CocoBolo

I use 9 mm dies on all but the sizing die which needs to be 38 Super. The die I like best is the Hornady, but get a couple extra primer punches. I've replaced a bunch of c clips on the Dillon die. Make friends with someone that has a roller, I have one and when a round doesn't drop check I roll it, and after you shoot the same brass a few times you will get some that are a little fat at the bottom. I use the same roller die for 38 and 9 mm. It works. There are a ton of powders for 38 Super, AA7 is my goto on 38S, with those 125 zeros 10.5gr will put you up at about 178 pf and then you can work down till it starts to bounce. AA7 comes in 8# jugs. A 1# only does about 650 rounds. If your gun has accu-rail don't use AA7 it will lock it up, its a little dirty.

I'm sure the attempt to educate me on 9 major was with good intentions, but after 14 years of 9 Major I already learned most of it. To be to the point if you have a 38Super shoot it, pickup your brass, and be happy you have a s#!t load more powders you can shoose from, and the $2000 you didn't spend on converting to 9 Major you can use for Brass or your next Open Gun. Shooting wise 9 maj and 38 SC are about the same, but you do have to work up the load to fit the gun. My 38SC worked best when I pushed the PF up to @178, and the 9 Maj settles in nice @172. I always use a timer to test if one load is better than the other, it may feel good, but did you accomplish the mission, are you faster now? I miss smelling Dykem in the morning, maybe I'll go back to 38SC, but if I did I would miss the powder slinging of 9 Maj and those annonying crimped primer pockets of 9 mm, along with the occasional 380 case.

I converted two guns from 38 Super/SuperComp to 9 Major. One with a cone comp and the other a bull barrel. I bought new barrels and comps and had them fitted. Since both guns had the Aftec extractor they both ran fine after being fitted. My SVI mags run either caliber and the STI mags needed spacers. As to cracking slides, yes, both guns did crack slides at some point, and STI gave me a new slide for one and balked on the other a couple years later. I replaced both with Caspian Slides, and had my smith fit those to both barrels. The real expense was getting the Slides cut down to fighting weight and Hard Chromed. I used a precut Brazos slide and that saved some money but everyone thinks my Franken gun is a Brazos now. At 75 I have no love for shagging brass at a match, that said if I had more money than sense I would just shoot 38SC, easier to load and you can re-load the brass till it splits.

That looks like when I shoot from a rest and close one eye instead of having both eyes open. Parallex seems to get in the way or the eye dominance. My friend Tom can take the same gun and ammo on the same rest and tie all the holes together. Then there is that dot size thing, if I turn the dot down till it is barley visible man those groups get tight, but crank it up to full bloom and they spread like geese taking off after the first shot. Lol when I finally have had enough and chuck the rest to the side I shoot the best groups just free handed. I only shoot 3 shot groups, then let it cool then shoot another. When the gun is cocked press on the hood of the barrel if it moves it won't be accurate. The worst of the worst is if the barrel at the comp end is loose in the slide. What I call the ultimate test is shooting at an 8" paper plate at 50 yards, if I fire 5 shots and they all land on the plate, go to go to the Nationals.

If you haven't tried it Silhouette became my favorite after trying lots of powders. It is reverse temp sensative so I back it down in the winter. Making major at 100+ degrees is 7.3gr with a 124gr JHP loaded at 1.165 (172 pf) at 40 degrees 189pf. The same gun makes MAJ with 7.0 of Wac or 10gr of AA7. Ones I tried and discarded 3n37, N350, TrueBlue. 3n38 was ok but too hard to find. WAC is till use for Steel Loads a 5.8gr /124gr this gives enough gas to work the comp and run the gun.

