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If you are just throating, stop when the flutes hit the front chamber wall. Easy to tell when. If actually chambering, use go and no-go plugs.

The 100gr SuperVel ammo makes 137 PF in my 16.1" Leadstar barrel. It won't function in my 2011 Open gun with 6V recoil spring. My 124gr, 134 PF 9mm minor load (5" barrel) makes 168 PF in the 16.1" barrel. Both are flat shooting. Flat shooting for USPSA requires speed. The 100gr @ 1377fps has almost no dot movement and a laser-like trajectory. Sighted at 25 yards, you are on at 50 with less than 1/4" high in between, and 1/4" low at 59. Same for the 124gr @ 1359fps. No more that 1/4" high or low between 25 and 61 yards. My dot does not move with a 147gr @ 985fps (out of 5" barrel), No idea of the fps out of a 16.1", but it is higher. I can put 20 rounds into a 2" circle at 25 yards as fast as I can pull the trigger. Recoil in a 5.5 lb. gun is significant. Trajectory in no where near as flat as the two previous loads. Less velocity with any of these loads means more dot movement, but softer recoil.

On a lark I chrono'd my 9mm minor ammo today. 124gr Plated over 4.4gr AA2 @ 1.135" OAL. 134 PF out of a 5" 2011, and 168 PF out of my 16" PCC barrel. I'm not as daring as @shred so I'm not shooting my 184 PF major ammo out of my PCC. 10.8gr AA7 under a 115 JHP. It goes and average of 1600fps out of a 5" barrel. I can't imagine what that would be out of a 16" barrel.

Some thoughts: first, if you use SWMP or AA7 for 9 major, the case is not filled to the top. Nothing slings out when the shell plate turns. Second: there are TWO advantages to 38SC. One is it is a straight walled case. NICE. The other is case capacity. HUGE. You can fit any powder you want and a small fridge in there. You CAN get it to shoot soft AND flat at the same time. You can come close with 9 major, but you have to settle for one or the other, or some of each. All of the matches I shoot are lost brass matches. Some actually are. The rest are for me, because my back will not stand up to the constant bending. So, 17 cents for 38SC to be used once and left, vs. 5.5 cents for fully processed, once fired, same HS 9mm brass also left on the ground. $1190 vs. $385 per year. The $805 delta is significant enough for me to stick with 9mm. If someone were to give me 20k 38SC brass, I rechamber one of my 9mm guns and shoot 38SC.

Hope so. I just received 4900 115 JHP V2s. Just started to load them. So far, no gunk.

Coco, there are some strange opinions here. You are 75 and don't want to do the brass chicken dance after every match. I didn't either. That's why I went 9 major. Once you rebarrel, you will never shoot 38SC again, unless you have a little left over. Buy a one piece barrel/comp from Brazos and have a good smith fit it to your existing slide. It will last longer than you and you'll never have to re-Loctite a comp. As far as 9mm being hard on the gun, I see no evidence of that. My major load was 10.8gr SWMP under a 115 JHP for 175 PF. I have no idea how many I've shot, but it is a lot. Just recently I ran out and substituted AA7. I had none left from last year, so I hurriedly loaded some up with 10.8gr. After two matches I'm wondering why the dot is jumping so much. I chrono's and found the 115 JHPs were going 1600fps, 184 PF. No damage to the gun at all. I'll be pulling the remainder and loading softer. I buy fully processed, once fired, roll sixed, resized, swaged, polished same HS brass for 5.5 cents each. I generally buy 6k at a time. I was down to 5k primers and had the opportunity to buy 5k new Win+P HS brass primed with lead free primers for 14.4 cents each delivered. My SDs for 10 and 20 round strings are always less the 6. There is absolutely no reason to use mixed HS, range pickup brass for major. I'll admit I do just that for 132 PF minor and 100 PF sub-minor.

Yeah, HAPs are notorious for that. I used to clean them out with the equivalent of a dental pick. Later I found it did not affect accuracy, so I quit. The Zero clones of that bullet do not have the problem. Nor do Everglades or PD.

I don't buy the price argument against painting. Steel Target paint has gone up in price, but $65 per case/12 is not exorbitant. We go through an average of 3 cans per stage for a 70 gun shoot. The club I shoot most often at charges $20 for the first gun and $10 for the second. They have enough money to buy new targets, make new bays, improve the grounds, host the State match and still have enough left over to award $3000 in cash prizes at the end of the season. BTW, if you shake it well, Steel Target paint works when it is 22 deg.

If you want to ream or throat nitrided barrels you need a carbide reamer. They are expensive. You can rent them. I'm told you can do it with a tool steel reamer, but it will be dull when finished.

Every club I shoot SCSA steel challenge at paints between EVERY shooter. None allow a two gun shooter to shoot back to back (LI). Nobody gripes. Even on squads of 5 shooters/ten guns everything gets painted and things move along. Non-SCSA matches like falling steel, outlaw and the like rarely paint at all. Best case they paint for the next squad.

I use 115 JHPs under 10.8gr AA7 Powder at 1.161" OAL. Case is mostly full, but powder doesn't spill out when the shell plate turns.

I've completely given up on Aftec types. Now I use only EGW HD extractors. They run 100% and last seemingly forever. I will not that for 9mm I have them custom milled so the are 9mm specific, not 9/40.

Precision Delta. Rogers PC coated bullets are 21 Brinell. Most are between 15 and 18, still hard. Even Berry's uses 15 Brinell lead for their plated bullets. I agree with you on the Precision coated. Slick and more accurate than most. I use them in 40 and 45. Unfortunately, they are gone and I only have 2k left.

You are going to have to experiment. A lot of gas will be shooting up from those ports. That will bleed off velocity. With too slow a powder you may drive the muzzle down. I'd start in the middle of the range using a 124 JHP over a middle load of AutoComp. See what that does to the muzzle, and what the PF is. Adjust powder charge up or down to fine tune. If you are making too much gas with AutoComp, drop down to AA2. It is a little faster. My 132 PF load is 124 JHP over 4.5gr AA2. It shoots soft and flat. I only have two poppels. You have seven. So you won't reach 132 with my load. Before I went to a slower powder for more gas than AutoComp, I'd try 115gr JHPs.

All coated bullets smell when fired. HiTech is the worst. Coated bullets start life as hard cast lead bullets. Diameters vary. Coating thickness varies. Some brands are infamous for leading the barrel. They are less accurate than good plated of jacketed. If you shoot them at steel they break up into larger chunks than plated or jacketed, and they fly father. Good cast lead/coated bullets are expensive. Same with plated. The majority of the makers of really good coated and plated bullets went out of business. If you are going to be paying 9 or 10 cents each for bullets, why not use all JHPs. They don't foul comps and poppels. They don't lead your bore. They don't smoke. They don't smell. They are super accurate. I buy JHPs in bulk for 9.5 cents each, delivered. Berry's plated on sale, or inexpensive coated are going to be between 9 and 10 cents after tax and shipping. Why bother?