Carlos

Buttstock carriers have a purpose - I put one on my wrist for the NRA HQ's 3 gun the other night and it worked - of course I have forearms like a girl so the circulation to my hand was not completely cut off (sorry Kath - no offense). I also put a butstock carrier around the forearm of the X2 and it worked OK as well - 5 rounds right next to the port and it did not interfear witht he sight. They were Uncle Mike's brand - I am such a cheap bastard.

Adjust powder, not AOL. Pressure increases from decreased AOL can be exponential - and unpredictable. At least loading data should tell you the effects of increased powder charge - decreased OAL will increase pressure/vel by unknown amounts.

Good advice so far; I'll add that I had the same problems with a DILLON brand press (650) and lead bullets: 2 problems come to mind: 1) Lead is inconsistant. Measure your loads again, only this time, measure, rotate the round 90 deg. measure again, move caliper slightly to L/R, measure. Notice a variation? All bullets seem to contact the seater only on their heighest point (assuming one point does not "catch" in a particular corner of the seater). With lead, the "high point" was always inconsistant - leading to different OALs. 2) Wax/lead WILL build up on the seater. Even with correct belling, wax gets on bullet tips in the box and later ends up on the seater. Once in a while, the build up will stick to one round, then you are back to the originally set OAL. Just try keeping the seater clean and maybe start out a batch of 500 with a film of your wonderlube of choice on the seater insert (I like Ballistoil). 3) Try a batch of sorted brass - may make a difference. Have any of these suggestions worked? Don't let us razz you too much on the Lee thing; I love my Dillon but I use a Lee "U" sizer die and factory crimp die in the .45 toolhead. The Lee 1000 press will continue to frustrate you, no doubt, but the ammo made on it should be fine until you can afford the Dillon. Thus, I don't think you "need" a Dillon. I'd say run the Lee until it absolutely will not work and then advertize on USPSA.com for a used Dillon (or new - your choice). The SDB and 550s are nice - also affordable.

AS usual, Kath is right on. Couple of tips: you really want a media seperator and an old 5 gal bucket - it costs less than 25 bucks on sale and gets all the media out of the cases in 2 or 3 revolutions. Buy the one from RCBS from Natchez or Midway - it features an enclosed lid that keeps the dust down. I have a cheaper all plastic one (the really cheap all blue one) - dust gets all over the place with mine. Buy media 1x per year from PetCo or Petsmart. 25 lbs of walnut cost me about $14. They also sell bulk corncob. I use both for different purposes. If you just pick up stuff off the range floor, it only needs maybe 1 hr in the cleaner. If you want to use grungy stained range stuff of unknown origin (not recommended in .40 cal) then 4 to 6 hrs in walnut will shine it right up - though it only needs to be clean, not like new. That much time will not damage your cases. Think of cleaning as adding one more reliability step - that tiny piece of carbon stuck in the extractor grove that costs you a stage wouldn't be there if you took the 5 min. needed to clean the cases. You don't need to spend gobs of money on a cleaner, any of them will do. Avoid the liquid "cleaner in a bottle" stuff. Tried it. Its a pain.

Tawn and Brian gave you good advice; I bought Tawn's old open blaster and while I am a total hack with ANY handgun, I lent it to Phil Strader this past weekend for a plate rack side match at the sectional. Unofficially, Phil mowed down all 6 plates in 1.97 seconds with that old SV - and he is not even an open gun shooter. With his 165PF limited 40, he did 2 runs at 3.01 and 3.00 seconds. As for the old open gun, Tawn put a straight 4 port comp on it and ran both with and without hybrids (no hybrids won). Buy the best of what you can afford and expect to spend $$$ on practice ammo and range time. Let us know what works for you.

Made it through 1st major match! 8 stages - seemed to be mostly tecnical stages that required lots of thought. Some running and some that required shooting on the move. VERY elaborate props - including a platform with 3 walls, 5 ports, 4 of which were "opened" by stepping on a pedal! Tricky. Needless to say I got my "c" class head handed to me, although 4 stages went very well (and I blew the other 4). Lucky enough to win the chrono raffle - I came in at 176 PF with 185 gr. 45 loads - little too much pepper in those. Learned a bunch and will be back next year. Phil Strader won limited and top LEO by a WIDE margin and Counsel won open. Thanks to match directors Donnie Bryson and Linda Chico for a very well organized match. Douglas

I sort at the end of a run - I load everything into the 100 round plastic boxes and give the headstamps a once-over before deciding what goes to a local match, what goes in the "practice" box, and what goes to major matches. Amerc is total crap; some FC 99 has heavy military crimps; S&B works, though the primer pockets are tight. Everything else seems fine.

Good question - will check and get back to you after the S.Carolina sectional this weekend. Its a factory Colt 16" semi- preban upper if that is any help. What will I need as far as twist to stabilize 145s? I have the 223 twist rates down - not sure about required twist rates in 9mm carbine. BTW, looks like minor PF is only 160 - hopefully a broad range of factory ammo will work.

