kneelingatlas

Yes Jack! Riddle me this: 7.7gr of WAC under a 124gr in a 38 super case or 7.7gr of WAC under a 115gr in a 9x19 case, which produces more gas to work the comp? Which shoots softer?

Any of those four under a 95/100 grain pill are good candidates, just pick one and load 10 each at 2.6, 2.8, 3.0, and 3.2gr, drop the recoil spring to 8#, shoot and see what happens.

115gr JHP over N105 or 3N38, CFE Pistol on the fast side for 38

Dan, Designing an Open gun involves a series of trade offs within limits. Lighter bullets shoot flatter, but rules say we can't go lighter than 112gr for major, slower powders work the comp better, but you can only fit so much in the case, holes in the barrel help keep the gun flat, but at the expense of velocity. I've shot comps with one to five chambers and there seems to be diminishing returns after 3 or 4, plus there's the weight. My favorite Open guns have three port comps and three holes in the barrel. I'm also working on two 6" barreled Open guns with light comps and lightened slides; I know from experience the difference between the the comp at the end of a 5.4" barrel compared to one at the end of a 4.1" barrel, so I'm excited to see what one at the end of a 6" barrel will do

Russell, the SA is a much better frame than the 75b DA/SA: Note the ambidextrous safeties/mag release and the longer, much more comfortable beavertail

Have you polished your trigger plunger? Changed the spring?

The single action break is all in the hammer hooks, polish the snot out of them and you'll be good to go.

If you prefer a heavier gun I think you're be happy with the CM, drill three holes in the barrel and it will shoot just as flat as most 2011s.

Holy cow! What OAL?

Something to keep in mind: I've been an Open gun junkie for four years, I've owned more than a dozen Open guns and have shot those of the other local shooters; I've tested nearly a dozen powders and two calibers (9 and 38), so I have pretty discerning tastes at this point. A factory gun is a factory gun, it's just not a custom gun, and some of the custom guns I've shot haven't knocked my socks off either. If you're not obsessed with the guns you can buy an Open gun, get it running smoothly with a reliable load and go, but if you're looking for the "perfect Open gun" you will search until you've owned enough different guns to accept it doesn't exist. If you like your TS you will like the CM, if you want to tune it a little I'd be happy to make specific recommendations, if you want to tune it a lot I suggest a custom TS Open gun (I'm working on an awesome one right now). If you want to spend a lot of money on mags that don't work get a 2011

Just because you didn't notice the dog leave the glass doesn't mean the dot never left the glass The Czechmate is a great factory Open, maybe even the best, but if you expect it to be as good as a custom 2011, you're in for a disappointment. With a drop in race hammer and a little polishing the CM trigger will rival a custom 2011 (1.5#, short reset), the only downside is the weight. The CM weights ~50oz with a long, steel comp. Now there are plenty of people spending big bucks for 2011s with SS grips to get the weight back into that range, but I prefer an Open gun in the 42-46oz range. The factory comp leaves something to be desired, but then again so do most 2011 comps. If flat is what you're going for, you're not going to get it without holes in the barrel, the good news is that my CZ barrels are faster than my 2011 barrels so you can get away with more holes and still make major. And about CZs being limited in load selection due to OAL limitations, I haven't seen it. The mags can easily take loads out to 1.170", which is as long as I load in my 2011s. The chamber is too short to load JHPs that long, but so are most 2011 chambers out of the box. I load 9.3gr SP2 (similar to 3N38) under at 115 at 1.140" in all my guns, there isn't really a slower powder to be used in 9 major. The long and short: with a race hammer, custom Al/Ti comp, stroked/lightened slide and three 5/32" holes, the CM will hold its own with just about any 2011 in my opinion, although if you're going to do all that work, you might as well save a grand and start with a TS. If you decide on a 2011, this one is a hell of a deal: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=235898#entry2631091 I've shot it and the trigger is amazing!

After cleaning and tinkering with the solenoid mechanism I feel pretty confident the solenoid is no good; I don't have much experience with them, so maybe someone who does can explain how a solenoid goes bad??? When I point the plunger down (the orientation in the safe) it seems like the solenoid is too weak to pick up the plunger, then pointer up with gravity to help it works fine.

The manual lock only saw daily use 1992-1997, then sat more or less unused until 2010, so I'd say digital and dial saw about the same number of openings.

I've got it open I just tapped in the combo over and over until the solenoid popped, now I suppose I can just buy a new unit.

I think the solenoid on my safe is warn out I have an American Security Products 14 gun safe which is roughly 24 years old. The manual dial wore out 5 years ago so I replaced it with a digital keypad; last week I couldn't get the safe open so I changed the batteries, but it didn't help. I pushed on the door and realized the little plastic bolts which stop the door had backed out and didn't give the door enough play to clear the bolts. I beat the door until I crushed the plastic, the door opened, problem solved. I put new stops it and glued them in place. The safe worked like normal for a week, but now won't open again?!? There's plenty of play it the door, the batteries are fresh, it just sounds like the solenoid is too weak to clear the lock. Anyone else ever experienced this? I can imagine a non-destructive way to fix this problem, do I need to pay a locksmith to drill the safe, then buy a new one???

The laws are effective 7/1/17

Slug your barrels to see what you're working with.

Great video Patrick!

miranda, The reason to use light bullets over large charges of slow powder is to produce large amounts of gas volume, which is what the comp needs to keep the muzzle down and to mitigate the straight back recoil. The VV book charge for 3N38 under a 147gr is 6.9gr to make 177pf, but they also list 9.4gr of 3N38 under a 115 to make 171pf which produces a lot more gas. For an extreme example of the light bullet/large charge approach I always recommend people try 95 or 100 grain .380 bullets over a big charge of slow powder. Although the minimum bullet weight for Open Major in USPSA is 112 (120 for IPSC), 100gr bullets doing 1,650fps shoot amazingly flat and soft! Look a the difference in muzzle flip between a 115 over 10gr of SP2 vs a 100gr bullet over 11gr of SP2: 3 squares vs 2!

