pbairborne

If you're using the loads for target practice/plinking, then what Hi-Power suggests is the way to go. If you are shooting USPSA or IDPA events, then you will most likely find that the combination of a heavier bullet, like MG's 147 and a faster powder such as N-320, Titegroup, or Solo-1000 (developed to give you a power factor of perhaps 135) will give you a softer shooting load than the lighter 121 IFP and the slower powders you mentioned.

After I put a Cheely mount on my open gun I used a sidewinder racker on the right side. I found that I didn't like that setup too well, so I got a sidewinder XL from Shooter's Connection. It was pretty easy to fit to the dovetail, and easily clears the mount. I had a smith drill and tap it for 8-32 and then I installed a ball detent, so that can easily be removed. I really like it now. Super for table starts.

Just got some SV mags and had a similar problem with them in my STI frames. Brandon at SVI recommended Doug Jones at Acc-U-Rail. I gave him a call, sent my blaster, the SV mags and an STI mag that fit. He turned them around in a week. They fit perfectly and lo and behold, when used in my 9 major gun - no malfs. On top of that the cost of the mag mods was very reasonable.

I bought a bunch of Wolf spp when the shortage hit and could no longer get Winchesters. I found that it required more care in reloading not to get high primers. My STI's fire them with no issue, but I find that I can't trust them to go off in my production Glocks. So I have a stash of Win spp's that I use exclusively for the Glocks. I've been using Wolf srp's in my STI open gun with no issues. The Wolf primers I have are at least a year old, so they may or may not be representative of current production.

Right at the top of the load data pdf, there is a warning not to use magnum primers. I've seen numerous posts here where shooters claim not to see much difference between small pistol primers and small pistol magnum primers. The magnum primers seem a bit easier to find. But based on the warning that Alliant has given, I'm a bit reluctant to try them. Does anybody out there have some relevant experience/knowledge to shed some light on this? Is it safe to use magnum primers with S-1000? Under what conditions would it be unsafe?

Had one 7 or 8 years ago, shooting a Para 45 in practice. Caught it and didn't pull the trigger again. Removed the lead with a squib rod, but stopped shooting and went home and took every round from that batch of reloads apart. But I didn't find any other rounds with low or no powder. It could only have been carelessness on my part. Fortunately, no damage was done. I had loaded it on a 650. A month or two ago, I caught one while RO'ing at an IDPA match. The shooter stopped with no harm done. Perhaps 10 or 12 years ago, a buddy of mine had one in his Thompson. Unfortunately, the bullet went far enough into the barrel so that he could chamber another round, which he did. And then he pulled the trigger. He now has a souvenir Thompson bulged barrel, but no other damage. He loaded his ammo on a Hornady progressive - not sure of the model.

Seems like the last 8 pounder I bought from Fin, Fur and Feather was $102 or 104 plus tax. But that jug sure was different (and slower) than the last jug I bought. So I've gotta do some work to develop loads for the new batch.

Ditto that on Benny. Recently sent an open gun to him that just wouldn't run. Had lots of ejection failures. In two weeks, it was back in my hands and running perfectly. He was fast and reasonable. He'll tell you that there's no magic there, just proper application of knowledge. I'm not so sure...

I've bought a couple of guns through Gun Broker and haven't had a problem. Haven't sold anything, though.

Thanks, All, for the kind words. We'll no doubt be out at Crooked Creek in March and at Pardoe in April -just in case anyone is interested in meeting Colleen. As for me, I'm outta here later this week - going to the FL Open, taking blasters, ammo and golf clubs with me. After the Open, I'll be learning at the feet of Ted Puente for a couple of days. I'll be in Charleston for a couple of weeks playing golf, but may try to take in a local match if I can. Won't be back north until mid-March. Sure hope my car can hold enough ammo for being away that long...

Shot a match today at Gem City (Erie) with my girlfriend, Carol, and her youngest daughter, Colleen. So I had to write about it. Haven't figured out how to put pictures directly into a post, so you'll have to open the attachment to read the rest of the story and see the pics. Bill Shooting with My Almost-Stepdaughter.doc

Good group of guys at Mercer, too. Last summer I brought my girlfriend's daughter to shoot. Some of the experienced shooters were really good about giving her valuable advice. One of the guys let her try his open gun and she loved it. We'll be going back there as soon as the season opens.

Aaron, You might also want to take a look at Pardoe in western PA and Gem City in Erie. They shouldn't be too much of a drive for you. I drive there from Medina. Pardoe runs outdoor matches and Gem City has indoor matches 2 Sundays per month in the winter. You can find them on the USPSA website. Bill

I neglected to post the average velocity for the string, although you can get it from the PF and bullet wt. It was 1003 fps.

I've only done a little bit of testing with S-1000 and 165 Rainier FP's. Here is the data: 10 shots, 165 RFP/4.8 S-1000/COL 1.155/Wolf SP, Hi=1059, Lo=982, ES=77, SD=20, PF=165. These were shot out of an STI Xtreme 5" at 61 deg. F. The ES and SD tell me that these were not that consistent, but they were reasonably soft and accurate and I'd have no hesitation in using them for plinking. Of course, your results may vary...

