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ttolliver

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    Tom Tolliver

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  1. The one point that needs to be hammered home is that SS major is simply harder. The number of 8 round arrays is one part of it. The number of standing reloads you have is a matter of skill but at any skill level I'd hazard a guess over time you'll have 3 times the standing reloads with major than minor. And even though stage breakdowns aren't that hard in general, you nearly always have more options with 10 rounds. Here's a perfect example. When firing at a swinger that's fast or far, I will consider throwing 3 rounds at it to avoid a mike. I essentially always have that option with 10 round magazines. I also find the argument that you should only shoot minor if you're accurate interesting. True, if you can shoot all alphas there's no scoring difference. But what about the 80% of us who scatter a few around? I'd say if your skill level is such that you occasionally need makeup shots think about those 8 round arrays and standing reloads again. I think the prior comment about shooting 8 round guns more carefully is spot on. You will lose speed to carefulness to avoid standing reloads, standing reloads when they happen anyway, more reloads in general, and slightly more complicated stage breakdowns a bit of the time. Once you've been around the sport a while you'll develop an appreciation for scoring favoring speed slightly over accuracy. And for average shooters there is just so much about the 8 round SS that erodes speed. As for what the top nationals shooters do? Well, they all have speed and accuracy well in hand. They shoot major because if they do drop a C onto the target they need that extra point. Sorry for the long post. I was just surprised to see so many jump on the 8 round bandwagon that I felt a need to balance it out. At the end of the day shooting either is a fun day at the range. Shoot what you've got and have fun. But I'll always recommend minor SS shooters as much more forgiving. Major to me is what you shoot later when you're experienced and looking for a challenge to push yourself a little.
  2. The big difference between 9mm and 40 is that with 40 you can use a push through die to resize the case and get rid of any glock bulge. Google with this and you'll find all the us sources carry them. "Redding G-RX Carbide Base Sizing Die" Otherwise I find the same brands you learn to lean away from in 9mm you still lean away from in 40. Although saying that, one of the most irritating brands for me in 9mm is S&B because of the primer pockets and as I think about it I don't know if I've ever run into S&B in 40 brass. Same with the AMERC that has a reputation for off center holes in the base of the brass. Probably just a lot more junk companies in the 9mm market than in 40.
  3. E3 for sure. That's what I've been using for 3 or 4 years for 40 major. A few years before that I found during load testing 40 major loads that CFE Pistol and N320 were indistinguishable for accuracy and felt recoil in that particular gun. So I shot CFE pistol for a couple years before shifting to E3.
  4. As many times as I can reclaim the brass. Although I've long since stopped doing 50 squats a day to grab brass during the competition day. But I buy 40 range brass from friends in the sport with no cares about how many times it's been fired. And I find very few split cases in 40. Maybe 2 or 3 in a batch of 5000. I've come to the opinion that the only range pickup brass to be wary of is getting 9x19 fired through Open guns.
  5. @regor Yup. About half of my mags have an easy half a bullet flex with 20 in making me think I might press 21 in if I wanted. The other half not so much, hehehe.
  6. I haven't owned/shot an Edge, but I shot a custom build 2011 and now have 3 seasons I think behind a TSO. So I can tell you some you will experience. 1911/2011 platforms can give you a beautiful trigger, but the TSO leaves nothing on the table here. Both of mine came with sub-2lb triggers from the factory and have needed zero work in 3 years. So you could call that a win for the TSO for needing zero work because the Edge will probably need a little massaging to get the trigger down to where you want it. But they'll both give you a beautiful trigger. The CZs do require some work smoothing out the inner edge of the grip body. They come out of the factory with a little ledge where the magwell meets the grip frame. Nothing a dremel and some bluing won't take care of in short order, but it is one strike against the TSO if you're keeping score. My TSO magazines are a lot cheaper than 2011 mags and required no tuning to run flawlessly for 3 seasons. That was not the case for my 2011 mags. So one to the TSOs there. Also on the magazines, the TSO fit 20 rounds in them with Springer extensions and Grams springs/followers. Half of my 2011 could barely get 19 and the other half the 20th was so tight that I never trusted loading them to 20. Truth be told, I rarely load my mags up to 20, but they'll do it in that odd case where it may be needed. The TSO comes with a thumbrest, but it's too small IMHO and needs to be replaced. Call that a draw, but at least it's already tapped for you with plenty of alternatives that use the same bolt pattern. So maybe slight edge to the TSO for being pre-drilled. The TSO comes from the 9mm lineage and so can't load long like the 2011. I don't find it to be a problem, although I also don't load 200gr 40 anymore. I had transitioned back to 180s as a shooter anyway so not a problem for me. But if you wanted to try really soft shooting 200gr 40s loaded a bit longer the 2011 will work better. Although I'm sure there are plenty of 200gr loads floating around for the TSOs. Last, but not least, the safety lever is always a problem with every CZ I've owned. They're always too shallow and a little oddly placed until you get used to them. I end up putting the big CZ Custom safety into all of my CZs (well, not my Production Shadow) and it solves the problem. But it's an upgrade that pretty much any 1911/2011 on the planet rarely needs. All things considered, if you can find a TSO on the shelf to handle I'd recommend 2 things. First make sure you really want to compete with a 2lb trigger. And also check out the safety. But with those warnings in place, I think it's actually a much superior gun than an average build quality 2011. Performance wise mine has been the equal of my old custom build 2011 at half the price. Once I got the safety and thumbrest dialed in to my liking and a little smoothing on the magwell seam it has run flawlessly. Good luck with the hunt.
