Vincent C

I had a great time and the ROs were some of the best I have experienced. It was a fun weekend. Thanks Mark, Sheldon and everyone else involved.

Thanks for the link, I guess I have the last generation SV barrel, I hope I dont have any problems with it shooting major 180gr with TG...... So far (~250 rds) it has been exemplary! My understanding is that the problem mostley came up in open guns when ever there were any. I have seen a barrel or two just like yours with around 100k rounds through them and they were still going.

Brian, Is this radius around the whole rib? I'll have to check my hybrid barrel when I get home to see if it has the radius. Is the alternative, just a sharp 90* edge between what would be the normal barrel and the rib? -Eli The non radiused barrels have pretty much a 90 deg edge between the rib and the barrel and the back of the rib(the part that sits up against the slide) has a round profile. The radiused barrels have an obvious radius around them and have a more squared off profile on the back of the rib. There is a close up picture of one of the radiused ones here:http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=133632&st=0

I was less than thrilled about the accuracy of my M&P Pro at first. I put in an APEX trigger kit and my accuracy was noticeably better. I am interested to see what a new barrel would do now too.

Fiocchi 1oz and 7/8oz reduced recoil work great in my SX3.

I have used Choate 6 rounders and more recently an AP 4x4 and they have worked well for me. Choates will work for not much money, but there are better made caddies. I now have a mark otto load 2 vest and that will be getting the most use.

I can bring an extra case with me to the Texas Multigun if someone is unable to get what they need by then. PM me for details

Accuracy has been great for me. I have mostly used it with irons though so I don't have any scientific numbers to give. I have recently been using it with a TA11 and I am more than pleased with how that is working out. I did not get them to head space it to my bolt. I ordered it a little while ago now and I can't remember all the details at the time, but I don't think it would have made a big deal one way or the other.

see the posts below http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=101436

I put one on order today. It will be stainless, 1 in 8 inch twist, midweight, 20" rifle gas, Wylde chamber barrel I plan on using for a limited set up. It is a 8 to 10 week lead time which seems about normal for most places right now. I talked to Adam, he was real friendly and helpful. I will give an update when I receive the barrel and put some rounds through it. I know this update is kind of late, but I got the barrel in June of 2010. I have been using it since but not as much as I would like to a busy schedule for the last year and a half. It has been shooting great for me. I did have to clean up the thread for the compensator with a die before my comp would thread on freely. Other than that, no complaints. The barrel is a good option for the money. I would recommend them.

Rifle barrels are not well suited for CVD coating processes. Depending on the process there is a limit to how deep a hole can be coated based on the depth of the hole in increments of diameter. Most rifle barrels will exceed the that limit. Pistol barrels are better for it due to the larger caliber and shorter length. I am not fully familiar with Loki's nitriding process so I can not speak on it to any great detail. It appears to be a melonite type process that is less of a coating and more of a chemical surface finish treatment that improves the surface properties of the barrel. This process work better for rifle barrels because it is done in a salt bath instead of a gas chamber reactor. The process should be much more affordable, but would not provide nearly as high of a level of wear reduction or surface hardness improvement that a TiN coating would provide.

I am a lefty. I have used an old early 70's 870 for the longest time and have been very happy with it. I now use an SX3. I never felt I was at a disadvantage with the safety at the trigger. The SX3 lets you switch the safety to the other side if you like. I also think that having a right handed gun for a lefty is kind of an advantage because it is easier to see the loading port to clear any jams or quickly load single shells. You can never go wrong with an 870 for anything in my opinion, but most people are using semi autos for this game. I got my SX3 for under $700 used which is a little out of your price range. The new Mossberg 930s are probably the cheapest way to get a solid performing semi auto for 3 gun.

<br /><br /><br />I believe what Loki and other rifle barrel sellers are doing is nitro carburizing, which is a molten salt bath. It's like melonite and tennifer. Since it is a bath, it can do inside a barrel. It makes the surface very hard, and on non-stainless steels, imparts corrosion resistance. It is very hot, so it can change the temper of metals. Coatings like Infiniti uses and diamond black are sputtered coatings that are done at a much lower temp. They are hard, and lubricious, but not corrosion resistant. They also can't go very far into an enclosed area of a coated object. I was lead to believe that the whole interior of a pistol barrel can't be coated in this manner. Infinity uses a Chemical Vapor Deposition process on their barrels which allows for the inside of the barrels to get fully coated. Gas infused with the material being coated to the part is pumped into a chamber that surrounds the part and reacts with it depositing the coating to the part. It is different than the physical vapor deposition coatings they do on the rest of the gun. PVD coatings are a line of sight coating process that would not allow for the entirety of the inside of the barrel to be coated. Depending on the material that is coated to the part, it will offer better lubricity, corrosion resistance, and wear properties. TiN is used on cutting tools frequently in the machining world to increase tool performance and life. It is quite hard. All of the CVD and PVD coatings used by Infinity increase corrosion resistance significantly. The temperatures the parts see during CVD are typically higher than during PVD processes. The temperatures seen in coating processes range widely depending on the process and the material being coated to the part.

