Since I found myself out of .357 magnum to shoot Saturday’s match, I had to rush and get me some. I reload so I am gonna take this opportunity to share a bit of what I do and encourage others to do it.

Reloading & Handloading is easy. You will obviously need equipment, but if you are starting and don’t mind the extra work, used equipment is available. Some equipment is so cheap you really do not need to go the used way.

Let’s start with case preparation. Unless you are buying your brass fresh from the factory, you are going to be using collected brass from the range. This brass will be dirty and will need a nice cleaning before going to the press. You really do not want dirt in your gun or reloading dies.

The two blue bowls bellow are tumblers. I got them used from a shooting buddy for a pittance and have served me well over the years. A tumbler is basically a covered bowl attached to a motor which makes it vibrate. Inside the bowl you have cleaning media (in this case crushed walnut shells I got from a pet store and that are way cheaper than the media you can buy at specialty stores) add your dirt brass, cover the bowl and start cleaning. I add a teaspoon of Brasso which helps accelerate the cleaning/polishing process. Depending on the level of filthiness, time of cleaning can go from as short as 90 minutes to four hours.

After the 90 minutes, the cases are clean and looking purty & shinny!. Now comes the separation.

Separation, as the name suggest deals with isolating the media from the cases. If you are really really tightfisted, you can use a pasta colander as media separator but it will require a good hand-eye coordination or you will have brass, crushed walnuts shells and a very pissed off significant other. Splurge some and by a proper case separator, they are not that expensive.

Yes! It does look like one of those bingo things and works on the same principle: You turn the lever, the whole thing goes round and round.

As you turn the handle, the media will leave through the slits leaving you with a nice batch of clean brass for your reloading needs. Just place your brass in a container and the cleaning part of the case preparation is over.

Note: Some people like to Resize & Decap first and then clean. I have done it that way and later find myself having to remove media from the primer pocket which annoys me to no end. To each its own.

More to come.

After a decade of working for my club, I am now a free man. Don’t get me wrong, I am damned proud of what I did and fixing the custerflock that the scoring, website and forum was and managed to made it look somewhat professional. But it was literally 10 years that I shot as an after thought in between shuffling papers and updating a website.

As with anywhere were two or more people get together, you will find your small percentage of certified assholes, even in the shooting community. Even Jesus had a huge scumbag attending the Last Supper so you shouldn’t be surprised. These were the people that made working a “challenge” ( I wanted to say a “pain in the ass up there with rectal boils” but I wanted to keep this post classy) but the majority of people did not complain nd I call that a victory.

So I have been in a limbo-plateau shooting IDPA for a decade and I now face the challenge of improving at least somewhat. I am not gonna turn into a gamer since I never was and my speed overall has decreased so I am gonna aim for accuracy once again. The goal shall be a Zero Down Match and then repeat it as many times as possible. My best standing ever in this field was at a sanctioned match in Northern Florida where I took Most Accurate and I think I had some ridiculous 4 points down for the whole thing. That my total time was scored in eons is a different ball of earwax. 🙂

Tis Saturday, while many of my fellow Gun Bloggers will be partaking the joys of the NRA Annual Meeting, I shall be shooting my snub Rossi in .357 Magnum and shooting full power .357 magnum ammo just to piss Safety Officers off. Just kidding, I carry the Rossi whenever I don’t my full size Non-Glock plastic Wonder and I do need to get some practice on it with non-gaming rounds.

And I really need a portable chair with attached umbrella to use at the matches. Sun is gonna be a killer!

I might do a report on the match on Saturday. No, there will be no embarrassing videos of me snorting and flapping like a wounded whale trying to make shots from the ground. Walt does a good job with videos although the poor fella is deluded with IPSC. Go check them out, he does a great job on both the audiovisual and the after-match overview.

And, if you are not gonna be at the NRA Annual Meeting, Go Shoot!

Update: I just checked my stock of practice 3.57 mag ammunition and I don’t think I have enough for a stage. So the Official Word is PANIC!

Tumblers are already in the process of cleaning and polishing the cases.

Sometimes I should really give myself a magnum size kick in the head. We have here in Florida a great location providing top notch firearms training and I keep forgetting to mention it: Southern Exposure Training Facility.

The website is pretty much in the 1990’s but the classes they offer are just too great to pass up. Here is the schedule for the rest of the year subject to change and that should be to add more classes.

Via post in a secret forum:

All

We have added three new classes for our training schedule for 2012 and I have have been working on booking quite a few more.

