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crazyaboutguns

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Posts posted by crazyaboutguns

  1. As a prosecutor who has evaluated lots of cases in which people have claimed self-defense, I have to comment on ChuckDs statements, most of which I agree with.

    The Grand Jury is a good thing. They provide a brake on prosecutors who just might file anything under the sun. There are 16 people who usually have a good deal of common sense (or at least most do). They weigh evidence and make good decisions. In thousands of GJ presentations, I have only seen a few where I thought the GJ got it wrong. Some prosecutors take cases to the GJ knowing/hoping/wishing that the GJ will NOT indict. This is often done to appease media and/or victims. I don't do it in my practice, I only present cases where I believe the suspect is guilty and I have a reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial.

    I have to disagree with the comment about answering only what is asked and offering no statements to the police. If you blast someone in self-defense, you should make sure the police are notified (be careful what you say to dispatch) but once they get there I would only tell them some along the lines of "I was in fear of my life (or me, my kids, my wife), I'm upset, no offense but I'd like to speak to a lawyer." The police won't get offended, you have a constitutional right to do so. You want the police (and the prosecutor reviewing the case!!!!!) to know you were acting in self-defense but you don't want to start babbling. Then get a good lawyer right away and have them deal with the DA.

    What most people fail to understand about a self-defense scenario (or any criminal case), is that the most important moment is the charging decision, that moment when the prosecutor decides to file charges or not (this is not a police decision). You have to let the prosecutor know what happened but you should let your attorney do most of the work. That's why you need to get an attorney ASAP and have the contact the prosecutor with your side of the story before that decision is made. I guess the old saw "better being tried by 12 , than carried by 6" is true but you want to avoid being tried by the 12 at all costs. Facing felony criminal charges is EXTREMELY life altering. Sure you MAY win at trial but if it gets to that point, your life is in wreckage. House mortgaged or sold to pay for defense, you may be in custody while the case goes along, reputation ruined, job lost etc. etc.

    Most prosecutors have no problem with people defending themselves. I declined charges on many aggravated assault cases where the shooter/gunpointer had a reasonable fear for their safety. But that's me. There are prosecutors (not the majority, at least in Arizona) who don't think that people should be able to use lethal force despite what the law says. But county attorneys don't get relected by prosecuting civilians who shoot burglars and rapists (again, at least in Arizona). I can only think of one case where I thought a prosecution (not by me!) proceeded on what I thought was a clear cut case of self-defense. But that case had kind of a happy ending, with a misdemeanor resolution.

    Oh and I carry a Glock 27 with 180 gr. golden sabers or hydra-shocks or a souped up Colt 1911 with 230 gr. hydra-shocks. Sometimes in summer specials or sometimes just "mexican carry." I think the gun media (Massad Ayoob in particular) has made to much of a "1911" issue. The decision to use lethal force relies on whether the person was in reasonable fear for their or a 3d party's life. That decision has nothing to do with whatever firearms you're packing.

    Having attended three Ayoob classes, I disagree. The 1911 firearm was designed and is optimized as

    an offense weapon for wartime. It was not, and is not presently configured for the legal, moral and practical

    aspects of self defense, which are by definition responsive to a threat, not initiation of assault.

  2. You mean I can only load 2,500,000 more rounds on my press :( I don't think I can afford the bullets, powder, primers to wear it out for awhile.

    You got to love people getting tweaked out of shape with only part of the story.

    Dillon,

    Can you buy the crank, journal,mainshaft, and bearings for a super 1050 and convert your 1050 to a Super 1050? Just my 2 cents, but maybe you should make a package deal for those 1050 owners who want to make their 1050 a Super 1050. Or is that even possible?

    Crazyaboutguns,

    I think you need to check your half-cock, it might be broke :)

    That aspect of me which is broken is my patience with half-truth and misrepresentation by firms and individuals

    profiting from same.

  3. Other than Para-Ordnance and custom guns with supported chambers, 45 ACP pistols in the 1911 pattern

    are unsupported. This includes Colt, Springfield, Kimber, etc, also Glock. Blow out of 45 ACP cases when using range brass

    does occur with reloads which are within SAAMI pressure specifications. Anyone shooting 45 ACP with reloads

    is well advised to have a supported (ramped) barrel installed. Otherwise, a case blowout with a proper reload

    will eventually occur, its only a matter of time.

