XxMerlinxX

I could use some help in overcoming this problem. I'm right handed and right eye dominant, but here's the catch. When trying to focus on the front sight, I often end up seeing it from my non-dominant eye, which is my left. My sight picture ends up looking somewhat similar to this. Is there any way to overcome this?

I'm starting to run out of Solo 1000 for my minor loads and need a replacement. I'm shooting 147gr copper plated round nose and would like something that's clean burning with a low recoil impulse. What else have you guys been using instead?

Thought I would update since I figured out what was going on. I had my universal decapping die in instead of the 9mm resizing die.

Today, while I was reloading 9mm, something strange happened. Three random shells showed an extremely large bell on the case mouth when resized, big enough to drop a bullet in and have it sink much farther in than specified. This obviously could lead to an over pressure round. The headstamps on all three were different. If I ran another shell through after the problem shell, it was fine and the bullet sat atop the belled mouth as it should. If I ran the empty problem cases through the crimper and then back through the expander die, the problem would present itself again. Could extremely thin brass at the mouth cause this? Is there a problem with my expander die?

Has anybody tried this thing out? I'm digging the compensating action of my Effin-A MKII, but would like something with a little bit of recoil mitigation as well. This seems to be the best of both worlds maybe.

Found some 147gr Speer Gold Dots, gonna give those a whirl.

I'm looking to load a couple of self defense rounds for myself, maybe only 50, but I'm having a hard time finding a decent bullet. Jake at RMR used to have pulled 147gr Federal HST bullets, but has been sold out of those for a long time and says they're not likely to come back anytime soon. I'd like something with well tested ballistics behind it, like the HST or Winchester Ranger bullet, but haven't had luck sourcing anything. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

If the prices were equal between the two, which would you go with and why? Anybody have experience with both?

I think the answer to the core of your question, what makes one AR manufacturer better than another, is this... Each manufacturer specs their parts to certain tolerances and quality control checks. Where as Colt may QC check every bolt that leaves their assembly line, Olympic Arms may only check every 300 bolts (made up numbers, but you get the idea). During these quality controls, they measure the parts to make sure they are the correct dimensions, make sure the finishes have been applied properly, stake the gas key and make sure it's done properly, as well as the holy trinity of tests, shot-peening, high pressure testing, and magnetic particle inspection. Some companies do all of this, some only do a few different tests, some companies don't do any at all. It's these differences that really puts one manufacturers product above the rest and what builds a good reputation.

Not to derail this thread, but I've never like the look or the feel of the XDs. The bore axis is really high and it doesn't fit in my hand as nicely as the M&P. I agree that it's rather ridiculous that S&W can't get this right from the get-go, but the good thing about them is that they WILL make it right. I've installed my FSS and some new sights, I'm going to see if that improves my groups with 115gr UMC even more. Then I'll shoot some 124gr PMC to see if that does any better. Finally I'll finish up with some 147gr reloads of mine.

Yeah, Smith sent me a prepaid Fedex label and then shipped it back Fedex Express. Inside the box was my M&P wrapped in some of their brown paper along with an invoice of sorts. It said they replaced the barrel, but nothing else. I noticed they also replaced the striker with the new silver one while they were at it, even though I didn't ask for it and they didn't mention it in the invoice. Don't know what was wrong with the old barrel, I'm assuming it was unlocking early but that's just a guess.

I called them, I find it's always easier to get the result you want when talking to someone rather than writing them. It's been rainy and windy all day today, but I did get to run out to the range briefly when the sun broke through for a moment. Groups shrank to about half of what they were before, my best one today was a little over 4" at 22 yards. Not awesome, but good enough for me. This was with Remington UMC 115gr, which has always given me mediocre results. Maybe on a calmer day with some good ammo I could do a little better, but I'm content for the time being. If anyone else is having accuracy issues with their M&P9, I would say give Smith a call and let them know, seems to have helped. I'll be putting in the Apex FSS kit and some new Ameriglo sights, so that might help as well.

Got the M&P back today, they replaced the barrel, so hopefully they hand fitted it and didn't just pick one out of a pile. Range report to follow tomorrow.

Same situation here.

Will do. I'm really hoping to get it back in the next week, but who knows what with the holidays and all. I can't imagine that it would.

Smith will definitely take a look at it, I just shipped mine back on the 27th for the same problem and hopefully I'll get it back soon. I'm used to shooting 3" groups at 25 yards with my old P226, but have been getting 8"-10" with the M&P, and that's with all sorts of different ammo. I'm starting to look at the aftermarket barrels as well, but a friend of mine who was experiencing poor accuracy also ponied up for a KKM barrel and has reported no change in accuracy, which is discouraging. May have to wait on the Barsto barrel from Apex, unfortunately.

I'm curious as to why you wanted a Pro so badly?

As it was explained to me, people cannot buy reloaded ammunition from me because that would break some sort of law on manufacturing ammo for commercial purposes without a license. My question is this, could someone buy the components, give them to me, and I would assemble them, would that make it legal?

Isn't this method only intended for stainless barrels? I think I read somewhere on here that if you try it with a blued barrel, you'll screw up the finish?

Maybe it's because it's late, but what does the pressure limit for .223 have to do with loading SRPs in pistol loads? I would understand that if I was working up a major load, and needed to see if the primer was cratering or flattening out, then these would be undesirable. As it is, these will only be used for minor loads. Is there something I'm overlooking?

So I have a lot of Wolf SRPs laying around and decided to research using those in 9mm. The general consensus on SRPs in general is that they'll work, but with minor loads, the primers may not seal properly which, over time, may damage the breech face as in the picture below. IIRC, wolf changed from the copper colored small pistol primers to nickel plated, which resulted in less sensitive primers. They also have two types of small rifle primers, regular SRPs and "military" SRPs for use in AR15s, of which the regular SRPs are copper colored. So my questions are as follows: 1. Are Wolf Small Rifle Primers the same as their old Small Pistol Primers? 2. Are Wolf Small Rifle Primers soft enough to expand properly using 9mm minor loads? 3. Would putting a small piece of paper behind the round during chambering work to see if gas is escaping around the primer?

Carolina Practical Shooting Leage. Here's a link to their website for you to browse. Click Here

Oh ok, you must shoot at the Skip J range then? I've only shot out there once, but I was thinking about getting back into it this coming year, just don't know anybody out there that goes regularly. I mostly shoot CPSL over at the Greenville Gun Club.

Welcome to the board! What part of the state are you from?

Pretty sure my dealer can still get a hold of them, you can PM as well if the first one doesn't pan out.