kcobean

Thanks. I have recently started doing about 30 minutes of dry fire practice a day, but it's mostly drawing from the holster to first shot repititions. I'll definitely pick up these books. Remember, dry fire practice is so much more than "draw, click, holster, draw, click, holster". You only "draw, bang" once per stage, so spend some time on all of the other things that happen after the draw and first bang. Absolutely. I'll be buying Steve's books to help identify the best way to exercise the myriad other things that are adding WAY more time to my scores than my draw.

Thanks. I have recently started doing about 30 minutes of dry fire practice a day, but it's mostly drawing from the holster to first shot repititions. I'll definitely pick up these books.

I'm just wondering how folks with no place to practice get better? Here in Northern Virginia, I like to say that every match is a practice session because it's the only way *to* practice. There are no places around here to practice movement or transitions with live rounds. So what would YOU say are the top 5 things you can do to improve your performance off the range?

This is my technique. I have 8 magazines for my gun. After a CoF, I'll pull two loaded mags from my bag and put them on my belt in the back pouch locations and move the rear ones to the front. Then I clean the ones I just used, reload them and put them back in the bag. That way, any given mag only gets used probably twice during a match. If I have problems with a mag, it just goes into a different location in my bag so I can test it at the range. I never understood the need to number them.

Which division do you want to compete in, I assume Limited as your most recent classifiers are in that division? Yes please. Haven't shot production in over a year. Thanks.

I'd like to get in the race. TY-72189 - 55.00%

This is a stage from the 2012 VA/MD sectional. I am hoping that some folks can pick this apart and tell me what I'm doing right/wrong and where I should be focusing my time. Scored 18 A's, 11 C's, 1 D and time was 28.72. Todd J did this in 17.37. Man that's fast! Let me have it!

Thanks Kalaur. Much appreciated.

I confirmed that the powder charge die was set for 10mm. Lowered it down so it's just lightly flaring the case neck and now the powder bar runs all the way and charges are dead on. Youngeyes, I did as you and USMC0326 said...ram all the way up, turn crimp die down until contact with bullet, lower ram a bit, add a 1/2 turn. Seems to be spot on...the flare is gone and I'm getting about a .421 at the neck, so .002 under spec. I have one question from a safety standpoint....how do you know if you're overcrimping as you mentioned above, and can this create unsafe case pressures?

Time to replace lock washer p/n 13607?

I'd do this or put it on a bench if you can. Also, if you're a lefty shooting high right, make sure your grip is as high on the gun as you can get it. I've seen one or two M&P shooters that had a gap between the web of their thumb and the beavertail of the gun. My playing around with that grip on my gun would cause the gun to rotate up during trigger pull every so slightly.

Thanks Youngeyes! You're a very helpful possum, albeit a bit cross-eyed with big ears.

Thank you dillon support! I did check the return rod and it's adjusted properly. I believe I made the foolish assumption that the dies were set properly for .40 cal, probably because so few people shoot 10mm, the odds were "in my favor", but if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. On the subject of case flare/crimp, how do I know if my crimp die is set properly? Once I got my seat die set properly, I did creatively load a few rounds (each measured on my D-Terminator scale twice) to work out my base load data, but I'm confident that my crimp die is not doing anything at this point even though when I measure my case necks with the bullet seated, I'm at .420, which is .003 under spec. How do I know when my crimp die is set and doing it's job? Thanks again!

Thanks guys. I feel a little silly now. I suspect that what happened is that the previous owner of this rig had this toolhead/die-set set up for .10mm. I did have to drop the seat die down a bit, but not what I would have guessed is the difference between .40 and 10mm case length. Maybe I'm wrong, but that would leave the powder die set too high for .40 caliber and cause the charge bar to short stroke. I will verify tonight and and report back so that the next guy who is new to these things will run across my thread in a search and go AHA! Thanks again!

When you say full travel, does that mean that the end of the charge bar needs to be flush with the end of the housing at full downstroke? What I did was I used a marker to mark a line on the side of the charge bar when the ram handle is at full downstroke. That line is probably an inch from the end of the bar. Then I ran it a bunch of times to see if the bar was travelling to the same point every time and it is. I have also been doing this with only a case in station two. While I can see bullet seat depth varying without all stations filled, would powder charge also vary like this just because of the wobble in the shell plate? I have the washer/bearing fix applied to the plate.

