Chillywig

I messed with this a good bit over the weekend moving in .001 at a time to see where plunk passed. I need to be at or less than 1.142 to plunk with the 124 MG’s I loaded up 7.2gr at 1.140 AV 1394 ES 13 SD 5 PF 172.8 Flat and no excessive pressure signs - 35 degrees when I was testing I shot a match over the weekend and the gun ran flawless. Another shooter has a custom built open 9mm gun that also had a KKM barrel. He was using MG124s and had the same seating depth. He was using WAC powder so we didn’t get to compare charge weights.

What hit the ceiling? Do you know what caused the blast?

I loaded up some more test rounds and had a few issues today. I droped my powder charges to 7.0 and 7.2 and moved the seating depth in to 1.145. My chrono battery was dead and my back up battery died shortly after starting so my chrono data isn't from a very large sample. Looks like the 7.0 gave me 166PF and 7.2 grains was a 170. The majority of the rounds I loaded were the 7.0 charge. The ejection seemed a bit weak. I also had a few times were I experience a dead trigger. Turned out the gun was not going into battery - the slide was just barely out of battery. I brought a few of these failed to chamber rounds home and they pass the dillon case gauge but not the plunk test. I rechecked OAL and they are good - So I started messing around and some rounds at 1.145 pass the plunk test and some don't. I started easing the bullet in a little deeper and it seems they will all pass at about 1.140. So I am thinking about shortening up to 1.135. I think when I was loaded longer the rounds were going into battery because the slide was definitely full stroking with a 180 PF and today the weak ejection makes me think the slide was not going its full rear ward travel. Is there any dis advantage to shooing a bullet at 1.135?

Which one? The one in your pic on this thread. I may have built it, don't know for sure. I think I miss interpreted which gun Nox was referring to. You meant the CK?? I know. I know. This is what unemployment, free time and beer in the evening does to a guy...

That's not too bad. I use a dillon case gauge to check my reloads. In 40 cal I would have at least that many that did not make it past the case gauge. I would guess around 5 per 100 do not pass the gauge from my pile of range picked up/ once fired brass. I am shooting these reloads in a STI edge. Typically I will save all these fails and shoot them at the end of a practice session. They will all nearly chamber perfectly in this gun and they normally all go bang like there was nothing abnormal about these rounds. I have a 9mm open gun with a KKM barrel. If these fail the case gauge I just throw them away. Major power factor and if they fail the case gauge they do not chamber in this gun. I am sure everyone's guns will react differently to a round that has failed the case gauge.

So the reloads do or do not chamber correctly?

I just changed my 9mm load. The JHP I was using looked a lot like a wad cutter so I change to that side of the seater and experienced the problem you are now having. Once I went back to the round nose side my problem went away. I'd think you want to hit the rounded part or ogive to seat the bullet the straightest

Pic #2

This is way off topic but... Actually I built that one. Bought NIB on gunbroker back when our local club shot ICORE. It came with the worst trigger I have ever felt in a S&W revolver. I did a trigger job, cut the hammer,chamfer the cylinder, added the c-more. It has a 5.5lb trigger pull and factory ported muzzle break. It is fun to shoot the 38 super minor rounds thru it. Shooting major PF I could barely eject the 8 round empty moons Here it is in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BwF4mPR0w0 Second half of the vid I shoot the 627 A few pics

Which one?

The Dillon die comes apart and has a double ended seating stem http://www.dillonprecision.com/dillon-carbide-pistol-dies-three-die-sets_8_4_24445.html

I have seen too little flare starts the bullet into the case crooked. Espically if in the seating stem in the Dillon die does not match the shape of the bullet you are using. What bullet profile are you using and which way do you have the seating stem set?

This is a CK Arms thunder with a KKM barrel marked .355 MG 124HP fails the plunk test until I get to 1.145 or less. Let me ask this - How bad is it to fail the plunk test?

my sti must be a lemon because my gun did not like the 124gr mg. Maybe that is your problem too? Out of curiousity, what brand of factory ammo do you have that is 1.155? That's longer than any factory ammo I've ever measured. CCI blazer brass 115 FMJ It was actually 1.153

I failed the plunk test at 1.165 using the MG 124's. I had some factory ammo that is 1.155 and it passes the plunk and twist tests. Looks like I need to shorten up a bit.

What is a "plunk" test?

So I tried another load today MG 124hp 1.165 OAL 7.72gr Silhouette 10 shot Average 1438 - ES 28 - SD 9 power factor 178 Honestly this load seemed to generate more recoil. The DOT also seems to blur more and left the glass a bit which I found surprising. I am thinking the deeper seating depth may have been a factor. I am going to load up a couple different loads and test them at the same time. Anyone ever experimented with the same powder change and just vary the seating depth?

How far out do you sight in your open guns for USPSA matches? Is it better to have the POI dead on at the 15 yard line or zero the gun at 50 yards and hold over for the close in targets?

I started off looking at the DVC open. After doing some research and talking with Chuck at Shooters Connection the CK seemed like a better buy - already having all the regular parts upgraded and gun tuned. It seems all the reasons have been outlined here and I have no regrets about my decision. Took it to the range today and tried 10 rounds of factory CCI blazer (134 power factor) which it would fire but not eject. Then tried my 9MM major test loads (180 power factor) and ran 50 without a hiccup

I just worked up a load for the CK Arms Thunder in 9MM. Comp is 4 port and 3 barrel holes 124gr MG HP 1.175OAL 7.84gr Silhouette 10 shot averag 1459 - ES 24 - SD 8 - power factor 180 - 65 degrees and sunny for the test fire This gun is brand new - just picked it up yesterday and only has 50 round thru it. Still think I will back off a 0.1gr or so and see. Recoil impulse felt a bit high but the dot never left the RTS2

Here is the thunder in 9mm

Interesting... How did the gun track? Dot stay in the glass? Which optic are you using?

So I seated the loads in a little deeper. OAL is 1.270 and if anything it slowed them down a bit. 165 PF is the best I saw. I also droped 10 power charges into the scale and am loading 8.44grs. Im gonna bump it up again but will be a while before I can chrono again.

Ironically I just started looking for some loading info using silhouette in the super and came across this post. Here is what I did based on others info and chronoed today STI Trubor Zero 121 JHP 1.282 OAL Federal mag primers GR HIGH LOW AVG ES SD PF 8.0 1341 1326 1333 15 7 161 8.3 1368 1329 1350 39 15 163 8.5 1404 1373 1392 31 12 168 I loaded mixed head stamp brass I had fired thru the same gun. I did seem to notice the brass rounds had slightly higher velocities compared to nickel cases. Looking at the brass the brass seems to swell a little more than the nickel possibly sealing the chamber better or releasing the bullet easier. At 8.5 grains I was starting to see some decent flattening of the primers but no wear near anything that would cause me concern. I am not sure why I loaded these so long. I think I will set them in ~.005 and re try the 8.5 load.

Picked up a M&P CORE in 9 and 40 and looking to get a dot for them. Never had any of the micro red dots and looking between the RMR fast fire 3 c-more sts and jpoint. Having never seen all of these at once if someone had a pic of them lined up that would be awesome. Looks to me like the rmr and sts are the biggest but doesn't look like the glass is any bigger. I like the price point of the fast fire 3 and wondering if its really worth more than twice the price for the rmr. I'll use for some USPSA matchs, plinking and a suppressor host after getting new barrels. Not planning on zombies...