Dan Bone

So I wanted to build a .22 Steel gun. I got a used M41 from Gunbroker after hearing all the hype. You kiddin me.... this thing is a brick. Accurate, yeah, no doubt. But weighs a ton and feels like a plow handle in your hand. Having the need for instant gratification I went for the CLARK barrel which slid right on. At first I went for a Jpoint site thinking I'd have an additional weight savings (and it does). Unfortunately the one that I have is only a 4 MOA and rather dim for my liking (for sale). So I put on an old C-more. This helps the gun considerably not only from the aspect of weight savings but it now has a feel / alignment very similar to that of my Bedell shorty. I think a little sandpaper and patience and we can have these grips feeling like a 2011 in no time. This thing will rock, but it prefers Blazer or Mini-Mags when it's throwing down on some steel.

Does anybody know what days we're actually shooting? Application says 8 thru 17th. Surely we're not shooting all those days and I need to minimize my time away from work (my sponsor). I need to be there the day before the match starts and leave immediately when it's over.

It looks real short to me. Looks more like it was fit for a .45 ACP gun. For an open (faster cycling) gun you want to get the the expended casing/round out as soon as clearance with the front of the slide opening will allow. A longer ejector gets that sequence started sooner..... all that being said, if it works, don't mess with it. Why do you ask?

Ewww..... that a bummer. Using full size poppers will allow you to turn it up a bit more.

Todd Jarrett shot this classifier in Fredericksburg Va. this past Sunday. I thought my run was a damn respectable run and Todd burned my score down (as is usual). It's a very straight forward stage. I shot the left 3 IPSCfirst (close to far targets). Moved to the right side of the barricade and shot the right 3 IPSC (close to far). I saved the last 4 poppers for the end and knew that you had to hit them one for one (quickly). Because of the no-shoot target positioning on this stage, I would expect the top run for this to be in the low 7 second range, claiming all 80 available points. Stage: 6 Big Barricade II Place Name No. Class Division Pts Pen Time Hit Fact Stg Pts Stg % 1 Jarrett, Todd 69 GM Open 73 0 7.56 9.6561 80.0000 100.00% 2 Bone, Dan 119 A Open 76 0 8.61 8.8269 73.1301 91.41%

A friend and I have been doing extensive testing with N105 and 4756. Both powders do well in our Brazo Shorty's. 10.4 of N105 (170PF in "MY" gun) is audibly louder, sharper in the hand, but has great dot recovery and most importantly it meters and reloads nicely. The drawback is it's comparitively expensive and hard to find. 9.3 of 4756 (170PF in "MY" gun) is by far softer in recoil, equal in dot recovery. But reloading it just plain suxs. The case is all but full. We've moved the seating die to station 3 (Dillon 650) and go slow as to not spill any powder. I feel the 4756 is better overal, but that's with "MY" gun. Variations in the gun, reloading components/technique have proven to make all the difference in the world. Although my buddies and my guns are VERY similar. They do NOT chrono out identically. So that only proves that you need to reduce your starting load and work up from there.

Recorded my first 100% classifier. LIMITED 10 STI Trojan .45ACP (with a single stack as L10 should be) 57 pts // 5.93 All I remember is it was a clean run. I drove the gun hard and was focusing on A zones. The reload was done well before the second box and I was driving the gun again. When I was done I figured it was a damn respectable run. I didn't think it was a 100% run. I suppose it just goes to show that even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. TY31488

What makes you you say that? The plates have a relief cut for the rim. There's not a lot (if any) pressure put on the rim.

I'm not familiar with the Arntzen targets/stands. But I do have plenty of the GT targets http://www.gttargets.com/. I own the full Steel Challenge setup and (2) half scale IPSC targets. The great thing about these is the target is standing on a 2x4. If it gets shot (and it will) you simply replace the board. Surprisingly enough a 2x4 will take a lot of hits before failing. The head unit that sits on top of the 2x4 is behind the plate so it's safe. The base unit only sits 8 inches off the ground. If you hit it you need to take up golf. I've held numerous Steel Challenge matches and practice every weekend (by some "not so skilled" shooters) and the gear is still in top shape. Granted I have changed out the boards every 2-3 months, but these things are taking literally thousands of hits a month. That's more than the average shooter will do in practice.

