drewbeck

the plastic (probably melt) and brass hammer will need to be a heavier one or you'll have to beat it pretty good and it won't be very controlled movement. I use a ball pein (which will dent it) to flattend or make tight bends but found that a descent size crescent wrench works well for this type of bending. Tighten it so its snug against whatever portion you're bending and you'll be able to get torque on it without marring anything. You can also twist the racker as needed just use it like a wrench. Any other visegrip type pliers would work but may mar it pretty good. You won't need acetylene if you just have a plumbers torch, propane, map gas, etc it will be fine. It'll be easy to overheat it with oxy/acetlyene so don't go overboard. Also, I wouldn't quench it in water to cool it, let it cool slowly so you accidentally harden it too much and make it too brittle. Bottom line, is that if it's hot and you can get a decent grip on it, it won't take much effort to bend it how you want it

case gauge. EGW 7 hole (7 or 8 I forget) is fine. The 50 or 100 round is mo betta but not cheap. Harbor freight digital micrometer or calipers (6" is fine) Harbor freight tumbler, I have the huge one but the small is fine and probably all you'd want. I can easily run 2 gallons of 9mm brass in the big one. Frankfurt arsenal primer tube filler for $50, not necessary to start but worth every penny in my book. Recycle buck, save spent primers and bad brass and take to salvage yard to buy more stuff.

Make sure you clamp the dovetail in the vise so you don't put any bend or radius in the flat of the dovetail or you'll have to spend a lot of time refitting or flattening that back out. Though if the the racker is loose at all this would tighten it up again. it will go black or yellow, blue, etc depending on how much carbon is in the heat your using and how quickly you can get that heat into the part. It can all be sanded, blasted, or polished out without issue. At some point that metal was red hot in its creation and formed, you'd just need to redo it

I would bet he won't be interested in splitting up the .45 as it's kind of useless die set without the press

You can get the base 650 for $609 shipped on amazon, add on the stuff as money permits

I'd go Square deal for auto index and buy a single stage for rifle if you want to load minimal rounds (like hunting) type qty's per year. Personally I think not having auto index is a show stopper on a "progressive press" If money is the "only" consideration ie the deciding factor for you, I would look at a hornady LNL progressive as it's auto index and uses any standard dies. If you can save some, you'll probably be best served to wait until you can afford a 650 as that will be all the machine you'll ever need. You can later add a case feeder and bullet feeder if you decide to when money permits. I started with a single stage, then Hornady LNL, then 1050, then 650. I now prefer loading on my 650 over anything else for reference.

Along with what cha said is the issue for me wasn't really much of a problem for a straight standing draw but rather any draw that had combined the draw with movement, i.e. Almost every draw in a match except classifiers. Like he said it's really only an issue of finding the dot on the first target but mega frustrating when you can't find it

In switching to the DPP, I had mega frustration with the dot hunting. I am now using a RTS2 and it is a non issue. What I found was that the 1 or 2 MM difference in the top of the glass being reduced from not being round glass like the CMore is where the dot landed when I had any inconsistency in grip, draw, etc. Basically if my index was off at all the dot is gone for me on the DPP, but with the RTS2 the same situation, the dot is right at the top of the glass. In either situation, it's an error on my part and should be solved with practice but switching to the RTS2 solved it in the meantime without the same level of frustration and dot hunting.

Agreed, it seems odd but they broke in 3 different slides so it's even more random. It's sucks paying $26 for that part and even worse when you order a spare and the wife sees the $60 receipt for them! My sti regular went a long time and then the hook just sheared off never lost tension or had issues. who knows, I now carry a spare spring cup as well as a tuned regular extractor with me in my bag

I've had 3 of the $26 dollar spring cups break on me... Jury is still out for me on the issue of whether they are better or not. I've only broken one regular extractor. I do think they are way easier to get working correctly to begin with but they are still a consumable in my book

Its kind of like your bottle collection in college, at some point your bank statement or recycle bucket tell the story for you Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

New slide, could be disconnect notch/timing related or the change in mass of the heavier slide being more jarring

Has #3 been messed with or did you put that other hammer in it ever? Maybe you left the monster mainspring in it, or something changed slightly and you forgot to switch out a part as part of the system swap? Just glad I've never had to deal with the hammer follow issue before.....

Not sure if you have a sams club around you but I picked up one of these for $20.00 and it's by far the best value I've ever found in cases. I set mine up to carry 2 open guns, 8 mags, tool kit, extra parts, and a gopro for airline travel. Has square precut foam or make your own like I did. https://www.samsclub.com/sams/16in-safety-box/prod20353692.ip

Good excuse for the wife as well....it's a problem with the frame, not the hammer strut

Normal and nothing to worry about or mess with

If the slide is on the mainspring will be in slight compression which puts the hammer in this preload condition. If the slide is off and the hammer goes forward beyond vertical the spring will typically not have any compression and the hammer will float. if there was no preload the hammer would have some amount of slop and play in it which you don't want to have. In theory if the hammer was loose, and the gun was bounced violently there could be enough movement to strike the firing pin. You also want enough constant tension to keep the sear, hammer, disconnect from bouncing around internally. It would be minimal with the sear spring tension but still undesirable.

Buy some precision delta or zero jacketed Bullets and try them. Don't give the barrel another thought until you prove to yourself it's not the Bullets i.e., make sure it does it will all Bullets

this happens a lot, I only flat topped my last two done. Mine cracked at the guide rod tunnel which is less common. I'd say him covering labor on a warranty basis is unique and generous. Keep the slide and try to get sti to replace it then you'll have a backup for the next time. To anyone paying 1.5-2k for a top end rebuild find a new smith. It's usually 5-600 in my experience, 200 for a slide and the rest in labor. Depending on the comp it may or may not need to be replaced. Cerakote is your friend, it's cheap and by the time it's worn out the slide is probably cracked anyway. in fact the last gun I had done when I was ready to finally get my slide initially coated, after cleaning and blasting it is when I first saw the crack in the tunnel. If you don't want an open gun to break, keep it in the safe, something is bound to break sooner than later if you're shooting it.

Ya it will have to be something similar. I've remolded a bladetech from my lim gun SN trimmed it, I've also made them from scratch. Either way you have to make room for the mount. Longs holster (custom kydex co in CO) made some for cha-Lee as well, they turned out good

Agreed that is funny. You don't need to pay $7 for a screw. It's also funny to think that people believe that the screws in that package are made in a different factory than the grade 5/8 screws at a good hardware store like fastenal. T bushings are a whole different story and no I don't try to find them at a hardware store. another good example is the 5-40 optics mount torx screws they sell. They're a fine price if you want five but you're kidding yourself if you think they're having them made specifically for mounts. They're just aren't many American made screws

Just go to a good hardware store, 10-32x1/4 button head cap screw and trim to fit if needed.

Barsto as well

Not sure what your intent is by the comment? Are you saying the guy is super shady, DW guns Pre CZ are crap, or are you being sarcastic? every early DW I've seen, handled, and/or owned has been in my opinion the best value and quality of a gun on the market that you could buy off the shelf, it's unfortunate kimber had better marketing/pr than DW pre Cz because I think a lot of people paid double the price for a name that was half the quality of gun (if that, in my experience, since the time they changed their business model and somehow people paid more for less quality the last decade and a half.) if your comment is just about a guy that now owns fusion I'd be curious to hear more as I've been curious why they don't have a higher market share and whether it's quality or a crap company to deal with.

I think you'll not find any dispute in anyone saying the "ideal" fit is everything to do with lockup and less about slide fit. Maybe that hat answers the question, the only thing everyone agrees with is that lockup is the only thing that matters