dons

Not an RIA but Kimber 9mm. I bought a used one and a shooting buddy a new one. Mine came with a 17 lb mainspring and ran great with some very light loads. His displayed the same issues as yours including failing to lock the slide back on the last round. We put in a lighter mainspring (can't remember the weight) and those problems went away. YMMV.

I've done this a number of times to change the charge amount. Works Great! But I usually just put a small amount in the outboard side of the hole after sealing one side with masking tape, then seal the other side, then orient the disk so the JB settles on the outboard side while drying. When dry, smooth out the JB on top and bottom and see how much powder it will drop. If too little, I use a dowel or drill rod wrapped in sandpaper to smooth the hole. If too much, repeat the process with more JB weld.

In addition to an OAL problem, sometimes the case may be bulged by the base of the bullet and cause this type of a jam. Your 147 gr bullets are seated deeper in the tapered 9mm case than 115s or 124s. Some brands of cases may be worse than others, I had this happen in a new Barsto barrel in my 9mm Kimber. after narjung the cases I found some of the jams are caused by the bulge at the base of the bullet. I was using some 135 gr bullets of unknown origin (I've had them for years). They work fine in my 3 other 9mms.

One of my early 124 loads was 7.5 of AutoComp at 1.225, Worked fine, I've now gone to a 121 Zero with 7.7 gr using WSR primers.

A 148 Wadcutter is pleasant to shoot with a variety of powder charges: 3.0 of 231 as mentioned above, or 2.7 of Bullseye, and I've used Red Dot and 700X, but don't remember the exact charge. However, if I were loading for someone else, I'd use the 158 SWC simply because the rounds are a little easier to handle and load into the cylinder. The same charges will work fine. Very small amounts of powder for the case so watch out for double charges. Just checked, I have a stash of .38s loaded with 3.5 gr of Red Dot behind a 158 SWC. Good all around plinking/target load.

My understanding is that Bomar is gone, but Kensight took their production over. Try here http://stores.kensight.com/replacement-parts/

Another humble observation. I've found that some nose dive jams are caused by too strong a recoil spring. Somehow a lighter spring seems to give the round a little longer to rise into "feeding" position. Sounds weird, but it's worked for me in 4 1911/2011s and a few friend's pistols as well. I'd go back to the 10 pound spring and try it.

This made me think. I've been casting since I was 22, am 70 in a few days. I got into casting because I was intrigued about lower powered 30-06 loads. I worked in a gas station and got used wheel weights for nothing. Over the years I cast for everything from .222 to 45/70. Experimented with different alloy blends, bullet lubes, and heat treatment, even though I never got into the coating process. I think now with the inexpensive bullets available for our sport, casting no longer has the appeal for volume shooters. It does take a lot of time to produce the number of bullets we need. Coupled with this is the fact that cheap lead in the form of wheel weights is very difficult to come by. I only now cast for a few oddballs, such as my 44 special, because my lead supply is dwindling. Plus we have a local club member who sells cast bullets for $60 per thousand. A couple of years ago I had my lead levels checked and they were normal. To sum it up, I think you're better off spending the time practicing instead of sitting at a loading bench casting bullets.

YMMV.

Good answers above. One important (to me) caveat. If the bulge is too bad, your sizing die may not just resize the bulge, but will actually slice off some of the brass leaving an area at the base thinner at one side than another. So look at the bulged brass after you've sized it for a "shinier" spot, and watch your press for small semi-circular brass shavings. As to Case Gauges, I have 2 for my 38 Super, a Wilson and an EGW. The EGW will accept cases that will not go through the Wilson. And my barrels (I have 2 Supers) will accept ammo that won't go through the EGW.

I've run Poly for years, but decided to try the aluma buff from dawson. Never had a problem with the poly ones in my open guns. After about 100 practice rounds there were numerous tiny aluminum shavings or chips inside the gun. I've gone back to poly.

I bought a used 38SC with an Aftec. I wanted it for a backup to my 38 Super, so tried 38 Super in the gun with the Aftec. It wasn't reliable with Super until I took a few thousandths off the hook of the extractor. Now it runs Super and SC equally well. I'd go for the 38 Super Aftec for your purposes.

