I really want to get the benchrest rifles out this weekend and try to finish developing some new loads in preparation for next month’s Firearms Industry Super Shoot. What’s been holding me up is the same thing I’ve complained about in the last few editions of Reloading Press: an Iowa winter that still has not let go! In the last few days, we’ve had temps dipping into the 30s and even some snow flurries. It’s looking like a warm-up is finally starting as I write this, so I’ll be able to get out to the range and continue working up a load or two using the new Accurate Arms LT-32 benchrest powder I talked a bit about a couple of Reloading Presses ago.

LT-32 duplicates the old IMR 8208/T-32 mil surplus powder much loved by 6mm PPC aficionados in the 80s and long unavailable – except from the stashes of benchresters who stockpiled it back in the day! Our initial supply of LT-32 screamed out of here in a few weeks, but don’t worry – we have more coming in soon.

I’m also eager to give a try to Berger’s 6mm “Column” BR bullets. These are bullets designed so that balance, rather than weight, is the critical factor determining performance. Slight variations in lead and copper density means that a Column bullet can weigh 64.8 gr. or 65.1 or 64.6 gr., but it won’t affect performance as long as the lead column inside is the correct height to achieve the correct balance. It’s a fascinating concept, and I’d really like some hands-on time with these bullets.

All of this is in preparation for the 41st Annual Firearms Industry Super Shoot, which will be held on May 21-24, 2013, at Kelbly’s Rifle Range in North Lawrence, Ohio. The event usually draws more than 300 competitors, including a lot of Sinclair friends and customers, all vying for the Two-Gun title. Here’s a little sample of what it all looks like. The Super Shoot will really kick off the summer competition season, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy already.

Some other Sinclair folks and I again took part in the Brownells Gunsmith Conference & Career Fair, held at the end of March in Downtown Des Moines. Brownells started this event seven years ago as a way to bring together gunsmithing school students, recent graduates, and practicing gunsmiths with prospective employers looking for talent. While the first GCCF drew a handful of enthusiastic attendees, this year netted more than 400, including 155 gunsmithing students, packing the Des Moines Marriott.

It’s an amazing opportunity for students and gunsmiths to meet, learn from, and just socialize with industry leaders and legends, including Jason Hornady, VP of Sales at Hornady Manufacturing; Mike Tulowitski, gunsmithing school instructor and owner of MJ Tulo Gunworks; Ron Power of Grand Masters LLC (aka Power Custom); and American Handgunner editor and publisher Roy Huntington. The keynote speaker was master stockmaker Joe Balickie. And two guys from Sinclair International – yours truly and Senior Reloading Technician Phil Hoham – did a presentation on the benefits for the gunsmith of serving the reloading market.

The list of event sponsors reads like a who’s who of various parts of the firearms industry: Aero Metals, Cylinder & Slide, Ergo Grip/Falcon Industries, FMG Publications, Gander Mountain, Grand Masters LLC, Gradient Lens Corporation, JP Enterprises, Kick-Eez, and Turnbull Manufacturing.

As with previous GCCFs I’ve attended, the most important “takeaways” for me were real optimism about the future of the industry that supports our shooting sports – and a renewed appreciation for the great people involved in both. I feel so privileged to work every day with people like our customers and vendors.

Details are still being ironed out for the 8th Annual Brownells Gunsmith Conference & Career Fair, but it’ll be April 1-2, 2014, again at the Des Moines, Iowa, Downtown Marriott. Keep an eye on www.gunsmithcareerfair.com for news.

Immediately on the horizon is the “NRA Show,” formally called the NRA Meetings & Exhibits, in Houston, TX, next week – May 3-5, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. A bunch of Sinclair folks will be there in Booth #3433 and looking forward to talking shop with our customers. It’s a great venue to get face-to-face feedback from our customers on our new products – and for getting ideas for future products.

Speaking of new products, we’ll be unveiling our new Sinclair Heavy Varmint Rest at the show (photo below). Attendees can enter a drawing to win one of three shooting rests. So drop by, say “hello,” and sign up for your chance to win.

A final note before I sign off… Availability of some key products, especially consumable reloading components, is still very tight. We’ve yet to see any signs of the market slowing down, and while suppliers are making deliveries to us, we’re only receiving a small portion of what we’ve ordered. If you have extended backorders with us, please hang in there. We haven’t forgotten about you, and we are steadily filling orders. We truly appreciate your patience in these unprecedented times.

Until next month…Good Shooting!

Geoff Esterline
Sinclair International, Inc.

