joshua

I've been doing most of the work on my competition guns both limited and open. In fact I built my limited gun all by myself without any trip to a real gunsmith. Now I would like to build a dedicated steel gun and of course it will require a lightened slide and maybe even a lightened frame. Can a $450 Grizzly or Homier mini mill do the job in making those mill cuts onto a quality made slide? Should I just save up for a bigger milling machine that's over 1k dollars. Are the mill/lathe combo machines any good? Looking for inputs from the guys that actually have gone this route... Thanks. josh

NP. You can cut the angle on the comp also, but most will cut the slide when a cone comp is utilized. If you will imagine when a barrel is in full lock up with the slide it is tilted down slightly causing the comp's ends to become unparallel with the end of the slide. If you want a nice looking open gun this is where great gunsmiths can make that seam disappear with their tricks of the trade. Good luck and post some pictures when your project is complete. josh

If we were still at the old power factor then the 357 Sig would be a great choice for open. TGO use to shoot 9x25 and did fine during those years. There are plenty of once fired brass out there selling for 15 - 20 bucks per K. If you're reloads are smooth then the capacity robbed by the fatter cases wouldn't matter, unless you get to the GM class where all the advantage you can have matters.

Fitting the slide where it meets the cone if done correctly shouldn't need a gap that is visible. This is where a great gunsmith uses his talent, blending the comp to the slide. You will have to fit the lugs and hood of the barrel correctly and when they are fully matted to the slide lugs fit the comp, since you have a cone comp you will need to give the front of the slide a slight angle where it will meet the comp, then it's just a matter of blending cuts to the slide's sides and the comp. You can probably mill the last ports of that comp if you are not shooting 115 grain bullets. josh

F'n A' that's nice! josh

Off subject, Cameron is Doug Jones still in California? josh

If it's stainless steel why not just get it bead blasted? Just make sure he uses fresh beads so you don't get the sandblasted look. josh

It's a case of grass is greener on the other side... If you really want to race and don't care about brass price then te 38supercomp will give you the gas volume and feeding reliability that is superb. The supercomp doesn't have a rim, it stacks flat on top of of each other so you don't get the rattle effect/loose stacking in your mags. I never had a jam with supercomp except for a superfaced one that I missed gauging. Don't go for super, go for the supercomp.

That is the Turbo Comp, which is the old type. Works great in 38SC with 115 grain bullets. Let us know how your experiment turns out. josh

I sit when I use my progressive press, which means I load for about 1.5-2.5 hours long. When I load my rifle rounds, usually 20-40 rounds only for my bolt actions, I usually stand. Don't know why because I usually spend the same amount of time reloading. Maybe I just like to stand when I meticulously QC my rifle rounds. josh

Southern Cal area for a trigger job would be JVDynamics, you will $#!+ in awe when you try Jojo's personal open gun blaster.

I think the major problem of making a 9mm major gun to run reliably are the magazines. Why, because the magazines we are trying to use were designed to run in 38super length and not 9mm. If we can get the 40s to run why not 9mm.

I have two gray C-Mores with the plastic legs and one is 10 years old now. I have not seen a crack form on any of the holes because I don't over tighten the screws. I add blue loctite so the screws don't come loose. I did have some problems loosing screws before. I do agree with the aluminum single side slide ride mounts being more rigid specially during hot summer months. Well I never had any point of impact shifting so I always used the plastic legged gray C-more because they look good with chrome guns. Also don't like the extra 1/8" the aluminum mount adds to the height. If you change the gray plastic plate to black and add a Limcat glare shield it helps deflect the light off the back of the lense. josh

I have used a wilson 40S&W drop in barrel set that came with a match bushing, and a link already installe. It needed the bottom lugs recut and the barrel hood cut a bit to fit in a S*I slide. It prints 2" groups no problem and the best 5 shot group I had with it is with 180 JHP that printed just over one inch at 25 yards. The accuracy is there if it's fitted correctly, you just got to find the right bullets that it will shoot accurately. josh

Nice gun, but the knife doesn't really match it. I'll give you $50 for the gun and I'll pay shipping too. Enjoy your new toys. I wish I could be as lucky as you are when it comes to raffle though... I was at a raffle after a match and I think my number was 311. 310 and 312 got called up and they both won $200+ prizes. bummer. josh

