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Thanks for the info. This is just what I've been looking for. I sent a message to PD (Toolguy). Chris

Hello: I'd like to order .10" wide sights for my two 625s. One is a 625-3 (Model 0f 1989) and the other is a 625-8, both with 5" barrels. I'd like orange fiber optic rods. What other information do you need, such as height of the sights, pinned, etc? Also where do I send my money order? Thanks, Chris

Hello: According to Hodgdon's 2010 Annual Manual, the starting load for a 230gr Hornady FMJ flatpoint is 6.3gr / 843 fps / 14,100 CUP. The max load is 6.8gr / 908 fps / 17,200 CUP. IIRC, the Hornady bullet may have a longer bearing surface than a 230gr ball bullet. I've never used Longshot in anything, but according to the burn rate charts, it is a fairly slow powder. Chris

Hello: I just bought a STI 1911 that has the "Microdot" front sight, a .10" wide sight that has a small fiber optic rod. This .10" wide front sight gave a better sight picture for my aging eyes and made it easier to call shots than the typical .125" wide front sight. I was thinking that a narrow front sight would also help my 625s. Lightning Rod MicroDot (STI/SV) Is a sight like this available for N-frame SWs? (The fiber optic feature is not essential.) Thanks, Chris

Hello: As suggested, I took the slide off and put loaded STI mags in the gun. On three of the seven mags, there was noticeable resistance as the mags were 3/4th of the way in. In these mags, the top round was not parallel with the mag lips when the mag was fully inserted. This did not happen in the other four STI mags or with a Kimber 8 round mag I bought over the weekend. I guess I'll contact the seller and see what he suggests. This is my first 1911 and when trying to re-assemble it, the plastic retainer at the front end of the recoil spring came loose, flew out the door of my shed, and into the bushes. Ah, the fun of learning a new gun. Thanks for the advice. Chris

Hello: IIRC, 124gr. Frontier 9mm bullets are actually hard cast lead with an electroplated copper coating. The loading data will probably be somewhere between hard cast lead and FMJ loads. Winchester Super Field is a ball powder that is a very good choice in 9mm for a beginner. It is accurate, burns cleanly, meters well, and you won't need to approach maximum loads to reach your power factor. I use 4.9gr WSF with 124gr Montana Gold FMJ for 130 PF in my CZ85. I suspect that you could start around 4.7gr WSF with your Frontier Bullets. Hodgdon's "Universal Clays" (aka Universal) is also a good 9mm powder. It is a little faster than WSF and is a flake powder. It may not meter quite as well as WSF at the outset, but burns very clean, and also reaches power factor at less than maximum loads. I think that around 4.5gr Universal will get you started. Chris

Hello: I took my brand new STI Trojan to the range today for some break-in with 100 rounds of Magtech 230gr FMJ round nose. I had an unusual problem with some of the seven STI mags I bought with the pistol When I loaded 8 rounds, the top round was at the proper (parallel with the mag lips) for feeding. After I inserted the loaded mag, the top round in the magazine was tilted noticeably lower. This causes nosedives on the first round whether I tried "slingshoting" the slide or releasing it with the level. The magazine would then be very difficult to remove. BTW. the OAL for the Magtech rounds was 1.265" with a standard taper crimp over the FMJ bullet. Several of the mags had this happen when fully seated. One mag required a firm bump at the bottom and then loaded the first round normally. One of the mags also didn't let the slide lock back when empty. Another mag had premature slide lock back. I understand that a 1911 needs some breaking in, but I've never seen a nosedive in any of my CZ pistol with round nose FMJ factory ammo. Also, the top round tilting downward does not appear to me to be problem that will fix itself with more rounds through the gun. That said, the Trojan shot very accurately when it worked. The microdot front sight was just what I wanted. Any ideas on what is causing the top round to change its angle after inserting the magazine? Thanks, Chris