Team Sinclair won the F-TR class at the first-ever Sinclair International East Coast Fullbore Nationals, setting what should be a new NRA National Record of 1538-40x, pending verification. The match was hosted by the North State Shooting Club near Butner, North Carolina, April 18-21, 2013. For four days, the Camp Butner range provided a lot of fun and many opportunities to assess personal wind reading skills. Almost 60 shooters turned out for this inaugural match, which bodes well for the future.

L-to-R Wind Coach Ray Gross; shooters Derek Rodgers, Paul Phillips, Jeff Rorer, and Brad Sauve.

Shooters competed in three different categories, with 21 competitors shooting Sling, 9 in the F-Open class, and F-TR being the most popular class with 27 shooters. A Team Match event followed the regular match relays each day. The firing points consisted of 300, 500, and 600 yards each day. A long range portion at the 900 and 1,000 yard firing lines was shot on alternating days, allowing the shooters to test their skills twice at each long-distance firing point.

The match began with high temperatures in the mid 80s and two days of blustery tail winds that fluctuated erratically. The last two days of the four-day match gave shooters the opposite conditions with opposing headwinds and highs in the 60s. The changing winds kept shooters on their toes as values and directions constantly shifted from left to right and back again. The afternoon winds increased with pick-ups that pushed 25+ mph. Local radio stations issued tornado warnings for three counties to the west as the shooters pressed on to get their relays complete.

Team Sinclair member Derek Rodgers took high individual in F-TR, with a 1741-62X. Paul Phillips, Jeff Rorer and Brad Sauve, along with wind coach Ray Goss, added strong performances to keep Team Sinclair undefeated.

The North State Shooting Club Team of John Friguglietti, David Huskins, Norm Crawford, Russ Jones and JP Young took the NRA Fullbore Prone team title, shooting an aggregate of 1552-61x

The BNX Rifle Team/21stCenturyShooting.com took the F-Open team title with a 1516-43x aggregate. Team members include Robert Burton, Luis Eljaiet, Tom Goodman and Nikolas Taylor.

Individual match winners include:

F-TR
1st Derek Rodgers 1741-62x
2nd Tracy Hogg 1737-59x
3rd Philip Kelley, Jr 1734-67x

Pete LaBerge presents prize to 1st place F-TR shooter Derek Rodgers.

Fullbore
1st Kent Reeve 1770-94x
2nd John Friguglietti 1764-79x
3rd Norman Crawford 1754-78x

First place NRA Fullbore shooter Kent Reeve receives his prize from Pete LaBerge.

F-Open
1st Kenny Adams 1767-71x
2nd Bret Solomon 1752-74x
3rd Danny Biggs 1750-72x

Pete LaBerge presents prizes to 1st place F-Open shooter Kenny Adams.

Complete match results may be found here.

Shooters expressed their gratitude to Sinclair for sponsoring the event and are already looking forward to another great match at next year’s East Coast Fullbore Nationals.

Not all brass is created equal. This truth might not matter that much if you’re reloading a large batch of plinking or varmint rounds. It becomes absolutely critical when you are trying to achieve superior accuracy, such as with benchrest competition ammo. When the highest possible level of accuracy is the goal, it really pays to start with quality brass, and then carefully perform the standard case-prep techniques we’re all so familiar with. That said, there is more than one way to get quality brass.

Types Of Retail Brass
We’ve probably all scrounged brass from ranges, bartered for it with friends and shooting buddies, even scoured garage sales and estate auctions looking for that one big score. With all reloading components so hard to find due to market pressures lately, we’ll have to get even more creative when it comes to getting our brass. When you can find it, retail brass comes in three main types:

• Military brass
• Bulk brass from big makers
• Premium brass from high-end makers

All of these types offer certain benefits, but also have their own limitations. One of the deciding factors to consider is which would you rather spend – your money or your time?

Military Cases
Military brass is typically made out of good-quality materials to uniform specs. It’s often relatively inexpensive, especially the once-fired variety, making it ideal for reloaders who shoot high volumes of ammo. Brand new, unfired military brass is out there – and costs more – but due to current shortages might be more difficult to find than it once was. While you can save money by choosing once-fired military brass, it will cost you more time, especially if you intend to prep it for high-accuracy applications.

A primer pocket swager, such as this one from RCBS, is a big help in removing the primer crimp from once-fired military brass.

Military brass often has a crimp in the primer pocket designed to prevent primers from falling or blowing out and jamming machine guns. You’ll have to remove the crimp prior to resizing. An RCBS Primer Pocket Swager is the perfect tool for the job, but like everything else gun-related lately, it might take a while to put your hands on one. The Wilson Primer Pocket Reamer, used with the popular Wilson Case Trimmer many of us already own is another option, as is the Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer. Another concern with military brass is that it may have been fired in anything from a match rifle with a tight chamber, to a machine gun with a long chamber. When prepping once-fired military brass for high-accuracy applications, make sure your die also resizes the base too, like the new RCBS AR Series Dies.

