J.L. Hardy

also, make sure you know where to drill if you decide to use the ball detents. i believe there is a thread on here somewhere about it. its simple to do but you must be careful where you drill the slide. good shooting, j.l. hardy

actually, for lefties the slide rackers that chuck is making can be heated and bent to work on the other side. its not a lot of fun but can be done. i have had a couple done in this manner and they are just as nice as for the right handers. good shooting, j.l. hardy

i have had this problem on numerous occasions and the way to fit it to the particular gun is to take a small amount off the back side of the sear where it contacts the disconnector. this needs to be done very carefully, preferrably on the mill and you must make sure it is done parallel to the original surface. this is a very agrivating problem and as far as i know this would be the easiest way to fix it. i have all but given up on using the ITS triggers because of this. good luck, j.l. hardy

DB, this is somewhat of a family reunion. my open gun is the one on the right. its the only one i need at a match. the limited 40 is the one i will shoot if i actually do shoot limited again, and the bottom one is a 9mm that i put together just in case i ever venture out into idpa. the others belong to other members here. good shooting

just thought i'd give us some gun porn to get to the new year. good shooting, j.l. hardy

There are two things i would check. sometimes the relief notch beside the chamber for the tip of the extractor is not generous enough and when the barrel locks up it will come in contact with the bottom of the extractor hook. this can damage the hook or dislodge the hook from the case rim. also, if you have a removable breech face you should check to make sure its tight, if not take it out and clean everything up and re-locktite it. good shooting

ok, since my name was mentioned i'll put in my two cents worth. first of all its good advise not to tear up one good gun to build another. if you set the gun up properly as an open gun then there will be things changed that aren't neccessarily tuned right for the limited side. if you don't set the gun up properly then you will never truly know if you like open or not. also if your not commited to trying it for a few months you will never know. lets face it we all have bad days no matter what we shoot and if your not commited then its too easy to blame the gun and switch back. and secondly, as to the viability of 40 s&w for open. i personally picked up a schumann 4 port hybricomp barrel 4 years ago at barry off the prize table. i had it laying around a couple of months and decided to build a gun using it. i personally shot it for around 4 months and i can assure everyone that no one around here thought is wasn't competitive. the one limitation is big stick capicity, but properly set up you can get 26 rounds in the mag and one in the tube for 27 total. i start with 30 in the gun on my 9mm big stick but didn't feel disadvantaged at that time. 140 mags can be tuned to hold 20 rounds(which is easy using +2 basepads) plus one in the tube, which is exactly how i load my 9mm. the 40 case has plenty of capicity for lots of slow powder and you can use 135, 155 or 165 grain bullets and they work just fine. this particular gun is still being used by its owner and he shoots competitively in his class. also brass is dirt cheap just like the 9x19 so shooting costs can be reduced. good shooting, j.l. hardy

steve, if the spacers are fitted properly they don't require anything. they are held in by the spring and follower or rounds and the base pad and feed lips. i now have stainless ones that are made for me because the delrin ones that were from sti and the ones i made from delrin do not hold up for long the long term. they get battered up at the top by the top round as the slide cycles. bevin also has stainless ones he uses in the same manner. i fit mine so that they lay flat in the back of the mag but can actually move around a little this way i know that they are not binding against the base pad when it is installed. the stainless ones will actually shake around a little when the mag is empty. also when you go to clean the mags you can make sure that trash isn't in behind the spacer by slipping it out and cleaning just like all the other mag parts. good shooting j.l. hardy

craig, i have found that the dillon resizing die won't bring the case down tight enough to hold the bullet firmly. at least 3 of us here in georgia have had the same problem and changed the resizing die to hornandy's and problem fixxed. the problem was worse on some headstamps of brass. good shooting, j.l. hardy

i have noticed that if you turn the mount upside down an look at the area where the shelf that the c-more attaches to meets the side, the sti mounts have a 90 degree cut (corner), bob's mounts (brazos) have a radius. i have had both an alchin and a sti crack along this line. i believe the brazos mount will hold up due to the radius. the only problem with the mounts interchanging is the height from the side mounting screws to the bottom of the platform (shelf). the mounts differ in height. you need to make sure you have enough clearance between the top of the slide and the bottom of the shelf. good shooting, j.l. hardy

mpolans, slides tend to crack at the upper left corner of the breach face and at the front lower corner of the ejection port. i think going anywhere close to where you are suggesting would greatly increase the probability of the slide cracking at the upper left corner of the breachface. caspian will not warranty any slide that is cut too close to the breachface. i believe they have a guage to check this but i don't know exactly the measurement they use. it is always best to stay away from these areas to do lightening work and make cuts that don't compromise the integrity of the slide. good shooting, j.l. hardy

