motosapiens

I use lee dies for 9mm and 40. I haven't noticed any problems or inconsistencies seating flat-nosed bullets in either caliber.

I do both. Unlike most of y'all, I'm still loading on a single-stage, so no way am i going to do 1000 at a stretch. I leave everything set up and I typically load 50 or 100 at a time, just for an excuse to hang out in the reloading/gun room. Takes about 12-24 minute, and helps me unwind before bed, or kill time waiting for mrs sapiens to get dressed for dinner, or whatever. I go a couple weeks without doing much loading, then I'll do it 30-60 mins a day for several days in a row and presto, there's 1000 rounds. I have a stockpile of a couple thousand minor rounds for practice and local idpa matches, but only a few hundred major rounds for local uspsa matches. Fer sher, before any major matches, I will be double-checking the chrono of that batch beforehand. I don't know how that process will change when i upgrade my reloading system. I was planning to spring for a 550 next month (just got a new reloading table and shelves to organize the area), but my brother-in-law fell on hard times, so as a favor to him, I took $600 worth of guns I don't need off his hands. That will delay my 550 purchase unless I can resell everything quickly.

Wise words. I've shot fewer than 10 matches, and maybe folks in Idaho are just awesomer than everywhere else, because it doesn't seem like have many problems getting the stages reset. There are always several people working together, and there are always a couple people either reloading after they shot or prepping for their turn. Occassionally I see one or two people just standing around for a few rotations, but I'm sure I've stood around once or twice too. On the handful of folks who just refuse to help at all, ever, I think the logical thing to do if you can't just ignore it would be to sit with them when they're on deck and not bother resetting the stage. They'll either get the message and help, or get the message and leave, or not get the message and be the object of amusement to the rest of the squad. Seems like a win any way you look at it. FWIW, most of the RO/SO's here have been pretty good about mentioning taping and brassing when the squad gets together, and also about gently reminding folks throughout the day. I personally find the day goes faster and I shoot better and I have more fun when I stay busy resetting and pasting and brassing.

researching another confusing rule, I came across this in the recent idpa rules addendum, which appears to specifically authorize a situation such as this (using full-size mags in a compact gun)

the only rule i could find that addresses it is that you can't modify magazines to weigh more than 1 oz more than stock. my digital scale says there's only .4 oz difference between the two. the pinky rest is for sure legal, because it's a stock part (my m&p came with 1 pinkie rest and one flat). As to whether it's a disadvantage, that depends on whether you are playing a game (definitely a slight disadvantage), or engaging in realistic tactical defense training for life-and-death situations (in which case using a compact is an advantage, because you'll be training with the same equipment you carry for tactical life and death realistic self-defense real-world situations.)

It's for fun, but the idea of having very similar carry and competition guns seemed decent. well, there you go, throw the glock away and get a P01 for carry and shoot the 75 in idpa.

i think the full-length dustcover only applies to steel guns. It looks to me like that rule was an attempt to ban a particular gun (sp01 maybe?) that rubbed the rulemakers the wrong way, so they wrote a rule to try to do that, then had to write a particular interpretation to provide a creative definition of what a 'modification' is to make the rule seem less like nonsense. I wouldn't try to make sense out of it. Just use it as an excuse to buy a new gun.

good point. I hadn't thought of that. I'm shooting off-the-shelf m&p and cz's. sounds like it's something i don't really need to worry about, but it is probably a good idea to check extra carefully before a major match.

I see alot of reference to people case-gauging ammo, or having ammo that doesn't run that they forgot to case-gauge. I'm still a beginner, only loaded 6-8k 9mm and 40 rounds on a lee single-stage press with lee dies. Never case-gauged anything. every round runs great in every gun I own. Am I just lucky? Are the case-gaugers excessively anal? I ask because i'm starting to think I need a real reloading machine, like a 550, but the refs to case gauges and such make me wonder if i'll start making less reliable ammo by going higher-volume. I can comfortably load 150/hr now (including spot checks for weight and OAL and switching dies and everything). I don't want to be able to load twice that, but end up giving some of that back having to case gauge everything, or pull apart bullets that I messed up. Am I just getting the wrong impression?

Higher gas prices will cause me to shoot more matches, because shooting is VASTLY cheaper than racing dirtbikes, and I can take my econo-box instead of the big truck.

It makes perfect sense if: 1) You want to be completely relaxed in the chrono tent, and 2) You understand the potential of a combination of outliers, production variability, and Murphy's law. BB I suspect that being relaxed in the chrono tent has more to do with faith than with statistics and probability. I'd rather test 5-10 rounds each at 3-4 different chrono sessions than 30 all at once, but that's how my faith works. USPSA chrono procedures are pretty forgiving. ymmv.

9mm is not really significantly cheaper to reload. maybe $2/hundred rounds in savings. Just skip starbucks on the days you shoot. really, it doesn't matter at all. if you're SURE you're only going to shoot minor, and you want a specific gun just for that game, and you don't have any other reason to prefer 40 (easier brass or whatever), then 9mm makes sense. Most of us have at least some ohter factors to weigh into the decision.

unless i missed something important that changes the external appearance of the gun with non-stock parts, you can shoot in IDPA ssp or esp and uspsa production, limited or L10. Pretty similar to the setup of my gun. If you shoot production or ssp, you start with the hammer down. In esp or limited you can start hammer down, or cocked and locked.

