It's All About What You Get Used To

[JimT]

A few years ago I picked up a Star BM in 9mm just because I could. I am not a fan of the caliber but it is such a widely used one that I thought I should probably have one. And there was this sale on for $299.00 .... so I bought one.

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Searching through my loading stuff I scrounged up less than 60 rounds of 9mm brass. I had exactly ZERO loaded ammo. So I called Mic McPherson and burdened him with my woes. Mic is a kind soul and he in turn called a friend who then called me and asked if I needed some 9mm brass. I said yes I did and would be happy to pay him. He turned me down saying he worked at a range and collected all the brass and shared it with friends. He said he would send me a box of brass. And a week later a box arrived. A 22 POUND BOX! I was curious as to how many were in it so I counted out 100 empties and weighed them. ONE POUND! Oh man. I had some work ahead of me.

I started by sorting them all according to headstamp. Out of the several thousand pieces I had, about 1200 were Winchester brand. The next closest were Federal and then Remington. There were a lot of foreign headstamps and some military. The military brass often has a crimped primer pocket and for easy loading requires reaming. Don't ask how I learned that.

I resized and deprimed all of them.
I neck expanded all of them.
I primed all of them.

No. It was not done in a day. Or a week.

It was winter and most every day I worked on 9mm brass at least an hour or two.

Then I sat down and loaded a thousand of them. I used Bear Creek Supply's 125 gr. round nose bullet. They are a most excellent bullet .. accurate and the bore stays clean!

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One day I had finished working on the 9mm's and had put everything away when I noticed this cartridge laying on my loading bench. It was up in the corner and I had not seen it before. It was HUGE! I did not remember having such a huge cartridge in my collection! I mean it was massive. I picked it up and looked at the headstamp to see what it was and the headstamp read

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I had handled so many 9mm's that they began looking "Normal" instead of "little" like I had always envisioned them. Though I did not realize I had transitioned to seeing them that way, my brain did not care. And when I saw a standard rifle cartridge it looked HUGE!

It's all a matter of what you get used to.

Not too long after that I took my .45 Colt to the range. Handling those big cartridges was EASY! I never fumbled a one. And the holes in the cylinder where you put the cartridges were so large they were easy to get right in on the first try. It was amazing.

[JBowen]

Ha HA great story! You could call that a marathon!
I have not ever had the chance to look over a Star firearm. Looks well made.
My 9 mm 1911 Springfield likes Bluedot and a 124 JHP Sig bullet ( I think it is a Sierra mfr.)
JBowen

[flightsimmer]

I have the Star BKM, same as the BM only with an aluminum frame instead of steel.
I bought it to compliment my Star PD's, all of which are excellent firearms.

[JimT]

I have the Star BKM, same as the BM only with an aluminum frame instead of steel.
I bought it to compliment my Star PD's, all of which are excellent firearms.

Yes they are. I have a Star PD also. A nice accurate pistol.

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[Bill in Oregon]

The Stars were a good value. There used to be a Web site called "Spanish Steel" or something like that which was devoted to the handguns from Star, Astra, etc. I miss my old Astra 400 in 9mm Largo -- lovingly nicknamed the "Spud Gun."

[JimT]

The Stars were a good value. There used to be a Web site called "Spanish Steel" or something like that which was devoted to the handguns from Star, Astra, etc. I miss my old Astra 400 in 9mm Largo -- lovingly nicknamed the "Spud Gun."

An Astra 400 is the first 9mm I remember firing.

[marlinman93]

Neat gun, and a neat .30-30 cartridge too! But kinda makes me sad to see the Sears name on anything. Such a long history of both Sears and Montgomery Wards, and both now gone.

[JimT]

Neat gun, and a neat .30-30 cartridge too! But kinda makes me sad to see the Sears name on anything. Such a long history of both Sears and Montgomery Wards, and both now gone.

That's one of the issues with growing older. There are a lot of things and a lot of people that I wish were still here.