amateur, sounds like one of two things. either you have the mag coming into contact with the trigger bow when it is inserted or it is coming into contact with the disconnector upon insertion. this is why most trigger jobs include rounding the back lower edges where the sear pin goes through the disconector. most of the time you can feel this in the trigger when ( with an unloaded gun of course) you dry fire without a mag in and then with the mag in. it also could be happening with just the one mag, which may be fat. most of the newer parts we now use have this modification already done. but again it could be the trigger bow. you can also look up inside the magwell area and see the trigger bow and the disconnector and sometimes see it protruding into the magwell area. sounds like it will need a trip to a competent gunsmith for a trigger job. hope this helps, good shooting, j.l. hardy

cy, leave the recoil spring alone. get a replacement 9lb from www.gunsprings.com and just shoot the gun. good shooting, j.l. hardy

rush, the increased noise that you experienced is due to slower powders creating more gas out at the hybrid ports and comp which in turn makes them more efficient. if the comp doesn't get gas to work then it is only a barrel weight. the problem i pointed out is not due to the barrel melting but a combination of heat generated at the chamber and friction of the bullet engraving in the rifling. too much heat right at the chamber with fast powders increases the wear in this high friction area. wil schumann will confirm this and this is why he reccomends slow powders to be used in the open gun barrels. slow powders tend to burn more evenly throughout the bore rather than spiking right close to the chamber. good shooting, j.l. hardy

the limited gun should be a good dual use gun. i've never done idpa but it does have a barsto bushing barrel (40 S&W), the weak side safety on the ones i use is very narrow and a change of mag well should make it work just fine. good shooting, j.l. hardy

the bottom blaster is destined to become the treasure of another.

rick, listen to the advise and load to 170 pf. that gun will shoot flatter at 170 and you won't have to worry about the chrono stage. i run mine at 172 all the time and we are shooting the exact same setup. good shooting, j.l. hardy

i must correct myself. after looking back at the list i know of 8 of the 39 that were shooting 9x19 major. 5 were built by me personally.good shooting, j.l. hardy

JFlowers, at least 6 of the open shooters that shot the match were using 9x19 major open guns. i would say that due to the fact that the rule change was made relatively recent that this percentage is pretty strong. and would guess that as more shooters have their guns rebarreled that 9x19 will become more popular. some shooters will also have new guns built as well. in fact shooters who finished 4th, 5th and 6th were all using 9X19. the top three shooters used 38 super but are all sponsored and don't really have to worry about brass cost.good shooting, j.l. hardy

rusty kidds' original viper was based on a heavily modified 6" slide with 6 hybrid ports and a very short comp with radial ports only. the pit viper was built using a 5" slide and basically a four port hybrid barrel. both guns had the side ports through the slide and barrel (ro's hated them) i personally owned two of the original vipers and they were excellent. i have shot at least a few of the pit vipers and they are very nice as well. i also know of at least one shortened 5" gun that he has built at the customers request, but as far as i know he hasn't built any guns using the commander set up. as a joke we started calling my commander guns by the call name mongoose. pun intended. rusty has built 3 open guns for me personally and the workmanship was extraordinary. no one would be disapointed. and if you catch him at tax time he can build a gun rather quickly. he built my first one in about 7 days. good shooting, j.l. hardy

leo, the tubing that i used wasn't clear either, i couldn't find any that was. the stuff i used was cpvc i believe and i used my calipers to shop for it. measuring the outside diameter carefully i found it to be just right. wall thickness was a little more than the clear but worked fine for me with .355 bullets. good luck, j.l. hardy

thanks to mark i have been able to set up my fowler dropper on the 1050. i have loaded several thousand rounds with it so far and it works very well after being adjusted for the bullet. i was able to find a pvc tubing that was the correct size at lowe's to make up tubes that hold about 100 bullets. as far as fop's new high in laziness i do have my concerns. but i have to admit that i have a 13 year old primer tube filler and now bullet collator. emilio gaspari has been very helpful as well and is sending me a tray to help in the bullet collating. this piece of equipment seems to be very useful and durable. contact emilio to get your own, he has them in stock and offers a money back guarantee if you don't like it. good shooting, j.l. Hardy

the gsi unit is the one that brian had posted about. it looks like a fine unit. the one i have is made by Fowler, inc. and has plastic tubes that you fill with bullets and place on top of the dropper much like filling primer tubes. it had retailed for around $325 more or less if i am correct. it is installed in the hole where the powder check die would go. it would work for a 1050 or a 650. filling the tubes with bullets takes some of the glow off it but if i made up extras at least i could fill them watching tv or something and have them ready for speed reloading.

a couple years ago i saw an interesting gadget to drop bullets on a 650 or 1050 called a fowler automated bullet dropper and have recently picked one up off a prize table. would like to know if anyone else has one of these and if someone knows how to get in touch with the manufacturer. the instructions mentions a way of changing the caliber it is set up for by inserting an adapter tube, but as luck would have it the instructions don't have a contact number on them. the one i got was for a 44/45 and i need to convert it to a .355. good shooting, j.l. hardy