bountyhunter

I recently put a patch of grip tape on the LHS of my 686 (on the flat part of the frame above the grip) to give it some place to rest with traction. I never put thumbs on top of thumbs.

FWIW, that means there must be another "dead on" spot somewhere between 25 and 50.

For you Physics majors, it's quite possible that a gun will have two "zero on" distances due to the effects of gravity and the fact that a gun must be zeroed so the barrel bore is aimed upwards enough that the bullet's trajectory crosses the sighting line at the desired distance. The solution is actually a quadratic equation which has two roots, one of which may be in front of or behind the desired sighting distance. One gun I had would have a zero on at about 17 yards as well as 25 yards when the sights were zeroed to 25 yards. The one at 17 was as the bullet was going upward before it reached the apex of trajectory, the second at 25 was when it was headed downward.

For a tube sight, the Ultra-Dots are pretty decent for around $100 (have a lifetime warranty). I have a couple of those. The guys in our league with the "slide mounted" mini dots have had them fail. I would think the elctronics would not be able to take the hammering.

YES! And the most "ticklish" gun of all is my .22 bullseye gun with the red dot. It shoots 3/4" groups at 25 yards, so I can't use the gun as an excuse. I have to focus 100% on a smooth trigger pull. I did notice I shot my other guns better after starting bullseye shooting.

But, the good news is, the bouncing red dot will instantly tell you why the shot flew wide. When I first got one I was amzed at how my "smooth" trigger pull was jerking the gun off line on a regular basis.

FWIW, the end of the crane tube seems to be the place that wears fast if you let it. Based on my smiths, I estimate they grow about .001" in end shake for each 5000 rounds fired. But, it depends how well they are kept lubed. On my first 686, I didn't take the cyl off regularly to lube the end of the crane tube. It got loose pretty fast. It has maybe 20,000 rounds fired and required TWO washers of .002" each to take out the end shake. That's because I was a dufus and didn't know to lube it. Now, after every shooting, the cylinder comes off and I lube the crane tube with Militec grease. Wear is drastically reduced, in fact appears to be about zero now.

If you have excessive end shake: You have to first remove the ejector rod assembly from the cylinder. There's a cheapskate way to smooth the inside surface of the cylinder that the crane tube rides on. Get your box of drill bits and find the one with the shank (smooth end) that just fits in the cylinder hole the ejector rod goes into. Get some 180# sandpaper and cut a piece that fits on the flat end of the shank and attach it with double-sticky tape. Insert and use it to smooth the cylinder surface by spinning it. Continue until the ridge is flat so the cylinder washer will lay flat inside the cylinder. Brownells sells the .002" crane tube washers. Sounds like you should put in one and re-check the end shake after you get the inside surface flat. You don't need to smooth the end of the crane tube.

Not necessarily. If you use some feeler gauges between the cyl face and the forcing cone as you rotate the cyl, you will see the cylinder is probably not "true". It's more common on newer guns. It's easy to measure. Not sure how much the gun has been shot, but the first thing to do is measure the b/c gap when it's clean. It should be at least .003", about .005" is ideal. You also want to measure the cylinder end shake. Measure the b/c gap with the cylinder pushed forward and then check with it pulled back. The difference is the end shake (should be less than .002"). Bottom line: if you have too much end shake and the b/c gap is getting too tight, it means you have wear on the end of the crane tube (and inside of the cylinder) which has allowed the cylinder to move forward closer to the barrel. It can be easily fixed. A bent crane (yoke) is harder to fix. If all the end shake is minimal and the "headspace" is correct (gap between the cyl and the breech face) but your cyl is too close to the forcing cone, it means the barrel has to be set back. Gunsmith only job.

FWIW: I believe SA is the one with the new patented 9mm single stack mag shell with the built in ramp that keeps the top round from nose diving. I put an "extra capacity" follower/spring in my 9-round SS Mecgar mags and they hold ten now, and will feed all ten if the mag is inserted with the slide back. If the slide is forward, it pushes the rounds down and the first one nosedives. The good news is, with the extra capacity follower, it's the #10 round trying to nosedive instead of #9.