Infinity stainless pistols do not have the galling issues seen with other stainless guns because of their heat treating process and the tolerances they use. I would be a little worried about it with any other manufacturer. I have handled more than a few different Infinity pistols with steel frames and stainless slides. It can be a good look IMO. If you go to this link and look under the 5.4" Infinity gallery there was a sweet 5.4" at the Infinity Euro match last year that had a steel frame and a stainless slide. It looked great. http://www.matsbackstrom.com/Gallery/Infinity/slideshow.html

I would like to see your clamp solution. I am not a fan of how the Nordic clamp fits on these guns.

I have had a chance to see both guns side by side and do a comparison. I have heard many good things about both guns and from an engineer's perspective, the SV has a substantial edge over the Brazos. The parts in the SV are all machined. ALL the parts. The Brazos I handled utilized some off the shelf parts that were mim and plastic (grip). The steel grip is a big advantage in my opinion for durability and balance. I also got to see the hardness test results between the two frames. SV is good about properly heat treating all their parts and it showed. The SV frame was 39-40 HRC and the Brazos (STI) was 19-20 HRC. From a manufacturing/design engineer's point of view, the SV is worth much more than the $600 difference, and it is all in the details. Fit and finish, material, and available options of the SV beat out the Brazos. I am not saying the Brazos is bad, it is just not an SV.

The extra large SV magwell that is pictured above will do exactly what you want. There is a significant difference between the xl magwell and the standard one sv uses. The magwell will push your hand up and crowds up the grip. Besides, any non sv magwell will not fit right with out modification. You should go ahead and have SV fit the larger one to you gun in my opinion, then if you are unsatisfied, go from there with the modifications or some other aftermarket magwell.

Performance. If what you were using was working keep using it.

Here are some pics of the 870. I was not too aggressive. I mostly was trying to round out the edges. It was pretty sharp before I got to it. I reblued the receiver after I did some refinishing to it. photo 1 photo 2 photo 3

I rounded the edges and opened up mine a bit. I will try to upload some pics later today.

My understanding is that SV has recently updated the rib design on the hybrid barrels so they are stronger and less likely to crack over prolonged use.

I have seen an STI frame hardness tested along side a SVI frame. There is definitely a difference. Also, on the handful of STI frames I have seen compared to each other, the STI frame tolerances varied more compared to the SVI frames I have seen. Any chance you have some good numbers on the hardness? I don't have the exact numbers, but the STI frames were in the mid to low 20's on the rockwell C scale and the SVI frames were in the high 30's to low 40's

I have seen an STI frame hardness tested along side a SVI frame. There is definitely a difference. Also, on the handful of STI frames I have seen compared to each other, the STI frame tolerances varied more compared to the SVI frames I have seen.

SVI now makes a pretty sweet "fat free" (short dust cover, bushing barrel, lightened slide) 6in. I handled one with a steel grip and the balance of the gun was amazing. You can get the sandpaper grip tape feel without having to worry about the grip cracking every 3000 rounds. They have the interchangeable breach face. They can fit a 9mm barrel, breach face, extractor, and ejector so you can run both calibers with out having an buy an entire different top end (or if you prefer they can make a fit a second top end). SV makes a pretty cool adj fiber sight too. If you can't tell I am pretty impressed with their products and would highly recommend going that route. I am planning on ordering one of their 6in guns in the very near future. You will be able to get everything you want done right from one place. The only down side is there is a bit of a wait involved. At the very least I would recommend calling SV and talking with Brandon so he can give you more info about it. Vincent

I really like the idea of making 10mm part of heavy metal. Heavy metal could almost be used as a higher power factor division. I think a mag capacity limit should be part of it. Otherwise the class will turn into tac optic just with 308s. I think having a power factor and a minimum caliber for rifle and pistol instead of a specific caliber you must use would bring in some more people. I like keeping the pump shotgun and iron sites only too.