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BallisticianX

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Everything posted by BallisticianX

  1. In both my Schuemann barrels .355 bullets, especially Precision Delta 124 HP, shoot quite well. A#7 & PD 124 HP produce 5 shots into 3/4" at 20 yards out of both my Bedells. A guy I helped get setup to load 38 SC bought .356 PD 124's. I tried some with my current load of A#7 and they shot identical to my .355 version in regard to accuracy and maybe a couple FPS difference. Goes to show each gun will have its own personal preferences...and no single rule applies unilaterally! " A larger bullet diameter shooting better quite often" is more commonly true with lower velocities. With higher velocities with heavy powder chargers its not a golden rule. With the obturation you get from major and magnum loads the .001" diameter difference has less effect on bore sealing/performance as compared to minor loads and less yet to a powder puff bullseye load etc. With higher velocity major and magnum loads a larger bullet diameter of .002" also carries the possibility of increase chamber pressures....something to consider. One other thing to consider is tighter fit jacketed bullets under higher velocities may increase bore wear.. Ultimately the guns actual bore diameter will dictate what it likes. In Yester years less controlled and gauged manufacturing the bore diameters did vary to where a bullet diameter played a major role in accuracy. Today's advanced processes and gauging techniques deployed by reputable barrel makers have diminished this variable considerably.
  2. For 9mm minor in all 3 of my guns (2 auto's and one revolver); my powder choice for plated bullets was Titegroup, found it relatively clean, consistent and accurate. For lead (cast or coated) I preferred WSF as it was clean, consistant, and again accurate. Titegroup did not seem to like driving hi-tek coated bullets at all....weird groups and velocity deviation. For jacketed bullets I actually had best accuracy with HS-6.
  3. I use small pistol magnum primers, previously in 9mm, and currently in 38 SC. I never had any piercing or cratering problems when I had tried standard small pistol but found my velocity had less deviation with the magnum primers vs standard especially in 38 SC. I attribute that to the increased flame retardant mixed in the slower powder range we use in major. That powder range does seem to benefit from from the extra heat and flame from a magnum primer for uniform and cleaner burn. As far as the breech face issue, the concern is that a harder primer cup, like a small rifle, wont obturate under the pressure in a handgun major load and seal any gasses escaping the gap in primer and the pocket and cause breech face pressure erosion. This has happened to some and in my opinion is not just because of the "harder primer" it a compounded occurrence with a harder primer that does obturates less but is exacerbated with any already loose/worn primer pocket. I just run magnum pistol for performance uniformity and perhaps a bit more sealing in cases reloaded several times.
  4. The answer is not concrete. Depends on the gun and the variables of original fit, the steel grade treatment variances, and maintenance. So the only realistic anwer is check it regularly to determine if the endshake is excessive, timing is not starting to "slow" up, and visual checks of the ratchet and other parts for signs of peening. Then fix or have them fixed as they arise.
  5. The only time dry firing a revolver with an extended pin can be "more damaging" than the factory standard length is in the .22 rimfire models. Youll start slapping the chamber edges and ding the hell out of it whereas S&W engineered the factory pin to be stupid proof and bottom out just before cylinder impact. (Extended pins in Rimfires dont help anyway).
  6. No, a correctly installed firing pin/spring change wont effect any critical component of the "mechanical accuracy". It only effects the end users ability for better (or worse) ability to shoot the gun. Any keyholing and enormous group size like yours is either ammo or cylinder/bore related from wear/corrossion/alignment. I know you said you checked your bore and its fine. The TRR8 uses a barrel with a sleeved outer body. Check to see if the retainer nut shows signs of looseness. If it appears tight next check timing (now that your DA only slowly draw back the trigger watching that the cylinder stop drops into each cylinder notch just before hammer releases). If even one doesnt you have a timing issue thats compromising alignment. After that only thing left is ammo. Incorrect bullet diameter, as Azshooter said bullets dropping out of cases, barrel has severe leading, or a too light of a powder charge. If you happen to be shooting lead bullets and a thorough cleaning hasnt been done lead buildup from cheap factory ammo will reak havoc on accuracy. (In a .357, after shooting a bunch of lead 38 ammo I run a cylinder of 158 gr .357's through the gun to flush the lead before I finish and go home to clean)
  7. Any dry fire with a frame mounted firing pin is best with snap caps to prevent an issue. But if you dry fire alot in a single session chances are the caps wore to a point where they no longer absorb the hit anyway (excepting maybe the spring loaded type). How many hits?, I dont know. So considering that I dry fired without caps with my Apex Pin. Im on the same pin for dry fire and all my matches for the last two years and no breakage. So whether its a standard length or extended it wont make a difference on probability of breakage if you dry fire. The main pin body is bottoming out on the shoulder in the bushing regardless of how long the nose is. How heavy your mainspring slapping it will certainly raise the chances and of course if its a bad/wrong material pin to begin with (C&S comes to mind). Keep a spare pin, Dry fire and practice with the one in your gun, change the pin before an important match, and run a few cylinders of live fire after the pin change to confirm ignition and no worries... life will be good!
