mwinter501

Not sure if the OP is even still looking at this thread, but I'll throw my experience in. When I first got hired as a LEO, I was able to carry whatever I wanted. I, of course, started with my 1911 even though the knowledgeable guys said go with Glock because it's a better work gun. I tried the Glock, but didn't like it for the same reasons as you: it didn't feel comfortable in my hand and didn't point as naturally for me. In retrospect, I see that this was only because I had been shooting my 1911 for years. Fast forward to today after years of trial and error....I carry a Glock. I left the 1911 because I got tired of seeing such a beautiful gun get scratched up all day and truly saw the advantage of having more ammo and less reloads in a gunfight. I still didn't want to like the Glock, so I went to a Sig P226 for a short while before I decided it wasn't worth the extensive amount of training time to learn two different trigger pulls (I now also know better). I tried a few others (Not to the point where I actually carried them on duty) but finally decided I'd try the Glock. I decided to take my new G35 with me to a week long training class I was going to. Suddenly, after training hard with it, I didn't think it felt like crap in my hands. It also pointed naturally for me. The added benefit I found was that I can still shoot my 1911, and now 2011, just fine. Now, I realize my reasoning for going to the Glock was based on completely different criteria than yours, but I believe it can be an excellent weapon system and can be fairly easily learned. I can't necessarily discourage anyone from going out and finding something they like better because this is America and I realize that just because it worked for me doesn't make it true for everyone. However, I do believe that more time spent shooting and training with the Glock will pay off in the future to a high degree. I think the grip on the Glock is one of those things that makes you appreciate everything else that much more. If you learn to shoot well with it, especially when you don't initially like it, everything else is gravy.

youre right, I see now. Ke is the constant of the ammo which is fixed. I was solving for ke. that being said, I prefer a lightened slide/spring combo. I don't notice the increased velocity in the form of felt recoil, but do notice the sight seems to settle more quickly.

Let me preface this by saying I'm in the much less scientific corner of "Lightened slides feel better to me." I looked up the formula to be sure I was reading it correctly. As I read it, it states Ke=1/2MV^2, or, Kinetic energy equals one half times mass times velocity squared. Therefore, since you are lowering the amount of mass, which is on the one side of the equation, it must lower the amount of kinetic energy. For example.... Lets say Mass = 8 and Velocity = 4 That would mean KE=1/2*8(4^2) -----> KE=4*16-----KE=64 So, if we lower the mass to 6, for example. Mass = 6 and Velocity = 4 That would make KE=1/2*6(4^2) ----> KE=3*16---->KE=48 This is accounting for a lesser mass (20% in this case), but a constant velocity (assuming we're using the same ammo and same recoil spring). This ends up resulting in a 25% decrease in kinetic energy. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just a mouth-breathing high school graduate.

I have the stretch 16" fluted and have been extremely happy with it. I went with the fluted simply because I wanted to shed as much weight as reasonably possible. If I weren't so weight consciousness on that build I would have just gone with the non-fluted. I was a little apprehensive when first buying the barrel because it wasn't a big name brand, but I couldn't be happier with it and sing it's praises to everyone who asks about it. EDIT: I built mine with an SLR adjustable gas block, JP lightweight BCG, and JP silent captured spring. It's been nothing but reliable and is the softest shooting rifle on our team, despite also being the lightest. Everyone really likes it and comments on how light it is if they have to pick it up for some reason.

I have the RMR01 on mine. I'd be using a larger dot if I were doing it overa gain. It's taken quite a beating and over 15k rounds and hasn't lost zero so far. I've been extremely satisfied.

Ball nosed checkered diamonds. The pistol is awesome, but looks even better next to the Blanton's cork!

Well, I shot a steel match this past week and thought I had the issue figured out. I only had one malfunction from a tube that I knew I had squeezed too wide and the rounds got stuck half way down...easy fix. However, during practice a few days ago, I continued to have the same problem with the rounds getting in front of the extractor from two magazines. I have my feed lips pretty wide (.355-.363) from trying to fix a nose diving issue I previously had, but I ended up fixing that with loading my cartridge longer. Could the feed lips be too wide and allowing the rounds to prematurely jump up in front of the extractor? I'm scratching my head on this one because I used all of my mags during the match and didn't have a single round feed in front of the extractor. Then the problem suddenly comes back. Any ideas?

