cautery

+1 brass rod. Required range bag tool. I just keep it in the field cleaning kit for my pistol. I think your friend's method of clearing the squib is both unnecessary and dangerous. If he persists in doing stuff of this sort, consider not being around him during his less sensible periods.... you'll live longer.

Heath... various stuff, but primarily for degassing and pressurizing casting materials.

Hey Kyle... Nah, money isn't really "tight". I can buy either or both NIB today if I decided to... I just thought I'd "space 'em out" a bit and use the rest to pick up some other stuff I need to get like a good timer, chrono, vacuum chamber, pressure chamber, et al... I can grab the other one later... Kevin... not a bad suggestion... G35 and a second upper... In any event, thanks you all for helping me decide.... G35 it is...

Good arguements for both sides.... not helping me decide guys.

Good point... Another plus for the G35 in my situation is that testing data on my barrel design would be more easily correlated with the existing base of competition G35s...

Ok, I need to buy a new pistol. I had a G22 that I had done lots and lots of work on and I loved it. Unfortunately, it is gone now (with my original prototype barrel), so I am starting over. Since I am "Glockless" at the moment, this new pistol will need to fulfill several roles for a while in the following order: 1) As the testbed pistol for use in testing the results of my various projects, not the least of which is the final design of my custom barrel design. 2) As my carry weapon. 3) Regular range practice and local pistol matches. I prefer to stay with the .40, since I have the most experience with that cartridge, and since I still have the chamber reamer I had made for my barrel design. I want to be able to use the data I gathered a few years ago as a base on which to continue my R&D into the final design. So, I suppose my choice is between the G22 and G35. I'm leaning toward another G22, since the G35 would not be conducive to carry, but I could just get the G35 and wait to buy a carry weapon later. However, I'd have to buy a new holster for it. I DO still have my belt, holster, and mag holders that I bought for the G22. Any thoughts? I will eventually end up with both, but I don't really want to buy them both right now. Thanks,

Hey Kyle! Long time no holler at... Not worth going into... Suffice to say that I am finally back home here in Texas... this time for the duration. Yep, when I saw that you were the mod in that forum, I decided to come hang out here. I'll post in Glock about the barrel design when I get back to it. I kinda needed to get this project done first anyway... Need to have my shop up and running before tackling the final stages of that project anyway... if for nothing else than to be able to have a ready supply of really consistant ammunition for the next barrel shoot-off. TTYL,

Woo-hoo! Healthy skepticism... I like that. I'm going to enjoy the "proof of concept" portion of this project a lot. Bottom line guys... I'm and incurable, exceedingly anal retentive, tweeker from way back... My personal experience in loading for my pistol(s) is that ammunition consistency is a whole lot more important than anyone ever acknowledges. Thus a few years ago, I took some "baby steps" to test some of my theories. At least two of them showed enough merit to "pursue with interest" (meaning: spend money on). Unfortunately for these projects, I got "side-tracked"... In any event, I am getting back to my shooting related R&D stuff, so hopefully (if nothing else) I'll be able to provide you guys with some interesting, thought-provoking stuff to discuss now and in the future. Specifically, the toolhead clamp... I realize that the 550B was purpose designed the way it was, and it is IMHO a magnificent piece. However, I discovered that I could load more consistent pistol ammunition (physically AND balistically), if the tool head was "fixed" in place (properly, of course) using the clamp. I don't have my notes at hand right now, but I remember specifically that my last testing session proved that the "clamp" ammunition performance was significantly better than identical reloads w/o the clamp, in addition to being better than the factory loads I shot as a control. The level of improvement was even better through my custom barrel design proto #1. I'm awaiting the arrival of a bunch of materials and tooling, and am spending the day getting the shop organized (still have to build a proper reloading bench), but I should have something ready for testing soon. Accompanying the tests, I will write a paper detailing what happened and why... (e.g. The clamp "fixes" this, thus these "things" occur/no longer occur, thus producing more consistently loaded rounds, thus ultimately better performance ballistically....) (Or not, if I fail... ) Take care,

It's taken 3 1/2 years, but I am finally getting back to working on this project. I had planned to finish my custom Glock barrel design first, but got a rather lackluster reception to the idea when I brought it up over at GT.... Check out the old article I wrote a while back and let me know what you think.