The Wilson booklet ($10) for 1911 maintenence has the best set of pictures for detail stripping a 1911 or 2011. The Kuhnhausen manual is excellent, has lots of specs. For basic assembly and disassembly, the Wilson book is the best. You can get it at the Wilson Combat website.

I use the same trick: far sight lense left eye, near scrip in right (dom) eye. I see a sharp image of the sights floating over a sharp image of the target. Sure is an advantage to see both ends in focus.

I don't lock the elbow. There may be an infinitesimal increase in accuracy, but it puts noticably more strain on my elbows and shoulders. When I shoot two guns back to back (open and stock) in bullseye where the gun is held out for a long time, pulling the gun a couple of inches closer to the body by slightly bending the elbows drastically reduces the strain on the shoulder muscles. You young guys maybe can hold a 65 ounce gun straight out on locked elbows for the better part of 45 minutes without suffering, but us old guys can't.

I shoot a 6" STI in .40, and it feels like a 9mm to me. I shoot a 5" Para in .40, and it pops a little more. I think Glocks magnify felt recoil because they are top heavy which gives more leverage to the line of force with respect to your wrist. They're also ugly, but that doesn't usually affect recoil.

It allows you to carry a 1911 ready to fire with the hammer down. Many police departments do not allow carrying guns cocked. As for the LDA trigger action: it is very easy to shoot straight. Period. My theory is that the long (very light) take up gives you trigger inertia which makes the trigger break cleanly without extra effort from the hand or trigger finger which moves the gun off line. What I know for a fact is my wife was shooting 2" groups at 15 yards with mt Para 1640 LDA the first time she shot it.

I'd like to know that as well. I have heard it's not for the home smith. BTW: Jay Krauter does trigger jobs, he is the official service man for US Para factory and knows LDA's frontwards and backwards.

Another good flinch detector tool is to shoot a gun with a red dot sighter. It magnifies gun movement and makes it very visible if the gun moves at all when you pull the trigger (also tells you which way it's moving). My Ruger has a dot on it and it is very easy to see if there is anticipation movement.

Dry firing is good, but I found better therapy from buying a Ruger Slabside .22 bullseye pistol. Long sight radius, little recoil, very accurate. If you flinch at all, it shows up immediately. It's a good tool to condition your muscles to fire without flinch reaction becaus there is almost no recoil, yet it is actual firing.

I tried to "cross train" dominance to the other eye (because I can se better with it) and finally gave up. It was impossible for me, not sure if it is for other people. I'd say use the dominant eye God gave you and don't fight the system. "Cross sighting" is really no problem. No law says the sight eye and strong hand have to be on the same side.

It's no problem. Just lean your head slightly to the right to bring the dominant eye into the line of sight and then sight the gun normally. We "normal" guys do exactly the same thing when we switch to shooting left handed, because the dom right eye is on the opposite side as the primary grip hand (so I tip my head slightly to the left). It's easy to learn to do it either way.

I must be built backwards. I am always saying I wish I could shoot this f#@*ing auto as good as my wheelguns.

Might want to not goop the boss pin the hammer pivots on or the sides of the hammer. If you use comp springs (reduced power) you don't want to reduce the hammer force by lube drag. Use FP-10 on the hammer pivot surfaces and Slide Glide on everything else.

FWIW: I did convert all eight of my 9 round 9mm Mecgars to hold ten rounds using a .38S aftermarket "extra capacity" follower and spring kit from Brownells. Major pain in the butt because I had to re-work all the followers to clear the rear rail in the shell. They do feed ten rounds but don't lock back on the last round every time because you have to give up a couple of coils of mag spring to get room for the tenth round.

I had the same problem. I ended up using a right lense with an "intermediate" focus point. I shoot with both eyes focused on the target, dom eye looking through the sights. The dom lense puts the sights close to in focus, a little fuzzy. Still easy to see.

It is not unknown for people with young eyes to wear corrective lenses to slightly blur the target but this is the first time I've heard of a preference for a blurred front sight. He is using target focus which means the sights will be fuzzy. You can still sight very accurately that way, it has some advantages since you can shoot with both eyes open and focused on the target.