MemphisMechanic

I wouldn't touch it. Mine loosened up a good bit in the first 2 or 3 thousand rounds. I wish I'd left it more tightly fitted. As long as it continues to be reliable and accurate when cold and hot? Just shoot it.

"Liked" it? It's not even possible to support that based on the rule book that you're supposed to operating out of. Liking it or not has nothing to do with it. (And I'd be all for penalizing people who "accidentally" deliberately try to get their buddies a reshoot.)

You're me, four years ago... Find something accurate through your gun that shoots kinda sorta soft or whatever and just shoot 10,000 of them. No one every really listens to this and they keep tinkering and changing and testing. I did. I have a dozen varieties of powder and nearly-empty cases of bullets to prove it. But four years from now, you'll find this post again and realized you should have listened. There's no competitive advantage between different 124/135/147 loads with 128-135pf velocities. Pick one that's accurate and reliable and go practice with it until you're good.

Tough, sturdy combat night sights = fixed irons Tuneable gofast sights for gun games = adjustable w/ fiber optic front. Adjustable sights are less than ideal for severe duty so you don't really see them in night sight variations, as was stated above.

There's this build: Also, a local friend has a heavily cut .40 longslide M&P. Large lightening ports on the sides and other material removed in other places. Looks great. So yeah it can be done, no problem. His gun looks much like this one from Google, but black:

Or hang onto it if you switch to 135s or 124s someday. Hoenstly I suggest you play with some coated bullets. Most of us never go back to FMJ once we've tried them. A coated 147 might be making PF with that load.

Yes. Worry about the 180 and your trigger finger and what to shoot at... ...and not on magchange magchange magchange Stage plans also tend to be simpler with more rounds in the mag.

Yes. It's normal. Just run it hard and often.

The key is for your eyes to leave the current target and move to the next one as soon as the sights lift. The gun follows your eyes. Snapping them to the next target is the skill you need to make a habit.

I heavily encourage everyone to shoot Limited Minor with their production gun for a couple of matches before switching to the 10 round division.

Your finger comes off of a Glock trigger when shooting really really fast. I promise it does. I've filmed a lot of diehard "I ride the reset types" when shooting up close and dirty using my sneaky Pivothead camera glasses while ROing them. I promise that even with long striker triggers with short resets, you weren't riding rest. Not without trigger-freezing. You were coming well forward of rest and pulling again. "slap" is a bad word. But there's nothing wrong with coming off the trigger then returning to contact with it to pull it again, either fast or slow. That's how you shoot a Bolo equipped gun. It rests at max forward travel, so in order to guarantee reset and not trigger freeze, you need to come forward well past that point. Do this with the hammer positioned so that the trigger travels full SA amount: And dryfire nightly through an array of multiple targets, both up close and at distance. It'll teach you how to shoot a BOLO without moving the sights, and do it fast.

Well, if Max Michel, Ben Stoeger, and Dave Sevigny all shot a certain Production classifier at 9.7-9.8 HF on different days in different states over the years... ...and then someone else shot an 11.7 HF on it one time when an RO missed the fact that the timer didn't pick up his final shot... I'd expect them to run with 9.8ish as the true 100% benchmark.

Update to my original post... Shockingly, flip & catch works great with a Tanfoglio for a lefty, too. Honestly the key to not pissing RO's off by catching your ejected round is to then hold the gun open and let them see. To unload per their commands. It's the flipcatchhammerdownholster guy who gets their backs up, along with the ones who habitually sweep themselves or lean way over to chase errantly ejected rounds they need to just let go. Dont be that guy.

If you are looking at a casefeeder for a 550, selling it or adding a 650 or 1050 alongside it is the smart move, instead. You're on the right track. The 650 casefeeder is exceptionally reliable. Once .380s and .40s have been culled with the plastic tray "shell sorter" system, I might have the casefeeer feed an inverted case or otherwise cause an easily fixed hangup once in every 500 to 1,000 rounds. And I've made zero adjustments to it since 2008. Only turned it on... and off. Also, I personally beleive the bench you currently use would be just fine - if you aggressively mount the bench top to the wall. The difference in rigidity that causes is even higher than you'd expect.

I have about $40 in my bench. Legs are doubled-up 2x4s. Entire frame work of 2x4s - with long diagonal 2x2 braces to triangulate the legs so it's rock solid. Top is two sheets of 2ftx4ft plywood. Screwed the first one down then used about half a tube of wood glue and a few dozen screws to mount the second one and give me a cheap 1.5" thick top. Works great. Whatever you build, though, take the time to screw it to the wall right away. I waited a year before simply running two long screws into the studs and the difference is night and day when you're rocking even a really sturdy bench around with that pry bar that cycles your press.

Don't expect to see a single sight picture or hit much of anything until stage 3 or so...

I'm talking more along the lines of a situation like this, where it was the shooter's responsibility to back up that extra step or two inside the shooting area... or where you're running straight downrange and are expected to be mindful to engage the target before you're directly abreast of it.

In this case, the gun is literally your first target. The primary risk isn't losing time. It's managing to pick your 1911 up by the trigger and dragging it across the table in a manner that deactivates the safety. Always chose safe & consistent over fast and risky. We *are* playing with live ammo.

I don't know that I'd be personally comfortable pushing 147 jacketed with WST. You're not the first with this question: http://forums.brianenos.com/index.php?/topic/120010-win-wst-and-147-gr-a-good-combo-for-a-newbie-production-loader/

If I may make one suggestion: Don't ever pick up a gun again without looking at it. Eyes on the gun until you've got a solid safe grip. It's also actually faster to pick it up with two hands. Get up underneath the rear sight with the weak hand and lift the gun off the table far enough to effortlessly and quickly assume a proper firing grip the first time you get your strong hand on the gun.

allowing you to break the rule if you aren't a conscientious gun handler isn't the same as inviting. I wish more matches weren't so "overprotective mom" about putting barrels and noshoots anywhere someone might see a target at 182 degrees. It'd make for better muzzle discipline from shooters.

I have five mag pouches on my belt. I plan to add a sixth to my bag that can be installed for those occasional extra long 45 round courses we've done for "outlaw" matches. Five is needed in Production, IMO. Every 2nd or 3rd match a stage breaks down into 4 reloads as the fastest stage plan. The rest of the time it's nice not having to turn around and find a mag if you feel yourself knock one off of your belt. Shoot what you've got, for now. But you'll want another mag pouch eventually.

I'm not personally afraid of swapping out Dawson's in a Novak cut for their "perfect impact" guarantee. I'd rather have fixed sights on my Stock 3 honestly. Never break.

I am simply not that OCD about my ammo. If it's in the 133-135 power factor window consistently, and it holds a 1.5-2" group at 25yds (my Tanfo is that accurate) I don't much care about minimizing OAL variation or the smallest possible standard deviation. I need it to be accurate enough to hit the upper A at 10 yards if I sent it there, and to drop steel and pass chrono. Thats the forest. If you're focused on anything else, your spending too much time looking at individual trees. That is my opinion. Many other guys love the process of handcrafting their ammo, much like they enjoy tweaking & tuning guns. To me it's just... food for the tool I use in matches.

Thank you for sharing your resolution. Once all the facts were in - it was popping those primers before, only the bolo was changed, etc - it was pretty obvious I had you chasing up the wrong (primer) tree for a full page of this thread. Sorry about that and I'm glad your gun is 100%