Ronemus

Blue Dot with 200 gr HAP & XTP - visible muzzle flash in full daylight

I haven't had these to the range yet, but they've been very good with the chainsaw, table saw, etc. around the house. They have adjustable volume, so you can enhance your hearing a bit. With the skull screws on then the isolation is very good (rated 32 dB), but hearing ambient sounds in the absence of loud noise makes them much more comfortable over long periods vs. plain ear plugs - I can easily wear them for 6-8 hours without removing them. They don't do frequency-dependent amplification like my hearing aids, but they do make it relatively easy to hear conversation. They're sufficient for outdoor ranges by themselves, but I would use muffs over them indoors.

No issues after ~10k rounds. My primary reason for doing this was to eliminate rim lifts - I use 28" barrels with the gas port 2" forward, but is was unlocking early and chewing up rims. The rifle is for NRA Highpower and Long Range competition, and I use 75 gr Hornady bullets: BTHP from the magazine and A-Max single loaded. That's well outside the envelope the AR is designed for.

Buffers with tungsten weights are rather pricey, but steel 9 mm buffers are considerably heavier than standard buffers and not very expensive. Are you using a heavier carrier (M16 profile)? That also adds significant weight. After those mods, I needed a bit more, so I made a steel slug to fit inside the back end of the carrier and drilled them for an Allen screw to hold it in place. Together those mods slow cycle time considerably.

Are you using bullets with a flat nose? If so, I found that I had to load to ~0.020" less than full length. It appears that the ammo can tilt a bit while feeding and that cant lets them hang up (the dimension from the rim to the opposite edge of the bullet nose is longer than the OAL as usually measured). This doesn't seem to be an issue with round nose bullets as the effects of tilt are less severe. This drove me nuts for a few months when I was trying to make my 10 mm Auto Hunter reliable.

If you reload, you want to pick up your brass - that's difficult if it's thrown into the weeds 30' away. Shortening the ejector causes it to hit the brass later in the cycle when the slide is moving slower. There are limits to how strong you can make the recoil spring, and in 10 mm with full power loads my brass still goes 8-10' with the ejector bobbed so it only protrudes ~1/8" from the bolt face. Any more and my brass ends up in the weeds. This is a personal defense gun, so I need reliability and have it with this setup. I always shoot full power handloads, so I'm not concerned with making powder puff loads work.

I was in the same boat with my 10 mm Hunter. I ground down the ejector so it only protrudes ~1/16" from the bolt face and had some heavy custom recoil springs made; in tandem that cut the ejection distance from 30+ feet to 8-10'. You won't have to take such extreme measures with .38 Super, but I would start with the ejector. Use the heaviest springs you can find. I had the slide battering the frame, so I also installed a shock buffer; you may not need one if the heavier spring is sufficient.

A flat-point bullet can jam/stick/drag in the magazine tube when loaded to maximum length if the round tips. Loaded to 0.020-30" less than max length there is no problem.

I find that RNFP bullets need to be seated a bit deeper than RN - rounds can tip as they feed and the FP can wedge or stick. Seating the RNFP 0.020" deeper cured my problems.

EGW 1-piece sear really improves trigger feel & allows ~2 lb break. Omega grips look great and fit the hand much better than the factory grips. I had custom springs made to tame the rather vigorous ejection, and use a shock buffer to prevent frame battering. The ejector is also reduced to the minimum.

Flat-nosed bullets need to be seated a tad deeper (0.020" shorter OAL worked for me) than round-nosed; the flat-nosed bullets can cock in the magazine and hang up just enough to cause a misfeed. The max length of RN rounds is along the bore axis, but the FN is longer when tipped. It took me a year and a couple of thousand rounds fired to figure it out; in the meantime I'd have a misfeed every 20-30 rounds.

A recoil buffer is also very useful to avoid peening the slide/frame from impact - even with a stout spring the slide is hitting the frame hard.

Full power 10 mm loads will send your brass about 30' away unless you use a much stronger recoil spring. I use custom springs that are the strongest that will fit in the space available, and have bobbed the ejector; that sends my brass 8' away, so there's some hope of finding it.

For most of my gear I use mailing labels - the ones that arrive free in the mail. I can usually find some non-critical surface to stick them to. If I'm worried about theft (large, non-local match), I find an inconspicuous place to put a second label.

I found mine by looking for those that list a fit to a 1911 and/or CZ of similar barrel length. I bought mine over a decade ago, so I don't know it it's still on the market.

I used Brownell's AlumaHyde II and haven't seen any wear on it. Any paint designed to stick to plastic and metal would work.

I spray a coat of paint, then drop playground sand on it. Brush off the excess, then a finish coat of paint for uniform color. That was sufficiently grippy for me, but you can vary the texture by the size of the sand you powder it with. Kitty litter would probably work (haven't tried it) for those who want deep texture. I like the simplicity - much less work than stippling. It's also usable on any surface you can get paint to adhere to.

I use a Vortex Crossfire II 6-24x50 AO on my air rifle because it focuses down to 30 ft. It's generally available for $300.

I use a Vortex Crossfire II 6-24x50 AO on my air rifle because it focuses down to 30 ft. It's generally available for $300.

Wipe it with CLP - a light coat will inhibit rust for a long time.

My Hunter in 10 mm Auto has a 6" slide & barrel, and AFAIK Henning only has conefit guide rods for the shorter barrels. He has a forum here so you may get a faster answer there. You can look on his web site but it didn't list everything the last time I looked.

It can also be caused by bent magazine tubes - be sure that the follower can reach the full up position, especially on the corner where it contacts the slide lock.

You might have an easier time putting a dowel inside the spring; pinning or stamping would likely require a good machine shop. You might have to round the end of the dowels to prevent them catching a coil, but that's probably as advanced as you need to get. A sheet of medium grit sandpaper and a fine saw would be all that's needed.

I worked through this issue and found that it was due to the OAL of my handloads. I seated bullets to the SAAMI specification, which works with round-nosed bullets; however, I was shooting hollow points and FMJ flat points. The magazine was sized to provide very little clearance for ammunition loaded to SAAMI maximum OAL, and the rounds would tend to cock a bit and jam momentarily; this resulted in misfeeds. Try seating 0.020" or 0.030" shorter than maximum and see if the problem disappears. Another thing to check is that the top coil of the magazine spring should be at the front of the magazine; that will apply pressure at the front of the cartridge and prevent it from tipping nose-down. That little problem with my AR-15 drove me crazy for months, although in that application the top coils needs to be at the back.

If you're set up to load long, you can push to 10mm Auto velocities. My 10mm needed a very strong recoil spring to work well with full power loads; I had to have them custom made. Shock buffers definitely help, but I've only found polymer buffers for my application - copper, brass, or aluminum would probably last longer. Be careful shooting beyond the capabilities of your platform - for instance, typical Glocks don't fully support the case and could result in a nasty blowout with hot loads.