entropic

I was thinking about picking up the 1.5-8X for precision carbine matches...223 gas guns shooting out to 600. I ended up going with the 3-15X because of the lack of parallax adjustment on the 1.5-8. It probably doesn't matter as much in 3-gun, but has anyone noticed reticle movement with eye position?

I notice flakes mostly when shooting lower pressure TG loads. I'm not sure what would be causing your loads to burn differently for no reason. New lot of powder, different primers, exposure of powder or primers to high humidity?

I needed a 223 loading block one night and figured I would whip one up in an hour.... 5 hours later I was really wishing I had a DRO, or better yet CNC.

It will have a DRO soon enough. I'm glad I've ran it without one for a while though... it has really taught me to pay attention to a lot of little things at once.

Tri-top is pretty straight forward. Would probably take 2 or 3 hours. Does Cheely still do quick turn around work on slides?

I had a guy tell me that Ed Browns are the best shooting 1911s because they use left handed rifling in their barrels.... I asked how many rounds he shoots every year.

The mold the manufacturer uses is for 147s, but it is never exact. Then add the coating and you have up to 3% difference. You can ignore it and load normally or assume the chrono man will pull a 149 bullet and load to a safe velocity to make power factor. Certainly no DQ to worry about.

I've seen a slide fracture like that as well. At some point a while back the factory got the tempering temp or time wrong (just a guess) and some older ones do this. Luckily you will get a nice new one as a replacement... CZ is good like that.

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmdrag-5.1.cgi http://www.schuemann.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel%20Twist%20Rate.pdf 16 is enough to stabilize some really long pistol bullets. You'll be okay.

I'm done doing these cuts for a while. I've done it 3 times with minor variations. The first time took me 12 hours for just the cuts. The last took about 8 with setup, cleanup, and finishing.

I do everything without a DRO. I will need one for some of the more intricate projects I have planned. I will end up replacing the whole machine since the Burke mill is tough to retrofit. Overheard clearnace is the only reason I didn't get a bridgeport in the first place.

Here is part of my shop. Hopefully the bike will be replaced with a lathe in the near future. Just finished a friends edge:

The factory serrations are 1/8". I extend them with the same spacing. Here is another one I did last night with some new carbide tools... I will never use HSS Cutters again if I don't have to:

Thanks. I never liked how the rear sights hang off the side on a tri-topped slide. I also never liked how the front serrations do not come back far enough. Here is how the rear sight fits up.

I will post my projects here as they are completed. Right now I have have some basic tools that will do quality work. I'm Mostly working on my own blasters but have starting doing some free work for friends. Here is a slide I did some cuts on. I will get to fine tune the process and cut out a lot of the setup time when I do it again. Here is after bead blasting. There was some slight oxidation after blasting, so I will need an air dryer before I can start playing with phosphate finishes. The rear serrations were recessed from .025" down to .002" with the front and rear edges radiused and "dehorned" to reduce thumb drag malfunctions. The front serrations were extended with a taper and fade in depth. Also tri-topped, with a slightly different chamfer next to the rear sight. Weight was also taken out under the rear sight. I call these the "Gnyra" cuts. Stay tuned, I have lots more stuff in the works, Dave

I would be posting a WTB add for a new/used grip.

Warren is absolutely right. You would be getting 3rd degree burns if your barrel was getting hot enough to affect anything.

From Machinery Handbook: 416 Hardened is RC43 400F Temper is RC41 600F Temper is RC39 800F Temper is RC41 1000F Temper is RC31 Annealing Starts at 1300F But cooling at a rate faster than 25C/hour from annealing temperatures restores martensite (hardened) properties. You don't want that since it a fully hardened barrel will probably crack. It sound silly, but you could smear a little vegetable oil on the barrel and if you see the gun smoking, you are at the smoke point of that oil. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm I'd be interested to know what temperature barrel makers temper their 416 barrels at.

Have to know the barrel material to look up heat treatment data...but I would guess that even shooting 1000 rounds as fast as possible, you still will not get to a tempering temperature, much less to phase change temperature (usually glowing red hot) where a quench would have the effect of hardening steel. I like shooting a lot when I have access to a range with steel as well, but usually when my gun gets that hot it means I'm well into the diminishing returns of ammo use and practice efficiency. I just let it cool off while I load mags, paint some steel, and think of a drill that makes better use of my ammo.

I'm not shooting it this year. I am however in the middle of a build on a rangemaster frame:

Hey Stephen, we met at that conference in New Orleans a while back. The Aristocrat rear sight probably makes the target master the best choice out there. Some bullseye shooters think 9mm 1911's won't shoot tight enough (for bullsye), but I think it will be just fine and have thought about that gun myself for the cup. Good luck.

There is quite a bit to learn about trigger work on a 1911... no matter how simple any tutorial or sear jig instructions may make it seem. I have spend hundreds of hours reading and doing trigger work and still have a lot to learn. The more you work with 1911s in general the more you will realize how little you used to know. Things like trigger bow length and disconnector geometry often get overlooked and come up when you thought you had things figured out. I would set aside one gun if you must tinker, and do not shoot that gun in any matches until you are done tinkering and it has been thoroughly tested. There is a ton of information in Kuehnhausen's books and on 1911 forum as well as many other places. Use a white (fine) ceramic stone and some form of magnification (optivisor or better yet, a microscope). You can usually get a really good trigger just by adjusting hammer hook height and taking a brand new quality sear and radius/polish the nose (Without changing the engagement angle). Stick to using brand new sear springs. Don't tweak them (although many do). Make sure you keep at least 0.040" pretravel. Good luck and make sure to do all Kuhnhausen's safety checks before shoving a full magazine in the gun.

Fiber optic or mechanical sensors? Could probably save some money by using a couple smart relays rather than an PLC. Why 3 phase?

I witnessed a friend shoot a squib half way down the barrel of his single stack. He racked the slide not having seen any signs of a squib. The next round pushed it out, bulged the barrel, and locked up the slide. No bullets left in the gun and he was perfectly fine, just confused when he couldn't rack the slide. We hammered the slide off, I fit him a new barrel and that gun still runs.

Another thread about lube in the gunsmithing section....sigh. In my experience, and from what I have read: Most factory 1911s will run for 2+ thousand rounds between cleanings, using only the residual lube left by the previous cleaning. I've done it many times with no ill effects. That being said, your best bet for any 1911 is to put a couple drops of almost any oil into the rails every two to three hundred rounds. If you want to become a lubrication nut, you can google Grant Cunningham's article on gun lubrication, or read Bob the Oil Guys's website to learn about what oil actually does. Or just let the feel of racking the slide tell you when it needs it. Clean it when the oil stops making the slide smooth to rack (and before a big match), otherwise don't worry about it, you will not hurt your gun by forgetting to lubricate it... It will tell you when it needs it.