Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

nYdGeo

Classified
  • Posts

    63
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by nYdGeo

  1. On 6/8/2022 at 3:56 PM, Mcfoto said:

    Gotcha. In other words, “don’t discard.” ;0) Anyone else thinking if this is supposed to be an out of the box competition blaster, they should have made it 100% compliant? Or are they anticipating some will use it as a start to an open build?

    "Yet", as in never doubt the USPSA's ability to make stupid decisions and ruin classes by making them unfair, and making the something clearly other than what they were intended to be.  Look at Production.  It was once an actual production class, with limited ability to change things and in particular, a reasonable carry trigger.  it was for production weapons, imagine that.  But, many whined and cried about it until now, Production is literally Striker-fired and/or DA/SA Limited class, without magwell...oh yeah, "Yet". 

     

    Now let's look at the next class they want to kill off via stupid decisions: Limited Optics.  First of all, it's not 'Limited' Optics because it's minor-only. It's Carry Optics, add magwell and SAO triggers. The caliber wars may be over, but they weren't won. They were decided by weaklings.

     

    USPSA officials are too gutless to make good decisions. So yeah, "Yet".

  2. On 7/14/2021 at 1:08 PM, yekcoh said:

     

    Plus all that stupid slide cuts in legion probably makes the dot jump a little faster and more violent

    That's not how it works. Well, partially correct.  Yes, you obviously get a faster moving slide, but you can adjust to the slide weight and speed with the recoil spring, though not as well as you can with a hammer-fired pistol. But, if you compensate for the lighter slide with a proper recoil spring weight, while your dot might move faster (not sure why that's bad), it can also return the weapon to target faster.  All part of the balancing act of tuning.

  3. I spent about 20-years shooting Open pistols, took a 5-6 year break around the pandemic and am coming into Carry Optics/Limited Optics with a brand new P320 X5 Max. I have the tungsten guide rod, which definitely helps, but the slide as noted above, is extremely heavy.  Like wow.  In my Limited pistols, my first foray away from Open, we tried light slides (sucked!), heavy slides (not as bad but still sucked) and finally settled on a nice medium weight for the slide. This was all 2011 pistols of course, and I'm not as well versed in pistols such as my new Sig. Has anyone ever tried lightening the slide of a p320 Max a little to see what difference it made?  Obviously, we may have to go from the 12lb recoil spring to the 14lb and enjoy a faster slide cycle.  But overall, it may be good, or the new impulse may be terrible.  Curious if anyone has ever tried.  Thank you for your time.

  4. On 7/10/2023 at 12:30 PM, rpm8300 said:

    I think 3N37 is a good choice; I liked 3N38 but it did fill the case up pretty high.  If your brass and reloading setup is perfectly dialed in, it's not an issue.  I used the spill prevention buffers in my 1050 and was able to make it work although I had to be pretty slow and deliberate compared to 3.0 grains of Titegroup for 9mm.  I could get 170-172 PF with Blue Bullets a with 0.1 or 0.2 less powder of 3N38 compared to FMJ offerings; the case is still full but that helped a little.


    I've tried AA7, it is dirty and flakey so I stayed away; HS6 is a close 2nd on dirtyness.  WAC was easy and drama free but wasn't the best to shoot; honestly my backup to 3N38 was Silhouette.  It was good on gas for the comp and didn't fill the case up.

    Years ago, I used the original Black Bullets in my old 9x21 open gun.  They worked great, I could use a lighter load, no lead in the barrel, accurate, etc., but over time they filled the comp full of lead due to gas cutting. Do you experience this with the Blue Bullets?

     

    Thank you!

  5. On 10/27/2022 at 5:46 PM, bigboy69 said:

    See now I think HS-6 was the cleanest and softest hitting in the hand. The 3N37 I thought had the most consistent dot movement.

    That makes perfect sense. HS-6 is kinda fast for an open powder and has a lot of dot movement to me, but is so soft with regards to actual recoil.  I've used N350, 3n37 and 3n38, but that was in .38 Super.  Actually preferred the N350 under those conditions as it was soft, and it produced little dot movement. 

     

    I recently tried someone else's 9mm major pistol loaded with N350 and it was as soft, but had more dot movement, likely just less gas volume?  Then I fired some 9mm Major using 3n38, and was kinda stunned.  It was as flat shooting as my pistol was when I shot .38 Super.  So little dot movement! Just ordered some 3n38 to start working up my load.

