Taurus snubby

[No Exit]

Bought a Taurus 851 .38 Special snubby back in Nov. & finally took it to the Sherriffs office range yesterday. I liked it for the 16.8 oz. lite weight & stainless appearance & concealability & $400 price tag.
The consensus here seems to be w/ Taurus you either get a stud or a dud so I was a little anxious.
We fired 50 rounds along w/ 50 for my other 4 "high value" pistols [2 revolvers & 2 autos]so this was about a $100 trip..not counting gas.
Anyway, no malfunctions. Firing at 30 feet I noticed quickly it was shooting 3-4 inches low & left & w/ some Kentucky windage was soon getting consistant head shots. So my confidence factor is high & I realize that in a true emergency the shooting distance will be far shorter than 10 yards.

 

[MCgunner]

Congrats. I've got three studs, personally.

Sounds like someone else that needs to learn to reload. 250 rounds, that's about 10 dollars for me casting my own bullets and reloading on one of my progressive machines not including casting time, I can knock that out in less than an hour even taking my time about it.

 

[No Exit]

MC you are right

We always have to pick up our brass so I now have a gabage bag full so I am ahead of the game if I do decide to re-load. thanks

 

[DevilDog0402]

Sounds like someone else that needs to learn to reload. 250 rounds, that's about 10 dollars for me casting my own bullets and reloading on one of my progressive machines not including casting time, I can knock that out in less than an hour even taking my time about it.

How much did the initial investment in the reloading setup (progressive, dies, tumbler, etc) cost you?

 

[S&Wfan]

Hi,

I'll bet you were using some of the lighter weight bullets for your .38 snubbie. If so, your point of aim will be lower.

Try some 158 grain stuff, or some 148 gn. wadcutters and I'll bet it will raise your point of aim a bunch.

As far as it pulling left, work on your technique and firm grip. The torque of the bullet spinning out the barrel of that lightweight will be more pronounced than with a heavier gun of identical design and can twist the shot low and left. With practice keeping a firm wrist and grip, you may just discover that it shoots right where you want it to go!

Your symptoms are typical when first shooting a lightweight snubbie.

Good luck,

T.

 

[MCgunner]

How much did the initial investment in the reloading setup (progressive, dies, tumbler, etc) cost you?

Bit of a thread jack, but........

I've just sorta accumulated it all over the last 45 years. I started reloading with my grandpa and uncle in the early 60s as a kid. I sorta was raised with it and when the old man passed away, I inherited the old Pacific stuff. I added a Lyman turret press down the line which I still use, got a Dillon square deal in 9mm in the mid 90s when I was shooting a lot of IDPA with the 9. I got a Lee Pro 1000 (because of the ease of changing calibers, mainly) off Ebay a few years ago for 45 bucks ready to load .38/.357 and bought the conversion stuff to load .45ACP on it.

I have bought stuff here and there, like a digital balance, a tumbler, molds, a lead furnace, etc over the years. But, you can get into reloading for about 100 bucks with a single stage Lee aniversary kit or spend a little more on a Lee auto turret reloading press which will get you up to near progressive speeds without some of the complication. If you load .45 Colt or .44 Special/Mag, some of the more expensive calibers, the initial investment will be paid for VERY quickly even if you go high end with a Dillon, Hornady, RCBS or such progressive. That's not an excuse.

 

[trickyasafox]

MCgunner is spot on.

I started loading 3 or 4 years ago now- started with a lee single stage, then got a few pro 1000s then ended up with a lee turret.

if i could do it all over again i'd get a lee turret to start out with. the tumbler is nice but not necessary right off the bat.

what you really need:

manual
press
dies
calipers
scale
powder thrower
priming system

optional but nice:

bullet puller
tumbler (try to get this when you can)

you dont need to trim anything if your shooting straight pistol cartridges.

104.99 for press, powder thrower, safety scale (works okay but isn't great-) and some trimming gear

calipers for 19.99

bullet puller for 13 bucks

tumbler for 55

dies for 33

manual for 14

so your looking at 105+20+13+55+33+14 for a total of 240 before shipping, lets call it 255 to be safe.

now you need bullets, primers, and powder

I cast a lot of my pistol bullets, but I still get lazy. I just ordered a pile o bullets from Stone Wall Bullet Co. They post on marlin forums and don't have a website. easy guys to work with. I think they want 38 bucks per k in 158gr LSWC. 2k per box shipped for 9 bucks. lets say you only buy one k

38+9 =47

primers will run you about 25 per k locally (last time I bought em I bought 20k at 15.50 per k)

so 25?

powder- unique will be about 17 bucks a lb? that's probably a bit high. either way you won't use a whole lb for a 1000 38spl.

so assuming 4.0 gr unique (a mid range load in 38spl, not +p) you'll use about 9.50 worth of that powder

so now

47+9.50=+25= 81.50 in components for your first 1k of reloads, without really price shopping.

so 255+81.50= 336.50 for your first 1k of reloads.

158gr LRN shipped from Ammoman.com goes for 239 per k.

so your first K your paying more-5 dollars per box than buying it.

however after that your equipment is totally paid for- and your next 1k of rounds costs 1/3 of factory. adding new calibers is just the cost of dies with the turret- cause if your buying lee dies they include the shell holder. so about 33-35 dollars per new caliber.

sorry for the thread hijack- but seeing as how the OP drifted it, i think its okay

start buying bullets in big lots will get costs down, same with primers. you'll start buying powder in 8lb kegs to get the cost of that down. if you start casting? forget about it. another 100-120 in initial set up and your cost of bullets will drop to about 6 bucks per K. thats not a typo- 6 dollars per 1000 bullets.

thats counting lube, cost of lead, this that and the other.

I shoot 230gr 45acp loads that I cast for 33.62 cents per 1000 rounds. I don't pay myself for my time, because I don't pay myself for any time i'm not at work (or in my case at school) so I don't know why people bring that up- unless your skipping work to reload?

 

[No Exit]

S&W Fan

Thanks. This by far is my lightest weight piece & your comments are helpful.