Bulk Commercial Cases
Bulk commercial brass is available from sources with famous names – Federal, Remington and Winchester. It’s often priced in the middle range, usually higher than once-fired military brass, but lower than premium brass. It’s made to uniform specs and offers consistent primer pockets that don’t have to be swaged, which saves you prep time over once-fired military brass. For those interested in replicating factory loads for hunting or target shooting, it only makes sense to use the same factory brass. Even so, bulk commercial brass still should be full-length sized, trimmed and chamfered prior to loading. It is good stuff, but not quite perfect. For high-accuracy loads, bulk commercial brass will still require some work, but not as much as once-fired military brass.

Premium Cases
Premium brass – from makers like Lapua, Norma and Nosler – does cost more, but as the old saying goes, you do get what you pay for. Premium brass is made out of high-quality alloy to demanding specs and is almost always carefully annealed, which makes the case stand up to repeated firings and saves you money in the long run. With premium brass, you might spend quite a bit more up front, but you save lots of case prep time for the first loading, and are then able to reuse the same cases over and over again.

Lapua brass is made to strict tolerances in concentricity and wall thickness. As of this writing, we can say that we do have a confirmed shipment of Lapua brass in our pipeline, and it will hopefully be for sale on our website within a few weeks. Norma brass is known for its very consistent wall thickness and drilled, not punched, flash holes that help ignition. Nosler brass comes with the necks already sized and the case mouth chamfered both inside and outside.

Weighed In The Balance
No matter what kind of brass you choose – military, bulk commercial or premium – one step key to getting high accuracy is to sort that brass by weight. Many folks like to sort their brass before prepping, but it might be better to sort it after prepping, especially for high-accuracy applications. A good practice is to use cases that weigh within plus or minus .2 or .3 grains of each other. A high-quality scale, like the RCBS Chargemaster 1500, is critical to sorting brass by weight, which simply must be done with military or bulk commercial cases. Even premium brass should be weighed and sorted. In a box of 100 high-quality cases, it’s not unusual to find as many as 10 cases that are outside that critical weight range. One feature of Nosler Custom brass is that each box is pre-sorted into lots that weigh within a ½ grain of each other before the cases leave the factory, which helps save you more time.

A high-quality scale is critical for sorting brass by weight.

Like any other complex process, it’s important to begin handloading with your final goal in mind. Do you want to make lots of ammo for plinking or varmint hunting? Are you trying to brew up that perfect hunting round to drop a trophy moose in its tracks? Or are you trying to win a benchrest match? Once you know the goal, it’s easier to decide what type of cartridge case will best help you achieve it. Military cases, bulk commercial cases and premium cases can all be part of high-quality handloads. Knowing the benefits and limitations of each type will help you make properly-informed choices.

Roy Hill
Brownells Copywriter

Tips For Tumbling With Stainless Steel Media

By Bob Kohl

The Thumler Tumbler Model B and stainless steel media kit available from Sinclair

This article gives specific technical information and tips on how best to use your Thumler Tumbler with stainless steel media. The Thumler Model B high speed tumbler is rated at 15 lbs. capacity. This breaks down to 5 lbs. of media, a little less than a gallon of water (7 to 8 lbs.) and your brass. I strongly suggest tumbling no more than 70 .30 caliber cases at a time. If you’re not sure, just weigh the brass and keep the weight under 2½ lbs. This saves wear and tear on the tumbler and keeps the tumbling times shorter.

If you wonder why so many reloaders are so excited about tumbling with stainless steel media, check out the following before-and-after photos. For this demonstration, I used some really nasty once-fired M118 7.62×51 National Match brass that has been sitting for decades.

A pair of grungy, corroded M118 cases after 8 hours of tumbling in corn cob media with additives.

Those same two very nasty M118 cases after 3 hours of tumbling with stainless steel media and Lemi Shine.

Look closely. Here are four new commercial cases: two Lapua, two Norma and those two M118 cases. Can you tell the difference?

Even the primer pockets are clean!

Let’s Get Ready To Tumble:

1) Set up the tumbler, and undo the top of the drum; carefully put the wing nuts and washers in a container so you don’t lose them. Remove the gasket and cover.

2) Pour the stainless steel media in the drum first, and then add your brass.

3) Never overload the Thumler Tumbler. You will cause excessive wear and reduce its life span.