     

    Great info here, folks.  Thank you.

  6. It is a fact that supply and demand as well as raw material costs have driven up the cost of everything.

    It's not greed, just capitalism at its best. Do you want the government to regulate the prices and turn us into a socialist government ?

    There is just so much wrong with that simplistic, short-sighted reply that it’s not worth the time to create a proper response, particularly when we all know it will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. Suffice it to say that there is, of course, nothing wrong with capitalism. It’s when humanity leaves it that it becomes wrong. This is not capitalism at its best. This is soulless, unethical, dishonest, greedy, despicable capitalism, and it’s at the center of what is destroying the country that I love.

    As much as these idiot liberals who want to give away the freedoms that we've fought for and the things that we work for, have damaged our country, our own U.S. big business has raped and destroyed it a thousand times more.

    All the information you need to know exactly what I'm talking about is readily available to anyone willing to seek it out. If you have no idea what you’re talking about and are not willing to put forth the effort to become educated as to the facts, your opinions are invalid as they are based on fiction. Stop believing that the garbage that you read in propaganda emails is the truth. Stop getting your 'news' and 'facts' from the Fox News entertainment program. Or, continue living happily under the current delusion. The choice is yours.

    Note that it is not unpatriotic to question information of any type from any source, and/or to question our leaders. In fact, it is our duty to ourselves and to our country as patriots to question everything. We also deserve honest answers from our leaders. Obviously, that is never going to happen.

    (The preceding is my opinion based on my observations and comprehension of information readily available to the public, and nothing more.)

  7. So does anybody have any load data on 147gr 9mm coated bullets? Im a little hesitant to try them for major.

    Se post #8 pf this thread. I've shot this load through his open-class STI and was stunned by how well they worked. Extremely soft shooting of course, but was suprised to find that the pistol stayed comfortably flat when shooting these rounds. Good luck!

    http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=191301#entry2116689

  8. I load 5.3 of auto comp behind a bayou 147. 170 pf with a 5 inch poppled 9mm from FGW with the new cheely comp. Brass and primers look great too. A little case lube in the comp before and after and good to go. Love it and very clean.

    You were kind enough to let me shoot a few of those rounds when my wife and I were picking up my STI recently, and I can verify that these loads are suprisingly soft and flat shooting. I'm thinking about developing a similar load for my .38 Super and then comparing them to my current 124gr loads.

  9. Spoke to a fellow and very experienced shooter today and he recommends Silhouette. He said SP2 is the BEST but you cant get it anywhere. With that, i'm thinking of trying to develop a load with Silhouette, MG 121grn IFP and WSP primers. Based on all the chrono data here, i think it is safe to start at 7.4gr. I will post results when i run my test.

    Over the past several years I read where several shooters have said that SP2 is the very best, and if they could get it that's all they'd ever shoot in an open gun. However, since they cannot get SP2, they now recommend shoot N350, 3n37, 3n38, AA#7, etc. This makes sense to me as though they may not have SP2's specific magic, these others are all of the generally slower burning, larger charge, higher gas volume type.

    Its very interesting to me when I read something like this. Here is an account of another shooter that since they cannot get SP2, they now recommend Silhouette. In other cases it has been 7625, another very popular powder for open. The thing is that these are not even in the same behavioral class as SP2 and the others listed above. They burn much faster and though they can work the gun quite nicely, any open pistol is going to feel and behave quite differently shooting either of these as opposed to any of the slower type powders listed above.

    I also understand that burn rates are only a small part of what makes any given powder behave the way it does in a given load in a give pistol. I'm not advocating one way or the other and make no claim that either is better. I can say that I prefer N350 in my .38 Super to 7625, but I ran out of N350 and have shot 7625 through all of last year because its what I had. I've had no issues with 7625 either. Its just that in my pistol, in my hands, I find N350 and 7625 to feel virtually identical with regard to softness, but find that I have obviously less dot movement with the N350. Many others disagree and we're all good with this.

    Anyway, back on topic. If you have the opportunity to speak with the same person, would you mind asking him for his thoughts on this...his praise of SP2 as the best and then recommending a powder with completely alien characteristics as his replacement recommendation? I'd be very interested in his comments, as they may assist me with understanding the reasons why many shooters today prefer the faster burning, lower gas volume powders over the alternatives in open pistols.