First, I am happy to announce that Steve Tarani will be able to return for two class at Southern: Hand to Hand Defense and Defensive Walking Stick.  Most of you know of Steve Tarani if not a Goggle will give you quite a bit  of information to read.  Steve is one of the outstanding martial artists in the US today and is employed full time by one of our alphabet agencies so I am happy that he could get the time to join us again this year.  If you have never had a class from Steve you need to do so. The dates and descriptions are listed below.

Second Bill Jeans will return for his acclaimed Advanced Concealed Carry Handgun class.  This class is designed for the civilian and professional person who carries concealed on a daily basis.  Bill is one of the outstanding instructors today and has been quietly teaching for more than 40 years to both LEO, military and civilians.  We have been able to book Bill for September.

 See descriptions below for the new classes added in the email below.

Please book your classes early as most are sold out by class time.   I am amazed that 96% of our classes are sold out by start time and I give credit to that to the caliber of instructors we bring in.

All classes are taught by Mr. Randy Cain (www.guntactics.com) unless otherwise noted.

2012

Apr 20 – 22 Intermediate Handgun  This class focuses on trigger control.  The prerequisite is a Tactical Handgun 101.  Expect to fire lots of rounds, in the last class we sent
over 1500 rounds down range and Randy requires his same high degree of
accuracy.  All who have taken this class enjoyed it and look forward to
a repeat.  Once you have mastered the basics of the draw stroke, turns and pivots, positions, malfunctions clearances, etc you are ready to spend three days on the trigger.  Repetition done correctly is the road to perfection.  This is my personal favorite handgun class. Prerequisites.  Three days $495.00

Apr 23 – 25 Shotgun 1  This is my favorite all time class
offered. The shotgun is the ultimate home defense weapon in my opinion,
some prefer the AR platform with its 55 grain bullet, some a handgun
with its 230 grain bullet but I really like a one ounce slug. Like Mr.
Cain says those other caliber are made to make holes in people but
shotguns are made to take “chunks” out. After this class I am sure the shotgun will be your home defense weapon of choice too, such a simple tool! I have a few loaded around my house at all times. Three great days for $495.00

April 27 – 29  Viking Tactics – Kyle Lamb Carbine 1.5.  This is an outstanding more “advanced” carbine class (prerequisites needed) and this course is required for Kyle’s “Night Fighter” and “Street Fighter” classes. Many know of Kyle Lamb from his excellent book “Green Eyes and Black Rifle” considered by many to be the finest carbine  bible published today.  He is also an outstanding instructor of the new breed. Three days $600.00  Prerequisites.  Wait list only

May 18 – 20 Louis Awerbuck YFA  HITT Handgun incorporating our new live fire shoot house.  High Intensity Tactical Training is a class developed in 1991 by Mr. Awerbuck to help students solve real life tactical problems, very few schools offer this type of training and is only for those who have mastered the “square range” therefore prerequisites are required, certainly an advanced class. Prerequisites apply.  $600.00 for three days.  Limited enrollment.

May 25 – 27 Tactical Handgun 101  The most popular class
we offer and the most repeated because it concerns the fundamentals of
shooting and tactics.  All students will be better shooter under the
diagnostic ability of Mr. Cain  I urge all serious students to repeat this class twice a year.  Three days $495.00

May 28 – 30  Tactical Carbine   Many experienced shooters consider this
the best carbine class available as it really focuses on the
fundamentals and if you aren’t schooled in the fundamentals you will never succeed with the carbine.  Mr. Cain requires a high level of accuracy and competence with the weapon. I recommend this class for all wishing to take the more “advanced carbine” classes we offer and will go so far as to say that those who do best in the advanced carbine classes I have witnessed have attended this class at least once.   $495.00 for three days.

August 17 & 18 Steve Tarani – Hand to Hand Defense   A must for those seeking training in empty hand response using the natural and personal weapons attached to your body. This course presents the essentials of the Personal Weapons Ladder methodology. Already behind the power curve when it gets to hands-on, you need the reactive edge to overcome a close quarter personal altercation where you cannot or do not have the time to access any other means of handling the situation other than personal weapons. Since most altercations happen a bad breath distance you must first be able to defend yourself from the initial attack before you can go to weapons.  This is a very simple system to learn and we have had students from all walks of life take this class with good results.  Two days for $295.00

August 19 & 20  Steve Tarani – Defensive Walking Stick (Cane).  This course provides training in appropriate carry, rapid deployment, overall safe operational handling and manipulation of the walking stick/ cane in a defensive manner. The walking stick and cane can be carried on an airplane, in a courthouse, police station, Federal buildings and in countries where both firearms and edged weapons are not permitted. This course additionally provides training in defense against sudden assaults by attackers wielding contact weapons at close quarters.  This has been one of out most popular classes as it is easy to learn and a much better weapon than a knife for most of us.  Two days for $295.00

Sept 21 – 23 Bill Jeans Advanced Concealed Carry Handgun.  The name really describes the class.  It is a concealed carry handgun course a that will cover various cover garments and various ways of deployment.  It is something most of us don’t consider until we are faced with deployment of our firearm.  This class assumes your are proficient with your shooting skills and requires prerequisites.  It is a class all of us should consider taking.  Three days for $525.00

I expect to add a few classes for June and for the fall of 2012 shortly.

