johnmac

Are you loading for a semi-auto, or a bolt action/single shot? If reloading for a semi-auto, much more work is involved (resizing the brass back to factory dimensions every time you reload). The brass resizing, to a great extent, is what necessitates the case trimming, and shortens brass life. Reloading bottleneck rifle cartridges is much easier for a bolt action/single shot, and offers more benefits (e.g., custom fire formed cases for YOUR gun).

Don't forget, there's still the PIRATE option; everything you need is still readily available from Cabelas, shipped to your door: Pirate flintlock pistol: http://www.cabelas.c...80;cat104503680 Flints (who needs primers!) and BP substitutes: http://www.cabelas.c...80;cat104701680 Projectiles: http://www.cabelas.c...80;cat104701680 Or you could go "open" with a 6-shot percussion revolver, if you happen to have some percussion caps on hand. Think about how much you'd save on components, given the time between reloads!

Just reading the IDPA rule book, you could easily argue "No Procedural". However, the Rules Addendum appears to address this exact situation: 1. A three (3) second procedural penalty will be assessed any time a loaded ammunition feeding device (magazine, speedloader or full moon clip) is dislodged and falls out of the carrier during a course of fire. Dropping a loaded ammunition feeding device during a reload is not a procedural as long as the competitor does not leave ammunition behind retrieves and properly stows the device before the last shot of the string is fired. The prior sentence does not include devices dislodged from a carrier which ALWAYS receives a PE. RED= existing language STRIKE OUT=deleted language BLACK=new language

Anybody tried 2400 in 10mm? Seems like it would be suitable for the typical pressure generated in a "factory" 10mm load.

I've had bolt plunger springs from S&W revolvers go flying or drop off the table...they're pretty tiny! But I've always found them again.

FYI, here's what Mr. Kuhnhausen had to say about this issue (reference The S&W Revolver, Book 1, page 12, Operating Sequence and Safety Features): "4. A safety feature many people are unaware of is the hammer stop [rear leg of the cylinder bolt] not to be confused with the hammer block. The idea here is that with the cylinder out for loading, the gun cannot be normally cocked. Times past, a habit amongst the foolish was to leave a revolver cocked, slam a loader cylinder into it, then be surprised when it went off. So a modern S&W revolver cannot be cocked with the cylinder open without overriding this feature." The interesting thing is, my S&W 640's (DAO, with hammer totally enclosed inside the frame) also possess this feature, yet there is absolutely no way to cock them.

I've always understood the purpose for the blocking of the cocking action with the cylinder open on double action revolvers is to prevent you from messing up as follows: 1) opening the cylinder 2) loading the cylinder 3) cocking the gun with the cylinder still open (resting on single action notch) 4) slapping the loaded cylinder shut...and also causing the hammer to fall...BANG! This is somewhat of a non-issue with a hammer modified to DAO.

You can, if you have a machine shop, and skills to mill out the rear old sight notch and tap holes to install a new rear sight, or want to pay someone else to do it (a few hunded bucks, I'm guessing it would cost, including cost of new rear sight). I guess a reblue would be in order, too I've heard of some Model 10's having pinned front sights, but it may be hard to discern due to the pin being polished and blending in to the front sight base. You'd probably save money and hassle, not to mention spare the cobbling up of a M10, by just getting a similar revolver to replace the Model 10 that comes with adjustable.removable rear sights and allows easier sight swaps, such as a Model 15, 19, 66, or 686.

I looked at the match results and it looks like you had a nice result, winning ESR SS, TJ, nice job! Is that going to give you a "match bump?"

Powder Valley has an extensive selection of VIHTAVUORI powders in stock, including many varieties suitable for rifle. The VIHTAVUORI brand is not cheap, but available if you can deal with the ~ 1 month shipping backlog indicated on PV's home page.

To clarify my post above, I think a DOH extenstion would be added between the Stingray (or Tec-Loc) belt attachment and holster, if the game permits and you want it there, and removed for IDPA or wherever not permitted.

The difference is strictly in the connection between belt and holster. DOH = Dropped offset (faster draw for most, and less concealable because the holster rides lower, more like an open carry cop rig, or similar). Stingray is snug to the body, at belt level. No difference in the holster itself. You could swap the Stingray for the DOH on the same holster, depending on game. Stingray is legal for IDPA, DOH is not, except for women. I'd check if DOH is legal for USPSA production before buying it for that, it may not be legal.

I'd say the way the typical handgun is manufactured has changed dramatically. 100 years ago, they were all hand-fitted, assembled, and finished by highly skilled labor, akin the process of making fine pocket watches. Heck, S&W had a stock-making department. Even your run of the mill "cop" gun, like a S&W or Colt revolver, required a high degree of skilled labor to produce. I'd say there's a lot less human element involved in the production of the typical handgun (Glock, S&W M&P, etc) today, probably resulting in a much lower cost product, if you were to adjust for inflation. I'd say the innovation of polymer frames has a great deal to do with enabling this change in manufacturing.