    Thank you for your time.

  10. I know that this topic is old now, but I used #7 way back when in both 9x21 (EAA, first using 147gr and later 124's) and .38 Super (124gr)...I think it was on Benny's recommendation. I'm going to get some and try it again when my current open-pistol powder supply gets low. I seem to recall it being very dirty at first, but then someone told me to tighten the crimping die some small amount...been too long to recall how much. For whatever reason, that seemed to make it much cleaner. Not N350 clean, but I don't ever recall having a malfunction due to powder residue in either pistol/caliber.

    Something to experiment with anyway...I hope that helps someone trying out #7. Thank you for your time.

  11. Leo, thanks for the load info, and you are correct. We all perceive the behavior of a given pistol with a given load so differently, its often difficult to make comparisons. Its just that alien nature of 7625 puzzles me...it is quite a unique beast.

    I'll be shooting 7625 loads (7.8gr/124gr JHP) in a match this weekend, my first real match experience with it, so my fingers are crossed!

    shooterbenedetto, you seem to have a good sense of objectivity; have you ever had the chance to compare a springco and the STI Recoilmaster in the same weapon?

  12. An entire crew of US shooters were disgusted with this situation 12-15 years ago, and a few still are. The rest of the world get Tanfoglio, and the U.S. gets...EAA.

    I know of several shooters within Area 4 that switched to STI, SV, and Para-based pistols as a direct result of their interaction with EAA. A couple of these are a well known Grand Master and his father. It is very likely that they would have gone to 2011-design pistols anyway due to the sponsorship, support, and overall involvement of the manufacturers in the USPSA/IPSC shooting community, one of several things that EAA failed miserably at. But dealing with the people there sealed the deal. After their last dealings with EAA over product support they sold some Gold Teams and Silver Teams (one to me), threw the rest in the safe, and now shoot STI and another manufacturer.

    I still believe that the Tanfoglio competition frame is the most ergonomically perfect grip for my hands, and I would love to be shooting one myself. I still have one, my old small-frame Silver Team that was a 9x21mm open gun, and is now a long-slide 9mm limited/steel gun. Oh, But my main pistol is an STI Open-Class pistol, and when I purchase a Limited pistol it will mo doubt also be an STI. This is not because I know of anything wrong with the Tanfoglio pistols being sold through EAA. I just have no interest in putting myself in a position where I may find myself trying to resolve a problem with a company that has shown me, in my experience, that it does not have a care in the world with regards to me or my shooting sport of choice.

    You have my apologies for the rant. This just brought up a lot of old, bad memories, and reminded me of how much I want that now 6" Tanfo Limited gun that I cannot have.

  13. I have a Gold Custom 38 Super with an 2000 Eric V8 top end added last month to replace the standard barrel and compensator setup. It shoots great, but the recoil feels quite different. It feels like the slide is hitting the frame harder, even though I have a 12lb spring in the gun and it felt fine before the top end was changed. There seems to be a bit more dot bounce on recoil, even though there is a lot more compensator effect. The load is 7.8gns of Power Pistol, up from 7.4gns with the old top end and fewer holes. Not a lot of options to change powder, so Power Pistol is it for the moment.

    The next step seems to be to experiment with spring weights and see how that makes the gun feel. Maybe it is over-sprung / under-sprung.

    What spring weights are people using with the V8 Eric? Does the Sprinco make a difference to recoil management?

    I have run 10lbs and now run Hennings 10.75 with no problem. That's with IMR7625 and 125gr Zeros making about 171pf. I don't have any experience with power pistol but when I ran N350 I also used a 10lb.

    Leo

    Its so hard for me to get my head around 7625 working well with that many ports in the barrel. Soft I can believe, but I have to imagine N350 shooting much flatter.

    For practicality reasons (like VV powders costing nearly 50% more) and because it does work in my STI reasonably well, I'm moving from N350 to 7625 for the time being. But, I have only 2 x 3/16" barrel ports and a four chamber comp; I can get right on that 171PF with 7.8gr of 7625 behind a 124gr. With 8 ports (much less 12) it would seem that gas volume (like what Eric gets from SP2) would be required for it to really perform to its optimal potential.

