MemphisMechanic

I like TC or similar flat-pointed bullets because I can load them much longer than a round-nose in my guns with shorter chambers.

I run 124s because they all really shoot the same and honestly gear doesn’t matter nearly as much as the skill you gain by practicing with it. Pick a bullet and a powder and go shoot: Tanfos recoil so hilariously softly that 115s feel like a 147 does in a polymer gun to me, too.

@M1A4ME and @4n2t0 ... you mean you guys haven’t discovered the hardened lee depriming pins from Squirrel Daddy? The name is strange, but the product is solid. Bent three factory Lee pins in two weeks time, once. Can’t manage to hurt the SD one. On anything. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018V7L3C2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rO3xAbV6A92ZG

I like it.

You are probably dropping unneeded points on the far targets. Shoot the second shot when your sights tell you to send it. Don’t simply hit everything with what sounds like about a .15-18 split Watch a multiple-time national champ engage targets of varying difficulties / distances. You shouldn’t be shooting a partial hardcover or a 12yd target as fast as you shoot a 3-5 yard one. The Open gun lets you shoot faster, but throwing a doubletap at every target is gonna get you eventually. The second shot gets just as much aiming as the first one. Aim every shot. Even Grauffel slows down for 20yd targets. Just not as much as humans do.

As @BillGarlandJr said, and I said before him, it depends on the gun. A 3rd gen glock or a 9mm 1911 will take these so long they don’t fit into the magazines. 1.150-1.160+ A CZ will need them shoved down to 1.080 or thereabouts. And a truncated cone (TC) profile is the most short-chamber friendly profile if length is a big concern.

Your feet were still moving, and you weren’t low and squatted like a guy shooting on the move. Bouncing sights = shooting mikes.

.25 splits on plate racks add up to a clean run at 1.5 seconds. Trying to be johnnybadass and burn it down with .15s leads to five mikes, extra transitions, waiting to see if plates fell, and roughly double that amount of time. Add .6 to your plate rack (an extra .1 per plate) with harder front sight pictures once the gun settles down, seeing white all the way around the front post, and happy times lie ahead.

OAL depends 100% on the chamber you’re feeding it into. If you know what you’re about, anyway.

Fixed

Unless you want to shoot IDPA, then choose whichever you find a good deal on first. National championships have been won with both. By guys who could have done it using a worn out Glock with a bent barrel. Skill > Gear.

I run that one and this one: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F301734012021 Definitely recommend them both.

Yes it wears over time, and probably is out of travel, especially if you don’t lube it every few hundred round. I replaced mine once. Then never did it again. These rock: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F222665034936

I believe you’ve already tried it, but I’ve always been able to re-time my shellplate by eye. Adjusting this ramp which drives the indexing mechanism, here:

The Redding micrometer seating die is worth investing in just for the ease of adjustment - the fact that orhee say it’ll fix this issue is merely a great bonus.

That was probably said by someone on a mobile phone with their brightness cranked all the way up.

Can I get my initial and last name carved into the side of the gun with little diamonds? signed, Peter Enis

I sight the gun in bagged and all benchrest style. Shoot the best groups so I know my ammo is good, and sights are centered. Then switch to freestyle and try to replicate that group size as best I can. Some guns its an inch high or low or something, but usually for me most of my guns shoot the same poi/poa as when they were bagged in.

T.T. wants to crush hopes and dreams in That Other Sport, eh? Good.

You left the Mr BulletFeeder off the list. I loaded on a 650 without one for 7 years. I am an idiot. Do not be like me. Spend the additional $400ish as soon as possible. As. Soon.

If your weak-hand thumb contacts the slide when you shoot, you’d learn that in a hurry.

It will be a long time before such details matter. A long time. Just grab a reliable gun and get to a match and heed the pointers from the better competitors you meet there.

Here. Now you can SEE it.

Based upon my experience with Winchesters and a thin washer slipped underneath the black primer-seating bracket on the frame of the 650? Your gun will eat Winchester primers all day long. It will probably do so without shimming the primer punch upward, but I never tried it so I cannot say so for certain. My gun ran Winchesters flawlessly with a 13lb spring, and the EGD Light is about 13.8lbs. I also had a Bolo installed and had not stroked it yet, so my hammer didn’t travel nearly as far backward as yours does. The Bolo doesn’t hit as hard without tuning it for maximum hammer-stroke, and I did that later.

CZ mag compatabiltiy isn’t relevant when all your mags are Glock and M&P and Walther like me. ? But. Are you saying the short frame guns have more locking lugs between slide and barrel? That could matter to some. Maybe the gun would need 123,000 rounds to wear out, instead of 98,00...