Lou D

If you go back and read my posts,I get all of that,but if you say brass has nothing to do with it,then why not run the 10mm,which will have the same exact capacity because .40 is a shortened 10mm,will make major at an even higher safety level,[probably have to load it down..]and run better in the 1911 platform? The reason that .40 became the round of choice was capacity based. The rest grew from there. Does brass availability make a difference? Of course... but that's not THE reason. Look at guns running 38TJ or 38SC. They're basically buying nothing but new brass.... The .40 and the 10mm have the same capacity,the 40 is a shortened 10mm... I just did some research,now I'm really confused..Are you guys buying new or used .40 brass? I just looked at the website of a very well known gun and shooting supplier,the difference in price on said website between 1000 rounds of new .40 and 1000 rounds of new 10mm is exactly $4.01..Not even 1/2 cent a round,.04 cents.If you buy new brass,and practice with it,pick it up,reload it and keep using it for practice,then use the used brass for total loss matches,[which is what youi probably do anyway],the cost becomes almost inconsequential.Yep,mine will definately be a 10mm...

If you go back and read my posts,I get all of that,but if you say brass has nothing to do with it,then why not run the 10mm,which will have the same exact capacity because .40 is a shortened 10mm,will make major at an even higher safety level,[probably have to load it down..]and run better in the 1911 platform?

40 S&W brass is much less expensive than 38 Super. Albeit the 1911's in 40 S&W appear more temoperamental than either in 45 or 9mm/38 Super. I kinda wondered about that.The 9mm could be a real PITA to get really running in a 1911,and being a fatter cartridge,the .40 to me would seem to me to be an even worse cartridge to get running 100+ percent.I think I might look at a Browning Hi Power in .40,way cheaper,already a doublestack,made for the shorter cartridge,and handles just like a 1911.Of course,not much in the way of cool parts for it like a 1911,but then,the slide is already lighter to begin with,and I could just make whatever I need for it myself,LOL!!

Actually,I don't carry a 9X21,I just think the 9 is such a pipsqueak,I bought a reamer.Didn't hurt that my buddy,[a famous builder] had 4000 rounds of 9X21 brass,half were loaded with jacketed bullets,and a Bar-sto 9X21 barrel,bought the lot for 75 bucks,LOL! I carry either a custom Star .380 I built,11 rounds in it,or a micro .45 I also built.The Star is a really cool little gun,only an inch or so wide,but a 4" barrel,nearly full size 1911 type grip,with an extra mag in a knife pouch on my belt,got 21 rounds on tap.The .45 is only 28 ounces empty,steel frame,holds 7,and I carry an extra full size mag with that..[because they don't make a .46..At least I haven't yet,LOL!!] I'll post pics of them..

By the way,did I mention that,except for my WWII military stuff I don't want to ruin,all my 9mm's are punched out to 9X21,LOL!!!

Here's a post on the matter from a friend from a local forum: http://vintagepistols.com/40isbad.html Thanks JAR!!! All you guys,read that link,add "and the .45 GAP" to the headline,and sign my name to the bottom!!!...LOU

So,here comes the can of worms..Why don't I like the .40?..For starters,refer to my original post,and concentrate on the "old fart" description.. I'm a 56 year old guy,been shooting competition since the early 80's,always shot .45's and .38 Supers,because that's all there was.I chuckled when the .40 first came out,so did all my older or as old buddies..I waited for years to get a 10mm,didn't want a Bren,had to have a Delta.Bought one,loved it,traded it in on a beautiful polished blue Weigand Delta in 2001,still my favorite non race gun.Now,out comes this "shortened" 10mm designed by the FBI,a special cartridge for people who couldn't handle a 10,and couldn't shoot well enough to get the job done with a 9mm..Great,a bigger,more powerful,easier to shoot cartridge that predominantly ended up in the hands of people who,for the most part,couldn't shoot to begin with,and figured a poor shot with a bigger gun would compensate for not being a great shot. That said though,yeah,I can see that the .40 probably is the right cartridge for a Limited gun,better capacity than a .45,makes power factor easily,fits the 40 or larger rule for major,and cheaper to shoot than a 10mm,.38 Super or a 9X23.I thought the factor for major would be high like IPSC,I wondered if you guys were really pushing the .40 like IPSC guys did to the Super before the 9X23 and 10mm came out. I don't have a problem with it as a true competition cartridge that fits the rules perfectly,and I probably will go with a 40 if I build a gun,but it'll be a COLD day before you see old Lou shooting a .40 in IDPA or carrying one,LOL!!

I've been shooting 3.5 pound triggers for 35 years,I have really strong hands from building custom motorcycle frames & engines since I was a kid,I'd get AD's with anything lighter,LOL!!

Yeah,that makes sense..I didn't really care too much about the brass cost,I shoot what I shoot,and I have a bucket full of tens,LOL!! What's the power factor # for USPSA major? Me,if I wanted capacity and power,I'd be building a 9X23..I'm asking because even though at the moment I have nowhere to shoot,I may start buying parts to build a gun.I could easily go .40,I have a pile of brass I got from a local PD,but I just HATE the cartridge,I swore I'd never own a gun in .40.I do,however,also have a corresponding pile of .357 SIG I'd like to shoot in something besides my Glock.. PF for Major is 165 with a minimum bullet diameter of .40"/10mm. I didn't know there was a minimum bullet diameter.Is bullet diameter the same for minor? What is Minor? 125?