  8. All the advice here is good. The cylinder stop or stop notches in cylinder would be the culprit (whether worn severely, weak spring, or compromised interaction between the trigger preventing reset) to allow any rotation beyond the next chamber in rotation. But what puzzles me is how (according to how I understand your description) it is skipping a chamber, landing two chambers away and locking up with the stop. Momentum from running hard double action is still quite a stretch to move a loaded 45 ACP N frame cylinder that far in a six shot as its quite the rotational distance to cover. (I can see it possible in 8's and definitely in 10's with much less rotation between chambers). I would see it more probable to land just past the next chamber but prior to the stop notch 2 chambers away. Im not saying its impossible, but seems likely if its happening and locking up two cylinders away consistently it indicates to me on top of a cylinder stop problem you have a hand/ratchet problem. The hand is staying engaged on the ratchet too long and continuing to push the rotation beyond where it should be timed to release. If so that will most definitely contribute to stresses applied to that stop or the notches and caused this problem in the first place. Before this started did you happen to notice if the trigger loaded up towards the end of the double action stroke, like almost hitting a wall before continuing rearward or felt increased resistance when cocking to single action just after the cylinder stop engaged a notch? If so you got a mistimed hand problem too! Im mentioning this just in case you have a compounded problem and before you start throwing parts at this thing just to find out its still not right etc. It may not be a bad idea to look up a Revolversmith to diagnose and repair.
  9. I never owned a Taurus but they are essentially S&W clones in copied parts and dimensions with a reputation of lower level fitment of parts compared to a genuine Smith, but Smith has slacked in that as of late too!. If memory serves me the Taurus 66 is a S&W L frame clone in that it's a 7 shot capacity. (A "K" frame or clone cylinder is too small to get 7 rounds). So the L frame equivalent size should be sufficient for what your trying to do.
  10. OAL is subjective to magazine dimensions, gun reliability preference, chamber depth, bullet profile, and effect on chamber pressure. Generally speaking the faster the powder the more sensative the OAL plays on chamber pressures. With minor loads in a 9mm running a shorter OAL with middle of the road powders (231 on up to WSF or HS6 or slower) is usually not a concern for pressure spikes and you can afford to run on the short side. Faster powders like Bullseye, Titegroup, and especially Clays will spike pressure pretty quick when you shorten OAL. Most chambers are cut deep enough to allow for longer OAL but depending on the bullet profile you may have no choice but to run shorter than published OAL. I had a Tanfo with a short chamber and it ran 1.070 OAL with any TC or RNHP to chamber and it had feeding hangups. I switched to plain RN and was able to get a longer OAL and it ran reliably. All the 9mm's Ive ever owned had better function with OAL at the longer end of the spectrum. But if you are getting 100% reliability with your shorter OAL and you have no over pressure signs than go with it!
  11. +1 for Powder Valley. Most shops and gun shows in my area dont have much of a savings on Primers or powder. Its more cost effective to buy from Powder Valley in a bulk order, minimum of 10k of primers and at least 8 lbs of powder at a time.
  12. Hogue Short release, the long requires too much rearward thumb thumb movement to get to it for standard size hands, Long might be alright if you have large hands. The TK Custom release is near the exact same profile as the Hogue short version with checkering instead of vertical serrations. In the heat of shooting I never noticed any slippage while manipulating the Hogue release as your thumb is pushing in but rolling out at the same time time so its bites into the serrations. The TK Checkering isn't necessary to me but I can understand the appeal. As far as the releases hitting and cutting thumbs... Ive honestly never heard anyone speak of it before. Im Interested and curious to know what grip style is being used to have that issue. I use the revolver grip of strong hand thumb tuck/support hand thumb wrap over grip and Ive never had any injury from contact.
  13. No one still manufactures revolvers with extractor (locater) pins anymore. Not cost effective for the extra manufacturing process and added complexity (redundancy) in a warranty repair. I believe the design change from the Round "keyed" and pinned extractor to D profile occured in 1994 on most models. But as exceptions are the norm with S&W because ship dates often lagged well beyond a manufacturer date some models were likely shipped after '94 that had the pinned extractor.
