Jim Watson

The .45 Commander recoil spring is a nominal 18 lbs with fewer turns of heavier wire so as to not "go solid" in the shorter spring space. The Wilson "Custom Tune Kit" for Commander gets you a 20 lb "standard" spring and a 12 lb target load spring. I can only assume that Wilson, Baer, et al. use stronger recoil springs to cycle their tight slides and ram cartridges into their tight chambers better. Wolff will sell you about anything you want or a sack full of different springs in a "calibration pack." My old Colt Commander will function with some pretty light loads on its stock spring, but ejection is weak with anything below barely Major loads.

The old book Tac Load is supposed to "leave the gun unloaded for a shorter time." It is also more difficult to manipulate. The weird thing is, after all that preaching, the rule book recommendation for a revolver was to "eject the contents of the cylinder into the hand and drop the whole mess in a pocket." Which left you up the proverbial creek if you should need the live rounds out of the mess. Fortunately seldom seen unless the stage was written to force it. They eventually abandoned the distinction.

I'll keep an eye out for the maneuver. When I started IDPA in 1997 there were mandatory Tactical Reloads and you better not do a Reload With Retention. I even learned a real Revolver Tac Load. I think I needed to recover the saved rounds in a match once ever and maybe two or three times with an auto. So my habits are well formed and I am unlikely to try a Gotcha Drill. I agree that things like "properly stowed" and "retention position" should be formally described. But it is not going to make me stop shooting IDPA. I can even shoot USPSA and throw loaded magazines on the ground without getting mixed up on procedures.

The current rule book does not define or discuss "properly stowed" that I can find. Probably because the tac load is no longer a required move, the only place it comes up is for retrieving a dropped magazine. So if you have a method for a tac load that finishes with you holding the partial magazine and shooting with the other hand, give it a try and find out what the local SO thinks.

"Properly stowed" does not include holding in one hand while shooting with the other. I've seen the others mentioned above used. I do not know the current position on breast pockets, used to not be allowed. I doubt the dump pouches carried by upper crust tier operators would be approved.

You guys had me worried to no purpose. MY Brazos order came in on time and in good condition. Fully coated and as round as the slow delivery brand I had been using. Same mould number, they loaded to the same OAL and gauged. I will probably buy some more, enough to match my remaining supply of small pistol primers.

When you bob your hammer spur, be sure your rims are not burred and your clips are flat. I like to be able to ease the hammer enough to drop the cylinder stop and roll the cylinder to be sure it turns freely.

Having hit 76 on Wednesday last, that division sounds good. I can't keep up with the young whippersnappers in their 60s.

Dillon will surely replace it. I doubt a 9mm die will properly resize a .38 but if you have one, all it will cost you to try is a few cases. I don't know if there is a grade of Loctite or other adhesive that would hold the carbide ring in but shaft and bearing retainer might work.

Had a guy stick two last Wednesday. Commercial "remanufactured", I don't know the brand.

The extractor would be the trick. You could screw or drive in a stud to narrow the breech face on the left side, or even put in a screw like a Peter Stahl Omega second type. Even if you could do the machine work, would SVI sell you the right width breech face? Well, yes, they will: https://infinity.americommerce.com/extractor-interchangeable-breechface-with-screw.aspx

Anecdote Alert: The Metalform 10x9mm get good reports often under Dawson label. So don't let me discourage you, but... It has been some years since I was watching closely and when Metalform announced the 10x9mm, I pounced. I talked my friends into buying them so I could order enough to get the wholesale price; 40 mags minimum. I was disappointed to see they had the 1950 rear spacer instead of the Springfield Front Ramp. I was very disappointed to find they didn't work, the follower would not always depress under more than one round. So I had to round them all up and send them back. Turned out they had put a 9 round rear spacer in a 10 round tube and that left a ledge that would stop the follower. They then worked ok for a while, but only for a while. I replaced springs which did not help much. I knew the Metalform .38 Super magazine with round follower would feed 9mm, so I took out a spacer, put in a .38 follower and spring and voi'la, back in business. But Metalform wouldn't sell me those followers. I ground the necessary relief in some spare .45 round followers which worked but was laborious. So the last few got Tripp Super followers. They are now acceptable for practice and club matches with roundnose bullets.

You are, of course, correct, that is .200" tall, not taller. Are you shooting in SSP? Seems a modified or shop made magazine catch is not allowed. ESP is not clear but you could probably get by. Magazine releases, slide stops, safety levers, de-cocking levers, hammers, and triggers, that are stock on one SSP legal firearm may be used on another SSP legal firearm from the same manufacturer provided they are drop in replacements. Parts in this list must come factory installed on standard production firearms. Special parts that are available installed only from a factory custom shop are not eligible in SSP.

My MixMaster A is mostly SA parts, including hammer, sear, disconnector. Colt sear spring, the SA was so rough and sharp it was gouging the disconnector. EGW extractor, the SA would not hold tension. 10-8 slide stop; my fault, the SA was giving premature slide lock and I filed to prevent that but took off too much. Smith Alexander mag well funnel, ILS eliminator. Steel firing pin, titanium eliminator. FLGR, my gunsmith likes them. Pachmayr wraparound grip, been using them since before frontstrap checkering became common, just used to it.

I ordered some Brazos coated the Monday after Christmas. They are talking two weeks. I figure two weeks from tomorrow, out to Jan 18 plus delivery time.

I have loaded a lot of old white box and blue box WW primers with no failures. I do not have any of the current primers in red boxes and can't say if there were a change in the product. Or if the Covid Rush has led them to reduce QC.

Not really. It is just another action shooting sport with slightly different rules. There is no Open Division, guns are pretty much equivalent to L10, SS, Production, and CO.

It is a somewhat IPSC-ish shooting sport developed by Bill Wilson and chums who thought things could be more "tactical." IDPA.com https://www.idpa.com/clubs/?type=clubs&search_country=US&search_state=FL&search-location=Sarasota&search-radius=100&search-word=&search-id=&filter_submit=

I am a small time operator, but have been more fortunate in two tries. STI Eagle 9mm bought second hand has been trouble free with Gen 1, Gen 2, and MBX magazines and my reloads with coated and plated bullets. The Buzzard (Eagle configuration assembled by local part timer) .45 is very finicky on bullet shape but is reliable with RN and quite accurate.

My 1991A1 9mm Colt with 1930 ramps is reluctant with truncated cones and I have a SA magazine marked "No TC." I expect my more "modern" guns like STI and S&W with integral ramp barrels would handle them ok, but why bother? I just load roundnose.

I wonder how many magazine manufacturers there really are. Those punch presses aren't cheap. And a lot of working parts are suspiciously similar. My FLG showed me slide stops under three different labels with the same mold and tool marks.

I like Xtreme bullets but their packaging is the worst I have seen. My next to last go-round with them, of a 2000 x 147 9mm order, I got two flat rate boxes, one contained one box of 500 bullets just kind of flopping around in a little butcher paper. The other contained three boxes, not packed tight, one cracked and leaking, one completely empty with no damage and a different color logo. I reported it and they sent me the other box of bullets. The next batch made it but still looking battered. A friend shot lots of PD for years but had some sort of falling out with them and now loads Zero.

Winchester was giving a 25% rebate on primers LAST YEAR. Shows how extra capacity can get snapped up very quickly.

I like them pretty well. I only have one not in a loaded round and it is kind of beat up from having been seated crooked and pulled but... 0.672"

O.D. of a rebound spring here is .188" over the length, out to .193" at the end where the coil is closed.