Yeah,that makes sense..I didn't really care too much about the brass cost,I shoot what I shoot,and I have a bucket full of tens,LOL!! What's the power factor # for USPSA major? Me,if I wanted capacity and power,I'd be building a 9X23..I'm asking because even though at the moment I have nowhere to shoot,I may start buying parts to build a gun.I could easily go .40,I have a pile of brass I got from a local PD,but I just HATE the cartridge,I swore I'd never own a gun in .40.I do,however,also have a corresponding pile of .357 SIG I'd like to shoot in something besides my Glock..

Just curious..I see everybody building their Limites guns in .40..Why not 10mm? The .40 case length isn't really meant to run on the 1911 platform,the 10mm is,and the 10 seems to me to be more versatile if you want to use the gun for purposes other than competition,and,to me,just a more desirable cartridge,especially for a high dollar gun like a 2011..Is it a case of the old Howie Mandel line:"that's whatcha do.."?[Just a bone headed inquiry from an old fart who despises.40's,LOL!!]

Oh yeah,by the way,my tastes have changed,I'm gonna crap can those grips,and put on a nice set of wood grips.I may change the color to candy red or something on the inserts,and anodize all the aluminum to match.I've been updating all my guns,and this thing could look REALLY sick with a little color on it.

Factoryville is the closest range to me,but it's still a miserable 40 minute ride if I take a shortcut on dirt roads,50 or so by highway..They shoot on Saturday,and since I own a bike shop,I haven't really been able to get away.I have a nice job offer,though,so I might have a big change coming.I'm so fed up with not shooting,I may just close Saturdays. My gun doesn't actually use a Commander slide,I bought a standard length STI,and cut it to the minimum length I fealt it would be safe,I even cut the front off at an angle down to the spring tunnel to get weight off the slide.It looks goofy,but,since ya can't see it.... I beat my brains out trying to get it to work with the same loads I use in my IDPA gun,but they simply won't cycle it.Even with a 9 pound spring or lighter,it simply wouldn't cycle because of the comp and the long barrel.It's funny,I had to load it up to over 1100FPS to get it to run,but it still feels like a 22.The loads aren't really hot,but with a 6.5 inch barrel plus the comp,so it steps the muzzle velocity up a little,LOL!! I actually worried it would be too accurate,I wondered if on the barricades,it might only shoot one hole if I shot too well at the close targets.. .It's really a great gun to shoot,it's balanced well,and the shroud is so thin and close to the slide,I can almost wrap my fingers completely around it.That was one of the main things Doug liked about it..That block on the front is almost completely hollow,it looks like a huge hunk,but it only weighs an ounce or two,and there's probably a 3 inch gap between the slide and the block under the shroud.I guesss if guys are looking at that bushing up front like I have,I'm way ahead of the curve,I built this thing nine years ago..

I'm outside Scranton Pa.Actually,the gun I'm building is gonna be .38 Special,this puppy is .38 Super.Haven't shot Action Pistol for eight years or so since my club folded up,no place even close where they do it.I never even really got to shoot this thing in an actual match,I was still developing it when we lost our property.With the price of gas these days,I barely shoot at all,the closest gun club to me is a 45 minute drive.I have a few friends that I'm getting together with this season,we're gonna split travel expenses to shoot IDPA and PPC,two clubs within an hour drive.My good friend Lynn Grabosky shot the Cup every year,he passed away five years ago,maybe you knew him? Anyway,the gun weighs a lot less than you would think,the slide is shorter than a Commander slide,pretty much the whole area under the shroud is empty.I made the shroud by welding two pieces of Harley Davidson hard chromed fork tube to two heavy pieces of steel,and I pressed a sheet of 3/32 steel down through them with a solid steel bar the width of the frame.{I'm a custom bike builder,by the way..] I carved the prone rest with a Dremel after hacking out what I could with a mill.It's still a cool gun to just mess with,though,even if I don't use it for what I built it for.Probably be a killer Bullseye gun..Really,since I made most of the cool stuff,and I built it ten years ago,I really only have $800 bucks or so in it..I do a lot of wierd stuff,check out this goofy little project...45 Carbine!!

Sounds like a scam to me Sorry.. What do you mean? A scam because they won't reuse an SA barrel? One of those builders is Clark's,check their website.The barrels are inherently weak,I speak from experience.On any other 1911 barrel,the whole thing is one solid forged piece.On an SA,the barrel and chamber are seperate pieces.The lugs are pretty much attached to an 1/8 inch piece of metal.When the lugs break off,you can see the barrel tube underneath,I've changed 4-5 of them.If you don't believe it,I'm sure somebody else here can verify it.I may actually have one in the scrap bucket.By the way,good luck trying to get them to send you another barrel even if you send the old one back to them,so you end up spending 50-100 bucks shipping the gun back to get a 35 dollar barrel..I just put in a new barrel instead of wasting the money.. Mmmm yeah I think it a scam.. If you don't that's cool. Change them all you want it's your gun and money As far as paying for shipping SA pays for shipping both ways.. Cheers, Los It's definately not a scam,these builders don't want to put these barrels back in because they break.Would you want to pay a shop like Clark's $2400.00 for work on a Bullseye gun,and in 6 months,the barrel lugs break off? I'm not some big time builder,I just mess around at my buddies shop at night,I've seen four or five SA's with the lugs broken off over the last ten years.Didn't know SA payed for shipping,just talked to them three months ago about this very same problem,but I was just trying to send the barrel back.I ended up putting a Series '70 Colt barrel in the gun,they wouldn't do an exchange forthe bad one..If I still have it,I'll post a pic..