LeRoy, I see your point. The precisions are nearly 3% heavier than the MG's. I suppose that with some additional loading and chrono work, it would be possible to sort out the effects of the different variables. In fact the MG loads were done with Winchester SP's and the Precisions were made with Wolf primers. So that adds another variable. But it's too cold here in northern Ohio for outside chrono work to be much fun, and besides, the 185 Precision/4.6 S-1000 loads are so nice to shoot, that I'll probably be far better off spending my time practicing rather than trying to understand subtleties of loads. Bill

I have to admit that I was surprised a bit by the data, too. I was expecting that the Montana Golds would take a bit more powder than the Precisions. But the COL was shorter, and so an apples-to-apples comparison isn't possible. It's possible to pick up a Chrony for, I think, about $80. One of the larger outdoor stores near me has them for that price. Of course there are more expensive chronos out there and with more features, but an $80 Chrony should get the job done. If you're reloading for competition, one is just about required. Maybe you can find someone who has one and will let you use it. Take extra careful aim if it's not yours.

I've been using Solo 1000 for a bit over a year now. My gun is an STI Xtreme 5". Using MG 180 JHP/4.6 S-1000/COL 1.155/WSP I got a 10 shot average of 940fps with SD of 10.4 and PF = 169 (temp 71 degrees). More recently, I've been using 185 precisions. I've been loading these a bit longer, and that won't work in your Glock, but here's the info anyway: 185 Precision/4.4 S-1000/COL 1.190/Wolf SP 10 shot average 908, SD 16.6. PF = 167, temp 78 deg F. 185 Precision/4.6 S-1000/COL 1.190/Wolf SP 10 shot average 920, SD 7.3, PF = 170, temp 78 deg F. 185 Precision/4.8 S-1000/COL 1.190/Wolf SP 10 shot average 932, SD 7.87, PF = 172, temp 78 deg F. In my gun these are really nice soft accurate loads. Since you'll be loading shorter, you'll need to start lower, watch for pressure signg and chrono as you go.

Hmmm last time I tried to get walnut OR corn at Grainger they said they were discontinued. That was earlier this year. Did you actually get some corn? Pass along the item # from their book and I will check again this week. Thanks Yes, I did. Grainger had a sale where they provided shipping for free, so I ordered 3 x 40 lb bags of ground corncob. I couldn't find my order info, but I looked in their online catalog and found: Corn cob 425 micron item no. 2MVR5 $23.60. They also have a grade that is a bit larger in particle size at 600 microns, but I chose the smaller size and find it works well. Funny, I went by the Grainger store yesterday and they had the corn. I am trying to decide on which size to get. The walmart stuff hangs up in the separator because some of it is too big. So, which one? 18 or 30 sieve? I've been buying the smallest corncob that Grainger has. It really sifts out beautifully, in fact, most of it comes out of the sifter without even shaking it.

Hmmm last time I tried to get walnut OR corn at Grainger they said they were discontinued. That was earlier this year. Did you actually get some corn? Pass along the item # from their book and I will check again this week. Thanks Yes, I did. Grainger had a sale where they provided shipping for free, so I ordered 3 x 40 lb bags of ground corncob. I couldn't find my order info, but I looked in their online catalog and found: Corn cob 425 micron item no. 2MVR5 $23.60. They also have a grade that is a bit larger in particle size at 600 microns, but I chose the smaller size and find it works well.

Tried walnut, but it was too dusty for my tastes. I found that I liked corncob media. I bought a 50 lb bag at the feed store, but it was way too large in particle size and pieces got stuck in 9 mm cases. Then I hit on Grainger Supply. They sell it as blasting media in 40 lb bags for ~$20. It's small particle size, cleans well, and sifts out of the cases easily. I bought 3 bags and will probably have media into the next century. You might also check out Rooster Laboratories. You can find them on the internet. They private label package polishing compound for various companies. A 1 gallon jug will cost you $50 plus shipping.

Ohioguy, I shoot 147 precisions in my G-17 and my girlfriend and her daughter use them in their G-34's. We're using Solo -1000 @ 3.3gr for the G-34's and 3.3 of N320 for the G-17. All give a PF of about 132 and accuracy is certainly good enough for the IDPA shooting we do. BTW, I'm in Medina, too. PM me if you want to connect.

SB, I have put the recoilmaster back and tested it. Runs fine. So likely that is the way she'll shoot it. After the end of the outdoor season which is fast approaching here in the north, I'll be able to send it off for some professional help. However, I'd still like to get a bit smarter about what the problem is - even if I need a smith to fix. Seth, How did you determine that the guide rod was rotating? Did you use something like Dychem to observe where the bind took place? Bill

At the last match we shot, one of the master class shooters suggested that my girlfriend's daughter who had been shooting production try shooting open class. He let her try his open gun and she loved it. I pulled a 40 open gun out of the safe for my girlfriend's daughter to shoot. It is a 40 cal STI Grandmaster. While going over it, I thought that I might change out the recoilmaster for a standard STI full length guide rod and spring. But when I did that, I found that when the slide was racked open by hand, it would bind at fully open and the spring (10 lb) was not sufficiently strong to close the slide. This didn't happen with the recoilmaster. I put a shok buff in and that shortened up the stroke enough that no binding occurred, but it doesn't seem that I should need to do this. My other open guns (38sc and 9) don't need the buffs and certainly don't bind. The 40 GM runs fine with the recoilmaster and that's probably the way she will shoot it at the next match. I sure would like to understand what I need to do to get it to run with a standard guide rod and spring. Help from the experienced shooters would be greatly appreciated.

I use 185 Precisions with 4.6 gr Solo-1000/mixed range brass/COL 1.190/Wolf SP and get a PF of 174 with SD of 10 (STI Xtreme 5") That data was collected at 78 deg. That same load gives a PF of 170 out of my Para P16-40 5". Para load data collected at 68 deg.