MemphisMechanic

Did you have more trouble with the SA portion of things than with the DA first shot? Seems to be the norm. What were you shooting before?

"NOT universal" clays... nicely put! We're talking about plain old clays. Not International, not Universal. Just clays. I was using 130Gr BBIs. 130gr BBI coated bullet 1.105" OAL 3.35gr Clays 128.8 PF through a 5" M&P If I find some more clays I'll be using it again for sure. Not too smoky, didn't leave the gun filthy, and definitely one of the softest-shooting loads out there.

I've seen at least two people mention not making the change in Minor guns without seeing much need for it, but I've got no idea how I could locate that topic. $39 isn't a lot of money for this kind of insurance.

If your carry gun is a Glock either drown it in slide glide or use oil or just run it bone dry. It's going to work.

Edit: double tapped

To put yourself at peace: Take one with the most noticeable bulge. Size it, load it with a bullet. Crimp it. (Load it with primer and powder if you like, or make it a dummy) Then drop it into the back of your gun's barrel. If it goes in smoothly with a tiny amount of wiggle, spins easily, and drops smoothly back out when the barrel is flipped over, you are good to go. If it drops in partway but not flush like your existing ammo, you have a sizing or crimp problem due to either defective brass or an issue with your press & die setup. If it drops in all the way - or close - but doesn't spin, then you're loading your ammo too long and the bullet is getting shoved into the rifling before the cartridge chambers all the way.

Yeah, we understood that. And we disagree that it's necessary. You clear your stations to avoid a double or squib. Everyone else just visually confirms the powder charge (even more carefully than usual).

Lubricate them both with some form of oil or grease, and shoot / carry with whatever lets you sleep easy at night.

I've literally never met anyone (sane) who had that kind of time to waste. I'd go back to Glock / M&P before I dealt with a gun which was that much of a princess. No other handgun needs that.

What else is your gun equipped with internally and how's the trigger with the 12 pounder?

My experience with the above powders has shown that Clays is the softest shooting powder of the lot. It gets really sketchy on pressures with bullets lighter than about 135gr in 9mm, though. You're already around max book to make PF in a 147. Clays is accurate, soft, and meters well. As long as you plan to shoot heavy bullets.

Black bullets international, blue bullets, etc. 231 will work great, but other powders will shoot more softly and are still good and safe behind a 124. If you want to stick with Winchester, WST is a great choice.

Why on earth haven't you shot a match yet! Go!

Conventional wisdom says that having your bullet touching the rifling, or into it slightly, gives better accuracy. To the best of my knowledge that's from the benchrest / bolt action crowd. After fitting that Apex barrel to my M&P, which will eat that bullet out to 1.155 ... I developed a load at 1.115" so that all of my guns could shoot it. I shot a 1.75" group with it off of it with the gun bagged in at 25yds. That kind of accuracy would be scoffed at by the bullseye crowd, but it's more than accurate enough for USPSA purposes, which is where my interest lies. (Prior to the barrel replacement my gun grouped minute-of-C-zone at 26 yards. Literally. The early M&Ps were notorious for hating heavy bullets. 135s and 147s gave 6" groups, while 115s were good for about 3.5" ones.)

Ten clicks from fully down, dogtired? So lots of upward adjustment left...

But max magazine length is still relevant to what bullet you're using. A fat, flat-nose bullet loaded to max mag length is effectively much longer with regard to how much freebore it needs once it's chambered than the super-pointy 115 FMJs that Winchester loads in WWB. Have you ever mic'd WWB? It is looooong ammo. Around 1.160" if I recall. But it feeds in everything. The only part of the bullet that matters is the shoulder of it, where the bullet exits the case - which is what hits the rifling. A round, fat bullet or a square shouldered flat nose can't be loaded as long as something that tapers down to a point VERY quickly. The longer shoulder / ogive sticks further into the rifling. When I installed a hand-fitted Apex match barrel into my M&P and shrunk groups from 6" to 2" at 25yd, I had to throat the barrel myself. All of my loads are around 1.135" to 1.150" long and wouldn't feed. I borrowed a hand reamer from a friend and loaded dummies of my fattest profile bullet to 1.120, 1.125, 1.135, and 1.155 long. I was able to keep track of how much I was lengthening the throat as I went by seeing which ones would plunk & spin. And finishing just past 1.155 meant my 1.150 loads would have enough free-play that I knew they'd run 100% This did seem to help alleviate the already rare light strikes I sometimes had with certain ammo.

Mike Seeklander refers to it as "crushing a walnut" between the heels of your palms - he has a youtube video on his preferred grip on Youtube. When I visualize clamping the palm heels together at the backside of the grip it really makes me use my chest/pecs to pull the arms in against the gun. During Stoegers class he emphasized crush grip - hand strength. Squeeze so hard the fingernails of the weak hand turn white and dig into your relaxed strong hand underneath it, etc. Play with both mental cues to make you drive the gun hard, see how they help. The hard part is dryfiring them until they're automatic and feel like the only right way to shoot.

The 147 black bullet is a short, wide profile. Its very likely you'll need to load them that short. I do, for my girl's M&P with it's factory barrel.

Its has a factory-equipped part off of another Production legal firearm. Tanfoglio's Xtreme Sear, trigger, hammer, and springs are legal to drop into any Stock 2... because they are parts used in the Stock 2 Xtreme. If Bersa equipped some of these guns with the extended release from the factory, they'd be legal to grab for a few bucks and stick into yours, too.

Never thought of that, but it does make sense. Perhaps I'll replace my "holds 1k" plastic bucket with the small blue bin it came with.

And if you can afford it, go with a BOSS hanger from Ben Stoeger's shop off the bat. If not, get the base tech holster and change hangers later. The steel BOSS hanger makes a world of difference in feel over the plastic ones. More than I'd have believed.

Cheapest is Shooter Connection at $40, which I'm using now. Works just fine, is more than stiff enough for 6 ghost pouches and a BOSS hanger/bladetech combo. I like the older DAA Pro the most - inner is very flexible so it's actually like a normal belt when the outer is off, but outer more than makes up for it. Before that I had an original CR Speed which worked just fine. Whichever one you get, spend an extra $6 on the Arredondo slip-on keeper for it. It's worth the $$$ ten times over. And slap sticky Velcro on the back of your holster and mag pouches too.

Why? What you should learn is that when there is a jam, be superbly deliberate about visually checking the charge level in the next half-dozen rounds afterward. When loading, I give each case a lazy partial glance most of the time. As long as they aren't empty or overflowing (depends on powder you use, obviously) then I know the Dillon measure is ticking away properly. After a jam occurs, I get hyper vigilant for about 30 seconds. So far I've loaded 50k or so on a 650 without ever loading a squib or a double charge.

You're the first person I have seen whose extensively shot both guns. Very useful information - thanks, Eli!

That is the answer I thought I was going to hear most. Instant holster wear... vs none for years. Ironically, that's the biggest reason I chose the Stock 3. I wanted a unique firearm - I like cerakoting things so they don't look just like everyone else's. And while I don't feel the least bit guilty bead-blasting the bluing off of an S3 before taking the airbrush to it, stripping perfectly good hardchrome off would be a different matter.