I understand your desire to consolidate. I've owned guns in dozens of calibers, but for simplicity's sake I sold off all my pistols except those in .22 or 9mm. I load 9 minor and 9 major with two different die heads on my Dillon 650. Unfortunately for your plan, the optimal approach to minor and major are opposites: light bullets and slow powder for major; heavy bullets and fast powder for minor. A minor load using slow powder and a light(ish) bullet will have a stout recoil impulse in a Production gun. Personally I prefer 115s in Open and 147s or 135s in Production, but the I feel like the burn rate of the powder used has an even bigger impact than the bullet weight: Titegroup, Clays, Bullseye, Solo1000, WST, N320, etc. are good, fast powders for minor while 3N38, HS6, WAC, CFE Pistol, Silhouette, etc. are more appropriate for major.

It is normal for Tanfoglios, but you can improve it by cutting the notches in the frame deeper:

My friend Mike did this one with a Ti block: I really love the way it shoots!

It might be possible with a heavier bullet, 165 was it for 115s

Do I have to do everything around here?!? I don't have to worry about setback because the case is packed solid with powder

As our process becomes routine, there are many pieces of knowledge we take for granted; recently I've seen some questions from new 9 Major shooters who are missing some of the basics so here are some pointers off the top of my head, please feel free to add to them, but please stick to advice for beginners so the thread doesn't get too long 1. Use a chronograph. Barrel length, barrel age, powder lot, number of holes, manufacturer, bore size, and bullet diameter will produce variations in velocity so always chrono new loads and new guns. 2. Don't be lazy. For all the reasons above others can give you an idea what to expect, but it's important for you to test your own loads in your own guns. Not only is this a safe practice, it helps you develop your instinct for the effects the countless variables will have. 3. Choose an overall length (OAL not AOL, LOL ) using your bullet in your barrel BEFORE you begin load development. The same chamber may accept round nosed bullets as long as 1.180", but jacketed hollow points may hit the rifling at 1.10". The idea is to find a length which fits in your mags, feeds reliably, and won't touch the lans of the rifling (your seating die pushes down on the shoulder of the bullet, not the tip, so the OAL will vary with slight variations in the shape of the bullet). If you want to load longer than your barrel will allow, you can try a different bullet profile or ream your chamber; Google search Manson Reamers or talk to your gunsmith. "Loading long" can be a tool to widen the useful range of a powder although it also increased the charge weight required to make the same PF. 4. Use an appropriate powder. Here's a link to the most recent Hodgdon burn rate chart, it will give you an idea. https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Burn%20Rates%20-%202015-2016.pdf I have always operated under the assumption "burn rate" correlates the charge weight required to achieve a given velocity, i.e.: a larger charge of a slower powder results in the same velocity as a smaller charge of a faster powder. I don't know how Hodgdon calculates "burn rate" nor how closely my concept of burn rate correlates with theirs, but previous editions of their chart agreed with my real world data perfectly. Unfortunately their latest revision places HS6 on the faster side of the other popular 9 major powders which doesn't jive with my concept of burn rate nor my data. In my mind I group 9 major powders as fast, medium and slow: Fast (7ish grains for major with a 115): CFE Pistol Autocomp Silhouette Medium (8ish grains for major with a 115): HS6 Longshot Slow (9ish grains for major with a 115): SP2 3N38 These are just powders I've tested, but don't include: 3N37, N350, N105, AA#5, AA#7, True Blue, etc. Generally speaking slower powders produce less pressure at the same PF and more gas to help the comp keep the muzzle down. Another advantage to slower powders is that they tend to behave better at their upper limits; for example: when loading Longshot the limits are fairly low above which more powder results in lower velocities, for me (using 115gr bullets) this was right around 165pf dropping 8.4gr. Conversely SP2 (very similar to 3N38), is stable all the way up to 9.5gr (~181pf), but then starts to decline. 5. "Work up" to your loads. For example, if you've searched the forums and see most people with a similar gun/load are loading 7.2gr of X load a test batch of 5-10 rounds each of 6.4gr, 6.6gr, 6.8gr, 7.0gr, 7.2gr, 7.4gr, 7.6gr, 7.8gr. Start by firing your smallest charge over the chronograph, record the results and work your way up all the while checking your brass/primers for signs of pressure. If you get past where you want to be, stop and pull the rest of the test loads when you get home. Even know most 9 Major loads are beyond the max book loads, it's a good idea to look up the powder/bullet you want to use and see just how far off the charts you expect to be. Within the usable range of the powder you can reasonably extrapolate in a linear fashion with regards to charge weight, OAL, and velocity; for example, Hodgdon lists a max load under 115gr JHPs @ 1.125" of 5.6gr for a velocity of 1,161" (133.5pf) so if you increase the OAL to 1.165" (3.6% increase), you can expect to need 3.6% more powder to make the same PF (5.8gr). Then if you want to increase the velocity by 27% and increase the charge by 27% you get a charge of 7.36gr. The max book charge for HS6 under 115s make a pf of 142, but Vihtavuori lists a max load for 3N38 under a 115gr JHP which makes 170.5pf: 9.4gr under a 115gr JHP @1.161" (listed under 9x21, but can be loaded in 9x19). That's it for now, I'm sure other members will have good points to add.