Steve L

Since this was revived I'll share my Ruger, I'm currently using it for IDPA SSR. I have chamfered the cylinders, bobbed the hammer, Hogue grips, trigger serrations removed and rounded, action trigger work 7.5lb double action. It can be seen in action in my videos.

I use the Safariland 568 holster, I prefer the suede style lining that comes with it and sits comfortable. I also has adjustments for cant.

It's easy to see why you love Matt Cheely's work

Go slow and don't try to keep up with the seasoned shooters. Master the basics such as sight alignment/trigger control. especially master the reload. Know where you are going to go before you get there and pick your spot for the reload on the way. And go slow. I consciously think about everything I am doing that I feel I go slow because that's the way I started, but now my mind visualizes everything faster. So while I feel I am going in slow motion I am going faster. But there is another section in this forum dedicated to that topic. I also think reloads are more important than trigger speed because no matter how fast your splits are, a slow reload will get you no where. Oh and don't be afraid to ask "how should I shoot this stage?" before you get to the line. Almost everyone will help when they can.

On his website Dave Clements says as far as S&W he will only do caliber conversion on the N frame. He will turn a 27/28 into a 10/.40 or .45 It would be worth a phone call to see if he will do the conversion on a 686 though.

When it comes to 9mm major I go to the range with several different ejectors, long/undercut/point 75% high. Short/point top. short/point bottom. medium/middle point. etc. I test each of them till I get the one that works 100%. Another problem is the heavy recoil spring is not allowing the slide to stay back long enough to strip another round from the mag, there is a video on this forum where someone tested too heavy, good, and too light of springs in slow mo. Too heavy and the slide speed can be the cause of nose dive jams. With all the suggestions here I just recommend changing one thing at a time and test each before trying the next option

I think the problem is monkey see money do, yet monkey don't know what he's doing. When Sopranos came out people wanted to be like Tony. When Fast and Furious came out people bought spoilers for their cars. When someone sees a USPSA open gun, race holster, sub second draw to first shot then what? That is one of my concerns.

We do this with quite a few female shooters during M9 training. There are a few professional shooters doing this as well. I also see left handed male shooters pretty much weekly who mastered a traditional mag release. So it is definitely feasible for you to do. I have small hands, to drop a mag I use my support hand middle finger knuckle to flip the gun towards my strong hand thumb to drop the mag then reestablish my grip while the new mag is going in the gun.

You may need to relieve the ejector like mine below. Or try an already tuned ejector from Brazos. 9mm Open guns are very picky about ejection. In the case of feeding, your OAL seems too long I'm at 1.155-1.165. Also, I always have trouble with new springs in my S_I mags, when I replace them I load them to capacity for two or three days and it usually takes care of excess force when feeding a loaded to capacity mag.

figured I would include some pictures too

I like that idea, and have herd about it before. Do you refinish your gun after you do it? What do you do it with, file, sandpaper? I use a half round file. I pin the grip safety and if its not getting pinned such as a carry gun or IDPA gun I tape the safety so it is completely depressed, I also leave the thumb safety in the down position because when cutting up the frame I want the thumb safety to be blended to the new relief. (if you don't do this it will cut up your hand pretty good). One everything is smooth and the way I want it I start going over it with sandpaper from 60 grit to 120, 210, 300, 500, 850, 1200, 2000, then finally go over it with scotch brite pad to get of the remainder of the sanding marks, it is smooth and not even noticeable the work was done if you take your time. The frame, grip and thumb safety's have all be filed so it will need to be refinished or cold blue. I start out with a gun in the white anyway, I only did one factory 1911 and it was bead blasted getting ready to get a Black T next.

I relieve the frame and grip safety on my 1911/2011's to get the high grip I prefer. I have not found a grip safety that allows me to just drop in and feel good. I also mate the top of the grip safety to the frame so its flush but that's just cosmetic.

If it is anything like a Glock they have POI the white dot on the front sight rather than the top of the blade. I want all my guns to shoot POA/POI. Especially if your duty gun shoots that way, there is no reason to have to think about which gun points where.

I had a Para that once it was worn in, the thumb safety no longer worked. The thumb safety could be engaged but the hammer would still fall if I pulled the trigger. Para uses soft metals, the sear became so worn it did not align on the hammer hooks any more. That is when I became a fan of the EGW hard sear and have not seen the problem again.

Lighter one "should" hit with higher velocity. This is why some aftermarket Glock strikers are lightened, although it works in with trigger pull too but thats not the point of your post. Titanium firing pins are lighter but have been known to break as well. I would pick the one of the two with a better reputation if they are both igniting primers reliably and consistently. Of course watching for flow cratering or piercing.

let me correct myself I load 1.125 OAL no problems at all and I picked that length so I can shoot the same bullets major or minor in my Glock, XD and STI no pressure with my loads with federals to russian primers.

D Roc those results are similar to my test with a factory glock 35 barrel and plated bullets. I also really like that chart.

I use the Bul ambi safety. It is obnoxiously wide so I can't miss it. I have tried the brands you mentioned as well, and the Bul is cheaper so I was skeptical but it is now my favorite.

I use the same powder for both just drop the charge USPSA I shoot an STI 5" .40 and IDPA a Glock 35 I shoot the same OAL for both Titegroup 180gr 1.115 4.6 for 169pf 3.5 for 140pf

Same dies but different shell plates. I used .223 like already mentioned and bought the 38 supercomp caseloader feed plate adapter from dillon.