4) Pour in 1 tablespoon (½ oz.) of Ivory liquid dishwashing detergent. The amount of soap depends on the hardness of water where you live. The best way to figure this out is by feel. When you’re done tumbling, rub some of the water in the tumbler between your thumb and fingers. If the water doesn’t feel slick, the soap has stopped working. Increase the amount of soap you use, but never more than 2 tablespoons (1 oz.). Some people swear by Dawn, but after years of working with cars and guns, Ivory has always worked for me. If you choose to use Ivory, it will take a bit longer to flush out the soap.

5) Add a ½ teaspoon (or a 9mm case full) of Lemi Shine during the cleaning cycle and fill the drum with warm water, until 1½ inches from the top.

6) Replace the gasket and lid. Make sure to cross tighten the wing nuts to ensure a uniform tension on the lid.

7) If your tumbler is on a smooth surface that is not absolutely level, it will travel. Simply put an old towel or a throw rug under it and check it occasionally.

Tumbling Times:

1) The sooner you clean the cases after firing, the shorter the tumbling time.

2) Once fired brass: 1½ hours with Lemi Shine.

3) Grungy brass: 3 hours with Lemi Shine.

4) Really nasty brass (corrosion, etc.): 4-5 hours with Lemi Shine.

5) If you want your primer pockets really clean: add ½ an hour.

6) Cleaning lube off of sized cases: ½ hour.

7) If you can’t get Lemi Shine, double these figures.

8. Once you’ve finished, remove the brass immediately after properly flushing the cases. If you don’t the carbon residue can re-attach itself to the brass.

9) Really bad brass may need 2 tumbling sessions with soap and Lemi Shine to get it clean.

10) Use a Wilson decapping punch and base to decap the brass at the range and soak it in a container filled with water and Ivory. This step will cut the tumbling times by 30 to 50%.

The L. E. Wilson decapping punch and base, available from Sinclair.

Flushing The Cases:

When done tumbling, put the drum in the sink. Undo the wing nuts and washers; put them in a separate container.

If water and soap has saturated into the gap between the gasket and liner, you may get a seal that requires prying with a small slotted screw driver to carefully separate the gasket from the liner. Take care not to damage the gasket or liner. Remove the gasket and top, and brush any pellets on the top of the liner or gasket back into the drum so they don’t drop into the sink.

Hold the drum at a 45 degree angle and use a sprayer or hose to gently flush the soap out of the drum. Do this thoroughly, because you’re also flushing out residual chemicals and brass particles.

Make sure no pellets float out an air bubbles because of surface tension, especially with soap in the water. Once you get the soap cleared out, flush the drum two more times to clear residual debris or chemicals. Be careful – you don’t want steel pellets down the pipes or in the garbage disposal.

After you flush the drum, set it upright in the sink and fill it with warm water to 1½ inches from the top. Put another ½ teaspoon of Lemi Shine but no soap and gently stir the water. This step protects the shine because you have stripped the factory chemicals that keep the brass shiny. If you don’t have Lemi Shine, seal the cases in an air tight container or sealable bag once they’re dry. This will also help keep them shiny.

Now, take the cases by the head and agitate them under water.

Shaking out the steel pellets, beneath the surface.

Agitating the cases under water cuts the surface tension and allows the pellets to exit the case mouth. Make sure to run your fingers through the pellets when you think you’re done because you’ll typically find cases buried in the media. I’ve tried media separators but do not get consistent results when clearing the pellets out of the cases.

Throw the wet brass into a large can or Tupperware container to dislodge any pellets that might still be sticking to the cases or inside them. Dump the brass onto a towel to see if any pellets come out of the brass. If there you find pellets, go back and agitate the cases under water again, to clear any residual pellets out of the brass.

Once the pellets are all out, put the brass on the towel out in the sun to dry. If it’s not sunny, then lay the brass out on the towel in front of a heater. Do NOT dry the brass in an oven. You can cause case failure by overheating it and softening the brass, with disastrous results.

It’s important to visually check the flash holes, given the way the pellets get everywhere and into anything just like corn cob media.

Two stainless pellets stuck in a slightly oversized flash hole, in a once-fired commercial case.

Pellets stuck in the flash hole can cause three bad things to happen. The reloaded cartridge can misfire. If the pellets protrude enough, they may detonate the primer when you’re priming the case. Even if the pellets don’t cause a misfire or detonation during priming, you could end up propelling steel pellets down the bore of your gun. You don’t want to chance any of these.

To drain the tumbler, very carefully and slowly ease it over onto its side. Again watch for any pellets floating out. Be sure to position the drum with an angle at the lowest point, so the water drains off more effectively. After draining, put the drum aside to dry and wipe off any residual moisture from the outside of the drum. Look for residual particles on the top of the liner and gasket and wipe them off if you see them.

Thumler Tumbler Maintenance

1) When not in use, take the metal shaft out of the side of the base that has the belt on it. This relieves the tension on the belt so it doesn’t stretch. Or just take out both sides.

