jackruss

I've had 2 custom 2011's in 2 years. A Brazos and a Bedell. Both great guns that I shot a little then sold. I could not justify having 3 grand worth of hardware to go make little holes with the boys on a Sunday. The only reason I wanted one was because "yes" they are cool and all that, but in reality what are you trying to accomplish? It's like the sport bike crowd: carbon fiber this, race pipe that, and for what? To ride up and down the street and act like Wayne Rainey. 95% of these guys would get their ass handed to them on a real race track just like most of the 3 grand gun owners at a national tournament. You need to be honest with yourself about why you think you need a custom gun. I finally did and went back to the Glock 35 and have lots of extra money left over. Think of it this way...Rob Leatham could probably shoot the El Prez with a Sigma with the sights missing in 4.5 seconds. Just my 2 cents and something to think about

5.2 V320 1.190 OAL My power factor was 166 today checking some loads. Outside temp was 25 deg(Iowa) so at a more normal temp it should make major w/a little more margin.

The only prep work I did was take the gun completely apart to save myself charges for shipping and disassembly charges by Ion Bond. They do all the metal prep work. Gun was originally blued. Ion Bond strips the parts with an aluminum oxide blaster after they tape off the frame and slide rails, then throughly clean and degrease before coating.

Check out my limited gun in the gallery section. It's a Bedell custom that just got back from IonBond. Has the satin black DLC finish applied.

Thanks to you Dan this gun runs like a raped ape. I couldn't be any happier with your work. After it was broken in and the high spots were starting to wear through it was time to get this done.

Got my Bedell last July and after breaking it in and having some fun sent it off to IonBond last month. I sent them only the stripped upper and lower along with hammer and sear pins, extractor, reverse plug and firing pin stop. I got everything back about 3 weeks later. Couldn't be happier with the results. Had them do the DLC coating in satin black. The barrel and everything else is natural stainless with a little Flitz hand polishing. Total cost with shipping was $200.00 All the parts went together perfect with no interference issues. Enjoy the pics.

Where did you get that mag release at? Even though I'm a righty I love to drop the mag with my trigger finger. Is it the one from Bulletworks? Price? Chris

If you deepen the notch in your rear sight it will lower your impact point. For the problem your having it would be the least expensive and easy option.

Thanks for all the replys. This Friday I'm going out to do some checking with test loads and I'll report back what happens. All I want is 170-175 power factor, just to have enough fudge. I'm going to work up 15 rounds of each at 5.1-5.6 with oal set at 1.230

Went to the range to chrono yesterday with my new loads. 5.0 grains of VV N320 under my Berrys 200 grain round nose flat point. OAL set at 1.200 and crimp at .470-.471 I only made 723 fps average with 15 shots. Load manual states 860 fps for this recipe with a jacketed bullet. I am soooo confused about what to do next. 5.4 is listed as max charge with a FMJ. At the speed I got with 5.0 grains I'll never reach my target number of 860 fps even with max charge. I checked my chrono yesterday with some Hornady TAP 9mm 124 grain through my Sig and got 1086 at 10 feet(1110 at muzzle is factory rating) I have no idea what to do next.

Meprolight makes a very nice rear sight for Sig 226. Check Midway. I personally would go with a Meprolight rear adjustable sight and a red fiber optic front sight. Dawson Precision part #021-004 should fit the bill.

Hey Scooter thanks for the info. I just went to the Hodgon website and checked your info. These Berrys bullets do not load anywhere near what lead does. It looks like my chrono readings are dead even for what I would expect from a FMJ bullet. According to their data my 4.1 load would make 749 fps(I made 723) however their OAL is much shorter(1.155 vs my 1.230) which pretty makes my load dead on for a jacketed load. I really like the clean burn of the Clays. I guess I'll make my tournament ammo with VV N320. No problems making PF with that.

I checked my digital scale against my balance scale last night. The digital scale was right on. I have some factory 40 s&w I'm going to shoot through it and see what my readings are. It comes with factory ratings out of a 4inch barell. If it's slow out of my USP Expert than it's definitely the chrono.

The Lee load data was for a 200gr LSWC. 4.3 is the MAX listed load. I need another chronograph to be sure before I go over max on my loads.

I need dome advice on what to do. I currently am loading Berrys plated 200gr round nose flat point bullets on top of 4.1 grains of Clays. OAL is 1.230 and crimp is .470-.471 I went to the range today to do some load checking and these are the results: Average FPS - 17 rounds: 723 Highest FPS: 753 Lowest: 696 Not even the highest would make major. I don't know what is going on. The only thing I can figure is 1) My chronograph is screwed up or 2) There is something seriously wrong with my loads. The gun I am using is a Dawson Precision Edge(45 acp) w/BarSto barell. Checking with my Lee loading manual I should have about 763 fps with 3.6 gr clays. My chronograph is a Chrony. Unit was placed about 12 feet from gun. Conditions were cloudy but bright. Temp was high 40's. I used the sky screens. None of my shots registered any errors. Shoots were placed about 4 inches above sensors. When I got home I did some test powder drops and consistently dropped 4.0 to 4.1 Nothing was changed from my chrono loads. I check powder drop readings about every 20 to 30 loads. My press is a Dillon SDB. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hey Carmoney, you should come to BHPC(Black Hawk Pistol Club) April 7 for our match. If you haven't been there before it is located between Waterloo and Hudson. We start at 9:00 AM http://www.blackhawkpistol.org/

I just bought a couple of weeks ago a Blackhawk CQC Level 1 holster for my Sig 226. Heres a link: http://www.blackhawk.com/product1.asp?P=4150 Comes with belt and paddle attachments. The belt attachment is adjustable for belt width. Both the belt and paddle can be easily adjusted for cant also. I couldn't be happier. Tension screw for trigger guard is easily adjusted. I looked for a very long time before settling on this model. Comes in basic black and carbon fiber finish. Gun fits perfect and the draw is smooth with no hangups. I bought the carbon fiber one from Optics Planet for $38.95 Shipping was included. If you get the basic black it will be $24.95 shipping included. The carbon fiber is basically a carbon fiber sticker they charge an extra $14.00 for. It looks good but serves no useful purpose.

