meeesterpaul

Alliant e3 as alternative to Clays. Meters better than it looks but not as fine-tunable as HP38 or Ramshot Competition. I haven't used clay so I can't compare. I understand that e3 is pressure and temperature insensitive and that has been. Soft, smooth, clean at way-low loads but I run an 0.2gr more than the gun needs to run to make up for the occasional variation in load drop. Lee Auto Drum Powder Measure HK VP40 and P30L(40), Wilson 45 Auto

I've been running reloads recently. After separating the better quality ones from compromised ones with less good crimps or hulls I would cycle them through the gun without firing them. Even those B-list shells would run until the day I cleaned the gun before a match without running it again - and apparently didn't lube well enough. Before the end of the day I was having cycling trouble. Ran my last box of Federal factory anmo through. For lube I have been using Hornady One Shot for a couple months. I'm not sure that it holds up to a long match or two. Took a look between stages and had some synthetic gun oil on my cart. Dripped some oil on the bottom of the bolt and went back to reloads again and they ran fine. Btw; loads were 1.065oz 16gr Alliant e3, about 1160fps. This multi-thousand round gun will run 1.125oz 1050fps loads - when I don't run it dry.

While hand cycling some reloads to make sure they function (looking to avoid crimps that are flared instead of rolled) I see that there are pushed in 'divots' on the hulls. They haven't torn the plastic but they gave them a pretty good nudge. Maybe you have a sharp edge at the same spot. These were decent used hulls. btw; They all ran fine in my well-used VR. Some of them only have 1.0625oz over 15.5-15.8gr of e3 and chrono less than 1080fps.

That's a bummer. I'll bet their customer service well be eager to help get that straightened out. I'm sure that they didn't put it out on the market without having seen it work. Give them a chance to get it working for you because drums are great. If you get it straightened out let us know.

fyi; 1⅛oz at 1080fps cycled and held the bolt open. (15.8grains of Alliant e3 in AA 2¾" hulls with Winchester 209 primer with 1 ounce Claybuster wads. Gas ports stock, only deburred. No barrel end compensator or buffer other than Adaptive Tactial EX Perrformance stock with honeycombed buttpsd. Hornady One Shot lube on a well used gun. 50° day, Chrono ar 10ft.

I load 1⅛ oz loads to about 1150. If I were to go to a 1 oz load I would expect to run much faster to get a match on the Power Factor. A 1 oz load would have to run at 1290 for an equivalent Power Factor. I haven't run any 1 oz loads in a while so I forget whether that's what actually worked. If I wasn't use e3 powder I'd try some 1¼ loads at 1040fps.

VR80 Magwell Amarok Tactical https://amaroktactical.com/ria-vr80-derya-mk12-magwell/

VR80 Magwell Amarok Tactical https://amaroktactical.com/ria-vr80-derya-mk12-magwell/

After doing some from inside the mags I think I ended up tugging them straight out, pulling on the triangular tab with a pliers. I replaced the springs with the springs in a BiC Velocity retractable pen. They were available in a pack with a cluster of colors so there were enough for a batch of mags. https://www.staples.com/BIC-Velocity-Retractable-Ballpoint-Pens-Medium-Point-Blue-12-pack-16263-VLG11BL/product_431464

I have more Fed smalls than I need and could use or trade for something harder. ( I'm near Filtydelphia,1072) An article that was discussing investing in stocks of companies in our fun world had quotes from Vista Outdoors' CEO ( I think). He has happy to say that the purchase of Remington's primer operation will help them expand and still enjoy the margins by not add manufacturing capacity to the market. He was also pleased that his 'competition' at Olin was paying attention to the capacity/over capacity risks. Seems that enjoying the margins will let them pay down debt and buy back shares. The stock may be a better value than the primers. I don't think we'll see primers under $49.9999 again.

what was up? Was that DWX a flop or something?

Needing more than one drum? Yee Haw! that would be some stage! Unless the stage designer has a magfed shotgun you probably won't see that sort of advantage dropped in our laps. I've see 29 target stage which only took one reload. Hearing complaints from people with 30-50 round mags on their other guns was . . . amusing. I bring the drum to the line in an open top utility pouch. I hang smaller mags on a clip over the belt or in a bungee tensioned 308 mag holders (or a pocket)

Wish I could get 5s to become 6s as easily for NJ events.

Btw, the drum is sweet. Sold my (unwieldy) 19s after using it.

