[bdbowti]

I was going to go to Borders and pick up a new reloading book since mine is from back in the day lol. What i really want to find out is if there are any books or whatever that will give me the info needed to duplicate factory loads. In other words so many grains of Bullseye with a 180gr jhp will match a 180gr federal Hydra Shok or what have you. I want to reload practice ammo but i want it to be close to factory specs so that i am essentially traingin with what i will carry.

[Jason]

Borders has not a one Loading book..

[Tony T]

I've never seen a reloading manual with the feature you want.

Best thing to do is buy an $80 cronograph. They you just need to select a bullet weight and tailor the charge untill you duplicate factory velocities.

[LordJim]

You can work to replicate factory loads, but why?

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I firmly believe that training and repetition followed by more training and repetition are what is necessary to save your rear-end when the poo hits the fan. Remember, if you're ever in a fire fight (and I hope to God that you're not) your adrenaline will pumping so hard that you're not going to notice the difference between your training round and your factory round. Focus on the fundamentals, practice, and do it some more.

-
Jim

[bdbowti]

You can work to replicate factory loads, but why?

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I firmly believe that training and repetition followed by more training and repetition are what is necessary to save your rear-end when the poo hits the fan. Remember, if you're ever in a fire fight (and I hope to God that you're not) your adrenaline will pumping so hard that you're not going to notice the difference between your training round and your factory round. Focus on the fundamentals, practice, and do it some more.

-
Jim

That's true never thought of it that way. I was just thinking it would be good to practice with close to what i carry. Of course as long as it goes on paper and makes a boom should be good for practice

[LordJim]

Of course as long as it goes on paper and makes a boom should be good for practice

Correct. Master the technique and then practice, practice, practice . . .

In a world outside of firearms that practice, practice, practice has literally saved my life. When it came time to execute there was no thought, only action, and I'm alive today because of it.

-
Jim

[dave_in_delaware]

+1 on practice, practice, practice.

Under the stress and huge time constraint of an "incident" where your life is on the line, you're not going to notice any difference between a few grains of powder, or a slightly lighter bullet, or whatever. And you're certainly NOT going to care if it was close to the factory stuff or not.

Sure, you have to practice with whatever loads you're going to carry, to make sure that your gun will consistently FIRE them without any problems. Shooting only one or two rounds of something is not an adequate test for your gun. You have to shoot hundreds of the same ammo/load/configuration/whatever so you can be 100% sure that your gun will fire/cycle 100% of the time.

During a fire fight is NOT the time to realize that your gun jams on this ammo every 3rd round.

So, while testing the particular loads you're going to feed your gun is important...

What matters most is that you practice w/ the same GUN you're going to carry. Your muscles and brain will remember your gun, and how it operates, and how it feels, so that when you're using your gun in self defense, there is no real "thought" involved. Only your training and natural automatic reactions.

So, as long as you carry the SAME weapon that you practice with the most, and you know your gun will reliably feed/eject/load the same ammo 100% of the time, you'll be ready and confident in your carry piece to do its job if the SHTF.

This belief in my gun/ammo saved my life not too long ago.

[LordJim]

Fear the man with only one gun, he probably he knows how to use it.

-
Jim