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Not able to make power factor using Berry's plated 230 gr or Zero Jacked 230 gr. I do not have a chronograph but somebody brought one out to a local match this weekend. With 4.4 grains WST at 1.25 OAL I was averaging around 650 fps. With 4.7 grains WST at 1.25 OAL I was around 670 fps. This is coming from a 5" 1911 Kimber Grand Raptor. These number are really surprising to me as I see many people report making 170+ pf with 4.4 grains WST. Any advice on how to get to power factor, bump up the charge of shorten the OAL? Thanks.

That's awesome that your numbers are low but after I tested very high for lead (66) I had my two young kids tested. One was 3 years old and the other 11 months. At that time, I was told they would start chelation on my kids at a blood level of 10 or higher. The 3 year old tested at a level 6 which they said was elevated. A friend of mine went through chelation and it is not a walk in the park not to mention very expensive. If my kids were at a blood lead level 10, I would be very concerned. If you don't have insurance, one of the "any lab test" places will do a test for around $75.

There is a DIY Pest Control place near me. They sell professional grade exterminating products. I bought something called Bifen I/T which gets mixed in a garden sprayer. After spraying the yard and under porches, etc it has made a big difference in reducing mosquitos around my house. It was less than $35 and looks like it will last me through next year.

It does really suck! I've been dealing with it for the last year and I'm just now finally getting to the point where it isn't an issue. There are some good threads around here on dealing with it. Include "shooters elbow" in your search. Wearing one of these bands helped a lot: http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Band-ABI00-Therapeutic-Forearm/dp/B000FML7SW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1340631517&sr=8-3&keywords=tennis+elbow+brace Also using one of these helped: http://www.amazon.com/Thera-band-26102-Flexbar-Exerciser-Tennis/dp/B000BPV3GO/ref=sr_1_4?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1340631663&sr=1-4&keywords=tennis+elbow Good luck.

I have no first hand experience with 231 powder but your OAL seems long to me. 1.25 is what it load to for all the powders I've used so far.

Happy birthday! I hope 28 is as good to you as it was to me.

You never want to let fear enter into your mind when you are shooting a stage. Our minds have a way of allowing us to focus more on our fears than on our talents. The more we focus on one thing, the more likely that one thing will happen. If you walk up to the box and say to yourself. "I hate no shoots. I always shoot no shoots" then guess what, you have now programmed shooting a no shoot into your mental image of the stage. This is something that I have to continuously work at. If you tell yourself that you suck at doing X, then you have already pre-programmed yourself for failure. If no shoots are eating your lunch, then tell yourself when you walk up to the shooting box that they don't exist. Just act like the A zone is the only thing you see.

I'm registered and looking forward to this match.

Right now it's 4.7 grains WST. Was running 3.9 grains of Clays but on the one chronograph I had access to, it was no where near making major factor. The WST is a little dirtier than Clays but not enough to make a significant difference.

What are you going to use the pistol for? That will be a big factor in answering your question. .40 vs .45 recoil is different, but nothing that you won't get used to pretty quickly.

I use the Dillon pick up tubes for my Lock n load press and I've had a few upside down primers and I think they are flipping in the tube.

Good to see some more Georgia folks on the forum.

Reasonable match fees of $20 add up quick and match fees are one of the cheaper parts of this hobby. No way I'd pay $35 for a local match.

Luckily I don't react to mosquito bites but my kids sure do. My 1.5 year old son will get whelps that last for days. Skin so Soft seems to keep the buggers off the kids and witch hazel seems to help with the itching.

I would definitely avoid any of limited capacity divisions. Limited minor wasn't one of the 3 options you laid out, but that is what I would probably do. Good luck and hopefully you'll bounce back fast!

I've had my egg for about 10 years and I fall in love with more and more as time goes by. If something happened to it, I'd be waiting for the store to open the next morning to replace it. My phone is filled with tons of food p0rn pictures of all the stuff I cook on it.

Marking my brass is the final step in my quality control. I put 100 rounds in a box and then then draw two lines that end up making an X. While I'm drawing the two lines I'm looking for any primer issues. It probably take 30 seconds to do 100 rounds. I find this beneficial because in addition to making me take one final close look at my ammo, it allows me to see which live rounds are mine at the range and it helps me get my .45 brass back. People usually bring me my brass since they know I have it marked. If my brass wasn't marked, I don't think I would get any of it back.

If I'm in doubt about whether the make ready command was given then I ask the RO to confirm it has been. I wear electronic muffs over molded plugs when I shoot and you can pick up a lot of noise from bystanders. It's frustrating when people are close to the shooter and running their mouths to each other, but it happens. I RO at our local matches a fair amount and it is not uncommon to have to give direction to someone other than the shooter prior to the shooter making ready, such as asking people to back away from the line.

Make sure there isn't an excessively sharp edge on the groove where the spring sits down into. I took 2000 grit sandpaper to that area and the primer shuttle surface when I first got the press.

My blood lead levels have been high for a while so I avoid lead bullets. I also shoot indoors a fair amount. Even the handling of lead ammo is a source of lead exposure. Plated bullets don't cost that much more over lead so that's what I run.

Soaking primers in old motor oil is what I've done but I feel the need to pull the bullets from any live rounds before hand.

When I started loading .45 I tried some Titegroup (with 230 gr bullets) at the lower end of the recommended range and it was extremely dirty. Like the gun stopped running after a few hundred rounds kind of dirty. Once I bumped the charge up it was better at burning more powder. 3.9 grains of Clays behind a 230 grain bullet was very clean shooting but I was having issues making power factor. Now I have settled (for the time being) on 4.7 grains of WST behind 230 grain Berrys.

During dry fire practice I always have the trigger guard around nose height but in matches I always wind up dropping it down to around chest height. Bringing my reloads up to face level in matches has been a goal of mine but this discussion has me rethinking the importance of it.

I'm a fan of the ambi safety for playing games. Once I had a factory Kimber safety break and it was a bit of a PITA to take apart but after switching to Ed Brown wide ambi, it is so much easier to take the gun apart. On the one that broke, it was the right hand side and the gun still functioned until the safety was replaced. For me, I like how the ambi helps keep my grip high on weak hand only shots. Seems like we have been doing a lot of weak hand only shots around here lately. I have narrowed the right side of the safety by a decent amount so it doesn't interfere with my two handed grip.

I shoot single stack and carry 7 mags on my belt and can see the benefit of identifying potentially problem mags. I've marked them with a Sharpie but that isn't permanent. Suspect mags usually tagged with a paster and get regulated to barney mag only status until I feel confident whatever issue has been resolved. Having a trophy shop engrave numbers on the mag tubes has crossed my mind but I haven't looked into having it done.