Response for a Noob. Every shot has its time, a shot at 50 yards takes longer than one at one yard. While the word Double Tap is thrown around a lot, it is actually a mythical unicorn for a Noob. At very short distances it is possible to place 2 shots in the A-Zone without visual confirmation on the second shot, this comes from 1,000's of rounds of practice during which the operator can sense when the gun has returned to POA after recoiling. If you shoot enough you will get there. To be fair if you shoot enough you will just point shoot open targets at close range. The amount of time you might save not getting the dot confirmation might be .09 seconds and if you add that up against the loss of points you will probably go in the hole. I the early stages concentrate on A hits, and moving and positioning where you get the most bang for the time spent. The worst thing in a match is "A slow miss that hits a No Shoot".

I gave up a while back and just bought Precision Delta's, it was either that a convert to spud gun.

With that holie-joe set up it's hard to say. My steel load that I run because factory won't cock the hammer is 5.8gr of AutoComp and it is enough to keep my Open Gun flat, that is 124gr 1.165. 7.0gr of AutoComp w/124 puts you at Major PF, but you don't need that unless you are shooting open in a mjor match. You can probably shoot mouse fart loads but you won't get the effect of the ports. With 115gr RN I run @6.3 gr of Auto comp. Silhouette is my goto for MajorPf because it is like cheating, 7.3 gr w/124 and 8 gr w/115. Just back down from there till it tickles your bic. If you have AA7 you can stuff in 10gr with a 124gr. Never tried 115gr with AA7 as the case is full with a 124. I have seen similar guns run in Open class at matches and do well, and my friend that has one used 3n38, the flame throwing powder.

Parralex.

You should be shopping for better hearing protection! But to your question, most ammo 115gr ammo is loaded with more powder so possibly more gas. Slower powders produce more gas, and you can put more powder behind a 115gr than a 124gr. You could try a hot load with 5.8gr of AutoComp with a 124gr JHP with an OAL between 1.145-1.165 depending on your chamber this puts you in +p+ territory @145-150pf.

Nice looking old gun. It was probably converted from 38 Super. Looking at the comp, that is definately old school. Old school comps like a butt ton of gas, lol. Silhouette is my favorite for 9 maj, 7.3gr w/124/5 gr JHP Zero, Preicsion Delta etc, loaded 1.165. AA7 puts out lots of gas, but loading 10gr in a 9 mm case is just a little not fun, and you really can't control the OAL as it will grow after it drops into the tray. With your comp I would try 115gr bullets with a little more powder and see if you like it more than the 124s. Silhouette is reverse temp sensative with that in mind the load I gave is for summer and makes about 172 at 100 degrees, and at 40 degrees you will win the crono stage at 189. AutoComp and N350 won't produce enough gas IMHO, I didn't like 3n37 either. You can't call yourself an open shooter until you try 5 different powders. When loading 9 maj, my best advice for brass is shoot it once and let it go. I tried the load 3 times, and what changed my mind was all the spent primers in the corn!

Most of these replies have never gotten close to Zen. Once you expierence Zen on a stage then you know what it is. It is like an out of body experience, everything is like on autopilot and you don't even notice the sound of the gun or the recoil. Been there done that, but when you lose it, it is a hard road back. I took 7 years off and lost it, now I don't shoot enought to get it back. With Zen 10 seconds, without Zen 16 seconds.

Shot Two USPSA Nationals and a Couple Texas State Limited Championships, and many a local matches with Ted . He had a few idioms one that I like to use from time to time is "There is nothing worse than a slow miss." He got me hooked on the shooting sport, and I paid him back by getting him hooked up with an Open Gun. I had an Infinity Limited gun Ted bought from me, and a few years later I bought it back, now that Ted is gone, that gun is more special than ever. Next time I go out to an AASA match I'll shoot it as a tribute.

You need to get the extended firing pin. All of my STI open guns set off Mag Tech Small Rifle primers and they are the hardest of the lot. Yes those triggers break at 1.75. My CZ on the other hand won't even put a dent in them, nor will my tupper ware open gun (Glock).

I tried clays with several different bullets, none of them were accurate. Try N320 but don't blame me if you fall in love with it.