Try the faster powders - by all means - I use and endorse straight Clays in .40 and .45, though I don't load for 9x19 so not sure if the benefits will be as great in 9mm as in the bigger bores. I also like the VV and Vectan powders, but if powder selection is limited in your immediate buying area, traditional US company fast burners include Bullseye, 231/HP-38 (close but not identical product) and Titegroup. Can't recomend Reddot - used pounds and pounds of it in 12 gauge - filthy stuff no matter how you load it. Clays was my salvation in 12 ga and .45.

I have shot Clays with lead, plated, and jacketed bullets in .45.Likely the smoke came entirely from the lube on the lead bullets - not the Clays powder. To cut down on smoke, you will have to switch to a plated or jacketed bullet. Westcoast makes an excellent 200grn plated SWC in .45 that I used with straight, regular, plain old Clays throughout my first season in USPSA. If you want to cut some (but not all) the smoke and still use cast bullets, try some of the molly coated ones like the "black bullet" (are these lazercast's maybe??). On the other hand, if the same bullet at same velocity and same OAL smokes less with other powders (not sure how you would be able to tell) then the culprit would seem to be incomplete ignition of the Clays. lthough rare and unlikely in your case, I had this problem once with long loaded plated 185grns in .45 - there was so much case volume, the powder was not fully igniting and there was more smoke. I now use the 185 load data for Clays from the Lee manual. It works.

Well bit the bullet and traded an old M4 colt upper for a Colt 9mm upper (16 in barrel) with bolt. The Argentine 40 round mags came in (look to be recently converted from something else - likely Uzi or similar subgun) Just need ASA's mag block and hammer (upper chokes on my AR hammers) and we'll get back with a range report. I plan to try out that nickle plated stuff from Russia - Bear or something. Its a 145 grn 9mm bullet advertised at over 1200 FPS - though a friend testing it in an STI found it WELL BELOW 1200 from handguns. It may just reach 1200fps from a carbine. Am signed up for the unofficial 3 gun out at NRA next tuesday night - if the carbine is reliable, will fire first shots in the heat of competition. D.

Another thought: 1st shot = cold chamber (and no heat transferred into the powder through the case wall). 2nd shot = hot chamber, so some heat is transferred to the powder befor firing. 3rd shot = more heat transfer. Perhaps the Vectan SP2 powder/load combination is very temperature sensitive where as the VV has additives to reduce temperature sensitivity.

Virtually everyone at the top of USPSA limited (165PF) uses N320 in the 40. Caution noted on loose or partially supported Glock chambers and the 40 SW. What bullet weight d you plan to use? Fast powders are more problematic with 200s than the 180s. You are safer in terms of pressure with the single base powders from VV (like 320) than with an equally fast powder like straight Clays. I believe 3N37 is primarily used in 9mm cases - thought it was originally a 22LR powder? Have not tried it in .40 - anyone else?

Couple of notes: Brian is right - bullet weight is generally 147grn for long 9 major because many of the lighter bullets are just too short to meet the OAL - they would barely be in the case (maybe 1mm or so). As it, I have seen a gunsmith friend's loaded rounds of long 9 major using 147s - about 4/5ths of the bullet is exposed to get to current legal length. They are fragile - you can bend out the bullet with just hand strength because there is very little of the bullet in the case - this is even WITH a heavy crimp. The gunsmith friend who was shooting these could never get them to work properly in an S_I gun; they would bend during feeding and jam (not to mention that even slight "bending" would probably ruin accuracy). I can't recall which long magazine gun he used as a platform to launch these - they did work though. Needless to say, he carried his rulebook to every match and had lots of explaining to do in order to shoot 9mm major. He gave up and now mostly shoots 9 supercomp. He'd shoot 9 major if it were allowed. Anyway, the advantages of shooting a 9mm bullet are reduced if you are limited to 147 grn or heavier bullets. Short 9mm major envisions the same minimum bullet weight as currently allowed in open - about 115 grns and any OAL to fit in mags like the Glock. The OALs would be the same as are used currently in 9x21 major and short mag guns like the Glock. If Accurate Arms would import Vihta Vouri or Vectan powder and sell it under their own name (powder companies do this all the time - I understand Hodgdon imports Clays from Australia) then one could use an "Accurate Arms" powder to safely meet 165 major in 9x19mm at short OAL lengths. Perhaps the BOD vote will go through next time.

Thanks Kukrus - for supplying appropriate authority. D.

I wish I could add hard facts to the speculation, but no such luck (or facts) so I'll add recalling an article on "hardening" cast bullets by heat treating - something like bake cast, sized bullets on a cookie sheet in ordinary oven to significantly less than 700 degrees (like 250-300 deg) for X hr. and let cool to harden them up x number on the scale; then lube, load, fire. Presto, little to no leading. As to ageing; perhaps its the surface oxidation coating that needs to form over 1 month. Where are the casting gurus now that we need you?

What is available in France as far as powder? Do you all use Vectan or Vihta Vouri? What about the 1911 vs the CZ/EEA/Tangfoglio?? As far as your food, I admire the french fry.

