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Quirk

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    Scottsdale, AZ
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    Sebastian Quirk

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Looks for Match

Looks for Match (2/11)

  1. How then do you 9 Major guys load and train? Do you load 165 PF for training ammo? Use range brass of unknown history, and load to 165, and re-use, or toss after one use? I was wondering if guys might not cheat and use slightly lower PF for training ammo...I dunno, something sightly or moderately south of 165 PF.....to spare the brass and such? What about sanctioned matches, do you buy new Starline or such to ensure you don't have an issue during a match?
  2. Thanks all. Probably the most common sense would be to buy a used Czechmate since I know that platform thru shooting Shadows and 75s for years. Starting shooting that in minor since I load 9mm already. Then slowly edge into loading 9 major. Then see where it all takes me.
  3. Thanks for all these thoughts, I appreciate it. I see the logic of going with a gun that I know fits well in my hand and takes ammo I make already....Since I'm new to open, maybe jumping in with one foot first is wise. maybe I'll try a Czechmate in Minor first and if the hook sets, I can always branch out and upgrade to a 2011 style in Major or try loading 9 major. I've made probably 300k 9mm rounds over the years so maybe that's the best first entry.... Q
  4. I live in Phoenix. Experienced shooter but new to open guns. I'm a bit intimidated at the general inability to actually heft an specific open gun before buying one. I've held and shot some friends guns but they aren't stocked in a store obviously. Looked at some of these mostly online. Not all are even taking orders now. Seems some actually use an STI frame to build the gun. Who actually makes their own frame? STI SVI Atlas Venom Limcat Acai CK CZ Czechmate I've been shooting M&P and CZs in prod and limited; and IDPA for years, and actually find the Czechmate a nice fit, but looking for a major platform (38 SC prolly, I'm a bit skittish about 9 major loading). Wondered who might make a slightly smaller frame than the standard STI? The STI with standard grips is hard for me to reach the mag release without shifting my grip, just barely. If necessary I can adapt though, it's not a deal-killer. See fair number of guys at local matches whose shiny big guns just don't run consistently. So wondering what the main root causes for that typically are? Just don't have the gun tuned right to the ammo, or are some brands prone to rough break in periods? I've been saving for awhile and I'm okay with spending more to get more, ultimately I guess I don't mind the wait time provided I get the right gun. Thanks
  5. I did that once...I quickly minimally cleaned the brass first, by putting it in a tumbler and soapy water WITHOUT pins for just 20 minutes. Dried it, then deprimed, resized, swaged/expanded, and even belled on pass one on the 1050/Mark 7. Then cleaned with stainless steel pins in a tumbler. Brass looked awesome. Then I loaded. The advantage was that I didn't need to lube the 2nd time because I wasn't working the brass at all on the loading pass. so there was no sticking at the powder funnel/bell station like there is with super-clean brass, because I set the funnel to not bell just drop powder. but for 9mm pistol, it was a lot of effort just for looks. Did it once, more as an experiment. Don't do it anymore. I DO SS tumble first now, and use Hornady One-Shot lube before I reload these clean cases. No problems with One-Shot, I don't clean it off afterwards, and never had any problems. part of my QA as I prepare to dump the brass in the case feeder is to pour the brass over a small tray with .40 cal ammo trays from empty factory ammo boxes. There is a youtube video by a guy on this, it's a great technique for 9mm. The 9mm cases end up mouth up most of the time, and then I raise them to my eye and can pluck out any .380 that made it through. I then spray One-Shot briefly into this array (200 cases at a time) so some gets INSIDE the case mouth..that prevents the powder funnel stick...then I dump them into a contrainer and spray a bit more and agitate them to get the lube on the outside, for the resizing benefit. Quirk
  6. ok cool. I've used concentricity gauges on rifle loads, but never actually tried it on a 9mm round. If I ran into rifling I would just shorten it a touch more until it didn't stick, figured it was just a length issue. the coated bullets surface are softer than plated or FMJ might drop in apparently okay but still be in the lands a touch and result in failure to spin or drop out freely. C
