiancee's family live not far from Lock and Dam park on the striper filled Coosa river.

[Shooter 2.5]

Just a little correction. .45 ACP headspaces on the mouth so a roll crimp shouldn't be used. I think you meant taper crimp. I also have never trimmed a piece of .45 ACP brass in my life. Never have and I don't think I ever will. I still have stuff that I must have reloaded a couple of dozen times. My son is loading hotter so I am finding split brass once in a while but that's his fault for duplicating Hydra-shoks.

The PPK is a blow back mechanism. It doesn't lock and that's why it recoils so hard. It's not the weight.
Just for giggles, that opening sequence of "The Rifleman" is real. The Winchester 92 really did have that many rounds in it. 13 I think but I also read somewhere it was 32-20. Not sure about that one.

[Monty22]

If I'm thinking of the right thing, the Rifleman's opening, as was admitted, had a nail placed just right as to set off the next round as fast as possible. Still, good stuff.

[AnAmericanMother]

Right you are . . . my mistake. Must have been thinking of the .348 (ouch).

We have never had to trim military brass, but some of the lighter weight commercial brass, especially the Remington, has stretched on us with heavy loads. And the case capacity is different enough that we have separated those cases out into different lots. I have noticed more case stretching in the .38 Super, plus a very annoying bulge in the side of the case until we switched to a Bar-Sto barrel.

And thanks for the info about the PPK/S (I am glad to get outside confirmation of my perception of the nasty recoil). I'm a lot more familiar with Ol' Slabsides.

[piasa]

No, they detoured down here to FL. They're EVERYWHERE down here.

[piasa]

Thanks for reminding me why I don't miss my mother. *smirk* I love living 4,000 miles from her so I don't have to put up with her condescending B.S.

Like mother, like daughter.