I've found the following two issues to cause moonclips to not drop in cleanly into my 625-3: 1) slightly bent moonclip 2) bit of extra bullet lube on the outside of the bullet or the brass It's usually easy to spot the bad moonclips; if they won't lay totally flat on a hard, flat surface

Welcome from a fellow Kentuckian. I'm down at BGSL for IDPA most every month, and am getting set up to try 3-gun this spring, perhaps I'll see you at the BGSL match.

Hi T.J. - yes that was me at BGSL last weekend shooting ESR, good to hear from you. One interesting thing I found with the JM grips I put on my 625 was that the "ears" protruding upwards caused an uncomfortable pressure where my thumb joins my hand, not so much from recoil, but due to the grip pressure I was exerting. I went to town with a file, thinned the "ears" a bit, and ended up eventually just removing them, as shown in the attached photos. For me at least, the 625 seems to point more naturally with this "grip reduction" surgery made, and as a bonus your thumb has totally unobstructed access to the cylinder release. It would seem this would make recoil harsher, but I do not find this to be the case; it is almost like I have a more positive grip on the frame, so the gun isn't jumping back at me in recoil so much. What's interesting is if you look at the old style S&W service grips (e.g., on a pre-war M&P, a Victory, or a M1917 45ACP), they are also lacking the "ears". I believe that at least for me, my S&W's point more naturally with the slimmed grip, and may be faster to shoot in DA, with less bulk to have to contend with between the thumb and trigger finger. Also shown is an unbutchered JM grip on a square butt M64 (K frame). You can see how it forces your thumb and trigger finger apart. Have not been shooting it much lately and have not yet decided whether or not to do surgery on it yet.

If you're looking for grips for competition, you might want to check out the Jerry Miculek wooden grips. I find they are conducive to fast draw / gun handling / speedloader reloading due to their streamlined shape and slickness. (Not that I am particularly fast, but they help.) However, they are not what I would use for concealed carry, due to their large size.

Even if you can use your preban 10 rounders in sanctioned matches, you can't get 10 round magazines with your new guns any more. And there does not appear to be any provision to bring in a 10 round magazine with you from out of state if you wanted to compete in a match in NYS.

I've used these from North Mountain with Comp 3's on a M64 and have no complaints: http://4wheelguns.com/IDPACompliant.html

NoSteel - cool, glad to hear things worked out for you on the 930 at the local store here in KY.

Just looked at two of them this morning over at Cottingham True Value Hardware on Rt 27, in Alexandria, KY. One was slightly longer than the other.

230 Grain LRN (Missouri Bullet Company "Softball") over 5.4 grains Unique, OAL 1.25, Federal LP primers, makes about 175 PF out of my 4" 625.

So, the more I look into this issue, and the more I learn, the more confusing it gets...because if you read the M&P owner's manual, it refers to a slide STOP, not a slide release, and the owner's manual appears to direct one, and only one way to get the empty gun back to firing condition after seating a fresh magazine, whether from slide lock or not...namely by racking the slide. There's NO reference in the manual to hitting the slide STOP with your thumb as a means to getting the slide to advance (although it obviously works, and appears not to harm the gun). Makes me think the best way from me to train for slide lock reloads on the M&P so things work the same, nearly all the time, is to: 1) seat the magazine with moderate force 2) overhand or slingshot slide rack, and forget about using the slide lock as a makeshift slide release. I realize this may not be ideal, if you're strictly interested in cutting down time for competition purposes.

I was playing around with my new M&P 45, and recently discovered this "feature". I'm more of a revolver guy, new to bottom-feeders, so I was a bit puzzled by this, wondering if it really was a "feature" or not, and was going to ask about it, but found this thread. Some observations from my tinkering this morning: - With an empty magazine, the entire slide release assembly is pushed up by the magazine follower...if you've noticed it takes a bit more force to seat an empty magazine than a full one, this seems to be why. And as much as I bumped and bounced the gun around with an empty magazine, I could NOT get it to "auto-forward" with an empty magazine - a GOOD thing. - With a round in the magazine, or no magazine in the gun, the only thing holding the slide back is the slide resting on the slide catch (friction between two flat pieces of flat, SMALL pieces of steel, and all that's keeping the slide catch from moving down, and releasing the slide, is the catch being under pressure from the slide. Any robust "bump" on the frame, especially from behind, is apt to momentarily relieve pressure enough to allow the slide stop to drop out of the way, and the slide to go forward. I would say the lighter the recoil spring, the more "disconnected" the frame and slide, and the more likely "auto-forward" is to occur. - It looks like you could "tune" this feature, making it more or less apt to occur, or even removing the "slide lock on empty magazine" feature altogether with overzealous filing, by modifying the engagement angle of the slide lock "tab" with a file where it catches the slide. - I don't like the thought of the gun working differently depending on how hard I seat the magazine. I'm planning on training on always hitting the slide release, as the "auto-forward" seems too unreliable to assume it is always going to work.

Wow, I wish I had thought of that concept...seems like the value of paid bids collected, assuming $0.65 per penny bid, is almost always well in excess of the retail price of the item being sold. And the promise of "scoring" a good deal, however low the probability of success, will bring the bidders in. In some ways, it might provide a similar experience as a form of gambling.