GregJ

I started with the ABC's of Reloading, which is good to give one an overview of the process and to get started. I also have Speers, Sierra, Hornady, and Lyman's manuals. My 'go-to' manual seems to be the Sierra. Also, I've found W231 to be way too hot for lead, causes a lot of leading in my Kimbers. WST for lead and moly/resin coated 200gr bullets works quite well. Good luck, and be safe.

I know it's been a while, but I finally got in two more of the #738585 1911 SS mag holsters, and wouldnt you know it, they are yet a different height. In between the 4 tall ones I got last spring, and the one short one I got at the end of summer. I sent a letter to Blade-Tech tech support, basically asking them WTH is going on (I was nice). Will be interesting to see the reply, if I get one. The second one in the pic is one of the two I just got. If I get stuck with these, I'll have my son put them on his belt in order of height - front to rear.

But what about us that can't focus on the front sight? My bifocals require that I tilt my head back to focus. The results have been worse that just letting it be fuzzy. Any suggestions for us 'old eyes' guys? tkheard...I also wear bifocals. I went to my optometrist and had glasses made where I could see distance from my left eye and a clear sight picture with my arms extended with my right eye. I believe they are called monovision glasses. I put them on when I get to the range. It takes a very short time to get used to. You will have a good sight picture without having to tilt your head back. I had the same type of glasses made two years ago. I wished I'd thought to have done it years ago!!! I highly recommend this type of eyeglass Rx for those of us that have old/bad eyes.

I load my 223 on my LNL AP, similar to what biggdawd described. If I do my part, I can get 1/2 MOA or better at 100yds out of my RRA AR. Here's my abbreviated process - tumble brass - lube cases - deprime/resize with only Hornady decap/resize die in station 1 on my LNL - trim with Possom Hollow trimmer in my bench top drill press - chamfer/debur - tumble again - take sizing die out, put powder drop in station 2 and seating die in 4 - load powder and primers - loadem up I have a Hornady concentricy gage coming, but that's for a different thread.

I've had the RRA two stage match trigger in my RRA for a couple of years. It has functioned quite well and it was a big improvement over the stock. However, in an effort to tighten my groups up, everything I've read says to get a better trigger. Sooo, I decided to bite the bullet and have a Geissele SD-E trigger on the way. Cant wait to give it a test drive.

I looked but didnt see it, maybe I missed them. EDIT: Found it, and placed order. WOOT! Thanks

I'm adding two CR Speed mag pouches to my SS setup, and need two more spacers. I could order a 5 packet, but only need two. Anyone have extras, or know if singles can be had anywere? TIA

This summer I had ordered/received some Blade-Tech SS mag pouches from Midway. I had ordered 4, and then one more at a later date. They were all the same part number (Midway number 738585), but the pouches are different sizes. I need to put another order in for more, but before I do I thought I would see if anyone else had run into this. I plan on calling BT tomorrow to see what they say. I know I should have done something about it at the time, but life has a tendendancy to get in the way.

Just had a nice email exchange with Dan regarding his handles. As a result, I ordered the standard one. I hope it helps some. Dan seems like a real stand up guy to do business with.

Anyone notice if they feel less stress in their right elbow using one of these? I guess arthritis is starting to act up in mine, and after a few hundred rounds I feel it the next day.

My SS blaster is a Kimber Gold Match II, and my son's is a Kimber Custom Classic Target. MAGWELL. I have S&A magwells on both our Kimbers. Mine is the arched MSH and my son's is flat. I have big hands and like the arched a lot better than the flat. I had a DP Ice on it for a while, but didnt like it. SIGHTS I like the DP FO front sight with the stock black target rear. The green FO works best for me. I have my sighted in for POA=POI, so the the dot of the front sight is almost like having a green dot scope on it. Place the green dot on the A zone and squeeze. I wasnt as comfortable with the all black front target sight. Thumb Safety I had to replace both the stock Kimber safeties, as they had a bump on them that was rubbing our hands raw. My GM had an ambi on it, but put a larger WC single sided safety on it, as I didnt feel an ambi was necessary. I did have a problem one time on a stage where I had to transition from strong hand to weak hand. After the transition, the knuckle of my first finger bumped up the safety. I may be putting an ambi on this winter. Clips 8 is enough, but it never hurts to have a couple more, just in case. This past weekend I was at a hose fest match, and could use 7 on the belt. Holster My son and I both have Bladetechs, and they work quite well. Mine is the Ice model, and I think it's a little quicker on the draw than the standard Bladetech. So far we have been quite pleased with both. Mag pouches CR Speed mag pouches with the 1911 spacers rock!!! They move the mag away from your body a little. Belt CR belt or AA. From what I've read the AA is a little thicker/wider, so some mag pouches may be a PITA to get on, but once on they wont be going anywhere.

