Joe D

For $200 less you can have the same gun, less the adjustable sight - RIA Tactical. They are run down the same assembly line in the Philippines.

I just use a Wolf 12 lb with a large diameter plastic rod. No need to clip coils. Last time I shot one of Dave's guns was at the Georgia match. Seems like he had a 14 lb. Wolf in his G21 SF. Not sure of the weight, but the spring was a Wolf. On a side note - his trigger was not particularly good. Guess I will have to fix that one day.

The only advantage I have found with a G34 is the longer sight radius allows you to see off center shots a little easier. If I see a bad sight alignment with the G34 then I know I have to make up that shot. The shorter sight radius of the G17 makes it less obvious.

Chris is not a police officer.

Have someone insert a dummy round into one of your mags along with live ammo. All of your questions will be answered.

Well that is just not true unless something has changed in the last week or two. They use the same breech face. A 9mm and .40 Kimber barrel have the same width hood - at least mine do. Kimber denied using stainless frames under their matte finish blue guns. Took a call to my friend Dennis at the Custom shop to confirm that they did.

If your BUL has a square trigger guard then it is the same as a Kimber. The round trigger guard models are not. Some parts may be the same.

I tested some of the new bullets today. They were sized .357". No leading at all.

Update on the leading issue. BC is replacing all 6,000 bullets N/C. They have been really pleasant folks to work with.

180 gr 9mm bullet? That's a liteweight to me. I like a 200 gr much better. Heck a 200 gr lead bullet was the standard .38 Special Police load for years. My ESP load is much softer - 255 gr .45ACP thundering down range at 500 fps. You have to wait a few seconds after the "Range is safe" command before you go score. Gives the bullets time to get there.

I hate to rain on this "Love Parade" but take a close look at the bore axis. Can we all say muzzle flip together.

I think I am starting to like Solo 1000. I asked a shooting bud of mine during a match Sunday what he thought about the smoke I was getting with Solo and moly bullets. His response was "What smoke?". The recoil pulse is about like TG. I am going to do some more chrono work this weekend. I am thinking 3.0 to 3.2 with a 147 should be about right. I am going to get some 147-160 gr lead bullets to try next week. One can make Clays work with a 147-160 gr bullet. What I have found with Clays is you have to load the bullets long or they will tumble. I have not settled on OAL yet with Clays. I do know they need to be a minimum of 1.150". I find it interesting, as more of us refuse to pay the high price for jacketed/plated bullets, how powders that work well in .45ACP with lead bullets might not be so good with the higher pressure 9mm and .40 rounds. I know TG smokes like a train with lead bullets. I have noticed that as you go down with the nitroglycerin percent the smoke level reduces also. TG has a very high percentage of nitro. Clays is much lower. American Select is also very low. Solo 1000 has none.

I shot that same load for years. I cannot think of a better one. 3.0 of TG is just about perfect. Goes about 865 fps out of a G34. I shot a 5 round group at 25 yards that could be covered by a nickel. Was out of a G34, but the G17 should not be far behind. I used plated bullets but jacketed bullets should be just as accurate.

Not sure if they still offer this model, but the Hornady M3 is the best I have owned.

I just got a keg of Solo 1000. I have not tried it in .40 Major yet. Still working on a good 9mm Minor load. I will post results as I test. I appears to burn a good bit cooler than TG. Does not smoke as much either.

Yes, they have the same breech face. I have to raise my rear sight 3 clicks when I use the .40 barrel. I continue to be amazed as to how accurate Kimbers are regardless of caliber. I replaced the 9mm barrel the other day. The original was just a little too rough for lead bullets. It worked fine with jacketed bullets. Kimber sent me another barrel N/C. The new barrel shot to the same POI as the original. I shot a 5 round group in my basement at 25 yards that went under 1 1/2". That was not C-T-C BTW. It was outside to outside. The Kimber .45 I purchased in December keeps 5 round groups inside a 2" Shoot-N-Cee at the same distance.

We won two Glocks last Fall. We picked two G34s.

The 160 gr bullet just touches the rifling. Seems like Winchester 115 WB is loaded to 1.170". The Winchester bullet is very pointed. I have not shot enough of Solo yet to determine how dirty or clean it is. It does appear to be fairly clean at first glance.

Looks like it will take about 3.0 gr of Solo 1000 with a 147 gr plated bullet. I tried 2.8 but came up a little short. 2.8 might make it with a 147 gr lead bullet. OAL was 1.160". 3.0 of Solo and a 147 plated bullet at 1.140" should make PF easily. 2.8 gr of Solo with a 160 moly coated goes 788 fps. OAL was 1.160". I may just leave it at 2.8 and shorten the OAL to 1.150". That should be good for about 10 fps. 2.4 gr of TG and the 160 moly at 1.160" went 804 fps. 3.0 of TG and a 147 plated bullet at 1.140" went 862 fps. BTW these were all shot from a G34. Temp today was about 52. Further testing this weekend.

If you are wanting cheap practice then just get a LWD 9mm conversion barrel. That barrel will weigh more than the G35 barrel. If you are using a steel guide rod in your G35 take it out and use a plastic rod. That will get you closer to the weight of the G35 with .40 barrel. It will be pretty simple to develop a 9mm load that gets you close to the same recoil feel of the .40. Doing it this way takes out the trigger pull differences in two guns. Back to what to do with that certificate. One option is to sell it or just get a G17. I do like the G34s. We have 3 of them and 1 G17. I think the G17 has a little less muzzle flip.

May he rest in peace. Our prayers go out to you and your family. I lost my Mother last July. I know how much it hurts.

I fired some of the 160 gr bullets today with Solo 1000. Weather was too bad to shoot outside so I fired some in my basement range during lunch. I just took a guess at the powder charge and loaded them to 2.5 gr. That is .1 more than a Titegroup load that makes PF. Recoil felt softer than the TG load. I also compared the recoil to a Clays load of 2.4 gr. that is soft. The Solo was kind of between the two. Closer to Clays than TG. I will have to chrono this weekend to make certain of the PF. Much less smoke with the Solo.

I am picking up my keg of Solo 1000 today. I will chrono some loads this weekend. I have 147 and 160 gr bullets to test. The 147 gr bullets are plated.

I just bought a keg of Solo 1000 to test. My intent was to use it with Minor PF loads and cast bullets. It appears to be a little slower than Titegroup. It is also a single base powder = no nitro. I don't see why it would not work for Major. Testing begins soon.

Good luck. The supplier I used for 20+ years cannot get enough lead. Valiant Bullets is just across the Al./Ga. line. You may find some at one of the Eastman shows.