    What kind of charge of 7625 do you have to load behind that 125gr Zero to get that 171PF? Can you get enough pressure or gas volume going to keep it reasonably flat?

    Thanks! DVC

  14. But to get back on topic, I guess that this isn't a substitute for N350, but N350 is a very unique powder. It is quite slow burning, falling between 3N37 and 3N38, but has such a high nitroglycerin content that it makes a lot of power per grain, hence the small charges in comparison to those other two. IMHO, and to some fellow shooters, N350 is a great choice for 9mm Major. I did find N350 to be a bit harder on .38 Super brass than some other powders I tested.

    This is a minor nitpick, but like all VV powders N350 is single-base, thus having a nitroglycerin content of zero.

    Didn't know that all VV powders are single-base. Now I'm not sure where N350 gets such a high caloric rate. I'll have to research this more. Thanks for the info.

  15. You can't make major in 9mm with 7625.

    I like Silhouette...

    Sorry to ring an old bell, but I know about a dozen local shooters, all using 7.2gr of 7625 behind a 124, and all making major just fine. Very soft, clean, works very nice, but just not flat shooting enough for me, but it s being done by many nonetheless.

    Silhouette and its original (Action Pistol) are both very decent powders among the mid-fast burning, but the problem that I have with it is its sensitivity to temperature. A great number of open shooters used to use Action Pistol and Silhouette in this area, but stopped not because it didn't work well or was dirty, but because between an early spring match and a late summer match the same load could go from a 178PF to a 172PF. That was far too much for me.

    Anyway, just another 2-cents.

  16. [from post 35]

    Max and Todd both like 7625 and for the same reasons, I asked them specifically. It is quiet [for an open gun] since the powder is more completely burned as the bullet leaves the gun. It kicks you back less. It does flip more but is predictable.

    Kicking back less with less rocket effect is nice any time your body is leaning or twisted. Barricades, walls that end with foot-faults, shooting on the move laterally - that kind of thing.

    I have not had the same experience with regards to 7625 & fired cases. Mine were expanded at the base quite a bit. I think it depends on your chamber and free bore and head space. One load I loved to shoot was 7625 and 115's but it was hell on the brass.

    Also have not had the same experience with N350 and low pressure. If it works in your gun with minimal pressure signs, great, but at the old power factor [175 for open & limited] that powder was famous for de-priming your cases in the gun.

    N350 is probably best known for the big flame-balls every 3rd or 4th round. Again that depends on the gun. Might never happen, might happen every shot. 3N38 may cure the flame-balls or not, depends.

    In general I like 3N38 the best but $$$, Vectan SP2 is 2nd but no longer imported, HS6 is third. I shoot mostly HS6 with 115s and save my stash of SP2 for when I can shoot tournaments again. I might try N350 again because it does give a nice flat-shooting gun.

    Thanks for the great input. I never got to talk to Todd about that powder choice when I was in his squad at area-4 years ago, and though I've known Max since he was about 14, I haven't had the opportunity to speak with him since he joined the Army! The info makes sense, too, because though I found 7625 to have a lot of muzzle flip, strangely enough the dot movement and the behavior of the pistol in general is very consistent.

    I may have not written some of my original post clearly, because I agree with you about N350 and the cases...at least .38 Super cases. Even at a 170PF the cases bulge far more than I'd like, though I didn't observe any primer issues. Very strange to see the cases so swollen, but no pressure signs on the primers.

    And oh man, if they would just import SP2 again and keep it coming, my powder choice would be made. But they won't and they aren't, so...

    Question, the only 7625 loads I've tested were 124s and 125s. You mentioned a favorite load using 7625 and 115's that was hell on brass, but did it give you what Todd and Max like about 7625...but maybe flatter due to the larger gas volume?

    Thanks for the info!

  17. I recently did a bit of testing in my STI Competitor .39 Super with assistance from one of my brothers (who has only shot 3 USPSA matches, all shooting limited), and the Master-class father of a very well known, sponsored, multiple national champion GM. First we loaded several loads of 7625, then several of N350 into mags, and then we all shot them, not knowing which loads we were shooting.

    With regards to softness, neither I or my very experienced friend could tell any difference; my brother thought the 7625 was a hair softer. All three of us unanimously agreed that the N350 loads clearly shot flatter.

