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There is a reason many 147gr factory loads are 144 PF. The problem with mixed HS brass at low PFs is case capacity. There is a big difference in 9mm brass. If you load light, pressure is low. If the brass is say RP for one round an Blazer for another, there will be a decided difference is pressure. That will affect velocity. The hotter you make the load, the less this matters. My standard practice is to develop loads where I get single SDs in a 10 or 20 shot string. It takes some effort.

Since you are shooting through a comp, you want to use Heavy Plated or JHPs. Otherwise you will lead up the comp. They will run 10 cents each, or more. Primers are 9 cents each now after tax, shipping and hazmat. Powder will run you 2-3 cents for regular minor loads, of 6 cents if you want to work the comp. Since you can buy suitable 9mm factory for 23 cents each, it doesn't pay to reload now if you don't already have the components at reasonable prices. As far as presses go, you don't know what you don't know. You don't know how much you are actually going to shoot. How much time are you actually willing to spend reloading? I started with a Square Deal B. It was much cheaper then. I only loaded 45 ACP and was quite happy with it. Then I started shooting USPSA Limited with 40sw. So I bought a tool head and SDB dies and loaded 40. Remove four screws, swap tool heads with dies and reinstall the four screws. Easy. The I started shooting a whole lot more. I was loading a lot of 9mm and 40sw, plus some 45. I bought a Hornady AP LnL. The bayonet system allows you to change calibers quickly with no setup except for adjusting the powder measure. Or, changing primer punches if loading 45s. I eventually bought a case feeder with plates for all three calibers, and bullet feeders for them. I shoot so much 9mm now I don't have time to change the press over to another caliber. I load 9 major, 9 minor, 132FP regular minor and 100 PF for PCC. If I were buying presses now for my shooting, I'd start with an 1100 with bullet feeder for 9mm. IMO, you need at least six stations to load 9mm properly. Seven if you want a powder alarm. I don't shoot much 40 and 45 anymore, so a SDB with two tool heads would be fine. You have time. Shoot factory for a couple of months so you see how you are doing, how much you actually shoot, and whether you want to keep it up. Then decide on a press. Reloading component prices are starting to drop. Honestly, if someone had told me I was going to be loading 24,000+ of 9mm a year, I'd have gone straight to the 1050. The 1100 wasn't a thing then.

Found that out the hard way.

I use the Howard Leight orange plugs inserted properly. The reduce by 33dB. Put a pair of good electronic muffs over them and you end up with 36dB of reduction. Turn the electronics off when running Open shooters, and back on when not. For those of you running analog electronics, the muffs are not reducing in time. So the initial blast gets through until the circuit activates. Most digital muffs are better. The best activate in a few microseconds. Another tip. Replace the buff collar with a silicone collar and you get a couple more dB reduction.

It costs you nothing to clear and re-load. The worst your score will be is 30 seconds. If you beat that, great. If not, nothing lost. I'd rather have a 29 instead of a 30.

9.8 3N38 seems awfully high to me. Try dialing it back some. You'll have to anyway when you plug the poppels. 8.4 3N38 under a 124 JHP @ 1.161" OAL made major in 9mm. You are loading longer and will need more powder.

You can have the poppels plugged and welded. That will cut down on the noise. CO and LO are nowhere near as much fun.

I really wish the clubs I shoot at would go back to demanding short courses. At my favorite club, short courses now are mostly stuffed into the short bays. Hose fests. The young designers now make courses in the long and wide bays they like to shoot. Lots of running and 32 rounds. Let's make the Open shooters reload. Really, how well you do depends almost entirely on how fast you run. Some shots are difficult, but mostly it is run/plant/shoot, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Makes sense. I have a very small amount of astigmatism left according to the doc. I don't notice it, and the dots are round. If I ever get prescription readers, they will correct it then.

Enlighten me. When I had my cataracts removed I insisted on distance vision. I ended up with 20/15 and 20/25 for distance. My dots are perfectly round. What would bringing my dot(s) to the eye doctor buy me?

I don't understand why you would bring your dot/slide/gun to the Doctor's office. For reflex or dot sights, you want to focus on the target, not the dot. They are not in exactly the same apparent plane. Now that @MHicks mentions it, I do recall looking at my dot with readers on. I was working on it, then looked through. The dot shattered.

Thanks. I'll mention that to him.

One buddy still shoots Prod because he has severe astigmatism and says dots look like starbursts. It will be interesting to see how he stage plans with 15. His plans with 10 were sometimes weird.

2.8gr Clay Dot under a 124 for about 98 PF. Almost out of 124s, so 115 over 3.1gr Clay Dot. About 100 PF. both out of a 16" barrel. Have also shot factory at 130 PF. More recoil, but the dot still doesn't move.