2) If you lube the motor shaft and roller bushings with synthetic motor oil, the tumbler will last a long time. Lube inside the area marked 1 with a slight drop of oil on the shaft and 2, 3, 4 and 5 on both sides of the bushing with a light coat of synthetic motor oil.

3) If the bushings start to dry out, apply a light coat of synthetic motor oil.

4) Be sure to wipe up any excess water on the drum, rollers and base. Do not leave the tumbler outside or exposed to the elements, because exposed metal will rust.

5) If you’re doing multiple loads, wipe the gasket and the top of the liner between loads to get a better seal.

6) If you use the tumbler with stainless steel media regularly, keep the media clean by tumbling just it with Ivory soap once in a while.

7) Never use additives in a Thumler Tumbler. They will destroy the liner.

8. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. If you look closely you will find brass particles on your skin.

9) You can also use the Thumler Tumbler to clean rust off various things including gun parts and magazines.

10) Because large cases – like 50 BMG – weigh more, the amount of brass you can tumble at one time has to be carefully limited. Do not exceed the weight limit of the Thumler Tumbler. Overloading will cause excessive wear and radically reduce its life span.

Snow again. Seriously? Forget what the calendar says, winter is still going full blast in our corner of the Midwest. After mild snow seasons here for the past couple of years, Ol’ Man Winter is certainly making up for it in 2013. As I peck away at the keyboard, there are several cases of shotgun shells and a value pack of 40 S&W staring me down from across my office, wondering when they’ll get their chance to sail downrange. Soon…If I weren’t such a fair weather shooter, they’d be spent months ago! But enough whining about the weather….

We just returned from the IWA Show in Nuremberg, Germany, and our team really had a great time talking shop with our international friends, working the show, and savoring some of the local German cuisine. The IWA Show is Europe’s premier trade show and exhibition for firearms, outdoor equipment, and law enforcement/personal security gear – a “Shot Show of Europe”, if you will. We always enjoy seeing the fine European craftsmanship on the custom guns that are on display, as well as viewing all of the newest products from our favorite European manufacturers such as Glock, H&K, Sig Arms, Swarovski, Leica, Schmidt & Bender, and so many more.

Reloading in Europe is mainly from an accuracy/precision perspective, and of course rimfire competitive shooting is big. But believe it or not, AR-15s are becoming a real hit in Germany, with three or four German manufacturers making them now. Fully machined uppers and lowers, very nice and VERY expensive. A lot of products for hunters, too, though hunting is not as big a part of the culture over there as in the U.S. For example, in Germany it takes several weeks and the equivalent of several thousand dollars to get a hunting license – we are fortunate here! Issues of conservation, ecology, animal habitat, and grazing patterns get a lot of scrutiny by the authorities there, so hunters have to be very well informed folks. We definitely learned a lot about how things are done in other countries.

Thanks to all the people who visited our booth, made the world seem small, and treated us like family…what a great international fraternity we’re a part of!

The Sinclair 2013-A Catalog should be arriving in your mailbox now.  As always, it’s packed with hundreds of new items like the new Thumler’s Vibratory Tumblers, ProChrono Digital Chronograph, SCAR 16 cleaning rod guide, RCBS Ultrasonic Cleaner, Lyman Touch Screen Powder Dispensers, Hornady Hot Tub Sonic Cleaner, and much more. It includes three important new lines of dies from RCBS: the Gold Medal Match Bushing Dies, X-Dies, and their new “AR-Series” dies.

Speaking of Thumler, the combination of stainless steel media and the Thumler Model B Rotary Tumbler has really become very popular with a lot of reloaders. Back in September 2012 we ran an article about using this system, and this month we have a follow-up article from one of our customers with more tips on tumbling with steel media.

Having thoroughly clean brass is only the start of the process that leads through reloading and – hopefully – a nice, tight group on a target. This month we also have an extended excerpt from the new book by Bryan Litz, Accuracy and Precision For Long Range Shooting. Bryan, who is Chief Ballistician at Berger Bullets, certainly knows his stuff and can explain it clearly and understandably to others. His earlier book Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting has been wildly popular with Sinclair customers, and I think this new volume is going to be just as successful.

One final note… Product demand continues at levels our industry most likely has never experienced. On behalf of all the folks here at Sinclair, I want to thank you for your patience and forgiveness in these unprecedented times. We’ll continue our best efforts to offer unrivaled customer service and technical assistance, the product selection you expect, and your order delivered to your doorstep, hopefully without significant wait time.

Until next month. . . shoot straight and take care.

All the best,

Geoff Esterline

Sinclair International, Inc.

