Yesterday I was all aglow, having found some new kickass rounds for the G-27. Today I am aghast upon learning that Federal no longer manufactures this cartridge, and while keeping the item number the same have drastically changed the configuration and performance characteristics of the old Hi-Shok.
Took me a frickin year to get around to firing these rounds, I find them to be the next best thing since sliced bread, and the dummies at Federal drop them in favor of something I am not even sure what the hell it is. And I don't want to even go down the road of firing so obvious a semi-jacketed round with all of that exposed lead through a Glock. Yeah, I know, I know, clean the thing well and for occasional use it's alright, but I detest the Winchester range ammo and was considering using the Hi-Shoks as my practice fodder.
The new round resembles something along the lines of a .38, what with all of that available lead to assure mushrooming from a low velocity handgun, and who would do such a thing to a perfectly good bullet, particularly when altering it thusly removes a severely large chunk of the customer base.
Federal has a few new "hi-tech" bullets in the line, and some of them have been garnering praise from both the range and the real world, but the SINGLE most important thing to me is reliability. Sure I want the latest and the greatest, but the Rangers still fill THAT niche for me, and between them, the Gold Dots and Golden Sabers, they've pretty much pushed the old Hydro-Shock out of the law enforcement business. Spoke with a Federal guy and he flat out told me that they'd love to stop making Hydra-Shocks if the public would only stop buying them. They realize that the round is pretty low-tier compared with the rest of what's out there, so isntead of dropping THAT old piece of un-expanding crap they dump the round that actually worked.
Amazing.
Maybe I can look around to see what's still in stock and buy as much as they'll sell me.
Sweet geez I'm starting to sound like some of the whiners I no longer drop in on. Gone are the days of trying to shoot .380 rounds out of a 9mm, and vice versa because it was the only ammunition to be had? Where's my pluck? My so-fucking-what?
Damn, but I really did like those bullets, though.
4 comments:
http://www.dillionprecision.com
I recomend the RL-550. It is the best balance between production speed and price. I've not tried the new case feeder for it, but it looks interesing.
Ha. You'd think that what with all the rounds I fire rolling my own would have come natural. Been thinking about it. Thanks for the link, Lem.
I can't stress enough that Dillion is the way to go. RCBS is good, but it isn't as easy to use and isn't backed up by service as good as Dillion.
Whatever you do stay away from Lee for anything but a single stage press. Those aren't as good as the RCBS single stage, but it is such a simple machine that it hard to screw up.
And you don't need a single stage. As much as you shoot you need a progressive. And as many different callibers as you shoot Dillion's removable tool heads will come in handy.
BTY, do you have any experience with the .45 GAP?
Loading info: copy that and much obliged.
I've fired the GAP a time or two, the ballistics and recoil characteristics seem identical to non +P .45 ACP. From the Glock 37 the recoil was more snappy than push back using the Winchester Silvertip 185 grainers, but perfectly blended, from my perception of course, when using their 230 grain jhp's. In Iowa, over-the-counter GAP ammo was hard to come by, so I didn't get a chance to run different brands through a range gun.
The round SEEMS to be undergoing and ebb and flow. One month folks are raving about it and the next they're predicting it's ultimate demise. For smaller sized semi-auto .45's I think it's a decent enough round, and why not. I was dying to try the G-39 but never got the chance. Maybe I'll find a range in these parts that rents them and if so, I'll get back to you.
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