Central Fire Custom Reloading, LLC

05/28/2026

Loading up a few hundred rounds of my fav .45-70 black powder loads. I use the carbine load of 55.0 grns of ffG powder, with two fiber wads, compressed 3/16th of an inch and topped off with my own cast 380 grn RN bullet, 20:1 lead to tin.

I shoot the 1873 Trapdoor Springfield carbine, and a 6 o'clock hold on a 3" circle @ at 55 yards is this carbines preferred hold. Clients tell me they like the fact that their full size Trapdoor rifles, notorious for shooting waaaay too high, shoot flatter with this load.

05/20/2026

S&W Model 10, .38 Special. Using my standard .38 Special load: 158 gr hard cast SWC bullets over 3.1 grns of Bullseye.
Note that the target is missing a heart. It was a Temu purchase... which sort of says it all.

{Note: Per FB disclaimer requirement: Gun shown is not for sale, and is pictured for discussion purposes only.]

05/16/2026

Taking three friends and clients to my annual Thompson submachine gun shoot at the local gravel pit this afternoon. Plan to burn up approx. 1,300 rds of my hard cast 230 gr. .45 ACPs between the four of us. (Pic of me below is from 2024.

Wife presented me with her fancy-shmancy 1st aid kit she keeps in her car; replete with hand sanitizer, band aids, alcohol wipes, Pepto Bismol tablets, Tylenol, gauze pads, adhesive tape, Neosporin, latex gloves, face mask, insect repellent and after bite, Pamprin for menstrual cramps ...you get the picture.

Me: What's all this? I'll be gone for like 3 hrs., not on safari!
Her: You never know when you're going to need it..
Me: OH..yeah..well. Then I'll be needing the plastic bag
from a Nam era PRC-25 radio battery otherwise I'll have to use
my drivers license.
Her: What for??
Me: To close up a sucking chest wound until the paramedics show
up, which is much more likely to occur than any of us getting
menstrual cramps.
Strangely this did not amuse her. Go figure.

(NOTE: per FB rules, a disclaimer: Guns pictured are not for sale and are for discussion purposes only.)

05/07/2026

My dream weapon: the M3 ( or the M3A1) "Grease Gun".

While my Thompson 1928A1 weights 11 lbs and fires 650 rds per minute, the M3 weighs in at 8 lbs, and fires about 450 rds per minute. Stamped sheet metal used extensively, its cyclic rate was slow enough to shoot semi-auto mode with out a semi-auto selector switch. It ostensibly replaced the heavy and very expensive to make Thompson.

The M3A1 variant was introduced in December 1944. It was an improved (read "more reliable") version of the M3 which had its issues, and eliminated the M3's c**king handle...using just a finger hole in the bolt to c**k it. I fell in love with them when I saw a few in Vietnam, mostly used by US tank crews and some ARVNs..

A Good+ to VG condition one made by "Guide Lamp", if you can find one, will likely set you back upwards of $30k.

(Per FB rules: Gun shown in video is for discussion purposes only and not offered for sale).

Shooting USA airs every Wednesday on Outdoor Channel.http://www.patreon.com/ShootingUSAFor more information, head to http://www.shootingusa.comFor full lengt...

04/29/2026

Finally made it to the range. Between cooler than normal temps, Spring clean up slavery imposed by my wife, and trying to maintain my inventory - it just hasn't been conducive to range time.

Took out the Uberti 1873 C**t SAA .44-40 revolver today. It was me versus the anatomically almost-correct dude. I won, escaped with nary a scratch.
[Per FB requirement: Gun shown is not for sale and is for discussion purposes only]

04/16/2026

A few years ago I tried Cowboy Action Shooting... once.
Out of perhaps 15 competitors, including three or four women, I came in 2nd to last :( .
And while I was in awe of their speed, accuracy and technique, they were NOTHING like whoever this guy is. No AI, no camera tricks.. this guy is the real McCoy.

Send a message to learn more

04/07/2026

Was asked by one of my big four internet dealers if I'd consider making .31 caliber combustible paper cartridges. They've had some requests from customers.

I've considered it in the past, but it comes down to what kind of demand / volume that caliber would generate, versus the cost and labor to produce them.
The 44 caliber black powder revolvers represent 50 of the makes and models thus 80% of revolvers offered for sale; the .36 caliber have 10 makes and models thus 15% of all models offered; while only 3 .31 caliber are offered, only 5% of all makes and model.. Given that my .44 paper cartridge sell at a rate of 2.5 to 3 times that of the .36's I figure the demand on .31s would be < half of the .36s.

Box design and their minimum order + tool development for the smaller cartridge + the additional labor, just doesn't make production of .31 combustible cartridges an attractive concept.

HOWEVER...if anyone out there wants to pre-order and put a deposit on say, oh..i dunno ... 10,000 rounds of .31s, I could be convinced :D

(Note: C**t 1849 pocket revolver .31 caliber pictured is not for sale and is for discussion purposes only)

03/19/2026

I've heard of "Lay-z Boy" chairs, but this one is clearly "Cra-z Boy' !
No idea who this gentleman is...but he's my hero.

[ NOTE: In keeping with FB's rules note this disclaimer:
chair and guns are not being offered for sale. Duh!]

03/14/2026

There's an old gun collector's saying: "I have more guns than I need, but only half as many as I want." I'm in that stage right now.

I need another gun like I need a hemorrhoid...not at all. But I do have a hankering for these guys: the Springfield Model 1898 Krag-Jørgensen carbine in the iconic .30-40 Krag cartridge; and the 12 gauge Wi******er 1897 Trench Gun.

There's something about the Krag with the side loading integral magazine, with its cut off so you can save those 5 rounds for rapid fire at assaulting Spaniards, while shooting manually fed cartridges.

And that 1897 bad boy, with its ventilated hand guard, big ass bayonet, and "hold the trigger while you slam pump 00 buck round after round" into the Kraut trench.

What about you? What is the gun you don't need but really wanna have?

{NOTE: Per FB rules a disclaimer- guns shown are not for sale and are for discussion purposes only]

03/07/2026

Recently was asked by a friend if I ever tried these Turkish made primers in my loads, because they are approx $40.00 per 1,000 less expensive than US made name brand primers :O . That's a serious savings when one is making many multiple thousand rounds per year.

My answer was the negative. If a private individual wants to try them and if they sometimes fail to fire waaay more than a domestic resource's primers...they are just inconvenienced, or they miss that deer, or they lose a Cowboy Action shoot for a misfire, and they wasted their time & money on an inferior product. No biggie.

But, If I were to load them into my cartridge offerings, I'd be staking my credibility, my reputation on an unproven component. Could I test them before I use them for my products? Sure. But how many, and in how many different rifles, pistols, revolvers is sufficient to ensure everyone's firearm will set them off time after time? Not all firearm primer strikes are equal.
Not a risk I'm willing to take.

02/26/2026

TALK ABOUT SERVICE!
-Dillon Press powder measure broke Sat. 2/21
-They contacted me w/ Repair Return Auth. Mon. 2/23
(7:15 a.m. AZ time) :O
-I sent it back to them Mon 2/23 by Priority USPS
-They advised "normal 22 yr wear" replacement shipped Thur. 2/26

If I had to pay for a new powder unit it would cost $149.00
My total cost only $9.99 for return shipping.

Best guarantee and service in the industry!! (y)