Carlos

Back when the surplus semi auto CZ ShE carbines were being imported, there was a need to convert them from obsolete 7.62x45mm cal to 7.62x39 (standard for the AK-47 and SKS). Many thousands of steel 6mm spacers were made, sold, & installed not by gunsmiths, but rather the guns owners. I believe they were held in place by a form of super glue. The 7.62x39mm runs up to 49,000 CUP. While a paper-thin 2mm space would not work IMHO, the idea of a newly-machined chamer insert might be feasible. Sadly, there is not much extra metal in a P9/Tanfoglio/CZ barrel to make such a modification feasible ( not like a 2011 bull barrel; plenty of meat there).

Very enjoyable posts Sharyn. Thank you for taking the time to put these on the forum for us. Regards, D.C. Johnson

I would not even think of an OAL any shorter than 1.155" OAL if using a powder as fast as N-320. I am sure others can provide a charge weight/estimated velocity out of a G35. Also, take extreme care to prevent set-back - particularly in .40 cal w/ a powder as fast as N-320. I'd suggest the EGW Undersize of "U" die made by Lee. It WILL prevent the chance of set-back.

Correction: looks like the PC5906 magwell is more difficult to obtain than I first thought: THIS LINK to the S&W forum explains it and has yet another version/configuration of the PC 5906 pictured for your viewing pleasure.

Vincent wrote: "Uhh, I must be missing something ... Is this just an issue with the 5" version being hard to find? Or is this about the Custom Shop models in general?" To clarify: 1) There is only one model of the 5906 and it only comes in one barrel length: 4". These can be found new & used (even police trade ins) on gunbroker.com or auctionarms.com It does not have a barrel bushing & is similar to other steel frame 9mm Smith autos based on the Model 59 / double stack magazine guns. It IS listed on the website under regular S&W guns. I think it sells for $500 to $600 new. Its allowed in IDPA. 2) The gun we are talking about is the "PC" and has been in use in USPSA since Production Division began. They may add them to the catalog in the future. The letters PC stands for "Performance Center" The PC model can be built up with your choice of the 4", 5" or 6" slide/barrel (see photo above). All versions (4",5" & 6") are PCs (specifically, they are the model PC5906). Unlike the non-PC, the PCs have the spherical barrel bushing and with special match barrels, are all super accurate (as in PPC/50 yards accurate). You can also have yours built by the PC with your choice of slide serrations/types, different hammers, different de-cocker/safety levers, the magazine well, sight options listed above, etc. Whatever configuration you want though, its still the Production approved, Model PC5906 because this is what is printed on the box when it arrives from the PC: "PC5906." Some guns might also have markings like "PPC" on the slide (as pictured above) . These PCs are not listed in the catalog or website and can only be ordered in advance on certain occassions (USA only as far as I know) through the PC following John's Flentz' advice in his post above (thanks for the info). Now, an option mentioned above, for Production shooters wanting a PC but not willing to wait or pay the same price, is to buy the regular 5906, then, order at a reduced cost from the PC, the slide & barrel for the PC and have it fitted to your frame by a competent gunsmith. Having a Production gun built for you in this way should save time & a few $$$. I would also go for the PC 5906 magazine well, hammer, and the Bo Mar sights. All of this still seemed like a hassle & several months ago I gave up trying to find one of these PC guns; they almost never come up for sale used & even then, they are too much $$$ for me. I am not interested in the wait for having one built up brand new by the PC or another Production gun builder. They do appear to be the best Production gun money can buy though. Regards, D.C. Johnson

As one of the ROs at that match, I can attest to the very difficult/muddy conditions which made Rebecca's accomplishment all the more impressive. Good shooting!

I jsut called them & they told me the holsters were made by a one-man operation that is now defunct due to some personal difficulties. Appears indefinite. SHame too - the Glock CLS is my favorite holster of all time. They are supposed to be replaced with a line either made by or designed by Mitch Rosen. I'd give them a try so long as Dillon carries them.

Flavor number 3 on the list (Oriental) always makes me snicker. I am surprised that "Oriental flavor" has not been protested or boycotted someplace like Berkley or Madison Wisconsin. Sigh - I miss my college years.