    We did the same thing this time adding some loads consisting of 12.0gr of AA #7 behind the same 115's. In this second round, everyone agreed that the #7 load was not quite as soft as the other two, which this time none of us could tell apart. We also unanimously agreed that the #7 loads were by far the flattest shooting with the best up and down dot tracking. The N350 was next though not nearly as flat, and the dot movement less stable. The dot never left the lens, but danced around a bit. The 7625 was very soft with very consistent dot movement, just more dot movement.

    I guess that some of the newer pistols, especially the 9mm major pistols are made and tuned differently, and may behave far better with 7625, but the couple that I have shot were again very soft but not all that flat-shooting. At this time, I officially don't get the 7625 thing even though the GM that I referred to swears by it. All told its been compared in my STI to #7, N350, 3N37, 3N38, N105 and 4756. It is equal to the next softest powder, but has more muzzle rise than any of the others, and in the case of #7, 3N38 and N105, considerably more.

    Performance vs value-wise, I'm looking hard at #7. If you just run a very tight crimp, #7 suddenly runs more than clean enough to get through a few matches without cleaning. Still need to look at Autocomp.

    But to get back on topic, I guess that this isn't a substitute for N350, but N350 is a very unique powder. It is quite slow burning, falling between 3N37 and 3N38, but has such a high nitroglycerin content that it makes a lot of power per grain, hence the small charges in comparison to those other two. IMHO, and to some fellow shooters, N350 is a great choice for 9mm Major. I did find N350 to be a bit harder on .38 Super brass than some other powders I tested.

    My personal experience would say if you want the same, soft recoil impulse and don't mind some extra muzzle-flip, go with the 7625. 7625 is a very fast powder and I don't claim to understand how it works well in so many open guns, but somehow it appears to. It is also very nice (easy) on brass in my experience which is a nice little benefit I guess. I could have also recommended the Silhouette, but I found it to be very temperature sensitive which is a big no-no to me.

    N350 is such a unique powder...there really isn't anything just like it. Powder is the least expensive component; shoot what you like, what works. I hope that you are able to find a reliable source for it.

    Not sure of the Vintage of your Competitor, I had two sold one, the other I did a make over on. The two powders that work in it best are AA#7 and N105 you need a lot of gas to work either the old 3 port screw on or the newer TruBore. If you really want to run N350 you need a better comp, and I strongly recommend the Brazos ThunderComp. If you have the screw on your gun is way nose heavy the Brazos will help that. I don't recommend the Bedell TI, which I now have on mine, it works good at 175pf but below that its snappy. If you have the TruBore version one or two poppel holes will tame it a bunch, I don't like the holes but my smith that bought my Competitor true bore put one in it and it shot much better. The slide on the competitor is very heavy, putting it on a diet helps as well. Other powders I tried you can skip, HS6, 3N37, TrueBlue, IMR7625, PowerPistol. TrueBlue shoots very similar to N350 just dirty and more pressure.

    I run AA#7 in 38Super and 9 major. It is chunky dirty at 170pf and clean at 175pf, I don't think its the crimp, but you could be right. 10.5gr with 125gr Zero JHP set 1.240, it will get dangerous at @11gr with a 125.

    Its been a while, but we talked about my Competitor before, its in my sig. Was I think a 2003, looks like a TruBore and my gunsmith says it is, but at the same time looks like a threaded version on a Bull Barrel because it was not perfectly centered rotationally, as if they have the comp slightly cocked to one side when they locked it on. Slide was taken from 12.5oz bare to 9.75oz, and two barrel ports (done in the fashion of GM Max Michel's) were added. That and tuning the mags are all that has been done. Would love to have the weight of a Ti comp up front, but haven;t found one that I like. Might try a light-weight steel like the Thundercomp, or just have a TruBore fit and the barrel ports redone.

  18. I recently did a bit of testing in my STI Competitor .39 Super with assistance from one of my brothers (who has only shot 3 USPSA matches, all shooting limited), and the Master-class father of a very well known, sponsored, multiple national champion GM. First we loaded several loads of 7625, then several of N350 into mags, and then we all shot them, not knowing which loads we were shooting.

    With regards to softness, neither I or my very experienced friend could tell any difference; my brother thought the 7625 was a hair softer. All three of us unanimously agreed that the N350 loads clearly shot flatter.

