Pat Miles

I've shot a crap load of WSR primers in my Open guns and Limited gun. I've noticed that mine are discolored also but they all go bang. Run your index finger along the rows of ammo you have in your pics. If there are any high primers you'll feel them. CYa, Pat

Dillon did away with the powder bar return springs when they redesigned the powder drop assembly with the fail safe system. If you want them I hear that Dillon will send them out if you call and ask. I normally load 4 or 5 primer tubes for a reloading session. If I don't use them all I just store the tube(s) under my 650 between the strong mounts and use them in my next reloading session. Might not be a good idea if you live in an area with high humidiy. CYa, Pat

Might be easier for folks to offer you an answer if they knew where you lived. CYa, Pat

Bart dog, You could be in my shoes, down to 22 days before I hit 60! Yikes!! It's been a damn fine ride though. Hope yours will be the same when you hit my age. I'll bring you a cupcake at our next match. CYa, Pat

I went through the scarey situation of being laid off many years ago. Asked my ex wife to marry me the night before I found out about my being jobless. I have to say that being laid off changed my whole mind set about how I would handle my finances for the rest of my life. I became rather strict with my money. Never turned into a screaming tightwad but ALWAYS knew where the ball was. Worked for Manpower for an income as well as a way of keeping my sense of worth to my family. Ex worked for the government so she was always employed. When I did go back to work I started saving from day one and never dipped into my 401k or ESOP. Doing that allowed me to retire comfortably at age 57. About a year ago I saw so much financial pessemisim that against my financial advisors advice I bailed out of the market completely and went to total cash. He has since told me that I was smart to do so. NO SH!T!!! Now I'm mildly worried about my son, daughter in law and two grand kids. Mildly because they both have their Masters degrees (EE & MBA) and work at Sandia National Labs here in Albuquerque. Through Gods good graces if they were to lose their jobs I am in a comfortable enough position to write a check for their house so they and my grandkids will always have a place of their own. Time will tell. Good luck to all who face losing a job in these scarey times. Been there, done that! CYa, Pat

I like mine. I really like the lock being on the outside of the holster rather than behind it as in the Ghost. That being said I would not pay the $300.00 that they get for them now (bought mine years ago). I can easily live with a Ghost for less than half the price. There are several other styles that are great. You will have to practice with whatever you choose. CYa, Pat

Yeah, Jim was the American Pistolsmith Guild's Pistolsmith of the Year the year I attended TSJC. I think that was 1986? He is a true gentleman. CYa, Pat

Freddie, I had the same problem with my 38 SuperComp open gun. Ran great, fed great. When I would try to clear the gun the fight was on. I solved the problem by shortening my reloads by .0015" (1.250" to 1.235"). The gun clears every time now. CYa, Pat

On my 650's (38SC & 40S&W) I use a lee U die, Redding Competitopn seating die and a Lee Resizer/crimp die. I just recently came into a set of Dillon 38 Super dies (free) so I've put the Dillon sizer/decapper in the first station, the Lee U die, minus the decapping pin, in the second station. Third station is for powder/flaring, fourth station is the Redding Competition seater and the Lee resizer/ crimp die is in the fifth. The Dillon resizer helps ease the transition of the brass resizing into the Lee U Die. Not really necessary, just wanted to try it. Even though I have carbide dies I still polish all brass well and use Hornaday One Shot case lube. This combination works very well for me. CYa, Pat

Larry, I followed your advice and my problem went away. Loaded about 600 rounds of 38SC and nary a glitch. CYa, Pat

Duane, I asked my former optomitrist about bringing my gun in for the same reason. I thought the guy was going into cardiac failure on the spot as he said NOT ONLY NO BUT HELL NO! So I found another gentleman in Albuquerque who was also an NRA board member. Calling ahead I was told that there would be no problem as he knew what I was trying to accomplish. Yeah right! I carried in my cased Limited gun and showed him that there was no mag in it and that the chamber was empty. Right then one of his new interns walked into the exam room. Her eyes got as big as pie plates and she started trembling. The doc calmed her down and explained what we were doing. We finished the exam and I had to laugh on my way out the door. I went back a year later for another eye exam. The doc asked me to step into the hallway and take a sight picture on a clock at the end of the hall which happened to be hanging in the waiting room. As I was doing so one of the docs older patients, a woman, turned the corner and came face to face with me and my Limited gun. She turned white and started to scream. The doc got her calmed down and again explained what was going on. I still don't think she bought his explanation. I'm due for my yearly exam soon, he might insist on an after hours visit. CYa, Pat