EXCELLENT shooting Matt! From those sorts of results, its looking as if 2006 may just turn out to be the "Matt & Angus show" in USPSA. D.C. Johnson

"There is not enough case capacity in those .45 ACP shorts you use to make it "Scream" and "Belch fire"!!!" Load it up with .45 Super ammo & it'll belch fire all right! There was a gold mine of data on the .45 Super over on 1911forum.com before their owner turned into a yellow-bellied coward over all things-reloaded & shut the whole section down (taking the data with it). Maybe this last paragraph belongs in the "what I hate" section. Anyway, CONGRATS! on the new 625!! Given your considerable experience w/ these guns, can you tell us how this new gun differs from the day you received it from S&W? I am guessing: -chamfer cyl -Wolff springs -different grips -sights (add ammo; find a competition to shoot) Regards, D.C. Johnson

EERW wrote: " have a couple of CZ SP01 and it cost me less than $200 each to clean up the trigger and sights..still less $$$ than a NIB Sig 226 SST." Agree. My 2002 model CZ 85 Combat cost just $422 brand new and with a $7 wolf hammer spring, the trigger is great! (granted, after re-working it myself - but still less than a Glock34 +Vanek). I later spent $50 for the competition sights (though plenty of folks pay a lot more than that for Night sights). Even the new SP-01 is going for under $500 and I understand that Impact Guns have them in stock as does Angus at www.ghostholster.com Cheap is good & its supposed to be a feature of Production division.

Please post it. I understand that the newer X2 actually come right from the factory with 2 different pistons. When I bought mine in 2002, there was no such part included. What does the lighter piston cost? As for the Federals, the ones I have used successfully fit this description: "They also make a slug called Managed Recoil and it's in a red & green colored box. These are rated at 1300 fps and give me close to that in my 26er (1275-1290)."

"I have asked my wife to get me a 650 with the high/low powder checker for a Christmas present." This is an excellent idea in your situation. As for switching to N340, it may well fill the case more, but it will kick a lot harder than Titegroup at the same bullet weight/PF. I do not personally believe in using the wrong powder in place of being careful. However, there is nothing wrong with using a powder checker to do the safety check for you. If you stick with the powder change idea, there are powders coming out that feature bulkiness - such as brand new Trail Boss. I doubt you will see .40 cal data for it though; and its only for Lead bullets so far. It does however, take up a lot of room in the case.

I have the same shotgun as you, built in the same factory as yours. Mine is marked Winchester Super X2 but the parts are interchangeable (except for the speedfeed). Chokes are Browning Invector, NOT the Invector Plus like th manual says. Gold/X2 are the same gun. At first, mine would not run the Remingtons but after 2 years of use, its about 100% w/ those reduced recoil slugs. I assume you know the trick about locking the action open for 1 to 4 weeks to get the recoil spring to set. I have also had good luck with the Federal Reduced recoil slugs. You can run the S&B but they kick like hell and are too long to get the required 9 rounds in the gun. As for buckshot, the Browning Super X2 will not run the Fiochi reduced recoil buckshot; Remington works fine. My Winchester will NOT run Winchester made slug ammo, even today. Never use winchester ammo in your Winchester shotgun; it just will not work (seems kinda like something they would fix, doesn't it?).

Nearly any Kydex holster will suit you well starting out & Uncle Mikes is an excellent holster for the money. BTW, I agree w/ the others to NOT use the Fobus - it is NOT Kydex & while it may be OK for other uses (have used them for CCW) its not very good for competition. Don't be seduced by the race holster; I feel that they are less of an advantage all the time, even in Limited. As a former Ruger P85 owner, I much prefer a CZ or a Glock. More accurate and reliable than the Ruger.

Correct dimension Briley bushing is on order from Brownells. Should arrive by the time I get back from Sin City.

Though it is not purely a small-group shooting exercise, maybe some info can be taken from the results / discussion for the classifier "Area 5 Standards" (which features a 50 yard target): Link: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15938 I last shot this in Limited with a CZ Standard IPSC and at the 50 yard line, was able to keep the rounds on the paper, but with my shooting skill, I was not able to do much better and there were 2 Ds. BTW, all the other Limited shooters had at least one mike at the match (York in '05); I think my gun could have done better, but under time pressure all I could manage was all hits on paper. Luckily, there was a Bianchi shooter on our squad to demonstrate the possibilities; he shot last & showed us the value/speed of going prone. All 50 yard shots (save one C) in the A zone. He shot Open, Minor. I asked about a hold for a Major .40 load: his advice was aim dead on & you will hit slightly high. he was right.