[Griff]

The only 9mm I've ever owned was a Walther P-38... a civilian model as I understand they were the only ones that had a polished blue finish. I traded something or other that my B-I-L wanted for it... apparently, I wasn't particularly attached to either item, and soon traded off the Walther for a Winchester 94 rifle, a 1927 full octagon bbl w/pistol grip. I'm sure I got the better end of that deal... and don't bother to contradict me, I'll remain unconvinced!

[JimT]

As far as I am concerned the only thing the 9mm has going for it is that it is easy on lead and powder. My practicing load of 3.4 gr. of Bullseye gives me over 2000 reloads from a pound of powder. And 10 pounds of lead will make nearly 600 bullets.

I prefer sixguns to autoloaders and the .38 Special is in the same class ... easy on lead and powder. I like the sixguns because I don't have pick up brass!

[ollogger]

Jim , im never gonna get used to loading 9 mm even though i have one, little finger pinchers





ollogger

[Walt]

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about with Glocks years ago so I bought a 9mm, then I bought a couple more plus a Glock .40 S&W and a couple of S&W 9mms. I probably have 1500 loaded rounds of 9mm but I don't shoot 'em. Revolvers are so much more fun.

[JimT]

Jim , im never gonna get used to loading 9 mm even though i have one, little finger pinchers
ollogger

I have a problem picking the little things up when I am sizing, priming, etc. I drop quite a few and have to stop and pick them up. My old fingers don't have any problem hanging onto .44's and .45's but those little 9mm's are a pain!

[Ysabel Kid]

I loaded a bunch of 9mm back in the day. Part of the deal with my brother if he helped me buy a Lee press. I loaded .44 Magnums for me and 9mm's for him. But I probably haven't loaded any 9's in 20 or 30 years. Since 9mm's are now the cheapest centerfire ammo available, I'd rather buy loaded rounds on sale than use up a valuable primer!

But I do hoard the brass. Just like any brass I come across!!!

[marlinman93]

9mm is the smallest cartridge I load for, but not the smallest bullets! I have a little trouble fumbling with the little 115 gr. 9mm bullets, but a lot of trouble with my .22-250 and 50 grain bullets, or my .22WCF and 40 grain bullets!
I never used to even mess with reloading 9mm ammo when it was cheap at around $5-$6 a box. Then when it got to today's prices I went looking through my brass and discovered like Jim that I had none! I had dies, and even molds to cast, but hadn't bothered picking up brass! And I didn't shoot my 9mm handguns much.
So I began looking for cheap 9mm loaded ammo to shoot up, and accumulated about 10 boxes. My younger brother had a Model 27 S&W that had broken the trigger pin and wanted it fixed, so on a trip to Oklahoma 18 months ago I repaired his 27 and he gave me a couple hundred more bulk packed Win. 9mm. So I'm finally good, but have so much loaded now that I still haven't finished shooting it up, so just building up my brass stock.

[AJMD429]

I loaded a bunch of 9mm back in the day. Part of the deal with my brother if he helped me buy a Lee press. I loaded .44 Magnums for me and 9mm's for him. But I probably haven't loaded any 9's in 20 or 30 years. Since 9mm's are now the cheapest centerfire ammo available, I'd rather buy loaded rounds on sale than use up a valuable primer!

But I do hoard the brass. Just like any brass I come across!!!

Same here; it is the handgun caliber all the family uses so I always pick up a box when I'm in town so we can keep practicing 'without using up our ammo supply', and it is darned near as cheap as 22 LR these days - but I salvage 95% of the brass, so some winter for me there may be a 'loading marathon' for 9mm - I sure have a BUNCH of empties...

Same thing for 223 - but I've never reloaded it because that would mean deciding on a recipe for all my firearms, so I guess a 'duplicate factory load' recipe will be the thing.

[LeverGunner]

Awesome blessing on the brass!

That 30-30 though is some neat stuff. I've never seen sears headstamped ammo before.