Brian Litz really is a rocket scientist – he has a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State and spent six years in the U.S. Air Force working in air-to-air missile design, modeling, and simulation. In 2008, he became the Chief Ballistician for Berger Bullets. He’s also a champion long-range shooter, coach and proprietor of Applied Ballisitcs, LLC, a highly active consulting company specializing in modern ballistics applications. He’s also an author of many journal and magazine articles and two books. His first, Applied Ballistics For Long Range Shooting, was published in 2009 and has become one of the best-selling books in the Sinclair library. Bryan’s latest, Accuracy and Precision For Long Range Shooting, was just published late last year, and it has been getting rave reviews from long-range shooters for being both thorough and easy to understand.

The article below is an extended excerpt from the new book that introduces “Weapon Employment Zone Analysis” – a method for quantifying the hit percentage of a given rifle against a specific target while accounting for variables such as a shooter’s ability to estimate wind and range, and the precision and consistency of the ammunition. While some of Bryan’s terminology is drawn from his military and “rocket scientist” background, the concepts are vital for any long-range rifle shooter to understand.

Click here to read Bryan’s Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ) Analysis

The February weather here in the Midwest is reminding us that winter isn’t done yet! Temperatures have dropped, and we have more snow on the ground, but we can still look forward to spring and make sure our target guns are cleaned, oiled and ready for the range.

I cannot wait to try out the new LT-32 Powder from Accurate Arms in my benchrest rifles. Some well-respected benchrest shooters collaborated with Western Powders to develop LT-32 as a modern duplicate of the old IMR 8208/T-32 mil surplus powder. During the 80′s this was the “go to” powder for 6mm PPC aficionado’s shooting 100 to 300 yard competitive benchrest. Its near-mythical capabilities have kept “small group” campfire stories alive for nearly 30 years. And now, we’ve got the new version of the classic powder to help us create the next set of “small group” stories for years to come.

The match season has already begun in regions such as the southwest, where the 2013 Berger SW Long Range Nationals just wrapped up. Congratulations to our Sinclair customers Shiraz Balolia, president of Grizzly Industrial, and John Haynehurst for securing 1st place in the F-Open and F-TR Divisions respectively. The new Michigan F-TR team coached by Bryan Litz won the F-TR Team Competition. Bryan is a former aerospace engineer, high master shooter, and one of our favorite authors on the subject of long range ballistics. His books are a few of the most extensive on the subject and written in a reader-friendly style. Titles include Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting and his newest release Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting.

We are excited to announce our 2013-A Sinclair catalog will be arriving in your mailbox in Mid-March! It’s packed with all of our usual accoutrements, as well as hundreds of new products from your favorite reloading and shooting suppliers.

We’re finalizing our preparations to attend the 2013 IWA & Outdoor Classics Show in Nuremberg, Germany, which takes place March 8-11th. The IWA Show is perhaps the European equivalent of our SHOT Show in the United States. It’s the leading international exhibition for the shooting sports, ammunition, law enforcement and personal security. If you’re there, please visit us in Hall 7 Stand 621. We look forward to seeing all our international customers and suppliers, as well as enjoying Nuremberg, its restaurants and activities.

The firearms industry climate has seen little change in these past few months with demand continuing to far exceed supply. As I’m writing this, inventory levels on several key components such as select primers and powder, as well as many popular bullets and brass cases, are either extremely low or out. Shortages are industry-wide, so feel free to send us an email or call to place a request for notification upon availability. We ask for your patience and cooperation as we do our best to replenish inventory levels.

Again, don’t hesitate to give our Sinclair Reloading techs a call for product suggestions, problem solving, or any guidance you need with our newest product offerings. They’re all passionate about their hobby and eager to assist you.

Until next month. . . shoot straight and take care.

All the best,

Geoff Esterline

Sinclair International

By Roy Hill

Hornady’s latest iteration of the Handbook of Cartridge Reloading is bright, colorful, and all business. It’s packed with load data for more than 200 different calibers, 300 bullets, and 140 powders. And when you combine it with Hornday’s online ballistics calculator, you’ve got all the information and data you need to reload with the best.

The cover photo gives the first clue as to the perception Hornady wants us to have of the Handbook. A single round of 6.5 Creedmoor – the long-range accuracy cartridge Hornady introduced in 2007 – stands tall and well-lit, surrounded by the brass, bullets, and primers required to assemble it. The image is striking and simple. It communicates focus and precision. But it’s not just a pretty picture. If you turn to page 90, in the section titled “The Complete Hornady Bullet Guide,” you may be able to determine that the bullet is Hornady’s 140 grain A-Max just by comparing the full-color bullet images to the cover photo. The full-color bullet images are that good.