That's the first thing I noticed too. I suppose since it flips higher than the others then having your head higher is better - just looking at the advantage. Is there one? Nice blaster man, if I was the owner that scope mount gets traded in for a much low profile one. Can it be that the holes are drilled too high? josh

Don't waste your time installing an unramped barrel on a milled frame for a ramped barrel. Now if you modify your mags to consistently feed the rounds almost directly into the chamber, and you don't change your shooting grip then it might just work. I suppose if you shoot bullseye then you might get away with it. josh

Nice blasters, those must be some tight but smooth guns, which equates to accurate, reliable blasters. Good job. josh

Erik Warren, see those extra mill cuts on the comp? That's the secret. Johnnie does an ancient ornamental dance while he cuts them and blows on the comps secret dust that was handed to him by Ninja Monks from the island of Boracay. Makes the steel light and strong, you see Johnnie is using a secret applied to battle swords, but since swords aren't much used in our sport he modified and applied the ancient technology. I wonder if Johnnie comes around here much? josh

Does anyone offer an insert for the frames that had ramp milled out of them. This option may be costly than just buying a ramped barrel due to the extensive fitting of the insert. If aluminum frames can have inserts, so it's just a matter of finding a gunsmith that will do it for you. josh

Sometimes the gunsmith will miss something, specially if the customer is in a hurry and too excited to get the open blaster. I've seen it happen many times, customer brings the gun in then wants it the next day and expect it to run. Now if you waited several months for your blaster and you paid premium price then there is no excuse for a poorly running pistol. Each gunsmith that is charging a premium price and taking their sweet @$$ time to build the pistol should build the pistol correctly in the first place, then have a very strict QA checklist. Gee for someone charging 4K for a pistol that darn red dot sight on top of it better be sighted in with with zero chart up to 50 yards and the load should be annotated and chronoed. Am I asking too much here? That is why I'm gonna do everything myself from now on. I got a dremmel tool somewhere around here. josh

This tread brings back memory of a state match turned into a lesson. I was shooting one of the stages all of the sudden I couldn't hit those pesky full size poppers at 25 yards even when I slowed down took aim and triggered my gun deliberately. Then the front sight wasn't there anymore. Holy caramba! Zeroed a stage and 3 more stages to go . Sure enough there are a bunch of nice guys shooting the match and actually found the sight for me, not only that but he handed me some red loctite and no sooner than 20 minutes my front sight was back and it hasn't move since. I think I put 1.5K rounds through that limited gun and the sight is still there like it's cemented down. My input is, when the dovetail is machined there could be some warping on the metal. When you drive that front sight in it will be tight, but when you shoot one of those 40 round stages that heats up the slide it may heat the metal enough for the dovetail to loosen. Usual indicator of this is seeing your front sight drifted a slight after a high round stage. But when checked it's tight in the dovetail. Weird stuff from the running and gunning high round count zone.

Gentlemen if I may give my input on this. If you shoot a 22-250 as fast as you can, the barrel will not last 5000 rounds, well technically speaking it will but it won't have any rifling near the chamber and halfway down the barrel. There is a slight difference with this rifle - pistol comparison. Gas volume in a rifle is much much more compared to even the over pressured 38 super loads in Open class. Rifles tend to use much slower burning powders and in higher volume, i.e., 37 grains of Varget versus 8.5 grains of N350. The bore size of the barrel also has a lot to do with it. Burning 36 - 39.5 grains of Varget in a 22 cal size tube is a sure way of screaming overbore. Anyway, if you keep shooting .357 bullets through your .3555 bore size barrel then after a while the only bullets that barrel will shoot accurately will be .357. Just my .02 on the subject. Josh

sgrc1, In my 40 loads I usually get more velocity if I add more crimp. Now if I go crazy on the crimp the accuracy of my loads suffers. I usually load 4 grains of Titegroup with 180 Lead Truncated bullets from Laser-cast and I'm slightly over the 170 pf. But I do have a fast barrel, believe me this fast/slow barrel crap has taken it's toll on me too. usually a slow barrel calls for bigger diameter bullets, but that would raise your pressure more which you don't want if you are having pressure signs already. Goodluck buddy. josh

Federal pistol primers are not the ticket for over pressured loads, primer flow alley is what you'll get. One advantage of the softer primer is for steel shooters, you can have you hammer spring ridiculously light and still ignite those Fed primers. josh