IceDevil

I have a 550 that I load 9 and 45 on and have been thinking about either an upgrade to a 650 or adding a case feeder. I wouldn't complain about more speed but my primary motivation is to make the process more comfortable. I find placing the brass to be the worst part and my hand gets fatigued during long loading sessions. I know I can sell my 550 for a decent price and buy a 650 and that the 550 feeder has a mixed reputation, but why not give it a try? From other posts on here it sounds like with a few tweaks the 550 feeder can be used on a 650 so if I'm not happy w the 550 and feeder I'm no worse off (except to the extent the 550 feeder costs a few bucks more than the 650 version). If I'm happy w the feeder, I have saved money and headache over an upgrade to a 650. If not, I'll upgrade later and already have the feeder. Any flaws with this approach?

Has anyone had this happen with any primers other than Federal? It seems like all of the incidents I have heard about involved Federal primers.

From what I've heard that will get your attention (and your neighbors). What brand primer?

N320 works well for 9 minor, 40 and 45 loads with a variety of bullet types. It's a little pricier than the alternatives but it's nice to only have to stock one powder for a bunch of calibers.

On a somewhat related note, will the Dawson SNL basepads work with 9mm tubes? I thought I had read somewhere that the SNL's didn't work for 9mm.

I think you'll find the SVI guns are out of your stated price range. They start at $3300 and can go way up from there. They are really full custom guns as opposed to semi-custom production guns like the Baers. You won't have as many choices as with an SVI, but the Baer's are great shooters and a great bang for the buck, especially if you can find a gently used one.

Never.

The one that Vogel uses. I don't even know what he uses, but between Kytac, Comp-Tac, Blade-tech, Ready Tac or any of the other quality kydex belt rigs designed for competition there shouldn't be much difference that isn't related to the performance of the shooter. People will have their personal preferences for other reasons(I like my comp-tac better than my blade-tech bcs I like that the design uses fewer screws), but there aren't any real differences in draw speed between those.

To get some context on pricing, give Crazy John a call - his website is here - Crazy John - but you will need to call him for pricing. He is one of the largest Baer distributors and can give you an idea of real "street" pricing for the model you are considering. As with most things, the street price will often be considerably less than the MSRP quoted on a manufacturers website. You can then make an educated analysis of how much of a discount from the new price makes sense to you given the wear on the gun. Good luck to you, it's hard to go wrong with a Baer. One of the best bangs for the buck in the semi-custom world.

In a class where you can build a 1911 or 2011 from scratch with whatever parts you want, the idea of an all inclusive permitted modifications list doesn't really work or make sense. With people shooting full house customs, I can't imagine anyone would care what the slide stop on your glock looks like. Not trying to call you out in anyway, just looking for something to point to in the rulebook if challenged at a major match. Off to the IDPA rules clarification page to see if there is anything on this..... Since the part is so cheap, I will still break out the dremel on an extra slide stop to use for 3 gun matches and at least the local IDPA matches. Thanks for the pictures of one approach.

That's a little more extreme than I had in mind, but the same general idea. I assume that solved your problem and didn't create any new issues. Do you know if this is an ESP legal modification? In looking at the list of IDPA permitted modifications for ESP, I don't see any mention of changing the slide stop.

With my thumbs forward grip I am consistently pushing down on the slide stop on my G34 and preventing it from locking the slide back on the last round. If I intentionally keep my thumb out of the way it locks back reliably which tells me its an operator issue as opposed to a malfunctioning gun. I have already removed the extended slide stop that came with the 34 and replaced it with the stock part but that didn't fix the problem. This is really inconvenient for IDPA and given how cheap the parts involved are, I would like to fix it without changing my grip. A few people I shoot with have recommended grinding off the back half of the slide stop lever. I have also seen advertisments for Ghost's "forward" lever that is supposed to address this problem - Ghost Forward Slide Stop. Anyone have experience with either of these two solutions? I assume either would still keep the gun ESP legal for IDPA, but let me know if I'm wrong on that. Thanks for the input.

Have you tried Midway? They frequently have them on sale. The best upgrade I did to my 22/45 was adding the Volquartson trigger parts.

Short answer is yes, many people have "assault weapons" and high cap mags from before the ban. Most matches have a CA legal division for those without high caps. If you haven't already, check out www.calguns.net for the best resource on CA gun laws. The laws are very complicated and there is a lot of bad info floating around.

Some texture can be useful, but that looks like it was modeled after a meat tenderizer and my palm is tender enough. Call it a tactical strike plate and I'm sure you could sell a ton to the tactical crowd. I'll stick to your smooth offerings w/some grip tape.

Agree w/everyone else above. Just watched an M1 Field go for $590 on Gunbroker. My local shop has a brand new M2 American (no comfortech stock) for $850. No reason to pay more than that for a 15+ year old used M1.

Here is another option that just became available - Nordic 18". On paper, it looks similar to the WOA offering. The Nordic 18" is not quite the steal that the 16" version was.

Go to Calguns to find the best info on CA firearms laws.

Nice pick up. I was watching the same gun but ended up not bidding. I didn't really need the gun, but the price was very tempting. Don't know how much you were willing to pay, but I'm glad I didn't drive up your price.

Murphy's Guns claims to have them coming in 1-2 weeks and their price is reasonable. Never dealt with them but somebody on this site recommended them and they have been responsive to the few emails I sent. Their email is Murphsguns@aol.com and website is Murphy and Sons.

D&L Sports in Wyoming does custom 1911s. Their website is D&L Sports. Not sure how they mark their 1911's but it sounds like it may be one of theirs.

Any idea on price for the Stag upper only?

Performance wise there is not much difference according to people on these boards and others who have tested them side by side. My recollection is that the SP loads were a little slower, so the usual advice about chrono'ing a particular load/gun combo if you need to make power factor holds true. For me the determining factor was convenience. I only load 9, 40 and 45 so using SP 45 allows me to stock only one size primer and means I don't have to change over my 550 to load 45. For me, the SP is great and I don't think I'm the only one since it's getting harder to find reasonably priced once fired SP brass.

You could always have the dust cover cut back to whatever length you like if you find it to be too heavy. I believe I was quoted something around $50 to do this by a reputable local smith.

You can find a used Eagle for not much more than $1k. There is one that's been on Gunbroker for $1189 for a while Eagle 5.0 45. I have an older para that I enjoy shooting so I have nothing against the para, but if the price is close I would go with the STI.