9mm cases made from .223? Overloading to failure? Tig welding chambers? Egads! what has the reloading thread come to? Just to add to the madness, I wanted to see if I could reload some Russian Wolf brand .45 lacquered steel cases. I got the idea from an old reloading manual that advocated relading US made steel cases in .45 ACP and .38 Special. Apparently, we resorted to steel cases during WWII because brass was in short supply. In short - the author had zero problems reloading these apparently mild steel cases numerous times. Since the Wolf cases are boxer primed in .45, I gave it a try. Just to be cautious, I lubed them using Hornady One shot over the lacquer (did not tumble these) and ran through a Lee "U" die - went through like butter! So far so good. Next, I expected a primer crimp or tight pcket like S&B cases - no such problem; they prime just fine. Crimp? Easy as pie. This steel must be VERY mild - though I imagine its still stronger than brass. Will try them out this weekend; I don't plan to shoot these regularly, but its good to know they appear to work in a pinch. Will let you know. Perhaps Clark could determine the failure point of steel cases next? (keep up the good work Clark!).

Yes, it could work. However, there are 2 reasons I can think why its not necesary: 1) the 9mm case can take the 165 PF as is. The use of modern, single base powders like VV or Vectan will deliver safe, relaible 165 velocities using published loads - certainly under European CIP safety limits if not US SAAMI limits 2) case volume would be significantly reduced, causing problems. In addition, if its anything like my rejected plan to make .45 cases out of .308 Win, you would have to ream each case after shortening because the case mouth would be too thick to accept a bullet. BTW, I sectioned 3 cases the other night: Starline's 9Supercomp and 38Supercomp appeared identical; a 9x23 Win case was SIGNIFICANTLY thicker. Strong stuff!!

Agree w/ detlef- I can't buy the ammo I prefer at any price so I make it they way I want. Does take time.

Happy with mine. Came on the gun - a well used gun at that. If it works for you, let us know. I'm keeping mine.

My new super X2 practical got a real workout at the last Northmountain shoot 2 weeks ago - everyone gave it a try including a grand master and 2 masters (guese its broken in now). Ran flawless. Concensus of the benelli shooters is that it kicks less and shoots flatter than the benelli. I bought it because its limited ready right out of the box. The downsides I heard were: -everyone wished it had a true pistol grip. I think such a grip would violate the assault gun ban here in the US. -one A-class beneli shooter found the sights too "busy". Everyone liked the stock winchester fiberoptic, its just that the fiberoptic is viewed through a notch in the cantelever. I don't notice the cantelever in competition personally, so its not a problem to me. I'm keeping it just the way it is - maybe add ammo carriers near the ejection port. My advice to buyers? After seeing the Browning Gold w/ 18 or 20 in plain barrel (5 round) WITH cantelever for about $100 to 150 less in stores here, I'd consider it -its the same action as the X2 with a "speed feed" feature - probably helps. It would need a extended tube and a fiberoptic to match the winchester. Otherwise, buy a super X2. If you go the USPSA classified route, Phil Mitchel is a good guy and easy to deal with. NOTE: the ones advertised on the USPSA website DO NOT COME WITH ghost ring sights nor do they have raised front sights like the one in the frontsight article - Phil was honest about that and he tells people up front about it. Turns out the article gun was a special proto-type that is NOT available yet. Tried to call winchester for upgrade parts - got NOWHERE. Funny, they forgot to mention that detail in the article. One more note - the X2 gobled up reduced recoil slugs, shot, buckshot and most of the 1 and 1/8 OZ trap hand loads I tried (I had some super softballs that failed to open the action fully - not enough red-dot in those). It also has a very simple action - the gas ring seems to be the only complex part on this gun. (Edited by Carlos at 10:50 am on April 2, 2002)

That's what I understand. go to http://www.pistolsmith.com and the 9x23 forum, then the thread "view from the hills" . Apparently early 9x23 were made from .223. Though I use 9mm shelplates now, the .223 is supposed to be superior. D.

Not sure about other areas, but here in the mid atlantic, most folks don't reload 9 to save money because its so cheap to buy loaded. Those who do reload 9 do it for other reasons. For IDPA, the advantage would seem to be getting the load you want as far as recoil/PF/accuracy rather than trying to save money. As one who champions reloading in general, I vote in favor of you reloading. No shortage of good advice here on BE.com

Shot this Sat. down at Blackcreek near Richmond with limited gun (.45 STI): 4.64 seconds 6.0345HF 14.0001 46.67% match avg. 2 misses on steel killed my score (though I'm a C shooter anyway so I'm supposed to shoot 46%). The stage was won by Phil Strader (who is one hell of a good guy) using his STI .40 (Limited) He shot it in 2.32, no points down. He beat out Todd Jarret (2.34 sec.) even though Todd was shooting open. I shot Phil's limited gun/load last weekend; nothing majic there: its an ordinary STI .40 with about a 3 lb trigger (yeah, at least 3 lbs) and reloads with westcoast bullets. Buy an off the shelf STI and you are ready to go race with the best of them.