njl

Some say you can read pressure from the primers. Others say, by the time the primers are showing "signs of pressure", you're way over safe pressure.

CFE is pretty low on the chart, but I’ve used Longshot for 147s and it works. I don’t doubt CFE can get at least minor PF loads. In general, reloaders can’t “work up” max loads. You can’t determine max by comparing velocity to published data (for different bullets/powders), and most of us don’t have the tools to measure the actual max chamber pressure.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol gives one load for CFE Pistol and 147gr bullets, but it's for the jacketed XTP. Just a bit of googling suggests 3.8-4gr with a 147gr coated should work well. Hodgdon CFE Pistol .355" 1.100" 3.7 864 26,700 PSI 4.2 963 33,000 PSI

Only issue I've noticed with them is, being brass/copper and not nickel plated, they can build up corrosion. If you load your own carry ammo, you might want to stick with nickel plated primers for that, and use the S&B for practice/match ammo.

I've loaded some of their .45 bullets. I like the bullets and the coating, but the price isn't terribly competitive.

And a tumbler, and a media separator, and a case gauge, and an impact bullet puller, primer flip tray, a suitable bench, and probably a handful of other things we take for granted.

I wonder, is it something about SNS or titegroup's hot burn? I thought it was supposed to be fine for hi-tek coated bullets. I've never tried SNS and only used a little titegroup. One of the guys at the local IDPA club told me he had leading issues with SNS...not sure which gun or powder he was using at the time, but titegroup wouldn't surprise me. He switched to ACME (which I've also never tried) and he loves them.

Most likely causes are primers not fully seated (did they go off if struck again?) or you loaded too long or otherwise out of spec causing the rounds to not quite fully chamber and the gun is trying to fire not quite in battery.

Those using rice, I'm curious how long it lasts, and do you have any issues (assuming you keep this outdoors / in the garage) with bugs feeding on it? Anyone with a Lyman autoflow tumbler, do not add mineral spirits. It'll eat the autoflow plug.

Coincidentally, 3.2gr of Red Dot should get you just above 900fps. I do that load with Promo.

Sounds like you’re saying one powder die was improperly machined. This is a new die, I assume? You could “rig” it by wrapping the undersized die with something (Teflon pipe tape, electrical tape, etc) to make it work, but if you contact Dillon, I bet they’ll replace that die. Stuff happens. I have a shell plate (can’t remember if it’s the .30 carbine or .223) that wasn’t machined properly and cases won’t sit in it, and my first strong mount didn’t have the side accessory mounting holes tapped to the right size, so when I tried to assemble the press, nothing would attach to the sides of the mount using the screws provided.

It all depends on what you’re trying to do and whether you’re shooting jacketed or non-jacketed.

4.6 is their max for 125gr. Put that much in a case and tell me if you’re comfortable seating a bullet over it. I don’t have Red Dot, but have used several pounds of Promo (supposed to use Red Dot data by weight, but be denser than Red Dot). 3.2gr under a coated 147gr or 3.3gr under a 147gr FMJ are both nice loads that easily make minor in a full size gun.

In the middle of shooting a stage today, I noticed the loctite had failed and my Glock 34's front sight was loose and leaning. It was the last stage, so I just shot through. Had this not been the last stage, should I have been allowed to: switch to a backup gun that I'd brought (I had a G17 and a G19 with me) just swap out the upper (slide and barrel) from my G17 onto my G34 frame Legally, the frame on a Glock is "the firearm", so I think it could be argued that swapping uppers, it's still the same gun...but swapping uppers on a 34/17 does kind of change the "model" of gun. Is a pistol with the front sight loose with the potential to fall off considered "unserviceable"?

For best results, use metal foil tape. But seriously, I would knowingly shoot a round with split brass, and certainly not with such a long split. The bullet may be reusable (if the coating hasn’t been compromised by the split brass, and if you’re really cheap, the primer can be salvaged (though I don’t think any press manufacturer recommends decapping brass with live primers).