    We did the same thing this time adding some loads consisting of 12.0gr of AA #7 behind the same 115's. In this second round, everyone agreed that the #7 load was not quite as soft as the other two, which this time none of us could tell apart. We also unanimously agreed that the #7 loads were by far the flattest shooting with the best up and down dot tracking. The N350 was next though not nearly as flat, and the dot movement less stable. The dot never left the lens, but danced around a bit. The 7625 was very soft with very consistent dot movement, just more dot movement.

    I guess that some of the newer pistols, especially the 9mm major pistols are made and tuned differently, and may behave far better with 7625, but the couple that I have shot were again very soft but not all that flat-shooting. At this time, I officially don't get the 7625 thing even though the GM that I referred to swears by it. All told its been compared in my STI to #7, N350, 3N37, 3N38, N105 and 4756. It is equal to the next softest powder, but has more muzzle rise than any of the others, and in the case of #7, 3N38 and N105, considerably more.

    Performance vs value-wise, I'm looking hard at #7. If you just run a very tight crimp, #7 suddenly runs more than clean enough to get through a few matches without cleaning. Still need to look at Autocomp.

    But to get back on topic, I guess that this isn't a substitute for N350, but N350 is a very unique powder. It is quite slow burning, falling between 3N37 and 3N38, but has such a high nitroglycerin content that it makes a lot of power per grain, hence the small charges in comparison to those other two. IMHO, and to some fellow shooters, N350 is a great choice for 9mm Major. I did find N350 to be a bit harder on .38 Super brass than some other powders I tested.

    My personal experience would say if you want the same, soft recoil impulse and don't mind some extra muzzle-flip, go with the 7625. 7625 is a very fast powder and I don't claim to understand how it works well in so many open guns, but somehow it appears to. It is also very nice (easy) on brass in my experience which is a nice little benefit I guess. I could have also recommended the Silhouette, but I found it to be very temperature sensitive which is a big no-no to me.

    N350 is such a unique powder...there really isn't anything just like it. Powder is the least expensive component; shoot what you like, what works. I hope that you are able to find a reliable source for it.

  19. JBrady runs a Caspian 38SC that might explain the odd length. Its an old school gun so if AutoComp works for him it means it puts out lots of gas. I would recommend AA#7 or N105 with 115gr bullet for that old school gun.

    I have a bunch of 9 Major loads to test this week with AutoComp, HS6, AA#7, and N350. N350 & TruBlue perform very similar in 38 Super except for pressure and TB is dirty. With the smaller charge weight in N350 I think it will be a no go, but make major easily.

    You're right on about N350 in a .38 Super. I loaded 1000 115's and 1000 124's using N350, which in spite of the small charge size is a very slow powder (just has a high nitroglycerin percentage, so it makes more energy per grain). I know of several 9mm Major shooters that swear by N350. But because of the small charge size in the .38 Super case, it is obviously much harder on the cases than some of the other loads I've shot, especially the 124gr rounds. On the other hand they felt exactly as soft as the IMR 7625 loads at the same PF, but were obviously much flatter shooting to all three shooters involved.

    I haven't tried Autocomp yet, but so far the nicest combo of reasonably soft and extremely flat shooting, with excellent rise 'n' fall dot movement I've found for my .38 Super is 12.0gr of AA#7 behind a 115 launched by Wolf SP primers. Cases look a bit better than after N350, primers are fine, and surprisingly clean.

    I do hope to test Autocomp soon and compare it to the #7 loads. I'd love to find something that shoots as amazingly flat as the #7 loads but with a smaller charge weight.

  20. I didn't see the gun details, assuming its a run of the mill TruBore or GM 38 Super etc G-Man is right on with his N105. I use AA#7 it is not quite as flat as N105 but it seems to have less straight back recoil. Its dirty but cheap. I would suggest starting at about 11.2gr of AA#7 with a 115gr. Benny Hill has a video demo of one of his guns running 12.2gr of AA#7 http://www.triangleshootingsports.com/images/Open_fire.wmv. Start low work up and crono, 12.2 is a little scary to me. My load with a 125gr is 10.5gr at 1.260 which is too long but it works. Now I think my old gun shoots pretty flat

    http://www.sashooter.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=582 just click download movie.

    A lot can be done with recoil springs, trading flip for recoil etc. I run a 10# because I am a Recoil-aphobic. I don't mind a little flip it keeps me awake while shooting.

