45 Talk

IMR has introduced 5 new powders for the hand loader this year.

Here is their description of the new offerings . . . . .

IMR Target™ The first powder in this new family is a fast-burning pistol powder. This fine-grained, small-flake pistol powder meters superbly, providing very precise loads in even the smallest pistol cartridges like the .25 ACP!

IMR Red™ The second powder in this new family was designed to be an efficient, clean-burning, 12-gauge target powder. IMR Red also performs nicely in various lead pistol target loads, such as match competition loads and Cowboy reduced loads.

IMR Green™ The third in this new family is slightly slower-burning than IMR Red, making it an ideal Trap Handicap powder and soon a favorite with Sporting Clays enthusiasts.

IMR Unequal™ IMR Unequal combines small-sized flakes for uniform metering in all pistol applications and its burn speed accommodates a wide range of shotshell and pistol cartridges.

IMR Blue™ The slowest burn speed of the five new propellants, IMR BLUE, has excellent application for heavy 12-gauge 2-¾-inch, 3-inch and 3-1/2-inch field loads.

All of these are ready for shipping with the exception of Unequal which has been delayed over a labeling issue.

Load data is available on the Hodgen web site

I have some of the handgun powders on the way to me (including unlabeled canisters if Unequal) so I can tinker with a few cartridges that do not have data provided (22TCM, 356TSW, 9×23 Winchester and others)

Caracal has another interesting item headed our way.

It is an integerally suppressed pistol chambered for 9MM Parabellum called the Maxim 9

While it looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, it is functional.

Since it is one piece, the suppressor parts are offset allowing the use of normal sights.

If the Hearing Protection Act gets passed by our current Congress, this item will have an interesting future

One of the things that I was looking forward to was the introduction of a snub nosed version of the current Model 66 357 Magnum revolver.

I was not disappointed. The new 2 3/4″ wheel gun felt great. Since the current engineering revision of the model 66 utilizes a ball and detent lockup for the cylinder as opposed to the older locking bolt that engages the ejector rod, the barrel does not need to be 3″

Additionally the last few engineering revisions of the Model 66 no longer have the flat spot on the bottom of the barrel. This does away with the old Urban Legend that if you shoot 125 Magnums through the K Frame revolver your forcing cone WILL crack

I look forward to adding one of these fine revolvers to my teaching inventory

Smith and Wesson’s booth is always a pleasure to visit.

It is BIG

It is BUSY

And it ALWAYS has plenty of goodies for that Hands On Tactile experience that we all love so much