They’re not the first to market much lighter/faster bullets and tout some smaller caliber being more potent than a .45.

I also have found that CBC (and Aguila) do not play well with 147gr bullets. Either gets "ring around the bullet base" and fails the case gauge. They might still chamber in a loose chamber (i.e. Glock factory barrels), but I just toss both of these aside while loading 147s, to be tried later when loading 124s, or to be scrapped if they don't work out there.

Actually, this change seems kind of huge. http://www.idpa.tech/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Movement.pdf I shot my first classifier today, and had practiced [the classifier] recently with a friend on our own. It was apparently a surprise to just about everyone at today's match that strings 2 and 3 on stage 2 "no longer require shooting while advancing or retreating". Nobody had a good explanation for it...just "new rule - you don't have to be moving while firing on those strings. String 2, you start at one line and shoot anywhere from there to the front line. String 3, just stand at the front line and shoot." It took me quite a bit of searching to find the above, which I assume is the explanation for the apparent rule change we were told of during the stage walk-through. So, because "movement" is subjective, to level the playing field and remove the SO's from the equation, they just decided to tell SO's to ignore stage requirements for any shooting on the move. i.e. A stage can still say "shoot while advancing/retreating", but no PE will be assessed for failing to move for those shots. I'm new to IDPA...only shot 2 matches prior to the classifier, but I think this is a step backwards for the sport, and others in my squad agreed. Shooting on the move is a skill that could definitely mean the difference between winning or losing in a real gun fight. It's disappointing that IDPA will no longer require its practice.

Classifier is done. I made it through stage 1 reasonably well. PD = 10, no misses, IIRC, I even got all the head shots +0. I ended up on the "better end" of Marksman (was unclassified, having only shot two or three IDPA matches previously). I pretty much knew I'd make Marksman, but was hoping for a super day and Sharpshooter.

Ok...I snuck out to the range this afternoon for a bit of one handed practice. Using advice from this thread, and perhaps benefitting from a whole bunch of dry fire practice the past few nights, I was able to keep the majority of my shots down 0 or 1, just a few 3 (and nothing worse). I did fire a few shots left hand middle finger and decided it was too awkward feeling to be worth pursuing.

I googled it, and I'm not exactly the first to come up with the idea I doubt I'll use it unless I can make it to the range before the match to see if it works with live ammo. For one handed, index finger on the trigger, how firm a grip is recommended?

I'm going to be shooting my first IDPA classifier in a few days, and in practicing for it, the weak hand only string is, I think, my biggest weakness, having almost never practiced one handed shooting, and certainly not weak hand. I was just doing some dry fire practice (weak hand only) and had a crazy idea. I'm shooting a Glock, and I'm seeing the gun move much more than I'd like as the trigger breaks. It occurred to me...what if I put my trigger finger along the frame to give the gun some more stabilization and pull the trigger with my middle finger? Doing that, it seems like I'm seeing a lot less movement of the sights as the trigger breaks. I don't know if I'll have time to try this with live fire before the classifier. Given my accuracy lefty, I don't know that I have much to lose. Anyone else do/try this?

Slow down. If primers are going in sideways or upside down, they were probably that way in the primer cup. You should be glancing at the cup as the slide returns in the up stroke. As for crimped brass, assuming you don’t have a case feeder, a glance at each case head as you move it to station 1 should reveal those. I got in the habit of doing that while turning the case upside down on the way to station 1 after bending a decapping pin on a spent primer that flew into the case bin (but that’s a different 550 issue

What say the brain trust about these? Would you load them or reserve them for dummy rounds or for melting down?

It seems like if you look at enough coated bullets, doesn't matter if they're from Missouri Bullet, Bayou, etc., you will eventually find some that didn't get coated in the lube groove. I assume that's not a serious issue since the valley of the lube groove isn't in contact with the barrel. I have some, may try to get some pics to post, from my latest source that I'm trying where the hi-tek coating looks "weird"...almost like something touched it while wet or like they fell in a puddle of the coating. I've been setting such bullets aside...but I guess I should load a few and see what happens with them.