Please contact me via email to book any classes or if I can help in any
way.  bigsfish(at)bellsouth(dot)net   Or use the direct link on the web
site http://www.southernexposuretraining.com/

All classes at Southern Exposure will have a nominal range fee of $10.00
per day.

The email belongs to Irv who is the honcho at Southern Exposure. Well, he says he is, I vote for his wife. Do join his mailing list and ladies, keep an eye for Randy Cain’s Lady’s Class. I’ve been told it is a darn good one. Steve Tarani will one day be a part of my instruction, specially since the day one of his students disarmed me in less than a second with a t-shirt. I am still trying to figure how did he do it and why my arm went into a sudden spasm.
I have taken Tactical Handgun 101 with Randy Cain. Even though it says “tactical” it is a deep instruction in to the basics of handgun shooting. Perhaps the best class out there for the money, the quality and Randy’s bon-mots. Did I mention you will be shooting in the dark with only your little tac light at 50 yards and more? And you will hit the target too!

If you don’t know about the rest of the instructors, you really need to put down your X-Box and get out there.

I’ll post updates whenever they come up.

Via the Weapons Blog out of Legacy Control.

The narrative is that women are more interested in having the Government pay (that means all of us are forced to pay) for their “reproductive rights.” However more and more women are waking up to the fact that yes, it is your body and you should be able to do as you please with it and that includes the ability to defend it against unwanted hostile takeovers.

But a funny thing happens when women taste the freedom and independence a gun gives: They crave for more. It is like the perfect ice cream that comes in all your favorite flavors and does not increase your hips’ dimensions. Soon enough, they do not want some D.C. daddy (or mommy) telling them what they should do or that they will be provided by them and laugh at the offer knowing that just like an abusive partner, the fleeting moment of “love” will surely be followed by pain and disappointment when the chips are down.

You can say that gun ownership not only gives women the power to defend themselves but also removes both shackles and blindfolds. And that is a good thing in almost anybody’s book.

So CSGV tweets a link to a ThinkProgress article about Rules of Engagement in Irak and thinks the case is made for them.

A key component of the ROE used during the height of violence in Iraq in 2007 was the requirement to use “Graduated Force” when time and circumstances permit. Section 3.G.(1) states that if an individual “commit[s] a hostile act or demonstrat[es] hostile intent” — meaning he or she attacks U.S. or designated allied forces, nationals, or property, or threatens the imminent use of force against any of them — U.S. Force “may use force, up to and including deadly force, to eliminate the threat.” However, the rule also explicitly instructs forces, “when time and circumstances permit,” to use the following “graduated measures of force” when responding to hostile act or hostile intent:

3.G.(1)(A) (U) Shout verbal warnings to halt;

3.G.(1)(B) (U) Show your weapon and demonstrate intent to use it;

3.G.(1)(C) (U) Physically restrain, block access, or detain;

3.G.(1)(D) (U) Fire a warning shot (if authorized);

3.G.(1)(E) (U) Shoot to eliminate the threat.

Attention CSGV & ThinkProgress: It is hard to win by stating that a stupid set of rules that is killing our servicemen and women overseas should also be applied to civilians so they can get killed at home too.

I tried to look for a Colossal Facepalm image, but nothing available suited Stupidity Level Divided By Zero.

You see, even the Coalition to Stop Gun Rights Violence admits people need guns.  Of course you must be Beautiful/Connected/Famous in order to qualify for one.

Via Days of our Trailers: @CSGV: Some Animals are more Equal than Others.

With the huge caveat that Venezuela’s second export is rumors. Apparently doctors both in Havana and Brazil have told Hugo that he should start planning on doing a power transfer ASAP and enjoy the rest of his life with family.

If this is true, I have no idea how’s gonna effect the incoming Venezuelan presidential elections but I am guessing not in favor of the other side. Will the Cuban Faction take over or will the Venezuelan military start slitting Cuban throats? One thing is for certain: there are no individuals with Chavez’s charisma and things might get less than pretty. Again, if he is really pre-boarding the express to Hell.