michaels

major vs minor.....we should have have super major for us "real" men. We take the bite of the super major 45 and 10mm's, nothing but A's on every target. Yup, super major, the only way to go. Some of my 45's put a dent in the steel, they've got so much power to them... Ah, I'll wake up in a little while and claim that I never said any of this. Really I will. Minor with speedloaders, that's the ticket... michael sousa

It works as long as your hands are big enough for the large frame g20. I have a bunch of standard frame 40's and large framed guns, my hands are about in the middle. I like the g20 with the 40 barrel in it, but watch the conversion barrel for having a short chamber, mine needs to get reamed out more. I load a little longer for the big framed gun than for my standard frames and the rounds don't always seat in the chamber fully. I need them a little longer to work 100% in the 10mm mags. Other than that, I love the big gun. i also use a g21 with the stock slide and with Nik's long slide on it, very soft shooting gun. Good luck with it. michaels

I'm assuming this is IDPA? We had a ruling from the HQ that you had to shoot what was stamped on the gun and couldn't "game" loading shorter cases into 38 spl/357 guns.. We had a gent try to shoot the short colts in a K frame gun and was told he had to use 38 spl's.. Now I'm a gent? wtf? - michaels

usually I leave the bent ones in the driveway and park the truck on them over night, if that doesn't work, I bring them back to the range and give them to some other revo guy just starting out.... michaels

Warren is spot on with his info... refer back a few years ago and i posted how to make a cutter for cutting your 38 special brass down to short or long colt size. So far I've cut close to 1800 cases down and they work just fine. Load them up with 170 bear creeks and you've got a nice icore load, about 124 to 128 pf depending on barrel length. Never have to buy short colt agains, just use that range 38 that people leave behind. michaels

If it was me, I'd junk the gun and keep the hearthco moons... michaels

Dave, a really good gunsmith can convert the gun to the 10 round version, or if you're close to S&W they can do it there. I had mine done there and a couple others that I know did the same. Really makes a good gun into a great gun. Plus you can now get the DS-10's and have a great rimfire steel gun. michaels

http://www.lpasights.com/catalog.html I've replaced most of my stock ones as they break with the lpa rear sight. Couple of different models of them. no complaints from me yet on them. michaels

without barrel & recoil assembly but with the cut out on top, it's 1.06 lbs - sights are steel dawson rear and steel dawson front. michaels

His sons are now running the business. thanks Mike, found his obit on the web, really was a cool guy, had his finish on a couple of guns and cylinders, he was great to work with. michaels

Yeah...uh....that's going to be an awkward phone call. Walter Birdsong died two years ago. Well now, I called the number and Walt's old message is still on the machine (kinda wierd) maybe one of his kids is still in the business. Or maybe Walt is hiding out. michaels

WE Birdsong & Associates (Black-T) 1435 Monterey Road Florence, MS 39073 (601) 939-7448 This gentleman puts on a coating that is used by the US navy, he loves old guns and is a hoot to work with. Give Walter a call and tell him what you've got, he's a great guy to work with. michael

Great, now I'm gonna get my arse kicked by a guy with wheels....he's good, lots of moxie, gotta work on those reloads when moving, but still one of the most impressive things I seen in a long long time. michaels

Now if I can just get the AARP discount at the next match, I'll be happy... thanks everybody for the birthday wishs, I'm just happy I made it one more year. michael sousa

if I was evil, I'd have turned you in for the reward the last time I was in Tulsa... Hopefully I'll see you at the IRC this year and we can chat... see ya michaels

i'd put a red dot on it and move to open 6 in icore...(i think bubber has one like that) michaels

Ya know, Bemis's bullets did not shoot straight in my gun.... but he's your friend Howie, so I didn't beat him up about. michaels

I heard they had about 340, a huge turnout! I got there Sunday morning at 8:45, and there were 20+ people waiting to sign up or check in. By 9:15 there were 5-10 people on each bay with most shooting more than one division. The exception was the plates, funny how people don't like to start there. Funny how some people won't bring their teenage daughter to a GSSF match, but then I wouldn't want to see how close she is to catching up to me, might make me feel a little older.. :-) I'd throw my 2 cents in and say get a G22, more of a versitle gun, you can use if for USPSA and IDPA along with GSSF, heck, we'll even let you bring it and shoot our ICORE matches at Richmond with it (no more than 8 rounds in the gun though) michaels

Howie, next time you come down, bring the gun and I'll chrono it with my 610 load and we'll see where you end up. I'm right at 167-9 with 180 billys and 4.1 of clays, just load them long. mike sousa

thanks gary, i'll give that try... mike

I took that assembly out about 4 months ago and cleaned it, (small pistol) and noticed it was looking weird. After maybe 500 rounds, the rod was sticking up just enough to keep the shell plate from turning. Since I have a 2nd 650 setup for large primer, I took the small primer assembly for that one and swapped it in. So far it's been running good except for me wanting to get the primers a little deeper. I have the spare parts kit(s), but I'm wondering how you get that spring changed out? michael sousa

thanks guys for the info, the bench is not bolted to anything, but is has about 800lbs of lead in the bottom shelfs and it doesn't move at all, I've noticed that after about 100 rounds loaded, the bolt for the shell plate loosens up about a 1/4 turn, but never seems to get any looser. I tighten it back up each time a load primers. I'll check the height of the primer push rod and see if its coming up very far past the underside of the shell plate. If nothing changes there, I'll try shimming the bracket underneath and see what happens. michael sousa

I dunno Pat, I keep hearing about getting an .002-.004 extra depth by shimming, with the differenence is primer pockets between brass makes, there should be some type of adjustment like the 1050 has. I tried to set a primed case off (welders mask & ear plugs in place) and couldn't do it on either of my 650's. The primer push rod is exactly flush, and it's well lubed. I've had a lot of shooters/reloaders look at my brass and suggest a little deeper primer set, but they were all 1050 users. I really hate to have to upgrade just to get a primer set into the case a little deeper. mike sousa