  14. If you call S&W with requests for "born on dates" for anything beyond 10 maybe 20 years old they will redirect you to contact their Historian for that info (Roy Jinks was that person, not sure if he still is).
  15. I Like this aproach, it posses all the advantages; lightened of course, retains rigidity, maintains the rear tang to cover the internals and maintains the open cylinder safety, and looks unique. I prefer to lighten my hammers to maintain the protection of the rear tang also. I am going to mimic your approach (if you dont mind) on my next hammer. Its a simple 2 axis mill job. Here is a pic of a bobbed hammer next to the underside cut I make to lighten.
  16. The original .38 Super was spec'd with a .356 bullet in 1927. Todays commercially manufactured 38 Supers all run 9mm bore dimensions to simplify things, a .001" tighter bore doesnt pose a safety issue and manufacturers don't have to inventory two different bore diameter barrels. Same thing is practiced by every custom pistol maker by stocking short chambered barrels in 9mm bore dimension and finish cuts the chamber per order in either 9 or 38 super. You can use either a .355 or .356 and you'll be fine. The .355 bore is an advantage in Supers, you can shoot the crap out of them with .355's and if they ever have barrel wear related accuracy loss you can switch to a .356 bullet and can usually get some of the accuracy back.
  17. Normal for different bullet weights (as they relate to different velocities) to shoot at different POI. Velocity equates to a distance traveled in a period of time, so a slower load usually a heavier bullet, but that depends on the load moreover) takes X milliseconds longer to exit the barrel allowing for a smidge more muzzle rise to occur before exiting.
  18. The black Talon was no more effective than any other conventional HP around at the same time. Todays HP technology far surpasses it so the Talon doesn't hold any special or reputable performance to highten interest in it for a self defense buy. So getting the carry ammo premium is probably not gonna work out. You'd have to sell it for the going price of general plinking rounds to move it. Of course it does hold the Media born Urban Legend of "teflon Armor piercing" capability, so you could fit that into a sales pitch for a little extra LOL!
  19. I failed to ask what revolver model your feeding here. If its an L or N Frame Smith or a ruger your golden to work out those loads. If your using a K Frame Id re-think. Only because K frame .357's dont tolerate a steady diet of .357 magnum pressure loads without loosening. I can tell you its true; had a model 19 in 6" (my first handgun when I was 21). I shot 158 gr magnum loads out of it all the time (young and didnt know any better) and one day the hammer fell down into the frame and the gun locked up. I took it apart to find the hammer stud snapped off flush at the frame, so began my venture to learn Gunsmithing. Just food for thought.....
  20. Be aware using a plated bulled as you are requires a velocity threshhold, X-treme is 1200 fps max on standard plated and 1500fps on double (thick plate). You didnt specify whether you have standard or double plate but 20 gr of 296 under a 125 should be giving you well over 1200 fps so you might wanna double check that and keep your loads within the max velocity. In 9mm major I drove some 124's at about 1375 and they came apart and tumbled. Also I always had better accuracy with 296 vs 2400 in all my .357 Magnum revolvers.
  21. As othere mentioned That primer is set way to far in the case. But doesnt look crushed either... I suspect no anvil or you have out of spec primer pockets that are too deep. Anything is possible these days I suppose. Also Ive loaded close to 750,000 between rifle and handgun in the last 25 years and never had a primer set off in a press from seating. So dont get jaded out of Using Federals from that, something else out of the ordinary contributed to that. I use more federals than anything else and never had a problem...they are my personal favorites.
  22. I didnt read through every reply so I apologize if this was already mentioned; If your bullets are of standard diameter for the cartridge you should be looking at concentricity issues. So look at your loads and see if the bullet bulges out the case more in one area vs other areas. This indicates the bullet is canted from the seating operation increasing the loaded diameter. I had this years ago on my 38 loads hindering monclip reloads from dropping in freely. My solution was a Hornady floating alignment sleeve seating die. They work very well and now use them for every caliber and never had the problem again. Another possible cause is deformed bullets if they are cast/coated, if they are plated or jacketed its less of a chance but rule it out. Pull measurements on the diameters of your loose bullets at several points to see if they are deformed from round to oval anything more than a .002" variance would be suspect. Again its a longshot but have seen it.
  23. Agreed! Ive shot A#7 and 3N38 in my supers. I honestly could not tell the difference in feel between the two in my Govt length gun but A#7 was considerably flatter in my shorty. So with A#7 at about half the price of 3N38 I felt alot of difference in how my wallet feels LOL !
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