Dave Bell

Picked the pistol up tonight. I brought it home, and loaded up a magazine with my lightest reloads, 200 g swc/4.2g WST, which was recommended by a really experienced gunsmith/bullseye shooter in my area. I put in 5 rounds, took them out and fired them into my old oak tree. Fed fine, everything worked right. Then I loaded up some old 185g swc/4.7g WST, five rounds. Worked fine. Then I loaded up 5 rounds of factory Remington match 185 wadcutter (plated). Worked fine. Then I cleaned it up of all the grease, and put it in my box. Cant decide whether to shoot it in the match tomorrow night or to shoot my Kimber in CDP.

Luck struck. I went to a couple of stores in the area (east of DFW) The first one had some para's for sale for full retail, not exactly what I wanted so tried to talk me into paying full price for a scratched up stainless LDA. The second, which I'll be happy to name if it's not against forum rules to endorse a shop, offered me cost plus 10% on any gun, can get it in one day, and took two other pistols as even trade for the para. It arrives tomorrow. If Im lucky I can try it out tomorrow night and then use it at the IdPa match Wednesday night. I'll post a report on the pistol as soon as I can. Dave

I'm trying to find out if a para hi capacity LDA .45 will fit into the ssp category. It seems that it will as far as being double action, and I can't find any weight limit in ssp, and the length and height seem "legal", but I'm not sure of thickness. I know that this is a thick pistol. I called para and they "didn't have any information" (?) about the thickness of the pistol. Anybody know for sure? Dave

I picked up a Beretta .40 Model 96 the other day because it was filthy and needed a new home where someone would take care of it. I like it a lot. I was thinking of trying it out for SSP. Of course, the problem is that the first shot involves the double action (long) trigger pull. I practiced a bit and can draw, hit the safety, and pull that long pull and still hit a 6" paper plate pretty consistently. Here's my questions for the board, however 1. Would it be better to leave the decock off while holstered, and draw and pull double action? 2. Or, would it be better to leave the decock off and cock the hammer while bringing the pistol up to sight? 3. Or, would it be better to leave the pistol decocked, hit the decock lever while bringing it up to sight, and pull double action? I know there's no "right" answer, just interested in more experienced folks' ideas on this topic. besides, I'm bored right now. Dave

I've done some searches but can't find it. Is there a formula? TIA

never mind. The actuating rod was on from the wrong side, it bound up the mechanism. I'm a dumba** what can I say, I'm going to take a bath now and go to bed.

I shot my first 75 rounds of reloads today. I spent Saturday putting it all together, which was fun because my electricity was off in the shop, and I had to do it by the dim light of a small window and a flashlight, held in the teeth...... Everything was cool with the reloads, for the most part. I got the recipe from the gunsmith who is working on my bullseye pistol, who has been shooting bullseye since Browning was a pup. I was extremely happy that all the various experimental overall lengths of the lead 200 g. SWC's fed fine in my Kimber, not one failure. Also, the recoil was light as planned, and accuracy was extremely good. I had but one problem, which was perplexing at first. I would fire a round, see the hole appear in the target (Thanks Brian for the parts of your book about calling the shots), and see the spent case eject. The next pull of the trigger, all I hear is "click" and when I eject the cartridge, I get an empty case. I think "Where the hell is the bullet, and why did it go "click"? This happened three times. Of course, I found the bullet halfway down the barrel, and tapped it out with a wood dowel and a rusty hammer. After a while, I reasoned that somehow, there was no powder in the cartridges, and the "click" was only a "click" because I was wearing sound clipping ear protection and was expecting a "bang". So, to prove my theory, I go back to the shop, and deliberately load up two squibs, put on the hearing protectors, walk outside, pull the trigger, and hear a "pfft." and see a little jet of gas shoot up from the port. And of course, the bullet was about half way down the barrel. So, I go back in and load up 110 rounds, watching the powder in each one. I notice that the powder bar on my 550 cycles kind of sluggishly, and doesn't go all the way to the end of it's travel sometimes, so much so that an occasional cartridge gets no powder. This is bad. So, I adjust everything to try to make sure the actuating rod is not binding due to misalignment, and that helps, but still, I'm not getting the snappy cycle I'd like. Which brings me to my question. Should I lubricate the powder bar? If so, with what? Should I go read the directions? Somebody help me please, I want to hear a "bang" when I pull the trigger. Waiting patiently in Texas, thinking I should have read the directions..... Dave