MemphisMechanic

You're doing this backwards. Trying to find an accurate load before figuring out what your gun will eat?! Use the plunk test to find your Max OAL first. Stick with that unless you simply cannot work up an accurate load, and need to try going shorter. Load a few and chrono until you figure out what charge weight is roughly 130 power factor with a chrono, and build up until you know what will be 133 to 135 power factor in your gun. (most of us chase softest possible felt recoil and load to 127-130 power factor when new. Then figure out you can't tell 133 from 127 while shooting a stage, and it's usually more accurate, more reliable, and hits steel better) With a 133ish power factor and a known-good OAL, play with the crimp you're using first to try to dial in accuracy. 90% of newer reloaders over-crimp. Juuuust remove all trace of belling from the case, and stop! Think of it as a de-flaring die. Not actually crimping. You do not want to deform the soft lead bullet or damage the coating on your BBIs. When pulled, you should barely see a ring around the bullet in the coating where the case mouth rested. Try that for starters. 133-135 PF. Light crimp. Dialed-in OAL.

Even in IDPA (two piece belts prohibited, must pass through loops) I just used the inner half of my CRSpeed or DAA belts. When you only carry a plastic framed gun and two 10rnd mags, there isn't enough weight to really require the outer belt.

Dr Mitch... That's not dicey. Dicey is zeroing a stage because it broke in the middle of it! I'd add a spare rear sight to your spare parts list. Just based on how many other people in this forum have mentioned theirs stripping or coming apart.

As a random aside, toss the Arrendondo rigid plastic keeper for two piece shooting belts into your cart next time you're buying from a place that carries it. Well worth the $5-7. Should have done that a lot sooner. Side it over to the side, put your belt on, and center it. Done.

My first press was a 650. It's still my current press. Most who start by listening to their wallet and going with a red or green machine... Eventually end up with a blue one. How many times have you heard about that happening in the opposite direction? However, the "correct" answer to this question is 1050. I'll end up there eventually.

Those. Those would be the primary reasons I'm going to a Stock 3. Aside, of course, from various other factors. Such as "all the cool kids are doing it."

For the guys talking about plastic vs steel... My reasons for going to Tanfo at the end of this season have nothing to do with a lighter trigger pull. After all, this pops CCI and S&B, and you'll never feel the difference between 1.5lb and 2.75lb when the buzzer goes off.

Yes. There was recent discussion in the CZ forum on this. The rule book says they have to have the same/similar contour to the factory grips. NROI interprets this as "when viewed from the side." That means that you can make the grip wider or thinner with different grip thicknesses, but something like a Hogue or Pachmayr wrap-around grip that added finger grooves isn't legal unless the gun came that way.

In IPSC you can't slap aftermarket parts into guns. You also cannot polish internals. So Tanfo devised an Xtreme model with chromed internals and lightened springs. Basically a decent aftermarket trigger... but nowhere near as nice as you can get a USPSA gun with heavily polished internals, aftermarket parts, and tuned springs.

Dillon, That has to be it. I had just done exactly what you described and figured a bushing of some sort was missing. Is this sleeve in the spare parts kit by any chance?

The Henning is light. The EG pin is intended to be heavy. Both are extended compared to the factory one. A few people in this forum who have done the pencil test (stick a pencil in the barrel so the pin strikes the eraser and see how high it launches) have found the EG pin to have more oomph behind it. That's a good thing with CCI primers, or harder.

Clays is certainly in the running. It's fast enough to make some people nervous, but I really like the way it feels in 9mm under heavier bullets. (130/135/147gr)

Press is a 650 with about 30-40k rounds through it, set up in 9mm. This DOES continue to happen when the failsafe rod is removed. As the obvious culprit, I took that black rod off thinking it was pulling down on the front right corner of the powder measure and causing this. Any ideas? Seen this before? It still appears to meter correctly, but the lean is severe enough that the powder measure is actually pinned against the primer magazine tube at the top of the upstroke.

How "grippy"? You have done aluminum oxide & epoxy on some of yours, so obviously these won't have that kind of traction.

I rack everything that way (the web between thumb and index finger over the slide) which includes Glocks with factory springs and my M&P USPSA gun at the moment, with a 13 pounder. (Yeah, I know those external-slide models are generally easier to hold onto than slide-in-frame CZs and Tanfos, but I've always racked them just fine this way too) I don't think I have exceptionally strong hands, but then, I do work on heavy equipment for a living.

How do they fill the hand compared to other popular options?

Ben Stoeger told us in May that he ran a 6 pound spring in his S2's while he was here for a training class.

Dryfire indoors. Draw and click twice on one target, move down the hallway to the next room over, and place another target or two in there. Or "shoot" a magnet on your fridge and take three steps sideways and "kill" the hallway light switch. The beauty of dryfire is being able to do it ANYWHERE.

Spend some time on your dryfire moving (even if it's just six feet laterally) and coming into a position and firing. That's where you're going to get creamed in matches for quite a while: Clean reloads and entering & exiting positions efficiently are the fastest ways to improve your scores in matches. By all means keep up the work on sight alignment and trigger control! But you'll gain tenths here and there by shooting faster with practice. You'll shave two to five seconds off of a stage by learning to move more rapidly and get shooting in each position sooner. Watch videos of novices then watch videos of A/M/GM shooters and pay attention to the speed they do the NON shooting stuff at. That's almost always the "low hanging fruit" you'll find is rope for the picking when you begin to hunt for C and then B class.

Well hell, perhaps I'm wrong then! I was under the impression the hole in the front of the slide was larger on the .40 I thought I recalled Randy Lee from APEX saying it wouldn't work, and that this was the reason.

It's also often the best technique to use while backing up. Drop mag and draw a fresh one, get backed out to the new position, and insert as you rotate your upper body toward the targets.

This is always a good option to consider, and particularly good advice for a novice shooter. It's almost as fast as doing it on the move and easier than sticking the load on the move while minding the 180.

I've never seen a noticeable difference in velocity by switching between Winchester, Federal, and CCI primers in 9mm minor loads, for what it's worth. Unless you plan to load just a touch above minimum power factor (a fools errand) then I wouldn't worry about it at all if your loads are running 130+ PF.

Something like this, but a hair more dramatic? https://gunbot.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/wp_000151.jpg As the others have said... totally normal. If it drops into your barrel and spins freely, you know you aren't loaded too long for your chamber (but isn't grabbing rifling) and that the case is sized properly. Go shoot!

Are you asking if you can convert a 40 into a 9mm using an Apex barrel? If so, the answer is no.