  7. I think you are probably right that any deformation at all is a sign that you are above any factory threshold (although I don't have experience with magnum loads or any of the truly high power factory stuff). But that doesn't mean we shouldn't monitor primers as an indicator when we know we're intentionally pushing beyond published loads. It just doesn't have a measurable, quantifiable number associated with it like velocity spikes and fall offs. I especially like those people trying to do load development without a chrono.
  8. N320 is excellent. And I found that in my gun/bullet at the time CFE Pistol gave nearly identical results.
  9. One indication of over-pressure loads is primer deformation. As the pressure goes up the pressure will increasingly flatten the primer against the breech face. Google "pistol primer deformation" and you'll get some great images to show what this looks like. You'll notice I'm not saying you're safe as long as you get no deformation, or that you're unsafe if you get deformation. This is one of those areas where no one can tell you a specific rule or amount. You have to make that decision yourself. I don't have a 200gr load with TG to share, but your numbers look like they're in the right ballpark. My 6" 2011 competition load with 180s was 4.4 TG. Good luck!
  10. Yup, COAL is absolutely something that you can vary for accuracy. I'm not an engineer to explain it in highly technical terms, but here's how I understand it. As you reduce COAL you reduce case volume. In a reduced case volume the same charge will spike to a higher initial pressure at ignition. That is likely what gave you the higher velocity and better accuracy. Although you have to take care because higher pressure spike is also where you get primer deformation and case failure. If you had asked here first, "Should I take an established load and just shorten it by .045"?" you would get a chorus of, "heck no...do that stuff gradually and monitor for pressure signs!" That being said, it sounds like your 2011 just wanted a bit hotter load for a bit better accuracy. The other mechanic with COAL that your experiment went against conventional wisdom is to load the cartridge as long as you can to reduce the leap to the lands of the barrel. In a perfect world if I were you I'd lengthen the cartridge back out and increase the powder charge. That way you reduce the gap to the lands and you give the gun the slightly hotter load it seems to want.
  11. Yeah, look for something else for coated. Even if the coating holds up to the heat of the ignition I'm told it still smokes a fair bit. The only coated bullet experience I have in 40 major is with CFE Pistol and N320. Both of those were excellent competition loads. I'm sure someone will jump in with other suggestions.
  12. Oops, just posted not seeing the last one -- oh well. ------------ Be careful. 4.6 is the right powder range for 2011s that load rounds up in the 1.180 to 1.200 range. With a Glock you'll be loading shorter and will probably fall in the low 4s. The main reason to avoid Titegroup is if you plan to shoot coated or traditional cast lead bullets. It burns too hot for them. It does heat the gun more than any other powder I've tried, so that part of it's reputation is earned. But it's a mild irritation at most. As long as you're shooting jacketed bullets there's no harm in giving it a try. It's one of those powders with the right burn rate and characteristics to be interesting to competition pistol shooters. Most of us have used it successfully at one point or another although as @Rnlinebacker says many of us have also moved on to other powders. But not because TG is horrible, mainly just because it's fun to chase a new recommendation. Titegroup is still my 9mm competition load powder of choice even though I've moved on to a different powder for 40.
  13. I don't have any experience with Sport Pistol, but N320 is amazing stuff. You should be able to develop a fine shooting 40 Major load with N320 if you choose to pay the slightly higher price for it. When I was working up my first 40 Major loads I tried 6 powders and found the best 2 to be N320 and CFE Pistol. I honestly couldn't find a performance difference between the two so I went with the cheaper one. And it never disappointed. So here's the punchline -- it's a time vs money thing. You should be able to get a solid 40 Major competition load out of N320. If your main motivation is to get a competition load asap because the season is already here, go N320 with confidence. If you're not in a hurry then try a few powders and you'll likely save some money.
  14. Welcome to the fun world of reloading! Yes, loaded to produce the same bullet velocity there is a very noticeable increase in felt recoil with N340 over N320. It's not an end of the world difference, but it is absolutely there. Slow powders produce a snappy recoil that rotates the gun in your hand more. Fast powders snaps (rotates) the gun less, which is where you get the comments that it's more of a shove back into the heel of your hand. From a physics perspective both likely produce the same force on your body. But the force that travels straight into your arms and stance is a lot less disruptive than the one that attempts to rotate the gun in your grip. In the case of your revolver, if you're shooting for pleasure I'd absolutely go with the faster end of powders recommended in loading formula books. It produces a generally more pleasant round to shoot.
  15. No arguments at all with what's been said before, but don't be too quick to discount being able to dial in your own loads for absolute accuracy. Plus I do still have some savings even using higher cost components like FMJ bullets and buying once-fired brass. If you didn't already have a press and know how to reload I'd have to admit it's a harder sell. But since you already have that investment made and skills I'd call loading your own 40 a no-brainer. Of course it's always easy to give advice. I should lose weight too.
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