You know, I just was revisiting this after fixing other mag tuning issues and I think you are exactly right! I ordered the 13 coil springs because I figured I could easily clip the two coils if need be....then I promptly forgot that I ordered the long springs. I'll clip them and see how it goes. Thanks for the help!

I was checking that yesterday trying to see if the extractor had anything to do with the previous issue. I'm not an expert, but there didn't seem to be any hangups there. It held the case quite tight against the breech face without binding. I suspect the taper on the feed lips is too wide causing the case to pop up too early during feeding. Mainly because it happens quite often with one particular STI mag, rarely with other STI mags, and it hasn't happened with the SVI mag. I'm about to go measure the feed lip dimensions on the SVI and compare them to what I did on the STI tubes.

Ok, update after shooting. The ammo functioned fine out of around 200 rounds. I also pulled two of the bullets which don't show excessive crimp - there's still plenty of the coating left and accuracy was good. My magazines are another issue. I'll probably start a new thread for them after searching for the answer first, but figured I'd share here. I started to have an issue that appeared similar to the original. The slide stopped just shy of going completely into battery. This time, however, the round was getting ahead of the extractor. Thankfully the extractor didn't ride over rim. This problem happened to a certain extent in all of the mags I tuned off of the dawson tuning video (STI 140mm tubes, grams follower, grams 13 coil spring, stock basepad, spacer). It looks like the 2nd round in the magazine is moving forward with the top round is stripped by the slide. This moves that round up to the top, but forward in the magazine. I think this causes the round to be pushed up at the angle too early in the cycle causing it to get in front of the extractor. Thoughts? This didn't occur at all on the supplied SVI mag which does not use a spacer. Not sure if it's the feed lip dimensions, the lack of spacer, or a combination of both.

Good idea, I'll do that tonight!

Also, I was incorrect earlier regarding my crimp die. It's a dillon taper crimp not a Lee FCD. I have the FCD for 223 and had just switched tool heads.

I need to be better about checking my dies. They consistently come loose without me noticing it. This is what happened the crimp die on both occasions. The rounds fed fine in my glock but I noticed they still had some bell at the ends. This adjustment still doesn't look to push the end of the case into the bullet any, but I'll pull a few and check.

I thought it had, but I'm guessing it was protruding past the hood just a tiny amount that I didn't notice. I'm heading to the range in an hour to see how things work out.

Yep, mixed brass. Hopefully adding a little more crimp will make the thicker cases work well

Well, I may have figured it out. I started checking each station in my loader backward. The crimp station (Lee FCD) seemed like it could use a little more so I turned it down 1/4 turn. I then ran the problem round from today back through the crimp station and it fed just fine in the gun. So, I then got the problem round from last night and ran it through the crimp station and it still stopped short. I turned the die down another 1/4 turn and it now works just fine. There doesn't appear to be an excessive crimp so I'll load up a few hundred lime this and shoot tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes well. Thanks again for everyone's help!

Well, just loaded up 25 at 1.130. Th ere was one that had the same issue to a lesser degree. The spring wouldn't completely seat everything, but a slight to moderate amount of force would make it completely chamber. I measured that round against the others and can't find anything out of the ordinary. This one doesn't have any marks on the primer like the last one either. I'm at a loss

Interesting. I initially figured this was the problem, but that case measures shorter that some of the others that functioned fine. I would agree, I don't know what is the problem with that particular one because it wont seat any further. The marks are very superficial and I cant feel anything with my bare finger. I guess that's the issue you can run into with such tight tolerances. I've only "plunk tested" them by dropping them into the barrel. I don't use a case guage. Guess I'll need to get one. No, you really don't. Your chamber is a much better gauge than a gauge. BTW, there is more to The Plunk Test than "dropping them into the barrel" - they have to seat all the way (PLUNK), and spin freely and then drop freely when inverted. If they won't do that, they did NOT pass The Plunk Test. Yeah, that's what I do, sorry for the over simplification.

