MagicTH

Yes, it is. My gunsmith recommended I load to 1.200" OAL and he bored my barrel accordingly for the longer cartridge. Montana Gold 180 gr. CMJ. Good price. Lots of guys on the forum like these. I bought a case ($272 for 2500 shipped) and shot my first match this weekend with these bullets and 1.200. ZERO failures to feed out of ~200 rounds. Finally THAT problem is solved. Unfortunately I experienced a brand new problem. The temperature was below freezing and by the 3rd stage, with the magazines out in the cold, the springs just didn't move; i.e., no spring pressure and/or sticking in the magazine. I tried two unused mags, same problem. I cleaned all mags, followers, etc. The best I could get to feed in 4 mags were 6, 6, 12 & 14 rounds. The next morning I loaded the mags with dummy rounds (no powder/primers) and hand cycled. They worked perfectly at room temperature. (PS: These mags only have 2-300 rounds through each of them, stock springs on the TJ Limited model. I loaded my own ammo on a 650 and resized the entire case and case gaged every single round using once fired Winchester nickel plated brass.) I will try Wolff +10% springs and some silicon lube and see what happens...Suggestions are welcome!

For what gun? Are they working for you? What I have learned from the guys here and especially from Brian Enos' "Competiion Reloading" DVD is that the magazine determines your OAL. The bullets need to be as long as the magazine will allow. This helps prevent the bullet coming out early in which case it "can do anything" to quote Brian. It can nose dive or flip up too high. This makes sense to me. Further, the Para limited is built on a 1911 frame which was made as a .45. OAL for a .45 is 1.25. So, it all adds up. Terry

Tom, Thanks for the input. I have my 650 setup and running. Loading to 1.200 OAL. I just need my gun club membership to clear so I can chrono the loads. I am pretty sure the 1.2 is going to work...at least my fingers are crossed. Sounds like it will from all the comments. Good shooting.

Finally some fellow P16.40 owners! Thanks for the tips guys. After the last "tune-up" things are better. Shot 130 rounds of factory length ammo with 1 nosedive, 2 FTF and 1 round failed to break-over (a 3% failure rate versus the 30% I was having). Then I shot my last 70 rounds of 1.19 OAL from Precision Delta. No FTFs! Need to shoot more rounds to prove it's really OK. I will check out my mags as suggested too. Also watched BE's "Competition Reloading" video where he says OAL is determined by your magazine and you want the longest OAL that will fit in the mag. This matches your advice. So, I just finished building my reloading bench and a new 650 from B.E. is on the floor waiting for installation. Will be using Montana Gold 180 gr. CMJ, once fired Speer nickel brass, Winchester SPP. I have several powders to try as well based on opinions from this board. I will load to 1.19-1.20.

What were your load specs / powder type?

I have a new SX1640J with about 800 rounds through it. Extraction has been perfect. However, feeding has been a serious problem. With the gunsmithing expertise of Steve Moore I think we have it working right, but it required re-contouring of the feedramp and it needs long ammo (1.19-1.20 OAL). We also changed the recoil spring to 11# from the stock 18#.

Doesn't the 650 also have an extra station on the toolhead for the powder check system? Seems like that would be valuable.

I'm betting the .45 mags don't have the "creases" to reduce the internal width for the narrow .40 S&W rounds like the 16-40 does. I would think the rounds won't stack right in the wider magazine.

Grab the baby by the neck. Throw baby on the ground. Shoot two-handed. Then pick up (probably dead) baby and place on table. Hmmm, can't really imagine that's what the course designer had in mind.

Could you expand on why you don't like plated? (Rainer for example, or Speer) Thanks. Para .40 / Glock 34 & 35 / CZ SP-01 in 9 mm

The above was from 2004. It's now nearing the end of 2007. Anyone know if Dillon has "fixed" this "improvement"? I think I'm ready to order a 550B based on Brian's Dillon FAQ. Has any of that advice changed as well?

+1

Using logic (not shooting experience) if your buddy shoots to the middle then it's you. Have you tried shooting from a bench rest / sandbag?

I had some problems when buying. They got resolved, but the vendor got screwed by PayPal. I read just part of the above site and CANCELED my account immediately. I "REMOVED" my credit card first, hopefully that got it out of the system

Sounds like a good tip on the double plugging. Brian's book also says "...if you see the muzzle flash you have seen the sights..."!