Is the Blade Tech "Black Ice" belt holster the one that people are referring to here that is legal for SS with a full size 1911? If not, which Blade Tech belt holster is it? Here's a link to the Black Ice holster. http://www.blade-tech.com/Black-Ice-Holster-pr-1210.html#product_images Thanks, Chris

Winchester Super Target is a good choice with lead and Moly-coated bullet. My current favorite with 200gr bullets in .45acp is American Select, a flake shotgun powder from Alliant that is a little faster than WST, Solo 1000, and N-320 but a little slower than Clays or N-310. It's almost single base (2% nitro) and burns very clean, especially with Billy Bullets. Chris

Depending on the length of your barrel, 4.8 to 4.9 grs of Super Field should do it for a MG round nose bullet. The hollow point has a longer bearing surface and may take another tenth grain or so. My loads were Winchester cases and Win small pistol primers. Chris

I'm not familiar with roll crimping...do you need a special die to do that? I just bought the Dillon 3 die set. The Dillon die set should come with a separate roll crimp die. I've had better results using a separate roll crimp die than performing the seating and crimping with the same die. Using cases with fairly consistent lengths will make it easier to get the crimp in the crimp groove of a lead bullet or the cannulure of a jacketed bullet. When reloading .357 mag, I recommend that you measure OAL and examine each case carefully each time you reload it. Certain cases, such as some nickel plated ones, can split after a few reloads. If you're a Type A person, you may want to keep track of how many times each case has been reloaded. PM me if you would like some .357 reload suggestions that work well in a Ruger revolver. Chris

He should have used a Ruger! :D

When assembling 9mm ammo, I lean on a sample of the loaded rounds pretty hard by pushing with my arms while leaning my weight into the edge of the reloading bench. If it moves more than .002", I stop and see what's wrong. If it happens with several different pieces of the same brass, I will consider discarding that batch of brass. I also test dummy rounds as follows. Stick an empty magazine in your weapon and lock the slide back. Put a dummy round with your favorite bullet and brass in a mag, put the mag in the weapon and hit the slide release so the slide comes forward fast. Then eject it and check the OAL. If you can do this three or four times with no change in OAL, you are probably OK. Good luck and be careful. Chris

Two parts have worn out on my 625-3 that I bought used in 2005. The firing pin bushing (the conical shaped piece that surrounds the firing pin) began setting in deeper than the recoil plate after 2,000+ rounds. (I don't know haw many rounds the gun had on it when I bought it.) This caused primers to back out after the round had been shot which, in turn, caused excessive cylinder dragging.The gunsmith replaced the firing pin bushing and all was well for another 2,000 to 3,000 rounds when the problem arose again. This time the frame behind the firing pin bushing was peened too much and I sent it back to SW who supplied a new (625-2) frame to the tune of $225 plus shipping and handling. All was well for a while. Then the cylinder started skipping. The cylinder notches had been peened due to firing and dry firing. I bought a titanium cylinder which a good local SW smith installed for me. Since titanium is very hard, there is no visible wear on the cylinder notches after a couple thousand rounds. The cylinder stop will probably need to be replaced in the future but, since it runs fine at the moment, I'll save that task till another day. In my unsophisticated opinion, I think that excessive dry-firing puts a lot of wear on these revolvers. I never saw much more personal improvement dryfiring 500 shots a week as opposed to 75 shots a week. (Practicing reloads, on the other hand, paid dividends.) At the practice range, the most important thing to me was getting the proper high neutral grip with just enough finger on the trigger so the front sight moved up 1/2 to 3/4" and came back down into the middle of the rear sight notch. My 2 cents. Chris

I use them in my CZ97 without any problems. Velocities and extreme spreads are very similar to Winchester Large Pistol Primers.

