Weekend Gun Fun

It rained like the proverbial cow leaking on the flat rock most of yesterday, and sprinkled a bit this morning, but I finally got out to the range later this morning with my Kimber 10mm Stainless Target II and 100 rounds of 180-grain American Eagle full-metal-jacket. I did it more than anything to get more brass for the upcoming venture into reloading, but I hadn't taken the Kimber out in a while and thought it'd be fun to pull her out and see how she was doing. Granted, the AE is a real pussycat of a load at 1060 fps, but still I wouldn't want to get hit with it, and the Kimber handles it like a champ. I was doing failure drills more than anything else to get a feel again for how she handled with that load, and I was quite amazed at how fast I was getting the sights lined back up...it seems a little harder to do with the .45 than the 10mm, though the real tale is going to be told as I work up warmer loads and start driving them through her. I guess it was more of a time-killer than anything else, but I had a blast. The Federal AE makes for a fine plinking load, though to be honest I'd rather they load it a little hotter -- what the hell's the use of making 10mm ammo if you're gonna load it down to .40Short&Weak levels? I wanted some more of the Remington UMC in the green & white box (same bullet slightly hotter @ 1150 fps), but they didn't have any of that at Gander Mountain...and the Federal was $25 a box! One of the reasons I am getting into reloading...I bet I could shoot those same 180-grain bullets at about 1200-1250 fps all day long with a 20-lb. recoil spring and a Shok-Buff.
Went back to Gander Mountain today to see what all they had in the way of reloading supplies, and it didn't look like much...I saw bullets, lots of them, but mostly they were hollow-points, and the only thing they had in the way of propellant was blackpowder. I guess I'll be off to the gun show they have every month in Pasadena to see what they have, or off to one of the local Kimber master dealers in Mid-County someone was telling me about that could get powder for me. I'd love to get my hands on some 800X or AA #9 to see what that 10mm feels like when it's loaded to its potential.
And last, but not least...while I was at Gander Mountain, at the counter in the gun department I ran into one of the guys who worked at Shooters Supply before it closed down. I never made it back up there before it closed to find out what was going on, but I got to chew the fat with him for a few and asked him what happened. He said the shop was doing fine, that it wasn't the competition from GM that got it...it was the shop owner's decision to sell the business and retire. I suppose he earned it, but still I was sad to see them go...they had some good people up there in my experience. Counter guy at Gander Mountain was the only one from Shooters who stayed in the gun business; I was surprised to see that. I figured they'd all have gone into other gun stores around the area, but I guess there are only so many gun-store jobs to go around. Whatever they're doing, I hope they're well...