Good point - & I used to joke around about there being two sides to the environmental debate: environmentalists and . . . "anti-environmentalists?" People who think: "I hate the environment! It should be BANNED!" WHen it comes to lead, you wrote: "Most of us here are willing to accept some level of lead in the ground so we can enjoy our sport. Some make more trades than others but we all do it. " Lead comes from the ground at some point. Besides, I understand that Lead does not "leach" into groundwater the way some other substances do - like gasoline or the extremely toxic oxygenating chemicals some States added to gasoline in an effort to, ironicaly, lower polution (I am thinking of Maryland here). Rather, lead by-products (the white oxide that forms on lead) is supposed to only leach a few inches into the soil - at most. The EPA should re-examine its priorities before attacking our shooting ranges. I once lived in Baltimore city and it was awash in lead paint on all the old houses (a few of which I owned over the years) - lead paint which has a much higher probability of poisoning people than any shooting range. In fact, I can't recall an outdoor shooting range EVER having been linked to a person's elevated lead levels. Regards, D.C. Johnson

At the last club meeting, mining was brought up and we were informed that our club earned something like $27,000 back in the 1980s for allowing a company to remove the spent shot & lead from our land. Mining was "allowed" as a revenue generator, not due to the current environmental lead hysteria (and I say that as one who is pro-environment). As for wad & claybird clean up, that was not brought up. DogorLoader- I'll send you a PM.

Thanks & credit goes to Tom/9146 for hosting & posting the above photo originally on Glocktalk's Competition section in response to my earlier search for this gun. I don't know if Tom owns that collection or whether he borrowed the photo but it represents some of the many options avaialble for building a PC-5906. Also, a note of clarification on calling S&W: when I called S&W I did not take down the person's name but she stated that if it was not on the Performance Center's website, it was not available - although she did add that the Performance Center could perform a trigger job/reliability package on a customer's 5906. However, I believe she was talking about the regular Model 5906 which is a 4" gun and the original poster of this thread is not looking for the regular production 4" gun; rather, he specified a 5" PC 5906. I'd also go for the alternate race hammer and magazine well picturerd above & the snakeskin checkering. It looks like the person to talk with at the PC to get your hands on a real PC 5906 would be Tom Gordon and I noticed that his name also appears on the test target pictured above too. If that is a 50 meter group, all I can say is: wow.

Congrats! I visited your country back in November and I saw huge billboard advertisements encouraging the turn in of illegaly owned weapons (not registered) to the Government. However, the effect of the sign was, to me, very anti - gun. Glad that folks did the right thing in the voting booth.