Missouri Bullet Company sells "hardness optimized" and has useful information on the subject of proper bullet hardness for various applications. Generally speaking, use a softer bullet for low pressure loads (.38 spl and some .45 acp) and a harder bullet for higher pressure loads. The owner of the company is happy to answer questions. Various issues of Handloader magazine discuss lead bullets in many different applications. The Cast Bullets forum also has a lot of good information. Chris

G-Man. Thanks for the load information. Were your loads near "room temperature" when you tested them or had they cooled down while you set up your chrono? I'm interested to see if Solo 1000 is temp sensitive. Chris

I love my CZ 85 Combat. It's accurate and ultra reliable. It fits my large hands quite well and points naturally. The weight of the steel frame absorbs recoil. The adjustable sights come in handy if you plan to use or reload different bullet weights. Angus Hobdell installed a new hammer and did an action job on mine a few years back. The trigger is now the best of any gun I have. That said - you might also look into some of the newer CZ 9mms. Angus is very big on the Shadow series and many top CZ shooters now use that model. Go to ghostholster.com for more information. Either way, IMO you can't go wrong with a CZ. Chris

Many good suggestions. Visit this site for more information about the problem and recommended exercises and treatments: http://www.handuniversity.com/handschool.asp I got epicondylitis a few years ago after going sea kayaking on vacation while, at the same time, doing lots of curls to build arm strength for revolver shooting. I stopped the curls for couple weeks, did the exercises from the web site, applied ice, and got a cortisone shot. It took at least a month to see much improvement. Be patient and it will come around. Chris

Check the size of the cylinder throats. Gunsmiths have plug gauges that will show the exact diameter. If the cylinder throats are undersized, the bullets will be swaged down to .451" or less and may cause all sorts of problems with both accuracy and leading. Harder bullets may be the answer, but I've shot thousand of Missouri Bullet Works 230gr "Soft Ball" (15 Brinell hardness) out of both of my 625s without any problems. That said, the rifling on both 625s is pretty shallow and a harder bullet may, all other things being equal, a little more accurate. Stick with it. Many folks use either lead or moly-coated lead in their 625s with complete success. Chris

I made one error. My barrel is 4.7", not 4 and 3/8". That may effect the results a little bit. Chris

Hello: Here is my data using a 147gr Bear Creek Moly Coated 9mm bullet (with lube groove) in my CZ-85-C with 4.7" barrel. FC cases, Win SP primers, 1.095 OAL 3.1gr N320 Two ten shot strings High 895 893 Low 868 869 Av. 879.4 878.9 ES 28.15 23.30 SD 10.81 8.71 Comments: A very soft load that was reasonably accurate. No smoke but there was visible dark residue in the barrel (1:9in twist rate) between the lands after shooting 40 rounds of Bear Creek. I haven't cleaned the gun yet and can't tell if the residue is the moly coating, lead, powder, or what. I'd suggest raising the load by .2gr if the Precisions don't have a lube groove and if the SW's barrel is shorter. Good Luck with your load. Chris

Hello: Here are my results with a 115gr Remington FMJ and 4.7gr Universal Clays. Win Cases, Win SP Primers, OAL= 1.140, CZ 85 Combat, 70 degrees, two ten shot strings: Low 1085 1126 High: 1181 1170 Av. 1144 1150 ES 95.3 43.6 SD 26.81 11.7 This is a lively round that has a fair amount of snap and recoil. It easily makes minor (the 1,085 fps round was an outlier. All others were at or above 1,125 fps.) On the plus side, Universal burns very clean in 9mm. My CZ 85 Combat has a 4 3/8" barrel that is somewhat "fast". You should be able to exceed minor PF with this load in your Glock. All this is within Hodgdon's published data for Universal in 9mm. Chris

WSF should be reasonably consistent in 9mm with 115gr and 124gr jacketed bullets. When using Win cases and Winchester SP primers, I got extreme spreads of about 30 fps using Montana Gold FMJ bullets. Mixed cases gave somewhat larger extreme spreads. WSF is a ball powder and meters quite well. Chris

Hello: My new Speed Sec Holster for SW 625 showed up today without any instructions. Does anyone know if there are written instructions for this holster? It looks pretty simple and I'll probably be able to figure it out. However, because it will hold my gun, I want to read any instructions or warnings that are available. Thanks, Chris