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Nothing beats personal verification. Get your hands on a chrono and test some low power rounds then work your way up .2 at a time. I load 40 major with 200 grain Xtremes over Bullseye or Titegroup. I wasted quite a few rounds starting about .8 too low and testing as I worked up to my final load. I also run 40 major through a STI so I can load them longer (1.180) If you see pressure signs on the brass (flattened primers, primer flow, extractor marks, etc) you have already gone too far. Set back is a big concern in 40 major. As someone stated above, ensure you have your crimp set right.

RCBS? I think I have an older set of 243 or 7-30 Waters dies from RCBS where the decapping pin is spring loaded. I know their old 45 and 9mm dies had the spring loaded decapping pin. Call or email RCBS.

Beware of your extreme leans. Yes leaning is much faster than moving your feet but your accuracy may suffer severely as your position becomes more awkward and as your sight picture rotates with the lean. Practice the lean so your brain is ready for it or suffer.

Muzzle discoloration under the comp and bad crown in one I held.

I have just started down the 38 Short Colt path. I have been testing Titegroup, Bullseye, and HP-38 with 158 Extreme and 160 BBI bullets. I have a thread on page 2 or 3 of the 9mm/38 reloading section with my previous data and just did some more testing so I will update my thread today or tomorrow with my most recent outcomes. The short answer from my data is 4.2 of HP-38 under a 160 BBI made a great minor load for me in a brand new 5" 627.

Little info for anyone tinkering with short colt. The following is the data I got today. Shooting over my f1 shooting chrono at 5 paces. All rounds were 1.130 oal 158 xtreme plated Win small pistol primer 55 degrees, avg humidity, sunny New 627 pc New star line brass 3.0 titegroup 700 fps avg 110 PF 2.8 bullseye 621 fps avg 98 pf 3.0 bullseye 668 fps avg 105 pf So I think I will see about .2 more powder as well as trying the 160 BBI bullets. Seems .2 isn't going to cut it with the xtreme bullet at this oal. Maybe HP-38 will fare better...

Thanks. Seems like 2.8 is the starting point for all three of my powders. What overall length are you using? Seems 1.18ish is popular for the 160 round nose.

Anyone have a good starting place for HP-38 in short colt? I have bullseye and titegroup to try but would rather use HP-38 since I have more of it. The search brings up a few suggestions for BE and TG but no 231/HP-38. I will be using a 158 Extreme plated and 160 BBI for testing in a new 627. I will be running them over the chrono as I test and looking for PF of 130.

Just to add on a little, the Redding seating die I use for 9mm does the same thing to Xtreme bullets. It has never caused a problem as far as I can tell.

By roll you mean the same as spin? I am pretty confident none of them would spin in the clip. This was mainly Fed and Rem brass but there were 2 or 3 (of 24) Win. I am going to load some dummy rounds to play with crimp and I will make sure to load get some Fed, Rem, and Win all mixed into the dummy loads so I can pay attention to how they fit in the clips.

OK, I can see the crimp argument. I crimp the plated and coated rounds as lightly as possible so I do not cut into the plating/coating. I will experiment with more aggressive roll crimp (like I would use on a 44 mag) and see if it makes any difference. I can see some chamfer on the chambers but it does not look like the chamfer on my 625. On the 627, it makes the holes look oblong. On the 625, the holes still seemed round. If the crimp doesn't change anything, I will post pics of the cylinder face and ejector.

Maybe I am not being clear and confusing things. A few items for clarity... I gaged every round in my 38 Special Dillon case gage. Every round would go in and out of the chamber freely when not in a moon clip. The moon clips actually held the brass pretty tight. Much tighter than my 45 clips normally do. No flopping but some movement. It was not the bullet nose holding things up. It really felt like the crimp was where they were stopping. It felt like (and looked like) the mouth of the case was bumping against the edge of the chambers and would not go in. I am betting the clips are the issue more than anything. I can see where all it would take is the clip being off by a small amount and none of the chambers would be in alignment with the clip. To get the loaded moon clip in the gun, I had to align each cartridge to it's chamber, wiggle, jiggle, and finally push a little. Once the loaded clip was about 1/2 way in, it just dropped in the rest of the way and ejected fine.