mpolans: 9.8 is a bit stout of a load, but I'm using a hybri-comp setup. I have more holes than barrel in this thing. So 9.8 only gives me a 171 PF. I've been using it for years and have been chrono'ed at a few major matches. It's always been consistently in that range. I personally like the Case Pro theory and before you guys start in on me. I already do use an EGW "U" sizing die. I won't go into that here because that arguement has been waged a few times in other threads. I think I was just being lazy/cheap by not replacing my brass periodically. I will now track it by "lots" and replace after 5 reloadings. I guess what I was after is to see if anybody knew that if the timing of the slide cycling serves a function to releave case pressure - i.e. does the delayed unlocking in my gun provide an increased pressure.

That's not right, Dillon didn't fix it right for you then. You mention the index feeling mushy. There are a few things that I can think of that would affect that. - No sping/worn spring under the index ball (under the shell plate) - shell plate too lose allowing vertical play - lessening the affect of the ball - there is an adjustment on the left side below the turret to adjust the amount of turn in the shellplate. But if you get close the ball should click the shellplate into position - index tab (little hammer looking thing) or underside of shellplate worn. Regardless... I'd complain to Dillon. They've always taken good care of me. But I've never had problems as serious as you do. Or, sell me that broken P.O.S. 650 for a marvelous price and buy the 1050. HAHAHA

Nah... not a cracked case. We know that won't do it. More like a case head seperation. They were somewhat typical with .40 back in the day of the 175 PF. Most were caused by used brass, Nickel more so than brass, Clays powder. The gun ran good today. New brass, lighter load (124 gr // 8.6 3N37). 200 rounds through it without a glitch. That's why I'm sure it was either OLD brass / hot load or HOT load / guns timing affected by delayed unlock.

I'd put money that JPRO45 is correct. The left leg of the sear spring is fallen off to the left side of the sear. I usually check this as I have the mainspring housing halfway up. Before dropping the grip safety in place, take a straight slot and push the sear spring to the right and ensure that the leaf is ontop of the sear.

First some background. I'm shooting an Brazo Open blaster that's quite old. The slide frame fit was getting ridiculous so I sent it off to get accu-rails installed. It came back tight as a safe. A bit too tight. It doesn't unlock smoothly. Vice tinkering with the locking lugs, I elected to shoot it for a bit and let it work itself "in". So far I've only had about 200 rds through it.... The load is DAMN HOT because I like it like that. The dot doesn't move! I'm using a 115 M.G. FMJ // 9.8 3N37 // 1.235 OAL.... Last weekend I'm shooting a stage at the local match. About the 5th round I seen an unusual puff of blue smoke come off the top of the gun and felt an appreciable amount of kickback in my hands. I had seen the shot on paper so I continued on with the stage. Three shots later I seen/felt the same thing and stopped. Something was obviously amiss and I wasn't willing to blow up my gun OR HANDS. After shooting I could see the black imprint of powder in the palm of my hand defining the silhouette of the grip safety and mag release. I assumed it to be a case seperation (we never could find either of the cases)..... So now the question. Why??? I've studied my reloads carefully and find nothing wrong with bullets, powder drop or crimp. So I'm left with two options. 1) the brass is just too old and I need to replace it. There's no telling how old it is. I Case Pro everything and it probably does need to be retired. I've done that already as a precautionary measure. 2) but for the question that I'm not smart enough to answer is... is it possible that the gun having a delayed/rough characteristic to UNLOCK cause pressures to increase above the ridiculous peaks I impose on it already?

True... true.... cleanliness is important. I had a friend who was a complete pig. When he first got started he had me come over quite a few times to fix his 650. There was never anything wrong with it except powder and primers all over the place clogging up the mechanisms. He used to scare me as I always found myself standing in piles of primers (live and dead) and spilled powder. To make matters worse I knew he smoked in that room. I just knew I'd be reading about him in the papers someday. One thing you said that I find interesting is the comment about routine primer feed problems. Is that with all primers? The reason I ask is I never have problems with small rifle primers. But when I load .45 ACP I do have a occasional problems but I've always accounted that to unknown range brass.