OT: Visit to the Gun Porn Store!

Scott64A · Post by **Scott64A** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:07 pm

We had a critical care transport from Walton to St. Mary's in Athens, GA yesterday evening and all went well. We got the pt. transported lights and sirens the whole way safely. We got him to the neuro-critcal unit, and left the hospital.

My partner Matt says, "Hey, let's go to Franklin's Gun Shop on the way out of town..."

I had never been there, but had heard it was AWESOME. They had thousands of guns...

I found two Cimmarron in .38spl, one with a short barrel, (14"?) and the ther a full octagon 18-20" barrel. Since these were .38spl, I didn't care for them. I found a Marlin in .357mag with a 16" barrel, as well as a stocked 12" barrel pistol frame in .45 LC.

We couldn't spend a bunch of time there, as we had to get back to the county, but I managed to curb my drooling and inquire of the bullets they had for reloading.

They had some 180gr Hornady XTPs, but I passed.
They had some 170grFMJs, and I passed.
Then I saw the Speer box of 160gr soft nose.

These were almost identical to the Norma 158gr SN I have, except for the lack of crimping groove.
So I bought a box of 100 for $11.99

I want to load these for hogs and deer as they will penetrate and not blow open like a JHP.
Um, is the lack of a crimp groove going to affect how I seat these?

Do I have to seat them so the copper is just under the case mouth or can I just crimp to the copper?

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:27 pm

Then I saw the Speer box of 160gr soft nose.

Scott,

Did you buy the 160gr SN Speer bullets too? I've not seen any of those since Speer discontinued them years ago. They used to be my favorite jacketed bullet.
I got a partial box last year in a trade, but am always looking for more.

If you didn't buy them could I impose on you to buy them for me? I'll gladly pay the price and shipping.

If you did buy them and are going to load them, crimp them over the front of the jacket. Do not load them light. Speer used to have warnings in their load manuals that if loaded too light they could separate and the jacket stick in the barrel. I never loaded them light. Full house fire ball loads is all I ever used. Some of my most accurate .357 loads were put together with that bullet.

Joe

timkelley · Post by **timkelley** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:29 pm

As J Miller says, crimp at the front of the jacket and load heavy. Those bullets are made to romp and stomp at fairly close range. They are, as you can see, very square and don't fly "long" but at close range they will deliver.

Scott64A · Post by **Scott64A** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:45 pm

It was the only box they had Joe...

I would have cleaned them out if I they had more, but knowing they have been discontinued, I'll certainly keep and eye out for them at gun shows etc...

The 11th edition Speer manual lists 15.7gr of 2400 as the maximum, how much charge did you use?

I bet they'll be great for hogs and deer inside of 30yds.

The only thing the Speer manual said was to not exceed maximum loads and crimp over the jacket, as you two said.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:03 pm

Scott,

If I remember right, I was loading 13.5grs of Winchester 630 ball power then. But I'm NOT positive. That powder is long discontinued though. Now I'd probably load them over 14.5grs of 2400 with a standard Win SP primer.

Joe

Scott64A · Post by **Scott64A** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:21 pm

Awesome...
I'm going to load a couple batches starting at 13. and go up to 14.5.

I'll post a range report.