The gun only has 800 or so rounds through it. The slide to frame fit is tight. Even after I clean the hell out of it and lube I have blackish oil that runs out the back during hand cycling. I lubed with Mobil 1 last night and went to the range after work today and fired off a quick 100 rounds. Gun cycled fantastic and the rails and barrel were nice and wet after I was done. When you think about it a car engine endures a thousand times more abuse from friction than a gun. For $5.00 a quart I think this will be the way to go.

I have been using Militec 1 on my STI Edge for the first 800 rounds of so. I noticed that it became very dry at 60-80 rounds when practicing. This lube seemed like it didn't want to stay put very long. If I lubed the gun a couple of days before shooting it seemed dry before firing a round. The gun is hard chromed. My plan B was to then use TS25b instead. It came with my Sig 226 and works well on that gun. At our local match yesterday the gun functioned fine for the 3 stages(round count 60). I went ahead and did a reshoot later in the day and guess what, 6 stovepipes and rounds would not chamber very well. Went to the destaging area and gun was dry as a bone. Slide felt very sluggish and the TS25b was non-existent Militec 1= Dry at 60 rounds - Gun functions but slide feels sluggish TS25b= Dry at 60 rounds - Gun won't funtion very well at all Since the gun is hard chromed I'm not looking for any type of preservative other than the silicon rag wipe down. What is the general concensus on using Mobil1 5w-30 synthetic? The stuff is very slick and seems to have a lot of cling to parts. I just don't think that I should have to relube the gun after 3 stages. I just need some input on this. This is the first gun I've ever had any kind of malfunction with.

Master plan........Buy 4 new +1 mag bases and compete in Limited(legit) and Limited 10. If anybody is looking for 4 Dawson +2 basepads (2 red and 2 blue) in perfect condition make me an offer. Pics available upon request.

Personally I think every stage should have a mandatory reload. It just makes sense to me to integrate that skillset into it. Since I'm just shooting at the club level I don't think 40 vs 45 will make any discernable difference. I've only shot USPSA 5 times and 3 of those in Limited class. My 3 qualifying scores put me in the meat of C. I'll stay with the 45 through the summer and if I reach B bracket maybe I'll make the move to 40.

They are about 10mm longer than 140mm. Just shooting at the club level shouldn't be any issues. All in good fun. Its not like having a 150mm mag agains't 140mm 40S&W mags is giving me any unfair advantage. I'll just download them all 1 round and save a tight one for load and make ready. The reason I shoot the Limited Division and not Limited 10 is so I have more people to compete against. Golfing by yourself is no fun eithier.

I'm currently waiting on some back ordered +1 followers from Dawson. My plan is have one in the pipe, start with the first hard to seat mag that will be loaded to 17(new follower) and have the rest loaded to 16 which will not be as tight with the new followers. The 16 round loaded right now is not crazy tight. I do use a loader but the 16th rounds does fit reasonably well. Hard to believe it would swell the mag tube enough to cause problems. I hesitate to cut any springs. After two days of leaving in a full mag it does fit just a little looser than it did before. I feel that if I paid for a 14 round mag and added a +2 base pad on a tuned mag I should get 16 rounds without having to worry about cracking my grip. I'm going to have to call bulls*&t on that one. My Sig 226 with MecGar 17 round mags holds 17 out of the box. Not 16 plus send it to Italy for $100.00 and maybe get 17 if the moon is in the right phase. I'm just a little frustrated. On top of it all my new 14 round tuned mag I just bought with a +1 base pad and +1 follower won't fit eithier without some love. What did I spend $120.00 for????????? 14 + 1 + 1 = 16 not 14 + 1 + 1 + $120.00 new grip.

Here's my situation. I have a STI Edge in 45 with 4 tuned Dawson mags. Each mag has a capacity of 14 rounds factory. Each has a Dawson +2 basepad and the factory follower. I can load each mag reasonably easy with 16 rounds however the mags will not seat in the gun without a pretty good schwack to the bottoms. Is there any technique someone could pass along to make it fit easier? 15 rounds no problem. 16 problem. If I leave a fully loaded mag in it for a week or so will it fit a little easier? I don't believe plastic has much stretch to it but at this point I'm at a loss. Mags will get real tight the last .5 to 1 inch before seating.

I didnt do it, its a deep bluing that Dan put on it. I did the grip myself. Took a dremel drum sander and took off all the checkering and stippling. Went to Ace hardware and got some 3M brand step tape for $2.99 a foot. Clean plastic well with brake cleaner. Made a couple of patterns with heavy paper first. After a trial fit made the final panels. One on each side and a front wrap around piece. The hardest part was trimming the holes for the grip screws. Nice sharp exacto knife does the trick. The 3M tape is the stuff to get. Leaves absolutely no grit on your hands. Non existent wear and sticky as hell. Catapillar uses it on their steps for construction equipment.