Scott G

What powder works best with these bullets? I have tried Titegroup and American Select with the 180g 40 cal, and there is LOTS of smoke, about as much as with uncoated lead bullets.

Dave, Thanks for the reply, it's kinda what I expected to hear. My guess is the crap that I was told is urban legend. I'm curious: why did you switch to the Beretta?

I am thinking of playing in production, and was all set to buy a Sig 226 in 9mm when the store owner talked me out of it (strange but true). He said that because of the steel slide and aluminum frame, the guns don't hold up well to high volume shooting. They shoot loose quickly, and he has seen some frames crack below the slide rails. Anyone have any long term, high round experience with this gun?

Mickster, Do you have a synthetic or wood stock? I have a M1 Practical w/synthetic, which is super light, and a little muzzle heavy. I'm wondering if the balance might actually improve with more weight in the stock. Scott

Has anyone tried the mercury filled recoil reducer in their Benelli M1? I'm wondering if it might take a little of the sting out the recoil, especially with slugs. http://benelliusa.com/new_products/

I don't know much about ac-u-rails, but I plan on just leaving it alone, unless it gets REALLY loose. As is, it feeds everything and goes bang every time, so I don't want to screw around with something that works.

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 55-60K rounds through my Edge, and aside from the slide being pretty loose, it is fine. I clean the barrel every couple of thousand rounds or so. The only things that have broken are an Aftec extractor, a couple of front sights, and a rear sight.

I broke my 4th RM a couple of weeks ago. In the gun "fixed" at STI to accomodate the RM. I'm back to a regular steel guide rod set-up for good.

Out of sheer curiosity I sent the gun that 2 RM's broke in out to STI. This was also motivated by my switching back to a tungsten rod, and the gun feeling much flippier than with the RM. They looked at it and did some slight machining of the spring tunnel, and flattened/squared the spot in the frame where the head of the guide rod goes. Apparently it had been bashed enough by other guide rods such that the RM did not seat properly, which caused flex in the rod, which caused bits o'RM to spew from the gun. Whether it fixes the problem remains to be seen, but more than anything, STI has delivered great customer service thus far. Ed, the engineer of the RM, and Chris, the customer service manager, have both taken a personal interest in making things right, which makes the whole saga thus far easier to take. They provided their UPS account # for shipping, did the repair in one day, and even offered to refinish my gun free of charge (I kinda like it with lots of blueing missing). Also put several hundred rounds thru it and inspected it before and after. Above all, they are honorable folks trying their best to solve issues with a new product that may not quite be the drop-in part that they had hoped for.

Erik, I am basically a glutton for punishment. I have used and broken both light and heavy. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt with a new product, and the failure mechanism of the first two sounded reasonable. I truly expected the "fixed" one to work. Plus Todd keeps raving about them. You're right, it's not a revolutionary thing, but I really liked the way the gun shot and handled with the RM, moreso than with tungsten or steel rods with shock buffs. These guns have collectively over 60,000 rounds without breaking anything (other than front and rear sights, which is a whole other story). So I'm going back to what I know will work and not spew out parts during a match.

Erik: Yup, in 2 diffrerent limited guns - one normal Edge, one with short dust cover, both 5". First one had a couple of thousand rounds; second and third one's had less than 500. Chriss: Don't even get me started. Our squad finished with 5 minutes to spare before they pulled the plug due to darkness. I pretty much shot in the dark the whole match anyway. I talked to STI yet again today, including the engineer who designed it. He told me that Mike Voight broke 2 of the originals too, and a couple of others have broken them. I am clearly leading the pack with three though. I feel so special... He wanted me to send my guns to him to take a look at, which I refuse to do. If all three broke in the same gun, then maybe, but not 2 different guns. He said that he is still not happy with the materials being used, and promised to send some RM's that will work this week. Thank you sir, may I have another.

I broke my third recoilmaster at Area 8 last weekend. The entire rod flew out of the gun, leaving only the 3 lb spring to cycle the gun. For the record, I have now broken 2 of the original lot, (poorly heat treated), in 2 different guns. The one that I just broke was from the new lot that supposedly was heat treated properly. STI sent me another replacement that was assembled with the wrong parts. WTF? Even a slow learner like me is starting to detect a trend with this POS...

About 4.3 to 4.4 grains of 320 with a 200 g Zero FMJ, WSR primer, at 1.190 should get you there. Never seen any issues with pressure.

Mine came with instructions, I just wish they had included warranty replacement instructions too. I bought 2, one heavy and one light, and have broken same. The flange that holds the closing spring sheared off of both of them after a couple of thousand rounds. One in practice, the other on the last stage of a match on Saturday. Oddly enough, the gun will still (barely) cycle using only the close spring. I called STI, and they said that the first 400 made were not heat treated correctly, so that they are brittle and prone to breaking. They have corrected the problem, but will only replace existing one's if/when they break. I really like the way they make the gun feel, so I am going to give the replacements another try and see what happens.

Kelly, Just curious - why zero from prone and avoid the bench?