American Handgunner March/April 1981

CHARLES CTHOMAS • PUBLISHERNew! THE NEW HANDBOOKOF HANDGUNNING by Paul B.Weston, California State Univ., Sacramento.'80, 112 pp., 48 il., $12.95New! TERRORIST ATTACKS:A Protective Service Guide for Executives,Bodyguards and Policemen byRaymond P. Siljander, Loss Prevention.Engineer,Phoenix, Arizona. Forewordby Paul Roos. '80, 342 pp., 143il., $33.50COMBAT HANDGUN SHOOTING(2nd Ptg.) by James D. Mason, Consultant,San Diego County Sheriff'sDept., San Diego, California. Forewordby Bill McMillan. '80, 272 pp. (63/4 x 9 3/4), 594 il. (26 in color), 8tables, $14.95THE SPORTING USE OF THEHANDGUN by Mason Williams, Firearmsand Ballistic Consultant, Libby,Montana. '79, 288 pp., 119 il., $14.75TI:IE DEFENSIVE USE OF THEHANDGUN: For the Novice byMason Williams, Firearms and BallisticConsultant, Libby, Montana. '78,240 pp., 106 il., cloth-$12.75, paper­$7.75MEDICOLEGAL INVESTIGATIONOF THE PRESIDENT JOHN F.KENNEDY MURDER by Charles G.Wilber, Colorado State Uniu., FortCollins. '78, 336pp., 9 il., 2 tables,~9.~ ,BALLISTIC SCIENC~ FOR THELAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER byCharles G. Wilber, .Colorado StateUniv., Fort Collins. '77,324 pp. (63/4x.9 3/4),86 il:, 26 tables, $30.75AMERICAN . POLICE HANDGUNTRAINING by Charles R. Skillen,Yellowstone County Sheriff's Dept.,Billings, Montana, and Mason Williams,Firearms and Ballistic Consultant,Libby, Montana. '77,216 pp., 771l.,$14.75A HANDBOOK ON THE PRIMARYIDENTIFICATION OF REVOLV­ERS AND SEMIAUTOMATIC PIS·TOLS by John T. Millard. '74, 168pp., 87 il., cloth-$13.50, paper-$1O.25MANUAL OF BASIC POLICE FIRE­ARMS INSTRUCTIONS AND SAFEHANDLING PRACTICES by RoyAgosta, Macomb County CommunityCollege, Warren, Michigan. Forewordby Jack Seitzinger. '74, 116 pp. (63/4 x93/4), 142 il., $8.75, paper .301-327 EAST LAWRENCESPRINGFIELD • ILLINOIS • 6271720Prepaid orders sent postpaid, on approvalCatalog of 3047 titles sent on requestAMMO'SCENEBY JIM WELLERHANDLOADS LACK MATCH ACCURACYAnAINED BY FACTORY RELOADINGIn the three or four years that I've been acompetitive police shooter, I'veacquired an amazing amount of shootingdoo-dads, thingajigs, and whatnots, all forthe purpose of giving me, (hopefully), justa little more edge and a few more points.One thing I learned, though, is that o~e ofthe most important decisions you canmake as a competitive shooter is in yourchoice of ammunition. For the longesttime, I fired my own reloads in matches,and although my 25 yard tallies were fair,my50 yard scores still left something to lJedesired. Towards the end ofthe 1979 shootingseason, I began using commerciallyreloaded ammunition from PrecisionAmmo Co. and right away there was anoticeable decrease in group size, alongwith the inevitable increase in score. Upuntil that time, I had used my reloads withmy own cast bullets, but as you will see,there are some places you just can't cutcorners.TESTING VS THE COSTJ decided to test various handloads andbulletS, along with several types of factorymatch and commerical reloads, to prove tomyself whether or not the extra expensejustified itself. I receive no departmentalbacking in my shooting, so factory matchammo was pretty much out of the question.Factory fodder is presently averagingsomewhere around $12 per box, althoughsomewhat cheaper by the case, while thebetter quality commercial reloads arerunning about $50 per thousand rounds onthe shooter-supplied brass. My own handloads,using wadcutters cast from wheelweights,cost about a buck or so perbox, not counting my time used in makingthem up.The actual testing tooK place at 50 yards,since any NRA 1500 match includes 48rounds from this distance. Not wanting todo this from a sandbagged rest, I enlistedthe aid of Lee Custom Engineering, 46 E.Jackson St., Hartford, WI 53027 and procuredone of their excellent Lee PistolRests. This little device is worth it's weightin gold. It's small, light, and easy to set up.I have mine bolted to a piece of scrapwood, and I just C-c1amp it to the shootingbench. Cost is minimal when you considerthe alternative. Sixty bucks will get you therest and one adaptor for the handgun ofyour choice, with adaptors available for allpopular makes of handguns. It's really abargain with today's inflated dollar.With all the different brands of ammunitionavailable today, it would have beenimpossible to obtain and fire all ofit. Asidefrom the major ammo makers, there arecountless numbers of places doing commercialreloading. I settled on matchammo from Federal, S&W, Frontier, andWinchester, while the commercial reloadswere represented by I:'recision and Zero.My handloads consisted of WoW oncefiredmatch brass, filled with 3.2 gr. ofW­W 231 powder and lit by that company'sThat edge you may need to win mightcome from using the right ammunition.standard small pistol primer. This combinationhad proved to be the most accuratein my Colt handguns while using thehome-cast wadcutters. These, incidentally,are DEBB slugs, which are sized to .357and lubed with Micro-lube. I also triedsome loads using the Hornady and 3-DHBWC, both .358 in size, and lubed with avery slippery dry lube. Powder wasdropped from the Bonanza pistol measurewith pre-drilled rotor. A light roll crimpwas then placed on the case mouth afterbullet seating.Since I Was interested in matchaccuracy, my Douglas-barrelled Colt with1-10 twist was used. Fifty shots were firedfrom the Lee rest, with the barrel andcylinder receiving a thorough scrubbingbetween bullet brands. The forcing conewas also cleaned using a Lewis Lead Removerafter every 50 shots. There was oneexception to this which I'll get to later. Iput up a clean backstop and fired one shotto find the point of impact, then placed apiece of white paper over the hole, and(Continued on.page 52)AMERICAN HANDGUNNER· MARCH/APRIL.1981·