I bought a used STI with an Aftec for SuperComp. Had to slightly modify it for 38 super (I know, obsolete) and used it with only the front spring for a while since it seemed tight with two springs. After about 500 rounds I had my first failure to extract. Put both springs in and haven't had a problem since, probably over 5000 rounds. BTW, it extracts everything, including SuperComp that inadvertently gets into my practice ammo.

I've found this occurred in a number of limited and open guns, the recoil spring moves the slide forward faster than the magazine spring can properly feed a round up into loading position. this was my first thought when I saw this thread, even though you said you only run an 8 pound spring, which should be fine. However, I have a spring tester and found that sometimes springs are different than marked from the factory. I've fixed it by doing one of two things: Replacing the magazine springs (which you have already done), and putting a lighter recoil spring in (7 lbs). Considering that this only occurs in one pistol and the magazines work in others, the only other thing that occurs to me is maybe the magazine release has worn or moved. You might check that. Good luck and let us know if you come up with a solution. Must be very frustrating for you.

My solution for this is to make "shims" cut to size that go between the frame and your grips. 1/16 inch shims will give you 1/8" wider grip. You can try it with cardboard to see if you like the concept. I've made them out of plastic, aluminum, and steel. Works great for me, YMMV.

Ace Hardware is now selling "gun screws" and they also have a pre-drilled steel plate that has 6-40, 6-48, and 8-40 holes. It's about 3 or 4 inches long, less than $2, and you can use it to hold the screws as you trim. When you back the screw out, it helps clean up the threads.

Pull one of your bullets and measure the base diameter. I've had long (147 gr) .356 bullets swaged down to .353 at the base due to the internal taper of the case and the crimp. Seating the bullets out longer and decreasing the amount of crimped stopped this deformation. Could be a cause of leading when the "flame" from the powder reaches past the base of the bullet. There are a lot of reasons for leading including too soft a bullet, inadequate lubrication, too fast a powder, and too small a bullet. I had a 10mm once that would lead badly unless I used an alox-beeswax lube, which is soft and messy. I'd much rather use one of the hard lubes, but they just wouldn't work with that bullet for me.

You should try seating the bullet as a separate operation from applying the crimp (removing the flare). Since it appears from your description you may not have a separate taper crimp die, your process may be something like this: After insuring you have powder in the case, seat the bullet (following the above advice about flaring the case mouth more) in all the cases you're going to load for this session. The you will have to screw out the seating stem so your bullets won't be seated any deeper, then screw in the die body until you can see the "flare" all but disappear when your run a case/bullet into the crimping die. Mouth of the case can be about .375 to a max of .380 inches. The Lee Turret only has 3 die stations that I remember, but to be effective you really either need a 4th station or to perform one of the processes (size & prime, powder drop, seat bullet, crimp) as a separate operation.

I see that you have a stock recoil master with an assumed 8 lb recoil spring. I've found that nosedive jams can be caused by too heavy a recoil spring. You might try a more conventional recoil spring setup with maybe even a 7 lb spring. I also used to get an occasional stovepipe jam. Adjusting the extractor and/or ejector may eliminate this problem. I switched to a 90 degree CMore mount and those went away. YMMV.

I've been trying a couple of loads with Titewad recently. I'm using a Bear Creek 124 gr (Graphite-lube, no groove) with 2.6 gr loaded to 1.050 oal, and a 135 gr commercially cast RN with the same charge seated at 1.100 in my Kimber 9mm. No pressure signs, accurate, and NO RECOIL, kicks like a .22. Very fun loads, couldn't tell you the PF. Kimber has a 17lb mainspring and an 8lb recoil spring with a BarSto barrel.

I am also left eye dominant, right handed. For over 20 years I shot using my left eye and right hand, used a slightly more aggressive stance bringing the pistol across to line up with my left eye. Then I developed a cataract in my left eye that resulted in blurry vision out of that eye. I changed my shooting to right eye, which involved changing and relearning my stance. I try to shoot with my left eye closed and open it to move, etc. once in a while, however, especially when coming into and shooting left around a barricade, my left eye takes over, and instead of seeing a dot superimposed on a target, I see the left side of my pistol. Disconcerting to say the least. Then I must make a conscious effort to close my left eye. Maybe at some point it will become automatic, but at 69 it's taking longer than I'd like. Been over 5 years now.

I also fixed this same problem using an extended firing pin.

Follow the advice already given and back the overtravel out a full turn, then try it.

I'm using 7.7 Autocomp with a Zero 121 in 38 Super.