If you drop an extra $2k you end up with a fully hand fit custom gun. I don't think it is necessary. SA uses good MIM internals in their guns. There are a boatload of SA 1911s at the club. I tell them to put 500 rounds through the gun so the trigger pull smooths out. Don't bother replacing anything (except ILS back in the day) until stuff wears out. You'll get at least 20k rounds through before you have to address anything. One shooter just polished the sear, hammer hooks and disco, then adjusted the sear spring. Smooth 2 lb. pull. If you want to upgrade the ignition kit to EGW, it is simple. Or, just buy the gun and base package from Briley. For around $1550 they go over the gun, install EGW ignition parts and refit the thumb safety. You get a gun that runs 100%. I'm probably going to buy a Prodigy just to tinker with. I want to see if a Cheely e2 grip fits without mods. I can pull from the parts bins and swap stuff out to see if there is any meaningful improvement. After I'm done tinkering, I'll probably put it back to stock and sell it.

Nor do I. The allure of CO and LO now is you can shoot factory 130~132 PF ammo. Factory can be bought for less (in some cases) than the components you need to roll your own. Comps for minor loads only start working at around 150 PF. You have to reload. If you have to load anyway, why not shoot Open major.

I see a slight increase in the number of Open shooters. They shot CO and now want major scoring.

In another thread I wrote USPSA will be a 9mm optics game by the end of the season. CO, LO, Open. Show up with something else and you win your Division, because you are the only one in it.

That's a good thing. Much better than having to weld it up or peen it. Now I'm curious to see whose sear they use. I thought EGW's was the 'skinniest'.

A word of caution on the CCI Blazer: if it was Aluminum cased ammo, you are fine. If brass cased you risk leading up the ports. CCI recommends against using the brass cased in comps or ports. The copper plating is so thin it can flake off and lead the comp. I didn't find that out until I talked to a CCI Ballistician. Unfortunately, I had just bought a case.

Some things do drop in. For instance, if all the holes are in the correct positions, some well made ignition kits will drop in and be perfect. That's exactly what happened on the last four Open builds.

And getting shorter all the time.

Added later. I don't care if 95% of a manufacture's guns leave the factory 100%. I don't care if they handle warranty repairs well. 5% left with problems. That is enough for me to recommend against them. I'm the Chief Range Officer for pistol at my home club. I see all sorts of things. Two weeks ago a member bought a new pistol and brought it the range. It would not fire. I disassembled the gun, saw the problem, and told him to return it. I also told him to buy a different brand. He showed up the following week with another pistol (that did work) and thanked me.

Half cock did not function. Hammer dropped when thumb safety disengaged. Hard trigger pull released thumb safety. Things like that indicate inadequate, or inexperienced fitting and poor quality control. They should never have been allowed to leave the factory. Other things that did not affect safety were just plain lazy or stupid. I have zero tolerance regarding safety issues. If I had received one of the guns in question, I could have fixed the problem if I didn't send it back. Now consider someone who does not build pistols. Someone who may barely know how to disassemble for cleaning. I'm willing to bet 70% of 1911/2011 shooters do not know how to check half cock. How many pull the trigger really hard for a safety check. I sure didn't. I failed a safety check at the chrono station with my first used Open gun. A really hard pull on the trigger disengaged the thumb safety. I never in a million years would have thought to pull that hard. Perfectly safe with a good tug, but not a really hard pull. Fortunately I also had a used backup.

Inexcusable deficiencies in new 4K guns, many that affect safety. Astounding stupidity with some of the stuff they do. It absolutely boggles my mind that they put crap like that out. Buy MPA and you roll the dice. You may get a good one. You may get three good ones in a row. Then again you may not. If the gun cost $700 I'd say, okay, you get what you pay for. Even then I'd question putting a new gun out there that fails safety check. For $4000 I expect everything to be perfect. I don't care that they may eventually make it right. Hire good gunsmiths in the first place and there is nothing to make right. This is the exact reason STI went out of business. I swore years ago I would never, ever buy anything STI. Too many problems with their stuff. CK Arms went the same way. Cut too many corners and people start to notice. Why did 6 out of 7 DVC Open shooters have to send their guns back for repairs several times. None of them shoot DVCs now. They sold them and bought stuff that runs. Now, I will note that people don't come to me with guns that work right. I only see the broken or bad ones. Some of them are scary. I understand the allure of an 'inexpensive' Open gun. Especially when most go for $7500+. Open is not where you want to cut corners. I wouldn't buy an MPA gun either. I can build one for less. There are other manufacturer's guns I wouldn't buy either. Do yourself a favor and look around. There are options. One is to start with a good LO gun. Buy a $400 one piece barrel/comp from Brazos and pay a gunsmith $350 to fit it. If you don't want to spend $7500, buy an Open short block from someone reputable. All the hard work is already done. Everything else is a matter of assembly with little actual fitting required. I did just that on the last Open build. I wanted to see how it would work out. I had a completed, 100% functioning gun in an afternoon.