Every bullet is carefully rendered in full color, both in the “Complete Bullet Guide” section and on each individual cartridge page. For example, you’ll find 14 different bullets and corresponding data about ballistic coefficients, overall cartridge length, and powder types for 6.5 Creedmoor alone – more than 50 different combinations – in easy-to-read tables organized by bullet weight. Below each table is the reminder that you can find the online ballistics tables available at Hornady.com.

I plugged the Handbook’s data for a 140 grain A-Max atop 34.9 grains of Varget, running at 2,550 fps into the online calculator. With a 500-yard zero, I should about be 12.6 inches high at 100 yards, and I would need to come up 24.8 MOA on my scope to be on at 1,000 yards. The data is also printable as a “Cheat Sheet” you can tape to your rifle’s stock. You can use the book and the online calculator to quickly generate ballistics charts and “Cheat Sheets” for every one of the thousands of different loads.

Hornady gives data for its newest bullets like the MonoFlex, NTX, GMX, and FTX, and well as its all-time favorites like the A-Max, V-Max, SST, InterBond, InterLock, and XTP. It also offers data for some of the newest powders, like Power Pro Varmint, AR-Comp, and CFE 223. Cartridges brand-new to the Hornady manual in this edition are 17 Hornet, 327 Federal Magnum, 356 Winchester, 5.56x45mm NATO, 416 Barrett, and 505 Gibbs. Hornady has also expanded the data for popular cartridges like the 223 Remington, 300 AAC Blackout/300 Whisper, the 308 Winchester, and many more.

The manual contains data for over 160 rifle cartridges, including several competition or long-range accuracy cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6mm PPC, and the 6.5 x 284. More than 70 handgun cartridges make the Hornady Manual, including some rifle rounds—243 Winchester, 270 Winchester and 30-30 Winchester—with data specifically geared for use in Thompson Center and Encore pistols. It’s just another added feature that makes the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading such a valuable resource. Including the “Basics of Reloading” section that begins the book, and the “Special Tips and Techniques” section that gives advice on how to reload for accuracy, the Handbook comprises more than 900 pages, and includes blank pages where you can record notes and special load recipes.

No matter if you are just starting out in reloading, or have been rolling your own for decades, the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading 9th Edition is a book that belongs on your reloading bench.

I hope your 2013 is off to a good start. Ours is, only it’s really cold here in Iowa. Frigid temperatures here in the Midwest have severely hampered our shooting and hunting opportunities for a few weeks, but it hasn’t diminished our enthusiasm! For those of you in warmer climates, we’re envious of the extra trigger time you get and can’t wait to hit the range.

We just returned from the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT) in Las Vegas. For those of you not familiar with SHOT, it’s the largest and most comprehensive trade show for the shooting sports, hunting, and law enforcement industries. Manufacturers representatives for firearms, ammunition, components, shooting accessories, optics and much more were on hand to display their new items for 2013, as well as their existing product lines. It’s THE place to be if you’re in the industry.

While much of the show was abuzz about recent shortages of ammo, firearms and components, there was a lot of concern about what legislation may materialize. Hopefully common sense and the “good guys” will prevail. While the political debate was lively and entertaining each night, we spent the four days scouring the show floor for a “sneak peek” of what new products are coming soon to make our hobby even more enoyable. Perhaps a few of these hot items will make it into our 2013-A Sinclair catalog, which we’re working on right now and should be in your mailbox in mid-March.

Here are a few of the reloading product highlights from SHOT that I found exciting:

• Redding Reloading introduced several new products, and two of them looked really interesting. Redding’s Micro-Adjustable Taper Crimp Dies will save valuable set-up time when adjusting for that perfect crimp while running your progressive press. The Redding Master Hunter Series Die Sets – consisting of their Full-Length Sizer and Competition Seater—look to be great for reloaders who prefer standard full-length dies (non-bushing style), yet demand the accuracy of a micro-adjustable seating die with sliding chamber sleeve.

• RCBS has a couple of items that we’re excited to see—their Universal Case Prep Center and the Summit Single Stage Reloading Press. The new Prep Center combines their popular power case trimmer unit with six motorized stations for case preparation. This all-in-one unit would be a workhorse for any high-volume reloader’s benchtop. The Summit Press operates from the top of the bench, in an “arbor press” fashion. The case is fixed in the shell holder and the user operates the press handle to force the die down onto the case, opposite of a traditional press. It looks really slick with no linkage below the bench top.

• Forster Products’ new Datum Dial Ammunition Measurement System is a highly innovative tool where you simply change dials to allow the measurement of a bullet’s ogive, cartridge headpace, overall length, and more. It attaches to your calipers and provides the data needed to help refine your case sizing and bullet seating operations.