    CoCoBolo, the gun info is in my signature:

    New 2003 STI Competitor (sat in safe for 6-years)

    Slide lightened from 12.5oz to 9.5oz

    Two 3/16" ports in barrel (through slide, similar to Max Michel's)

    17lb hammer spring, 8lb var recoil spring

    You're one of the guys I've been looking for using #7. Thank you for that information!

    Ok now with the gun details its a little easier. Try the N105 first, you say you don't mind recoil so it will get you as flat as possible with your equipment. I have a Competitor, it may be Older than Alamo's firt load it has the bull barrel with the screw on comp, yours might have a Trubor. The TruBore is an improvment in recepricating weight. I don't want to start a fire storm here but my other gun which I dearly love is a std barrel with cone an about the same slide weight 10 oz. There is a major difference in the feel of a bull versus a cone comped gun, which feel you like may differ but I prefer the cone comped gun. Since my old competitor has a screw on and it was plenty too heavey and old school I put a Bedell Titanium on it and this improved the feel as well as the balance and pointability of the gun. I think your on the right track if you have the old school comp and or the TruBore from that era, it needs a butt load of gas to work and N105 or AA#7 has plenty. The newer more efficient comps work good with the popular powders but they work even better with these gassey powders, of course its all subjective opinion based on the most un-reliable source the human perception, but that's all I have to work with.

    Yep, mine is a pre-trubor, screw-on, heavy steel comp. I keep toying with the idea of a Bedell, or even one of the super-light steel ones. Either would be far lighted than the hunk of steel on there now. Thanks again for the input from everyone.

  21. I didn't see the gun details, assuming its a run of the mill TruBore or GM 38 Super etc G-Man is right on with his N105. I use AA#7 it is not quite as flat as N105 but it seems to have less straight back recoil. Its dirty but cheap. I would suggest starting at about 11.2gr of AA#7 with a 115gr. Benny Hill has a video demo of one of his guns running 12.2gr of AA#7 http://www.triangleshootingsports.com/images/Open_fire.wmv. Start low work up and crono, 12.2 is a little scary to me. My load with a 125gr is 10.5gr at 1.260 which is too long but it works. Now I think my old gun shoots pretty flat

    http://www.sashooter.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=582 just click download movie.

    A lot can be done with recoil springs, trading flip for recoil etc. I run a 10# because I am a Recoil-aphobic. I don't mind a little flip it keeps me awake while shooting.

    CoCoBolo, the gun info is in my signature:

    New 2003 STI Competitor (sat in safe for 6-years)

    Slide lightened from 12.5oz to 9.5oz

    Two 3/16" ports in barrel (through slide, similar to Max Michel's)

    17lb hammer spring, 8lb var recoil spring

    You're one of the guys I've been looking for using #7. Thank you for that information!

  22. I'm running 10.0 of N105 now with 124 JHP. Got the load from James Louque. Was running 8.0 of 7625 with 121 IFP and 7.6 with 124 JHP I have 4 popple holes in the barrel. Roy Schmit built the gun and that was the loads he recommended. I find I have less dot bounce with N105, but it tears up my brass. I'll be loading Super Comp instead of Super because I'm having a 9mm barrel and comp fitted to the gun for shooting steel and Nicks matches, and I can switch out the barrel for USPSA matches. Your gun looks like one of Roy's build also. I must know you from local matches. I'm also a Tanfoglio shooter (Limited 9 and .40. Switched to CZ Shadow for production this year.

    Darrell, you're right; we must have crossed paths! Wow, I haven't seen James Louque in probably 12-14 years, but he was quite a shooter! I still see his brother from time to time at local matches...I think usually at Amite, but can't be sure.

    N105 is a powder that I'm considering; reasonably clean, reasonably soft and way flat is what I hear. I've also read a few posts from folks that reported that huge loads of #7 behind a 115 still shoots reasonably soft and very flat. On the other hand, I keep reading where folks say that #7 is a filthy powder, but as I recall it if you're using a light bullet/huge charge major load and remember to crimp your bullets good and tight, it may not be as clean as N350, but it certainly wasn't filthy. Now I hear that during my 10-year absence from the sport, AA changed the formula for #7...so I have no idea. I wish that I could find more open shooters using #7 for more data.

    Thanks for the input, and see you at a local match soon!

×
×
  • Create New...