I assume you've seen this http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp the max load with 115gr jhp is barely minor. presumably with a roundnose you'd have more case volume, but I'm too skeered to go off the reservation with clay's in that situation. N320 makes a verra nice minor load with 124gr. I bet it would work for 115 also.

you are correct, especially since you are operating well under the limits of pressure. Things like drastically different shape, or hollow-points have a significant effect on the case volume (for a given OAL), and case volume has a significant effect on pressure. There may be ever so slight variances in case volume with 2 different mfrs of an fmj/rn, but that's why you don't start at the max load. at starting loads, it shouldn't be enough to cause any problem. You may discover that plated (berrys) or lead, or coated lead bullets will go faster with less powder. My minor loads are about 3.7 gr of n320 under a 124 grain berrys bullet, and they chrono around 1030fps out of a cz75. They'll probably go a little faster out of your 5" barrel. With jacketed bullets, you'll probably have to use a tenth or 2 more powder.

This post doesn't bother me at all, but it is somewhat surprising, especially since I have shot idpa matches at parma and your club does a wonderful job with creative stages and creative targets (love the skateboard wheel one!). I personally find that it's a significant advantage for my personally to show up early and help set up. I don't know if it's seeing the stages so much as having time to pull my head out of my azz and focus a little. On winter mornings I think the physical exercise of toting walls and barrels back and forth helps get the blood flowing, plus I just enjoy the camaraderie of socializing with the other shooters. Once I made a last-minute decision to show up to a local match, and got there just in time for the pledge, and was there for the walkthrough, but still shot like crap and never got my focus. I will say tho that I make more of an effort to get there early at my home club matches, just because it's an easy drive and if folks come from an hour away, I won't lose alot of sleep if they don't get up early enough to be there at the start of setup. That's part of the deal with being the host club. Still, plenty of guys from other clubs are helping us.... Now that I think about it, I'm starting to see what bothered you........... This is an all-volunteer sport, and if someone shows up for a local match so late that the stages are already set up, someone is not really volunteering. That's probably no big deal now and then, but if it happens all the time at all the matches... I guess I'd pity that person for having less fun and enjoyment than I get by helping with setup and teardown. Thank god for idaho... best people in the whole state.

pretty sure the prochrono digital is built in the US, and very reasonably priced from shooters connection or midway usa. I was hoping to find one local, but the local shops only had the shooting chrony, and i have not heard much good about them.

they were in the february 'in-store' specials flyer that you pick up on the way in. I don't think they bothered changing the price on the shelf at the boise store. fwiw, i loaded up 20 or so because I'd heard the cci primers might be harder than winchester. My cz with lightened hammer spring and stock fp spring had no trouble lighting them all off.

In 40, I find that n320 is much more comfortable to shoot than power pistol or many commercial loads. I happen to use zero jhp's when I load major just to tell them apart from the minor loads. I think in general, using the fastest powder you can safely use will keep the recoil and flash to a minimum, because the powder will mostly burn up while the bullet is still in the barrel. You might give up a smidgen of velocity, but it should still go fast enough to leave a mark. for some reason, VV doesn't list a load for 124 gr xtp, but they have 115 and 147 gr xtp's, and several other 124 gr bullets. I personally haven't tried n340, but that might be a good choice if it turns out to be low flash.

are you only allowed to own 1 gun? I am allowed to own as many as I want, so when I was in the same situation (but with a cz75 I already owned), I figured the smartest thing to do was buy the cgw hammer kit and springs first. That made such a difference in my ability to shoot quickly and accurately that I figured I should buy another cz75 in a different caliber, and do the same to it. So Now I have 2. I'll probably get a shadow at some point too. Then I'll have 3. I'm a bit of a newb, so I found working on the guns myself to be very educational and satisfying.

ACK, my velocity in the above post is of course completely wrong. I had 2 different loads mixed up in my head. with 4.1 gr of n320 and a zero 165 i'm getting around 770 fps, for a pf of 127-ish. Sorry for the mistake. I can't edit the post above, so please ignore it.

If you think you would have more fun and/or be more motivated with a new gun, then you should get one.

i carry a 40c. great gun. I shot a 40 full-size in idpa until i switched recently to a cz 75. I just like metal guns better. But carrying a compact and competing with a full-sized makes perfect sense to me. They'll share holsters. One issue with the 40c for shooting idpa is that the 10th round is a real bastard to get into the mag at first, and so the mag is harder to seat than if it's not loaded to full capacity. I actually shot mine with 9+1 because it was too easy for me to not fully seat the mag with 10 rounds.

What velocity are you getting? what gun are you shooting? Is your chrono reliable? With a 124 grain bullet, i make 126pf with 3.7 grains of n320 (in a cz 75) People are making major in .40's with 5 grains of n320.

Thanks for all the looks. That sets my mind at ease a little. I thought I was probably over-thinking a little, but that's probably better than blowing myself the #$&! up. Interestingly enough, many of the factory rounds I shoot look a lot like the really flat example pix in this thread. But if they blow me up, at least I can blame someone else, lol.