• Both Hornady and Lyman released extra-large Ultrasonic Cleaning units. Hornady’s will accept a complete 16″ AR-15 upper, and the Lyman accomdates a 24″ Remington 700 barreled action! Both are excellent tools for gunsmiths, armorers, gun clubs, and guys like us who shoot a lot! Great for pistols, parts, cases, and other items as well.

I could carry on for hours about all the exciting new products we came across at SHOT Show 2013. Talking about them is great medicine for a severe case of wintertime cabin fever! You can keep up with what’s new by frequently visiting our website and clicking on the New Products icon. There are hundreds of new items that have just been released or will soon be available over the next few weeks.

Let me wrap things up by reminding everyone of the Brownells Gunsmith Conference and Career Fair in Des Moines, IA, on March 27-28. Be sure to pass the word along to any up-and-coming gunsmiths, or anyone interested in a career in the firearms industry. The fair will provide the opportunity to speak with industry representatives and trade school affiliates, attend various seminars and workshops, as well as obtain valuable advice for future endeavors. Visit the registration page if you’d like to attend.

As always, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and give our Sinclair Reloading techs a call at 260-482-3670. They’re standing by to help get you started in reloading, offer product suggestions and recommendations, or even solve that bullet seating dilemma that has you stymied. They’re a passionate bunch—in fact, all of us are here. Our job is our hobby, and helping our customers means the world to us.

Until next month…shoot straight and take care,

All the Best.

Geoff Esterline

By Roy Hill

Nosler’s 7th edition Reloading Guide is a book equally at home on the reloading bench and the coffee table. Jam packed with the latest reloading data, tables and charts, it’s also full of interesting and entertaining stories and great photos. Overall, it just looks and feels classy when you pick it up. It is the kind of book you’re meant to enjoy reading, even if you’re not searching for a good load for 9.3 x 64 Brenneke—and it’s got that, too.

Covering almost 900 pages, the Nosler Reloading Guide is organized into three main sections—an introductory portion, the main body of cartridge data, and a set of useful appendices and additions. The opening segment is “In Memoriam,” John R. Nosler’s touching tribute to his grandfather and namesake, John A. Nosler, who founded the company in 1948. We learn about “Big John” giving his grandson his first rifle and shooting at cans out at the gravel pit. We hear about the moose hunt gone wrong in British Columbia that drove John A. Nosler to create a better bullet, and how the fledgling company grew and developed over the years.

The opening also includes a foreword by hunter and noted gun writer Aaron Carter, full-color images of Nosler bullet cut-aways, and a “Getting Ready To Reload” primer showing the steps in reloading metallic cartridges with plenty of helpful hints, tips and color photos. The opening section and the accompanying photos and illustrations are the first clues that this is a bit more than just another book of reloading data.

The bulk of the book, not surprisingly, is the cartridge data section, broken into rifle and handgun categories. As with the first section, it becomes quickly apparent this book is meant to offer a pleasurable reading experience, not just load data and ballistics charts. The data for each cartridge is preceded with an introduction by a famous expert: a gun writer, a hunter, a gun rights activist, an industry figure. Each introduction is accompanied by a photo of that expert posing with a firearm or a trophy animal along with the writer’s signature.

The sepia-toned photos and author signatures give a sense of timelessness and a personal connection that’s enhanced by the stories revealed in each cartridge introduction. We learn about Holt Bodinson taking two foxes with one shot from a .222 Remington. We read of Wayne van Zwoll’s successful Alaskan moose and Dall sheep hunts with a .30-06. We get Dave Petzal’s musings on the .338 Winchester Magnum and Tom Gresham’s on the .41 Magnum. These introductions are fascinating, and with more than 100 cartridges total, will keep you entertained and enlightened for hours. The load data itself is extensive, and features Nosler’s famous projectiles like the Partition and the AccuBond, and the newest bullets like the Varmageddon, E-Tip and Ballistic Tip Lead-Free bullets.

The cartridge appendix offers more reloading data for lesser-known cartridges, only without the expert introductions. Need a load for .257 Roberts Ackley Improved? The Nosler manual has you covered. Wondering about the muzzle velocity of a .330 Dakota with 180 grain bullets? Check page 717. Beyond the unusual and non-standard cartridges appendix, there are extensive rifle drop tables, energy tables, a glossary, and several pages of ruled space for you to jot down notes as you reload, and discover good recipes, specific tweaks and improvements.

For anyone who reloads, or just enjoys reading about different cartridges, the 7th Edition of the Nosler Reloading Guide is full of useful and practical data, along with interesting and entertaining stories, anecdotes and opinions. It will give hours of reading pleasure along with great bullet and powder combos for reloading your favorite cartridges for hunting, target shooting, or just fun at the range.