I get by with 308 mag holders in 3 Gun but I wouldn't be surprised if those mag clips will be better at times. Depends on how you'll use them and if it's on a stage then how it is laid out. Depending on what you're doing the drum mags are very nice. I can't use them in events in New Jersey but in one stage in Pennsylvania with 29 shotgun targets I only had to reload once. Between matches I keep a about 16 rounds of buckshot in it.

I used 3.2 in VP40 using 180 grain Xtreme plated or my 170ish powder coated. I could get the gun to run at 2.9 but I couldn't get the powder drops consistent enough to avoid an occasional 0.2gr dip. Now I'm Ramshot Comp fan., Turns out the min load recommended was 2.8 and that is soft. 2.6 runs all my 40s and that is embarrassingly soft yet cycles everything. I have plenty of e3 and I'll use it in the PCC and Cowperson loads. I was using HP38 but light loads of e3 are softer and so much cleaner than a light load of HP-38.

my 2021 Resolute in 40SW started having ejection trouble. Spent rounds were getting tangled up with the incoming. Tried different loads but in the long run a major cleaning darn near took care of it all. I did have 1 tangled up round in a 3 Gun match the other day. Otherwise it was running potent loads of about 1225fps x 175gr at 200 yards. I had switched the buffer weights back to the stock weights which added up to 1.8 Oz after having replaced one of them with a piece of Delrin so I could run light loads. After a thorough cleaning and then relubing with Hornady One Shot it's running light loads with the original buffer weights. Those light loads are about 130 in my pistol and low 150PF in the CMMG. They feel embarassngly soft. Everything ejecting is nice.

lol yes

Seems that the powder was dropping more accurately than the scale could keep up. Every slightly late drop that I retested showed to be right back in the right to zone. Running Ramshot in 40SW Beretta and a 40SW CMMG Resolute I don't know how low I can go. I think 3.2 grains under a 175 or 180 was considered the minimum but neither one of these guns is failing to cycle at 2.6 (using Hornady One Shot for lube). They are running clean and the cases aren't even getting a blast of black around the case mouth. I bumped the drop up to 2.76 grains and most of the drops are coming out at about that or perhaps 2.72 - 2. 80 using a Lee Auto Drum powder measure. I saw that there was a load using Clays for 45 Colt. So I loaded up a bunch of that on the Cowperson end of the power factor scale. Remarkable! 3.2 gr of e3 in a cavernous 45Colt case under a 200gr powder coated RNFP. Ridiculously clean which I attribute to the fast powder and the dryness of Hornady One Shot. I don't know how low I can go with that powder but I will probably experiment and run some really silly light loads across the chrono and see what it takes to get that remarkably consistent powder to start getting erratic.

it's an Alliant e3 thang (I'm a fan. Wish it metered better. I'll be testing Ramshot Competition as an alternative this weekend) 1st update; e3, 15 powder drops approx 3.2gr with Lee Autodrum, spread ranged 0.22gr. 15 drops of Ramshot Competition almost did under 0.10gr variance but one took a bit more of a dip for a spread of 0.14. However 13 of 15 were within 0.08gr. First couple shots it looks to be a little smoky. We'll see soon.

3.2gr of Alliant e3 under Xtreme 180 plated or powder coated runs nice. My CMMG Resolute 40SW and previous Hi-Point would run e3 loads down to 2.8. I don't trust loading e3 at the lowest end because sometimes it will drop a lighter load (.1 -.2 gr swing). I'm expecting a supply of Ramshot Competition tomorrow. I hear that it meters very well. That may let me run some silly soft loads that I can't trust doing with e3. Loads under 4.0 of HP38 or Titegroup are good but not as clean burning. Fast powders in long barrel don't necessarily chrono faster. https://shooterscalculator.com/ is useful. I use the 40SW PCCs in 3 Gun out to 200 yards.

It gets spooky when you're down to less than 85,000 rounds worth!

I just had the opportunity to buy 10,000 CCI primers ($299) and 8 pounds of IMR powder from a website called primer1.com. Good prices, $25 flat rate shipping, no HazMat, … no credit cards… only Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay. Me; "How about sending a photo of inventory" That's not happening but they were willing to let me pay half up front and half after they delivered.

Maybe we can convince the ROs to let you use the VR in a Cowboy Action match. YeeHaw

hehehe Black Powder VR80. What a stitch.