OK, so moon clips for specific brass will address this? I was (still kinda am) concerned a good chamfering is required. I say this because the rounds would not even start in the cylinder without a lot of wiggle, jiggle, twist. I do expect to buy some Starline Short Colt and some Hearthco clips in the not too distant future but I would like to play with it in 38 Special for now (just range fun and maybe steel. No USPSA for now). Maybe I will just skip the clips until I move to short Colt.

I loaded 3 different 38 special loads to test in the new 627. I loaded 8 of each in the moon clips that came with the gun. They were all 158 grain Extreme plated seated to the canalure. Mixed Fed, Rem, and Win brass. None of the loaded moon clips would go into the clean cylinder without bunches of wiggling and jiggling and a tiny bit of force. All were roll crimped. All would cleanly drop in and out of the cylinder without the moon clip. Is this normal? I am used to my 625 that has been chamfered a bit more than factory. I can almost throw those in the gun from across the room! Seems lots more chamfering is needed? Seems obvious that I will be trying short Colt over the winter.

Bought the PC. Went to kygunco and examined it before purchase. The trigger is over 10 double and about 4.5 single. Both the trigger and hammer are mim. Now to decide on short colt or not, get the right moon clips, and clean up the action. Just as a side note I examined a 929. It looked ok until I examined the muzzle. It was not finished correctly under the comp. Some day they will get them right and I might buy one.

Again, I still have the 625 (plus a 686 SSR and Mod 10) for IDPA, The 8 shot is mainly for USPSA and Steel.

Neither can be used in IDPA. 6 round max for Rev. You can use it with 6 loaded but who wants to fool with that? IDPA is why the 625 PC still has a job. EDIT: Also a 4" limit on Rev barrel in IDPA.

Pc or Pro?

I am wanting to get an 8 shot minor for USPSA (and some Steel). I will still shoot the 625 PC in IDPA but it is just not cutting it in USPSA now. I load tons of 9mm but see too many issues with the 929 and don't want to make a special load just for that gun. That leads me to think the 627 is what I should get. Now the issue becomes, do I want the extra inch of barrel? Is there any other reason to go for the PC? I am assuming the action will not be acceptable on either out of the box (7 to 8 pounds would be OK for now)? Bottom line... is the PC worth the extra $310?

When I was shooting Bayou 124 in my 9mm 1911 and M&P 3.7 Titegroup 124 Bayou CCI SP 1.145 OAL Got 128 avg PF in the 1911 and 129 avg PF in the M&P at 75 degrees with 65% humidity This was a pretty smokey load so I stopped shooting it. Went to Xtreme bullets -> no more smoke

We have 3 guys shooting the 75 Compact. Seems to work well for them. None are shooting DA for the first shot. Give me another few weeks and I will have one ready to run as well. VZ grips, CGW - SS guide rod, sights, springs, adj sear, ext FP, and polished trigger bar and hammer.

My CZ 75 compact (single side safety) with VZ grips is well under 1.3 everywhere. With the factory grips, it was just a smidge over 1.3

There are the "usual" reasons - "more realistic", "don't need no fancy race gun"... (<- Sarcasm) but I will tell you why it appeals to me. Lower round count - The average 6 or 7 stage match is less than 130 rounds. Less equipment - Only 3 mags, one mag holder, one multiuse belt, one holster, and one fancy fishing vest. No Texas Star - Kidding (mostly). I shoot USPSA with some regularity. I admit shooting SS makes my life harder but I need minimally 5 mags on my person and I get very frustrated at stages with min round counts in the mid 30s. I know I could shoot Limited and my main two gripes would go away.

231/HP38, titegroup, and Bullseye have always worked well for me in 45.

Better still find some good local competitors to practice with. I am a lowly SS but I have helped a few guys make significant improvements for no charge. I tell them I will help them all they want until they beat me twice. At that point they are on their own...