  4. I'm betting a double charge (or a partial double, at least).  The book may say 5.2 is an approved max, but I'm with Duane on this one, 4.6 makes Major for me in my guns.  The 5.2 must be due to some difference between our setups and the tested 5.2 data.  worried about setback (the setback round in the maIf you're g after the !bang! is due to gas jetting into it) then get your belling stem turned down and polished by a couple of thousandths.  The coke bottle look is nice, but not required, provided the belling stem doesn't bump the I.D. back up from the sized dimension.

    The setback to which I referred is due to mechanically applied forces during the gun's feeding process. This setback

    occurs without firing of a cartridge. It is also dangerous due to unpredictability. Factors which

    influence setback include the sizing die's dimensions, bullet diameter, bullet hardness, jacketed, or lead, or plated, case elasticity,

    crimp to a moderate degree, and probably additional factors. Bottom line is, the bullet must not be allowed to be

    pushed into the case for any reason, whether cycling forces, gas pressure forces, or any other during shooting.

    The sizing die is the principal method of controlling setback, because a "Coke Bottle" shape supports the

    bullet at its base, thus is unaffected by those factors listed above. It is also independent of belling diameter

    and powder funnel dimensions. No matter the brand of sizing die, they seem to differ in dimension of the sized brass

    from die to die. I have two Hornady dies in 45 ACP. One firmly supports the bullet, the other does not.

    Also, my Dillon die does not support the bullet. Both of these nonsupporting type dies have resulted in

    bullets being setback during feeding. The die which did not allow setback sized the brass to produce the

    "Coke Bottle" shape. As I mentioned in a previous posting, Dillon at one time (mid 1990's) promoted this very feature.

    Its current dies do not appear to include this feature, and its abscense is a detriment.

  5. Setback. Here is why: the Dillon sizing die. I am a die-hard Dillon fan but not when it comes to their sizing die. 1st, understand that crimp does not hold the bullet in an autloader cartridge; its the tension from the re-sized dimension of the case. The Dillon resize dies seem to be the most generous ones out there and they re-size the LEAST amount of the case. They just do not grip the bullet enough. I just happened to be practicing w/ a friend this AM loading .45 on a 650 and he noticed significant setback on several loads that had been chambered & unchambered. Lucky for him, setback has not resulted in a KB probably because he loads 230s to 1.260 over a charge of VV N-320 that is BELOW the min. VV manual load (and it still makes major). A setback w/ a max load of a fast, high energy powder like Titegroup would be another story. Keep the dillon press, but replace that Dillon resize die w/ something else (like a Lee "U" die & some OneShot).

    My experience, exactly. The Dillon sizing dies of several years ago did produce a, "Coke Bottle"shape, which Dillon advertised

    and promoted. Dillon sizing dies of the past few years, in 45 ACP,

    do not do this. Using the sizing dies without, "Coke Bottle", shape cartridges after loading has led me to extensive feeding problems due to the cartridge OAL changing randomly

    during the feeding cycle. Changed to another sizing die of different manufacture, which did size the

    brass sufficiently to support the bullet at its base, "Coke Bottle", shape.

    Tested ten dummy rounds by hand cycling gun, ten times each round. Setback did not exceed .010"

    on any dummy round after ten feeding cycles. Gun now runs reliably.

  6. That's a pretty thin limb. Tell you what, if you want to flip and grab, wear a little sign on the back that says "Flipper". As RO, I'll stand behind you until the gun is clear, then lean forward to check the chamber. That way, I can be behind you and shielded if the thing goes off. Otherwise, this type of action puts two people at risk.

    That about sums it up. Thank you, Wildman.

  7. Hello, McFly?! Would someone care to tell me exactly what's unsafe about unloading by racking the slide quickly? Is your problem with the slide rack speed, the skyward ejection, or the muzzle?

    I'll say this: cycling the slide slowly is much more unsafe as far as ejector fire. The gun is designed to eject cases with the slide moving back quickly. Have you ever seen the slow-rack unloaders have to jiggle the round out as its up against the ejector? All the time. Have you ever seen this happen to the flippers? Nope, the round gets kicked out.

    FWIW, I turn the gun over so the port is down and to the right. However, I found myself flipping one or two out of the gun this weekend for some reason.

    Eric: Previous posts have addressed the safety hazard of manually racking a slide quickly, with a LIVE round

    in the chamber. The 1911 was designed to eject FIRED cases with slide moving quickly, not live rounds.