Thanks. Yep, still Titegroup. I took the whole assembly apart and cleaned it. I didn't use an electric parts cleaner, but I wiped everything down very well so that there was no residue on anything and re-assembled. The powder bar is moving normally and consistently to the same mark every time. Static did cross my mind as well but I agree with you that it would have to be a lot of it and it's so erratic and inconsistent that I just can't imagine that would be it. I'll try to post a video this evening.

Ok, I did my research but am not finding much here in regards to my issue. Please help if you can. I have a new to me XL650 that I just finished running 1800 rounds of 9mm on using 3.9 grains of titegroup. Everything ran perfectly and in spot checking the powder charge about every 50 rounds, the powder metering was very consistent. Then it came time to load .40S&W. I have full quick change kits for both calibers, so I pulled the 9mm toolhead/assembly off and put the assembled .40 toolhead on and got ready to go. I filled the powder hopper about 3/4 of the way, tapped the side lightly for about 30 seconds to settle the powder and started running loads through station 1 and 2 and pulling them off the plate at 3 to weigh the charges. They were ALL over the place, as in sometimes I'd get .2 grains, sometimes I'd get 6.2 or anywhere in between. I ran at least 75 cases through the powder feed station and I can not get any consistency. So, I took the whole powder assembly apart and cleaned it by just wiping everything down REALLY well and then I put it back together. I'm still having consistency issue. Seems better but not by much. I marked the charge bar with a marker with the ram in the full down position to see if I'm getting consistent pulls and they are dead on. Anyone have ANY idea why this thing is all over the map? There is no way I could start cranking rounds out with this thing right now because I would absolutely hurt myself or someone else by blowing up my gun.

Bingo. It comes from the factory greased for a reason. When mine starts to bog down I grease that and the indexing wedge gizmo and it loosens right back up. What are you using to grease it?

I've got my 650 running pretty smoothly, but the one thing that's still causing a lot of friction is the slide assembly that pulls the case feed cam back to receive the case coming out of the feeder drop. If I hold the cam back with my hand, the ram itself runs very smoothly in the body of the press, so I know that all of the friction on the lever downstroke is in the cam/slide assembly. The nylon slide that pushes against the casefeed tube to run the cam back is starting to get a groove in it from the friction. Is it time to replace it, or am I missing something else?

I was absolutely crushing primers when I first got my (used) press. I took the primer system apart and cleaned it and I also noted that the two bolts that hold the primer system on can only be finger tight. If you over tighten them, they will bind the primer disc so that it can't turn properly and that'll cause alignment issues and make the ram harder to run. Finger tight only...you should be able to push the indexing arm with your finger and it should advance the disc smoothly. If not, back the two mounting bolts off a 1/4 turn.

I just ordered 2 bearings and 4 washers (always get spares when possible!). I run a powder-check die on station 3, so I can't do what you're doing. I need to smooth the plate rotation out. Even with light 9mm minor (3.9gr titegroup pushing to 128-130 PF), I'm sloshing powder.

I'll be shooting my XDm40 5.25 in Limited this year and need to work up a good major PF load. I'm using Titegroup and Montana Gold 165gr JHPs. I'd like to see a consistent 170 PF. I've seen some references to 4.8 grains of powder. Is this a good starting point? Thanks!

As the title says, trying to figure out which of the WSM variants will work for an XDm 5.25 as a limited gun. Thanks.

I am the lucky winner of the raffle gun donated by Greeley Custom Projectile Delivery Systems out of Marshall, VA to support Area 8 Juniors (Thank you Kevin Greeley!) It's a Caspian Arms double-stack 1911 in .38 Super. I've been shooting an XDm-40 in Limited Major, but this gun is so beautiful that I just have to give it a try in Limited Minor. I was curious what the Limited folks who are shooting 1911 platforms are using for sights on these guns. It currently has an adjustable rear sight with a square notch and a standard black front sight post. I've been doing a ton of dry fire with it and I find that it's hard for me to acquire the front sight as I'm pushing out from my draw stroke. Is there a good FO front sight for these guns? Any input greatly appreciated. I'm so excited to get this gun out and shoot it. It's the 6th 1911 I've owned and BY FAR the nicest. I may just want to tweak it a little to help me use it effectively. Thanks. Kelly

Nice! I hope Springfield hurries up with the factory version. BTW, can you do Yellow?