Pictures from March 23

Old NFO, who encourages many bloggers by way of his frequent and thoughtful comments, observed on the post about reloading 40 S&W:

Another point to consider is the case is NOT full of powder, if the same round is reloaded multiple times, the force of the slide closing will cause the bullet to seat deeper and deeper. That will take the SAMMI pressures out of tolerance. At least some of the kabooms with .40s were due to LEOs doing that by unloading when they went into the jail, then putting that round back on top of the mag and reloading it again and again.

I know that .38 Special wadcutter target ammo has a cannelure in the case to prevent the bullet from walking either fore-or-aft.  I also kind-of-sort-of remember seeing some cases more recently that also had cannelures.  And since I have only been reloading 9mm Parabellum and 40 S&W in 2015 it almost had to have been one of those two.

My memory is fallible, so I wanted to look through a large number of cases to see if I remembered in error.

I called up Russ Nelson (517-663-3805) at Family Shooters Corral and asked him if he minded if I pawed through his treasure trove of 40 S&W brass.  He invited me to come on down.

I found one.  A nickel plated 40 S&W with a cannelure in the case.  I bet a fellow could do the same thing with a 44 caliber Hornady cam-lock bullet puller,  not to pull the bullet but to emboss the case.  Those "puller marks" sure look a lot like a cannelure.

And the winning headstamp is....Winchester.  I assume it is a Law Enforcement or premium self defense load for the reasons laid out by Old NFO.

Russ has to be one of the most patient men alive.  I was miking out wall thicknesses to see if I could find some thin walls (0.011") and some thick walls (0.015") for future experimentation.  While I was working away I listened to Russ sell a 40 S&W Hi-Point handgun to a customer.  This customer was busy extolling the virtues of this handgun to Russ. According to the internet (said the customers), the Hi-Point 40 S&W is the cat's meow for deer hunting.  The customer paid partially in cash, and with two credit cards as he did not have enough credit left on the first card he offered.

For those who are not followers of handguns, Hi-Point pistols go bang every time and are very inexpensive.  They are simple "blow back" designs.  Simple =  inexpensive to manufacture.  Since there is no free lunch, particularly with regard to physics, one is dealing with stiffer springs and more mass to hold the pistol in battery.

Most manufactures do not manufacture simple blow back handguns for cartridges more powerful that .380 ACP because of the difficulty in racking the slide.  One huge benefit of increased numbers of women and older people purchasing handguns is that they are inventing work-arounds as shown in the video above.  That increased the market for blow-back handguns in more powerful calibers.  Hi-Point obliged.

This bears on the discussion of bullet setback because stiffer springs and simple blow-back actions smack the bullet around more and increase the risk of bullet setback.

Potatoes

Missaukee potatoes on the left, Spartan Splash on the right.  Obviously, the Spartan Splash sprouts more slowly.  These potatoes were stored at about 65 degrees F.

Trashy people

I love living in the country.  One downside is that many people think that your property is their private trash bin.  They just dump their junk, thinking "Nobody owns this land."

Usually it is furniture, contents of rental spaces and household trash.  Sometimes it is left over construction materials.

Not on my property, but close enough that I have to look at them every day.

This was a little bit different.  About 10 racoons, a half dozen canines, a couple of deer (untagged), a goose, a squirrel and a mink.  Very unusual.  Three-quarters of the animals had not been skinned.

I called Michigan's Report All Poaching line (1-800-292-7800) based on the goose and the untagged deer.