I've only "plunk tested" them by dropping them into the barrel. I don't use a case guage. Guess I'll need to get one. I'll give it a try. I'd be happy if it was that easy of a fix, but would be curious since the others are the same OAL or slightly lower. The ogive on this one could be different as well. Thanks everyone for the help

Im trying to get the other pics up, but having a ton of trouble with the site.

***Update: The rounds didn't have enough crimp/bell removal which was causing the gun to lock up with certain brass. It wasn't visually apparent and didn't show when measuring, but adding a little more crimp fixed the issue. Good evening everyone, I was hoping to enlist your help with a problem I’m having with my newly acquired Infinity 5” sight tracker in 9mm. I picked it up a few days ago and have experience the following two problems quite often (2-5 rounds per magazine). Ammo was primarily my reloads (124gr RMR plated round nose, mixed brass, 3.6g Promo, Win primers, 1.150 OAL) but also occurred with some random factory practice ammo. It also happened with 140mm STI tubes (grams spring, grams follower, STI stock basepad, tuned by me to Dawson specs from tuning kit) and the one 140mm SVI magazine that came with the pistol. Problem 1: the gun will fail to go completely into battery (last ¼”). On these I just push the back of the slide very slightly and it will go forward and be good to fire. I attributed this to a possibly warn out recoil spring. Infinity said it came with a Wolff 9lb variable from the factory, so I ordered that along with a 10lb and 11lb hoping it would cure the issue. They are still in the mail. Problem 2: The gun will fail to go completely into battery (again, only the last 1/4” or so) but will not go forward any more. I have attempted to push fairly hard on the back of the slide but it won’t budge. There’s usually a little extra resistance when I pull the slide back, so I’m apprehensive to push any harder. I originally attributed this problem to the ammo I was using. I knew I had some in the can that didn’t have the bell completely removed from when my die moved out of spec. They worked in my glock, but didn’t surprise me that they weren’t working in the tighter chamber of the Infinity. I just happened to be switching over to 125g round nose from Blue Bullets, so I loaded up some dummies tonight to the same OAL. All passed the “plunk” test in the barrel, so I loaded them in a magazine and cycled them through to see if I had cured problem 2. The problem occurred two more times initially. I ran them all back through a second time and it only occurred once. All I am doing is locking the slide back on each round and hitting the slide release. I figured this would be the best way to eliminate the variable of spring tension. I ran them through more times and thought it was being caused by the top round’s forward position in the magazine. I eliminated that after watching plenty of other rounds chamber like butter from the same position. I then thought it was only the top round in the magazine, but then found out I was just coincidentally putting the problem round in last. Finally, (I’m a little slow) decided to mark the round that caused the problem to see if it was the same one every time. That helped narrow it down, because the problem only occurs when attempting to chamber this round. I’ve measured this round at every spot I can think of and nothing appears out of the ordinary. I’ve measured OAL, case length, case end diameter, case base diameter, etc, and it all is within spec and the same as the other rounds. (big deep breath in) So, I then kept loading this round into the magazine and slowly letting the slide forward hoping to see where it was hanging up. The round moves up the ramp, beneath the extractor, and into the chamber just fine. Everything locks up when the round is completely chambered and the barrel and slide are both moving forward together. The only thing I can see out of the ordinary are some marks on the primer. These marks do not exist on any of the other rounds. The primer felt flush and shows to be flush after measuring it. This is also the only PPU stamped case out of the bunch. I attached some photos so yall can see what’s going on a little better. I really appreciate everyone’s help!

I started on a Dillon 550 which worked well. Now I have a 650 and I absolutely love it. If you're serious about getting into reloading and love the hobby, then I think the 650 is the way to go. If it is something you want to only make shooting cheaper, and dont want to have to tinker with it much, I'd say the 550 is prolly a better choice.

This is a common problem. It stems from not being able to move the trigger finger independently of the other fingers when firing. It becomes much more difficult without using both hands, and even harder with your weak hand only. You will typically see the shots on target opposite of the hand being used. Basically, when you move your trigger finger to press the shot, your other fingers begin to grip the gun more tightly which pushes the gun to the right (if shooting left hand) or left (if shooting right hand). This will typically be more pronounced when shooting pistols with longer/heavier trigger travel. The main way I've been able to combat this is working on weak hand grip strength with a grip strengthener combined with training weak hand only shooting.