MemphisMechanic

I ran 300 rounds of blackbullets through the gun today, and every last one of them had a wolf primer. Every single one went bang. That's great, since I have 20K of wolf primers around the house that I paid $18 per thousand for. The stories of M&Ps hating wolf had me worried. Maybe the revised striker's spring with 2 extra coils was helping me? Who knows. Just glad I can rely on them so far. I like the 130s. They kinda split the difference between a 124 and 147fmj in felt recoil.

Chrono results from yesterday: 43* at the time of the test. Nice and chilly day to speed Solo up. 1.120" OAL (actual rounds mic 1.115"-1.123") Wolf primer 3.71gr Solo1000 (ten drop average on my scale) Average velocity was 994 fps, for a power factor of 129.45. I'll mention also that all the bullets I've put on a scale actually weighed 132.5-134 grains. 130gr = 961.5 fps to make minor 133gr = 939.9 fps to make minor So if you ever chrono a bit low, having a bullet pulled could save your butt.

Well, I needed 3.55-3.6 Solo1000 to hit power factor in a Glock34, which is 20fps faster than my M&P 9L... Berrys, from what I understand, are somewhere between an FMJ and a moly/lead bullet. So at a total WAG, I'd say 3.5ish would be the ticket. Or I could be totally wrong.

Robert Ray's decision was that the mag has to weigh 1 oz more than a factory one, or less. Haven't weighed the SSS-equipped basepad yet, but I've got a sanctioned match to shoot in two weeks. It'll get a date with my drill press next week if they turn out to be a tad heavy. But they don't FEEL heavy enough to worry about. And the M&P longslides don't have full length dustcovers anway. The plastic frame/rail ends a full inch short of the muzzle. Even if it were a metal frame, it wouldn't have a full length cover. And as mentioned, STEEL frames are the only ones they care about. They're basically keeping the muzzle-heavy SVI's out of ESP.

Okay, first post was on my phone at lunch, so I didn't say much. Stage 1 string 4 (0:53)... Your transitions totally suck. That's okay, because every SSish guy has this issue. See how your head is aimed at the sights when you swing between targets? Break the second shot, snap the eyes and turn the head to the next target, and WHIP the gun there like you're slapping it with the front sight post. Don't swing the sights over to the next target and keep looking through them... Get the eyes ahead of the sights. You'll get there faster if you can see where you're going. Stage 1 (1:28)... Turning draw looks decent for a midlevel guy. Reload killed you. Work on them in dryfire, and my best advice on getting quicker? WATCH THE EMPTY MAG FALL OUT OF THE GUN. This will draw your eyes to the magwell. Keep them there until the new mag is halfway in. Work on getting the weak hand to feed the mag ASAP. Look up a 'burkett reload' ... Do a bunch of them before practicing the complete reload. Great for teaching the weak hand how fast it can really be on the magazine draw. My compliments to you for the pause on the third shot at 1:35. Most shooters would have broken that shot because they were shooting in a cadence, not shooting their sights. Stage 2 String 1 (2:00)... The footwork on the draw-while-moving was ugly. See how your shoulders sway side-to-side while advancing on the target? Get lower, bend the knees and walk with your feet one in front of the other. This will really help those sights stabilize. Notice how your splits are much faster than the transitions? Again, snap the eyes and drive the gun. You can shave a second off that string without shooting any faster. Just get the gun on-target like you mean it. bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang ... not bang-bang...bang-bang...bang-bang. The bolt-upright frankenstein walk is even more awkward when backing up. Same advice as before, but roll from toe back onto your heel while doing so. If you're going to blade your body so severely for the strong-hand string, start like that. Don't take a step back while drawing. You covered string 3 pretty well yourself. If you're going to tacload into your pocket, jeans are bad. I like tucking it into my waistband (Sevigny does this if you haven't seen it). It looks like you might be skinny enough for it to work. The advantage here is that it's the fastest if you can nail it every time, and works with almost any pair of pants.

If it helps for comparison, I have an SSP Master classifier run posted in the IDPA forum here on benos. Its from a hatcam, though, so you wont see the shooter. IMO, watch ben stoeger shoot it in half the time required for master with only a handful of pts down, and learn from it. Compare his run to yours. Shooting at his speed is out of the question, but theres no reason you cannot be as smooth on the move, or as fast on the tacload if you dryfire enough.

The rear door is not water tight - I can see daylight under mine. Go easy on it in the rain. I use it in light drizzle, but not in actual rain. If weve gotta bag the targets... uh-uh.

Its a lot easier for you IPSC guys than IDPA shooters. When I work on slide-lock reloads they all go through the chamber one by one, and wind up all over the bed I stand behind. Practicing for a USPSA match is so much easier in comparison. :-)

My 650 is missing the fancy uniquetek stuff, but throws it fine. A bigger problem as far as charge weight will be you slopping powder out of the cases by being ham-fisted when running the shellplate back down. Solo is a fluffier powder than titegroup with larger flakes, and 4.2 fills a lot of the case. I consider that a plus - hard to miss seeing the powder charge when it fills 3/4 of the case, and a doublecharge will dump powder everywhere. I'd start with about 4.2 grains for an FMJ, that should be in the 126pf area, and you can work up. 124 precision delta, 4.0 solo, and 1.125" oal was 121 pf through a 5" M&P barrel for me. It's also reverse temp sensitive, so expect to barely pass chrono in the summer if you clock 129pf in 30* weather.