Welcome! Where in NOVA are you? I'm also in the area. My son and I were at Fredericksburg's last match as well. There's some good matches in the area.

I was perusing through some posts and came across one of mine, and thought I should close it out with what I had done to make my Kimber GM II run like it should. So far <knocking on wood> I have not had any ammo related issues since August, approx 6 matches. 1. Brass: Sounds simple, but I think one of the biggest improvements was sorting out brass headstamps. I sort out all the PMC, Winchester, Blazer, Starline (and a couple others that dont come to mind right now) brass for reloading match ammo. All others get loaded for the practice range only. I now believe a lot of my earlier problems very likely could have been due to crappy brass, not having enough neck tension. 2. Throating: There was a sharp corner midway up the left side of the throat that would occassionally catch on the shoulder of the case. I cleaned this up, as well as a little polishing on the top of the chamber, just behind the barrel hood. 3. Extractor tuning: With a lot of help from PowderFinger ( ) I beveled, polished and tuned my extractor. I used the Weigand tuning tool from midway, along with the guage set. Using a digital trigger pull gauge, I now know what tension works best in my Kimber. 4. General reloading tuning/adjusting: Though a lot of trial and error, I found the right crimp that feeds reliably (.469 - .470"), as well as the best COAL for the bullets used (1.254 for 200gr SWC, 1.200 for 200gr RNF). Also, I added to the process, running every round through a Wilson cartridge gauge. This is another item that I think made a big difference in creating consistent rounds. Thanks again to all those that offered assistance, and I hope this helps others.

Cam1, I had a similar problem. I was using my work bench in the garage, but got tired of freezing to death or sweating like a pig out there. For our anniversary, my wife agreed to a bench that I could put in the basement. I found a 5' bench from Sears, along with a top cabinet and a free standing shelf unit underneath. They had several options, and some very nice heavy duty ones. You might find something on sale now. Here's a pic of right after I put it together.

W231 seemed a little too hot for me with cast bullets, always had a lot of leading. I've been using 4.8gr of WST with very little leading. I use the same load for Precision and Bayou 200gr SWC.

I load my Precision 200gr RNFP at 1.200 OAL, with 4.8gr of WST. Shoots very nice out of my Kimbers. Also, I load 200gr SWC at 1.245 OAL, same powder load.

I'm 54, and have been wearing progressive bi-focals for many years. A few years ago I started getting serious about pistols, and had to do something about my glasses, because no way I could shoot competitively with bifocals - as they force you to tilt your head back to get the front sight in focus. I had my eye doc make up a set of shooting glasses with my left a single Rx for distance, and my right a single Rx for near - set about 27", which is right where the front sight would be. So far this has been working great for me. YRMV, but you might want to give a try.

With my Kimber, I put in a lot of trial and error to get SWC to run well in it. RNF ran just fine, but my son liked to run SWC in his, and having two different loads was a PITA. After a lot of tweaking the crimp, OAL, and tuning the extractor, I finally got SWC to run very well in my Gold Match II. They always ran well in my son's Classic Target. I think the chamber in the GM was a little tighter than the Target. I wonder if this might be part of the problem you're running into? I wanted to make SWC run in mine, call it a learning experience. If you dont have the time or energy, run RNF and call it good.

OP, when you state " The noses were getting caught on the feedramp ", are you referring to a 3-point jam? Here's a pic of what one looks like (found on 'net). I've found on my Kimbers, that if my crimp was too much, I would get a lot of 3-pt-jams. My crimp for 200gr SWC and RNF is .4695 - .470, and they run perfectly. When I crimp looser, around .472 - .473, my Kimbers would choke on the 200gr SWC.

I'm in the area, and would be interested in particiapting as well.

Thanks for posting, it looks like a nice product. I would be interested in some how moving the handle to the left side, so I can take some of the wear and tear off my right elbow. Since I started running my LNL left handed, my right elbow has started feeling much better.

Great idea! I would think these on top of the small shim would be ideal, keep the screws from messing up the belt material. Thanks for sharing.

I agree with everyone, great products at great prices, and great delivery. One of my preferred vendors.

Got my first classification too, C 45.96% in SS. First USPSA match was in June. That classifier really sucked and that really kill it for me. Now I've got to clean up the dumb mistakes and shoot my A's a little quicker so I can make B.

I had a similar thing happen to the set screw on the rear sight of my Kimber. I used a slightly larger sized torx bit, tapped it into the allen screw with a hammer. This gave it enought bite to allow me to loosen it.