    As myself and others have personally witnessed, and stated in our postings, ignition of live rounds

    during unloading does occur. Extended ejector equipped guns are particularly susceptible.

    Problems with flipping and attempting to catch the round pertain to diversion of attention of the

    shooter from the gun, to the round in mid-air. Some people can do this without a problem,

    most of the time. It is that minority of occassions when a shooter chases his round in mid-air

    that presents a problem. A DQ after the fact is not a satisfactory rationalization for engaging in

    a unloading procedure that adds nothing to the sport, and presents a potential, and totally

    avoidable hazard to the shooter, and every other person on the range.

    With respect to the tenor of your post, and other posts in which you have expressed disagreement with

    other posters, the presence of sarcasm in place of sound reasoning diminishes the weight given to your

    positions, and is rude and abusive to others participating in this forum. Please consider this in the future.

  8. Jim: Good man to accept responsibility for the gun's position. Nonetheless, if the stage design was such as to

    induce breaking the 180, them the stage was indeed deficient. As to persons electing to position themselves

    at, or near the 180 position, and the R.O.(s) that allowed them to do so, they are no less errroneous in their

    action(s), and failure(s) to act, respectively.

  9. Yes, I have observed two burst rounds/injured hands. Probably the worst aspect of this flashy behavior is

    the shooters attention is momentarily away from the gun. Wandering muzzles, and on one occassion a dropped

    gun have been observed by me. Leave show boating at home. If a shooter wants to be known for his/her

    competence with firearms, including how to safely handle them, unload slowly, not theatrically.

  10. I suggest the easiest, noncontroversial solution to the subject is to load ten rounds maximum in each magazine.

    Chamber a round after Load And Make Ready, remove mag from gun, insert a mag with ten rounds maximum

    into the gun. If a shooter chooses to replace one round in the magazine which was utilized to charge the gun,

    fine. If not, that is also fine. Easy to comply with rules, easy for R.O. to assure compliance, easy for other

    shooters to observe that each shooter is complying, thus no endless debates at the range after a shooter

    completes a COF, no potential for a shooter to be bumped to another class. Everyone happy.

  11. The magazine configuration below works without problems.

    1) Mag Body: Factory Para, Feed Lips Inside Width At Release Point, .370"-.380".

    2) Spring & Follower: Grams Engineering

    3) Base Pad: Dawson

    This configuration holds 20 rounds. Suggested overall length fpr cartridge is 1.155"-1.190".

  12. Hello Stu: Suggest you examine the rear surface of the slide's recoil spring plug area. This surface is where

    the slide contacts the shock-buff during recoil. If the surface is sharp, irregular or not perpindicular to the

    lengthwise centerline of the slide, the slide will destroy the shock-buff in short order.

  13. Keep Limited as an iron sight division. USPSA already has an excessive number of divisions, it does not

    need more. For those wishing to shoot 3-Gun with scoped rifles/shotguns, Open division provides for that.

    Those preferring the challenge of shooting without optical devices, Limited Division, should not be placed in a position of competing against optics.

  14. Hello texasag93: The Ed Brown barrells for Paras are excellent. They are made to maximum dimensions

    for tight, consistent lockup. To date I have installed an Ed Brown bushing barrell in a Para P-14 Limited (45ACP),

    and an Ed Brown bull barrell in a Para P-16 Limited (40 S&W). Both guns are now accurate, and cycle reliably.

    On the P-14 barrel its bottom lugs required just a slight amount of fitting to align the rear of the slide with

    the rear of the frame. The P-16 barrell required no removal of metal, and along with a new slide lock pin

    of .200 diameter the gun locks up without play. If you decide on a bull barrell, as was mentioned in a

    previous posting, the Ed Brown is the only bull style barrell available which will provide the proper muzzle

    to slide fit. All other bull barrells of which I am aware are sized .694"-.697" diameter, which will not provide

    proper fit to the Para slide internal diameter. What ever barrell you select, utilize a new slide lock pin.

    The original equipment pin from Para tends to wear away quickly, in comparison to pins made of hardened

    steel. My suggestion is a .200" diameter pin from Evolution Gun Works (EGW). Brownell's sells them,

    and also sells the Ed Brown barrells.

  15. Pact II does not have a loud buzzer. Some shooeters cannot hear it, particularly if using ear plugs and muffs.

    Some folks like the case contour, some dislike it intensely. My preference is the CED 6000 because of its

    overall combination of features. Not the best in each feature, but my preference overall.

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