If it is a newer Para it is pretty much a guarantee it will have the Para extractor, there are companies that sell sleeves to use a normal extractor so I wouldn't worry much about that. If you are shooting outlaw or HM where .45 is required I think the para would be a hard gun to beat for starters.

You realize that you just contradicted yourself, right? And, you stated the truth after- 9mm Major cannot be made to shoot as flat as .38SC/Super. "Flat", as we talk about it in terms of how the gun moves, means "lack of apparent up and down movement to the shooter". "Flip" is the opposite of "flat". By way of example - Jake Di Vita shoots a 9mm Major race gun. I shoot a .38 Supercomp race gun. We got together this summer before the Double Tap to do a little shooting. Both of our guns look similar in movement to the bystanders watching us shoot (that is, they both appear to be flat). However, after shooting my gun, Jake says "Holy shit, that gun shoots flat". It's also an order of magnitude louder than his. The point is - what people looking at your gun move think about how it looks says nothing about how it's moving from the perspective of the shooter. "Flat" or "flippy" can only be judged from the perspective of the shooter. The bystander is actually reacting primarily to your shooting platform and recoil control - the gun actually moves more quickly than they can fully see. It's an illusion that the gun appears to be flat to them. Having a gun shoot "flat" is not important for the reasons you think - most people think it has to do with a quicker followup on the target. More important for that is consistency of movement, so that the gun can be timed. Where flat comes in handy is in shot calling. A gun that appears to shoot flat is actually a gun that is staying more stable through the early part of the recoil cycle, not one that is literally staying flatter through the whole thing (high speed video clearly shows that all of them actually come off line a good deal, regardless of caliber or load selection). The action of the comp and ports keep the muzzle down on line longer and prevent the dot from moving away from the POA as quickly, leading to a "deeper" impression of the dot on the retina at that point - and thus a more emphatic and accurate shot call, especially in bright sunny conditions. Dave, of course you are absolutely correct. My 9 is not as flat as some 38 supers I have shot. I have never shot an open gun that was "flat as a board". I meant my statement from the spectator standpoint. My gun flips, I don't care because it flips consistent and dot tracks perfectly, to me. I have a shorty that is snappy but shoots quicker follow up shots but the full size gun I shoot better. I also would not have thought I shot the shorty faster if it weren't for the timer telling me so. I like a little flip in any gun since I shoot irons more often and they flip. I had people tell me my glock 35 does not move when shot, yet I know full well it is moving. Like you said recoil control is what others are seeing. My statement on 9 can shoot as flat as 38 super was definitely the wrong terminology, but with the right powder, comp, slide weight, bullet etc. 9 can shoot less flippy then some 38 supers (trying not to use the term flat). I tested 2 powders in 9 major 7625, and autocomp. in 38 super I tested way more and no powder gave me the results I read about. That is when I decided consistent straight up and down dot movement was more beneficial. I think a big problem with getting into Open is there is too much variation in everything, personal perception and spectator perception, to decide where to begin. Of course as you mentioned recoil control is a big thing, whats comfortable to me may be violent to the next guy. Which brings me to my next point for the OP, 38 super is easier to start out as a new reloader their are more powders more case capacity to load well within reasonable pressure limits. Also the powders can alter the feel of the gun to make it react the way you want as long as you don't mind trying various powders to find the right one for you. Once again I am contradicting myself saying I tried different powders and didn't find it useful. However there was a difference with each powder I tried, just not enough of a difference for me to care, and of course that also was associated with my particular gun set up.

you don't seem to want to make limited your primary focus in USPSA so the p14 will be fine. It will also be great for 3gun. I started with a P14 in limited and I can only think of one stage at one match where it was a distinct disadvantage. I had 18 in the gun and it was a 20 round hoser stage with the final shot being around the barricade, this was the only chance I had to reload coming around the barricade. I came in 3rd on the stage by a little over a second. The real reason I switched to .40 is because it was a lot cheaper to reload and I also shoot .40 in production and 9mm major in open, the Dillon takes the same shell plate and primer setup, with a quick change kit I can switch my 2 calibers in under a minute. So ease of use is why I did it, same reason as you just the opposite way around. I like the para I don't have an LTD but some work some don't and the ones that don't work, to fix, could end up costing as much as an STI Eagle in .45 but then again who said the Eagle would work out of the box too.

I go so high on my grip that I actually pull the grip safety away from the sear spring. Even when shooting a Glock I have slide bite on my hand.So, I did two things, one was pin the safety the other was I relieved the beavertail to a high point so I can go even higher on the gun. Guns that I don't pin the safety I used an oversized memory grove then sensitize the safety.

The reason I don't think you can give it a number of practice rounds is because its too easy to start blinking again after you though you mastered not blinking and calling shots. I noticed I was blinking so I sat at an indoor range just to get used to the blast, then I started double plugging and wearing a hat. That will stop percussion which is kissing cousins to flinching. Then still at an indoor range I just fired my gun not at a target and watched the sight and nothing else. Soon you notice the sights in recoil. Then like sin-ster said after you start seeing your sights in recoil you will start to notice where you pulled the trigger and where the sights were. I don't know how many rounds it took me, but I see people who have fired thousands of rounds and still don't understand this concept.