Some progress as well as a few setbacks; here is the Briley before fitting the hood (th 1st step in fitting the barrel to the gun): 1911 barrels come with oversized hoods because the fit of the hood into the slide is slightly different between every gun. Just the lapping ot the slide can introduce slight variations into how the slide and fram fit together and thus, where the barrel will be centered. The tight centering of the barrel in the slide means that the barrel will be centered and thus, more accurate. Many sources recommend a centering block that is the exact inside width of the slide and will hold the barrel in place to measure how much each side of the hood must be trimmed. I was taught & prefer a different method. With the slide on the gun, I slide the barrel in until it is centered by the frame and also by the slide; then I gauge how much to remove from each side of the hood. At this point, I was set to fit the bushing when I made two disappointing discoveries. First, the Briley barrel differs from other 1911 barrels in that it is a uniform diameter over its length. Usually, a bushing barrel is thickest at the front but very slighty relieved thereafter for proper functioning with a traditional bushing. This Briley was apparently made witht he spherical Briley bushing in mind (what a surprise). Why couldn't I have checked that last week when the barrel arrived & I had time to get the right bushing? The second discovery was something I knew was present before I ever heard about this barrel: ask any locksmith and they will tell you that no machined surface is perfect. This fact is what makes their business possible (opening locks without a key). Barrels are no exception; every barrel has some slight variation and no two are alike. This barrel's (though brand new) slight imperfection is a visible indentation ring just ahead of the chamber. At first I thought it might have been a slightly oversized pilot on the factory short chamber reamer, but the ring is present accross both the lands & grooves. More likely culprit was the rifling button. It is extemely slight, though it can be seen. As slight as it is, will it affect accuracy? Dunno. Only one way to tell & that is to build the gun & test fire it. I do not know this barrel's history but if it was prize table booty, it would not be the 1st 1911 part I have seen that had some slight variation to it. Since there would be no fitting of a bushing, I turned to the slide & rear sight. I found a take-off Heinie rear sight at a gun show for $5. At the time I thought "clever me!" Well, I was not feeling so clever last night when I discovered that its probably a Heinie made for a Smith and Wesson. It will not look as erfect as I had hoped from an asthetic standpoint, but when viewed from behind the gun (where I most often look at my sights), it will look just fine (more on that later). Oh well, it will still fit if I measure & cut the dovetail for it properly. First step was to mill off the rear of the of the slide to provide a space for the rear portion of the sight. Here is the slide in the mill & leveled: Notice the tape? In the next photo, you will notice the finished cut seems ever so slightly un-even front to back (actually side-to side if you were pointing the gun straight ahead): I was perplexed since I had checked with a dial test indicator (pictured in a previous thread) and found less than a thou run-out over 4" of travel lengthwise (when viewed from the side), but I did not check front to back because I assumed the vice was properly trammed. So how did the slide end up catawampus to the cutter? Remember the tape? Removing the tape and checking the tram with a 1-2-3 block (basically a near-perfect steel rectangle) proved that the vice was indeed trammed and that the tape had caused the problem. Fortunately, I discovered the tape problem & removed it before the next step: cutting the dove-tail which must be cut as true as possible. I re-leveled the slide and checked it in both directions of travel this time. The dove-tail cutter is brittle carbide and will easily break if not spun at the right speed; here, the mini-mill could be a little more precise. Just like the degree settings on your kitchen stove are approximates, so it it with the mini-mill's speed estimations. Fortunately, I approximated the correct speed (roughly 700 ro 800 RPM) and the cutter survived. I also used an extemely slow feed rate and plenty of cutting oil. Here is a photo of the dovetail cut about 1/2 complete (notice vice is sans-tape): Finally, the sight needed some time consuming modifications to fit properly, but it ended up as a near perfect fit and with the base very close to the flat top I previously cut into the slide. Here is the gun with its new rear sight and a few more parts fitted to date; completion & test fire day is getting closer. Also pictured is a Blade Tech Kydex holster I bought for this gun. Still need magazines and I will most likely go with some Wilson 47Ds (thanks for everyone's input on magazines). This week I am off to Las Vegas for some much needed R&R & will have to put the project on hold for a few. Regards, D.C. Johnson

My Glock/KKM barrel was built by John Nagel & I have had good luck with N-350 and 3n38 though the latter is quite compressed at 1.160" OAL; I only use 124 grn bullets - pref. Montana CMJ 124s. I have done a small amount of testing with Power Pistol (severe blast) and TrueBlue (friend's load).

George wrote: " MagPul anti-dive followers into my 20 year old Sanchez GI mags that have run thousands of rounds " These followers are the shiznit. If you are worried about it, throw in a Wolff XP spring. As for new mags, the Brownells true 30 round mags seem great & cheap - if they work then don't spend a cent on them; just buy 2 or 3 & be done with it. We shoot 3gun indoors & drom mags onto concrete; for that reason, I did install those MagPull floorplate protectors (not what they arte meant for, but they work).

I did some research on these earlier this year and the PC version of the 5906 is one sweet Production gun, though apparently they come at a high price & with little to no availability. From what I gather, if you are able to place an order for this Production gun, you can select a 4", a 5" or a 6" version. Other options are various slide configurations including a special heavy slide to cut down on recoil. You can specify front and rear cocking serrations in either traditional or snakeskin. A detachable magazine well is available too. As far as I know, all versions are built using S&W's excellent spherical bushing that is coated with Titanium Nitridefor both slick reliability and yet with very tight lock up. How tight? The versions built up for PPC apparently shoot an inch or so at 50 yards witht he right ammo.Another benefit is that your gun is apparently built by a single PC gunsmith from start to test fire. It took some searching to find any info on these PC versions of the 5906 and they are not listed on the PC section of the S&W website; when I called the PC, I was told the PC 5906 was not available but I think they may still build them for the right customer. The only one I was able to find used on the net went for $1600. The regular 4" 4906 can be found for under $500 (well under that for the police trade-ins) but the ones I have fired were not particularly accurate or reliable. I think for Production Division, the PC version would be the way to go. Regards, D.C. Johnson