Mistaken Couple-dom

I ran into one of my oldest shooting buddies today at the grocery store where he works. I had some things for him, so I ran out to my car to grab the bag of goodies I've been driving around with for months. When I got back in the store, I handed him the bag and gave him a big side hug. One of the customers looked over and said, "that's so sweet, you guys are so cute together!"

I was stunned into silence for a moment, then laughed and said, "thanks, I'll be sure to tell his wife." Robbie said, "and I'll be sure to tell her husband."

I realized she thought I was his wife bringing him lunch and I'm flattered she thought we were a cute couple.

And then I started thinking ... whenever I'm with a male shooting buddy, people assume we're a couple. Always. Doesn't matter which one I'm with: John, Mez, Robbie, Mike, any of them.

So then I started thinking (always a dangerous thing), WHY do people think that I'm "with" a male friend? Is it because they can't wrap their heads around the fact that I can be friends with men?

Or is it because there's an easy (but platonic) intimacy with someone you spend a lot of time with, especially when the time you're spending with them involves deadly weapons? I spend a lot of time with my friends at the range watching them carefully, and vice versa. You get into a rhythm of anticipating what they're going to do or what they're going to need. Shooting can be a very collaborative thing, and I think after spending countless hours and rounds down range that intimacy naturally develops.

All of my shooting buddies pre-date my marriage, so I'm thankful that I have a husband who is not at all bothered by this.

Have you noticed this? Have you and a shooting buddy ever been mistaken for a couple? Why do you think that is?

Frankford arsenal platinum case trimming center

After a recent back surgery, I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. When I started feeling better I went out to my reloading bench and looked around. You know what I saw? I saw what a lot of reloaders see way too often, so much empty brass. Looking at the task ahead of me was a little intimidating to say the least.The longest, boring, and meticulous job in all of reloading to me,is deprimming ,sizing and trimming the case and getting it all ready to reload.

After doing it the old-fashioned way for a couple of thousand cases,my hands were so cramped up and sore from holding onto the trimmer and drill that I was about to go crazy. I thought to myself there has to be a quicker easy way to do all of this. After doing some research and looking online I found my answer. Enter the Frankford arsenal platinum case trimming center.

While there are other tools that can do the job just as well each one that I found is caliber specific and cost around the same amount as the Frankford arsenal platinum case trimming center. While it’s not the cheapest reloading tool on the bench it will do almost any bottle neck rifle cartridge that you can think of, and for around $150-$175,and in my mind it’s a steal.

Set up for this trimmer is simple; Just pick the cullet ( 3 come with the machine) that fits halfway down the shoulder and inserts it into the trimmer position, Then pick the bushing ( it comes with 5) that fits the case and put back together.  One very nice feature is that there is a little tool cubby on the top of the machine to hold all the pieces. Trust me, It’s so easy that even I could figure it out. Next you just add the chamfer tools, One for both inside and outside, then add the primer pocket tool and you are all set to go. Adjusting the trimmer for your desired case Length couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is trim one case the old fashion way then insert it into the case holder and adjust the case until it touches the cutter and tighten the locking ring. Now you can rock and roll. Just save that case for future reference. Now all you have to do is pick out some good music and start plugging away.

By using this machine I was able to trim a little over 7000 cases in just over three days. Each case took less than 10 seconds to trim and chamfer. Without the case trimmer it would have taken me 10 times as long to do them. One nice thing about this prep center as you can position it in three different ways; vertical-meaning the case is up and down while being worked on, flat-meaning that the case is horizontal,Or one that I prefer is that the machine is at a 30° angle to your workbench.The nice thing about which ever way you have it facing is that it will have a good grip due to the rubber feet.The motor seems to me to be pretty good because it doesn’t bog down at all, Even when using it all day long. The only downside that I can see is that they don’t make adapters so you can trim pistol cases. If they did my reloading bench would be much less cluttered. Now all I have to do is go out and buy more primers, powder and bullets.