Glock 34 for 2 yrs... Started with it and worked my way up to SSP Master 1st places in State-level matches with it. M&P is more lefty-friendly, and the small backstrap allows me to hit everything with zero grip shifting. Had to change my grip 3 times for a slidelock reload on the Glock. Spent the first month on the Smith wishing it ran like my Glock, and figuring out how to mod it, and my reloads, to get 100% reliability. Life with the M&P is good now. Wouldn't switch back. :-)

18,000 130grainers showed up today. Along with a nice fancy shirt. I'm going to load 3.7gr Solo1000 in a few different OALs and see what works.

Back when I didn't have a press, I did this: 1. Pull bullets. Buy a cheap $15 hammer-type bullet puller so you can remove w/o damage. Dump out all the powder. 2. Head out to the range and load the empty cases one by one, fire the primers. 3. Hold the slide closed - there will be almost no force behind it. Slowly cycle the slide and catch the empty. WARNING: Ignore the voice in your head saying "just a primer won't be that loud... I'll try it at home." Don't ask how I know this. 4. The cases will not have expanded due to the total lack of pressure. Drill a very short divot into a 2x4 the right size for the nose of your bullet. Stat the bullet into the case by hand, flip it over into the 2x4, and tap the brass back into place very carefully over the end of the bullet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I've learned two things since then. 1. Loading dummy rounds on my 650 is vastly superior. In every possible way. 2. Action Trainer plastic dummy rounds are surprisingly cheap. Find some way to make these rounds very obvious. Mine got a FAT black sharpie band all the way around the case, up near the mouth. I always dryfire in the same room. Dummy rounds never leave that room, and live ammo never enters it. I still check for empty primer pockets on each dummy round loaded with a real bullet and brass before loading it into a mag. This is one place where orange plastic bullets are better - they're tougher to mix up. If there are guys who load in your circle of friends, off one some $$$ to load dummy rounds on a real press.

I thought so... You see my pics of the new vs. old striker in the thread a few posts down in this forum? The taper (that's now found where yours failed) suddenly makes a lit of sense doesn't it?

The doubled up pads are a definite fail. One exploded on it's third introduction to a concrete floor during a load. Original basepad is there except for a small chunk, epoxy and second half... not so much. Good thing Kenny sent me some blingin' aluminum pads which worked great. I've got an idea for my other mags, though. I'll keep you guys updated. The aluminum SSS pad fit great. With fixed Dawson sights, theres about 3/16" of vertical space in the IDPA box. So even with tall adjustables you won't need a mallet to get your gun out.

Factory spring is supposedly 15, but is every bit as stiff when working the slide by hand, as a 17lb glock 17/34/35 spring.

Instead of the tip of the pin hitting the primer, and decelerating a bit more gradually as it punches the cup inward... the shoulders on either side if the pin smack into the unmoving back of the breechface. Given what they changed in the redesign, I would hazard a guess that strikers were snapping at the square corner where the spring cups engaged. The sudden transition there makes for a hell of a stress riser. Either that, or the lug was breaking off the back. Both of those places are reinforced and the corners noticeably rounded off.

Were both of those the old design, or did they actually send you a new one that you broke? I dryfire for fifteen minutes a day EVERY day, but rarely actually drop the striker. Most of the time, I'm pulling a dead trigger over and over. Probably only 20-30 actual clicks per day.

Bag the gun and shoot it on a bench already. You can probably make lead work, you just need to experiment with charge weight, bullet weight, different powders... and most importantly... overall length.

I do not sort by headstamp. I pick up, tumble, and reload everything. When a bad case won't gauge or (more commonly) damages/crushes the primer, it's usually S&B or AMERC.

In the M&P, you should probably use snap caps. They have been known to break firing pins from excessive dryfire. Enough so that Smith actually redesigned the striker. I posted a thread in the M&P forum with pictures of both the new and old designs: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=101980 I'm running the new style in my pistol and dryfiring the hell out of it with an empty chamber. Since I have the old assembly as a spare, and a bare new-style striker as a second spare, I want to see how it holds up.

Uh... what? Are you from one of those odd "can't elevate the muzzle on the load" places? Two SSS aluminum basepads are here, and after a VERY minor dremeling session (seriously took about 5 seconds to round two corners) they seat effortlessly inside the magwell. Look trick, feel great, and I want more of them.

First, 130 power factor in a Glock34 is a 3.8gr titegroup charge under a 124gr Precision Delta FMJ. Half my local guys that shoot a Block use that load (at least half a dozen) and it's always in the 129-133 power factor area when I drag the chrono out on 'em. Second, have you dropped your recoil spring down to a 13pounder yet? IMO, that's what makes the lighter loads so sweet to shoot.

It sounds like your obsession with being the ultimate combative pistol shot *RIGHT NOW* is getting in the way of your ability to relax, and shoot the front sight. When you see the front post where you want a hole, break the shot. Do not 'trap' the sight picture and mash the trigger when it gets there, either. If the sights are on the target as the bullet leaves the barrel, it's impossible to miss. None of us, including Leatham, Sevigny, and Jarrett... are firing some magical technique. We're all shooting a second round from a second GOOD sight picture. Those guys are simply freakishly fast at getting what they need out of the gun for that next shot. Sight, shoot, repeat.

It's not just him. I got very similar chrono results on a 30-35 degree day, using a ProChrono Digital, and an M&P 9L. My load was a 124 Precision Delta over 4.0gr of solo at 1.120" It was right at, or near, 120PF. 3.8gr of Solo under a 130gr BlackBullet moly got me 133Pf on the exact same day. 1.125" OAL. Same winchester primers. There can be a big variation in the burn rate of Solo from lot to lot. I needed to go from 3.3gr to 3.6gr to get a 147 moly and 147fmj to hit 128-129 PF, so bullet type plays a huge factor too.

I swear I must live in the place with the only openminded people in BOTH camps. It's nice getting to enjoy both with very little issue. Just some good-natured ribbing.