About 10-12 years ago I took a 1911 Accurizing class at Trinidad State Junior College in Trinidad, Colorado. The instructor was Jim Stroh who did a great job IMHO. The class was either one or two weeks depending on how much you wanted to learn with the first week covering trigger work, cutting front and rear sights on a mill and a few other items. The second week was dedicated to fitting the slide to frame, fitting the barrel and a few other items. The last day you cleaned and polished the frame, slide, etc. and blued everything. The class I took was far enough back that squeezing and peening the slide/ frame was the predominant method of fitting as oversize frames and slides were just coming on the market. Yeah, I'm old. I took another course several years back on AR-15's that was taught by Derek Martin of Accuracy Speaks in Mesa, AZ. In both cases the cost of the class was very reasonable. You could stay on campus in a dorm or rent a motel room off campus. Dorm rooms were dirt cheap at the time but sparton at best. Meals were served at the campus cafeteria. Inexpensive and pretty good. You provide your own hand tools with a list of suggested tools provided well in advance. If you can take a week or two for the classes TSJC is a good alternative. CYa, Pat

Thanks for the info gents! I'll try rounding off the edges. CYa, Pat

I've been loading 38SC on my 650 for a couple of years now. I'm using a Lee U die sizer/decapper, Redding Comp seating die and a Lee sizer/crimp die. A couple of weeks ago I was given a set of Dillon 38 dies and decided to put the Dillon sizer/decapper in the first station and move the Lee U die to the second station(removed the decapping pin). I read about some folks doing the same as it eases the sizing transition into the Lee U die. What the heck, I've got a set of dies laying around so installed both sizers and adjusted them. Right away one out of six or seven do not get the primer pushed all the way out. The Dillon set is not the "new dynamic" set so while comparing the sizer to a 45ACP sizer I see that the 45 does not have a "wavy" washer under the "E" clip holding the decapping stem together. After removing it the rate of failure goes to about one in fifteen. Called the good folks at Dillon who asked first what primers I was using. Answer was WSR primers which he said should be causing me no problems. Next question was I using range brass that I found. Nope, I have Starline whose lineage I know. He suggests sending me a new decapping pin as mine might be worn down. Measuring both they are identical in length. Both sizers were installed by running them down to the shellplate and back up about .020". I don't need to use the Dillon sizer but I hate having unresolved problems like this dogging me. Any ideas?? CYa, Pat P.S. I never had any decapping issues with the U die.

After watching the video I have to say the RO screwed you. You had NO significant advantage by having your foot out of the box towords the rear.If it had been me I would have asked for the MD to come over and make a determination. Your RO's definition of a significant advantage is greatly skewed. One procedural would have been the correct call. CYa, Pat

Several years ago I took a class on building complete AR's at Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado. I had been wanting to take this class and saw that the instructor that summer was Derek Martin of Accuracy Speaks in Mesa, AZ. I moved my clothes and tools into my dorm room and noticed a fellow watching TV in the rec room who I thought to be Derek. I introduced myself, he stood up and extended his right hand to shake and offered me a beer with his left hand. Great class needless to say! As luck would have it a gentleman from Brownells was taking the class also. First day he hands out goody boxes to all students from Brownells. A couple of hundred bucks worth of very necessary tools and equipment for the class. What a class act! I put together a six hundred yard gun.Matched RR upper and lower, Kreiger 24" 1-7.7 twist barrel, Jewell 2 stage trigger (SWEET!). The gun just loves 69 grain bullets. What a hoot to shoot! CYa, Pat

Kurt, Thanks for the info. My friend passed on the upper as the info initially given him changed when he and I actually put eyeballs on the upper. Supposed th include bolt and carrier that suddenly wasn't included. Fair amount of BS during the face to face. I was just curious about the marking. CYa, Pat

I had a fellow try to peddle an upper to a friend. Asking who put the upper together (upper, barrel, free float forearm, etc.) the seller said it was a Lockheed Martin military contract upper because the only mark on it was a keyhole outline. Anybody have any insight into this designation? Just curious. CYa, Pat

I have to agree with Bart regarding loaning any of my possessions. There are a select group that are welcome to anything I have, a larger group that have yet to prove their trustworthyness and a third group that I just yell NO! Usually these folks know never to ask again. CYa, Pat

Buy the gun Bart! Hell, if I had your money I'd take your bills! CYa, Pat

+1 on Full Race's die suggestions. Great combination of dies. You won't be dissapointed using them. I have the same setup for my 40 S&W 650 and they work perfectly. Tommy, How do you know that 38SC will pop out of a 38 Super die plate? Hee hee. CYa, Pat

One of the reasons I have stayed in New Mexico! CYa, Pat

Any of you Barry mount converts having issues with muck muck (powder residue, etc.) dirtying up the C-More lens? CYa, Pat

JT, I stand corrected. CYa, Pat

You did nothing wrong in this case but there is a lesson to be learned from this situation. In the future make sure that the stage description is read verbatim before the five minute walk through. If, after the reading, there are any questions that cannot be answered from the written stage description call over the MD. After that it is up to the shooter to know and remember the stage rules before he comes up to shoot. If part of his arguement was the fact that you did not correct him when he stated that he was going to step back there is no requirement that you do so. If you had done so you could have been assesed with a procedural for coaching and he might have been nailed with one also. CYa, Pat