  7. Romany, 'I've used the NOE plugs also, but for 9mm found they don't really help anything unless I'm using oversized bullets...sometimes I'll go with a .357 or .358 with coated, but mostly they go unused now. They are basically variations of expander plugs for the swage back up rod/expander, and hard to integrate into a press if you want one-pass reloading on a 1050....without di4tching your swage station function, as you said. so....why did you conclude you had run out? It's a bit odd with 9mm pistol to have that issue...or did you now say that's fixed? Your Dillon seating die can be reversed...there is one anvil for flat topped Bullets and a curved one for round nose. If you were using the flat top on AcME you might have issues.... the plunk test in your barrel is the true test. If it fits there you are good. As for your max OAL that will actually vary by bullet and chamber. The published max is good to follow but with coated lead, you want to determine YOUR max OAL for that combo of bullet and barrel. Case gauges are good, but you barrel is better. Many case gauges are tighter than some barrels. i wonder if you actually had the bullet seated too shallow and it was grazing the rifling, making you think run out. Q
  8. Rowdy, thanks for the link but I can't access that video....but it did prompt me to login to facebook for the first time in 2 years....! Q
  9. Watching Bob Vogel reload is a bit intimidating, but I noticed something on a few videos. With concealment he appears to be swatting the cover back with his left hand and grabbing the mag from above. Most others it seems, move the hand more horizontal, from midline to the mag, inside the cover. I practiced his technique a few hundred times. Haven't done it live in a match yet. So so much muscle memory to overcome, and I hesitate to change now, with a sanctioned match coming up....But, what I noticed was I was more reliably grabbing the mag properly and in good control. My times were about the same, using a timer par setting. Anyone use this technique? Comments? Q
  10. I'm a shooter with only 1 sanctioned match of experience, an IDPA match. Before we started I asked a friend - a Master level shooter - for advice and he said, with great seriousness, to shoot all zeros (As) at the first stage and "don't worry about your time." I followed his advice here, and shot all zeros with a respectable but not outstanding time. Whether it was luck or not, that apparently gave me confidence and I did much better than I expected on the rest of the stages...very low points down and ever improving raw time rank as I cycled through the day. I'm no competition psychologist, and I'm sure folks will argue about these things and there are different recipes that work for different personalities. But that's my recipe even with club matches now: I focus on hits for the first stage and find myself moving pretty fast anyway, and my times improve thereafter with still good hits.
  11. awesome. My custom shadow (not accu) with the CZ magwell and CZ Al grips, and compatible mags, is 42.8 oz. So your gun, with that bushing....I assume those grips and magwell are considerable lighter than their CZC counterparts. Any idea what that bushing weighs? Q
  12. What's your shooting goal? Plinking rounds at range or competition or?... The Berry's hollow base round nose thick plated is a higher end plated bullet that will be more alike than different to the XT RN plated bullet, for loading purposes. The Berry's thick plate (they say) will let it fly at 1500 fps plus, whereas I'd say your average XT bullet will start coming apart well before then. I keep all plated bullets except the Berry TP at <1100 fps, but I load for IDPA mostly so they all should be <1100 anyway... The berry's HBRN, It's a longer bullet so the OALs will be different, so do your due diligence with your barrel 'plunk' testing to set your max OAL per usual process. I have shot >100k rounds plus of Berrys over the years. I also use the Xtreme RN and HP 124 gr bullets with Titegroup and N320. IDPA load in a CZ is 3.8 gr TG at 1.050" OAL under the 124 XT HP bullet. For the round nose version of that 124 gr XT bullet, for HP-38 (= Winchester 231...it's the same powder) it's my opinion that you can start at the Berry's data loading and work up...Lots of competitor friends use 4.0-4.2 gr of HP38/231 under a 124 grain plated bullet at various OALs that will vary with the bullet, obviously. (Lots of those are 5" barrels, mind you, which will give slightly faster velocities, so you mind need more in a 4" barrel). the 125 gr data B-RAD mentions shows 4.4gr W231 as the max for 124gr lead bullet and 4.8gr as max for a FMJ, and I wouldn't exceed that. HP-38/231 is more forgiving than TG, Titegroup being a faster powder. If you overcharge TG it may not be obvious in the case, since each charge drop is a smaller volume, and pressures in 9mm ramp up quick. I love Titegroup, but HP-38 can't be beat either, in terms of quality. So, if you are new to reloading I'd start with the HP-38. Start at low end (3.8-3.9) and work up, with a chrono, and watch your cases for pressure signs. If all you need is plinking rounds that cycle the gun and don't need fine tuning of accuracy or competition velocities, then it'll be easier. Q
  13. Realize this is unlikely to appeal to average loader, but.. If you prefer plated over lead (I do) and really want to buy in bulk you can order a drum lot from Xtreme (plated bullets) for the same price or less than coated lead. Per bullet prices range from 6-8 cents per, after shipping, depending on weight and style. Course that's a drum of 20-22k bullets for about $1200-1400. Bought it with friends, shipping was actually not bad but it's a 300 lb package about size of a 5 gal paint can. (we got the Lot Drum price as tho buying 100k)... Precision delta (jacketed) will give you a 2$ discount per thou if you order 20k. xtremepricelist-1.pdf
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