[Stock 2 40 for limited and production?]

Right now I am shooting .40 Minor with my Stock 2. I am shooting Extreme 165 gr's seated at 1.135 with 4.0 grains of Titegroup. I was using BBI's with the same powder load, same weight but they ended feeling a little too soft in the gun.

Before when I ran 180's they were alright but super slow and felt very sluggish in the gun. The 165's from Extremes just are better for my gun in my opinion.

WJM

[FTF]

I am shooting .40 Minor out of my Stock 2, so 165gr Extremes actually are pretty light compared to running 180 gr's out of it.

The 180's felt so light it was almost sluggish. I mean they were soft and very light, but too soft. Once I changed it my splits started to go faster, and honestly the gun just felt all around better.

WJM

[FTF]

Same weight of bullet for both of them, same powder charge.

I was expecting a very similar snap to them, but the only thing I can think of is seating them deeper?

WJM

[FTF]

My gun didn't blow up, but since the extreme 165's are longer than the BBI's they have an increased pressure in order to be at that 1.135. They feel a lot more snappy in the gun, and I like it a lot more.

Thats with the same amount of powder.

WJM

[First shot El Pres]

After I get warmed up my average is between 1.05 and 1.15.

Shooting it cold usually around 1.2-1.3. I think the last time I shot it it was 4.7? Dunno I may shoot it tomorrow and I will report back.

WJM

[FTF]

Just ran 182 rounds out of the gun tonight.

Not one FTF using BBI's which I had previously had issues with. I hadn't cleaned the gun in over 700 rounds because I wanted to see if that would affect it at all. Turns out that it didn't and it seemed to run much better.

Turns out the gun can shoot fast without any malfunctions!

WJM

[Firing Pin Favor]

I can mic my henning XL if you would like another measurement.

WJM

[FTF]

I saw the Single Stage in the background and was like Ain't No One Got Time For That!

Seems to be a common issue with the Stock III. Needs them shorter. Over the weekend I chrono checked this load in my Stock III. 1.125" OAL LeatherHead TN 147gr w/ 3.4gr of VV N320. PF came to 135.something. Im going to go down a tenth.

FWIW I have a 9lb Recoil spring and have zero feeding issues during live fire. I do however have an issue with trying to bump release the slide on mag insert. Most likely the weaker recoil spring. Doesn't matter because I shouldn't be doing slide lock reloads right?

Hahhaah, would you believe the first 26k rounds my dad and I shot we single staged every single round?

I don't think the recoil spring is an issue to be honest. I have a friend that wants me to try a heavier recoil spring and I trust him but I doubt that a heavier recoil spring will change it. Yeah I never should do a slide lock reload but once that plan goes to shit there it goes!

WJM

[FTF]

At least in my opinion (very little true knowledge of gun smithing), if the OAL was the main cause of this, I would have an issue on almost every single round correct? My OAL isn't changing a whole lot (by a whole lot I mean not at all), which would suggest this couldn't be the issue.

I think its an extractor and a burr issue, however I am not discounting the OAL change.

I will be shooting a steel match this weekend probably worth 400-500 rounds and I will be able to see if it still has lots of issues. Hopefully I can figure this out at a match that is a throw away for me rather than an important USPSA match.

WJM

[WJM's road to Master]

Ended up sitting at top of B class going into a classifier match. Shot the match, ended with a high A class. Which I shouldn't be complaining about but this damn gun cost me a couple of GM runs. Went into the Max Michel shot timer and they both cost me enough time to be around 98% on the classifiers.

Took the gun apart that night (lucky I didn't throw it in the garbage that night), and decided to try my best to diagnose this issue. I polished up the extractor and part of the slide area, took the gun out to the range and put around 200 rounds through it.

Didn't have a single issue and it ended up shooting very well. Had some very nice transitions of targets that were ~12 feet apart, and the transitions were around .3 seconds. I know this is improving greatly so I will keep with it.

In dry fire I practiced a lot of right and left barriers along with low low ports. At the local matches around here they always build the ports to be favored towards hobbits, and it makes people like me have a massive disadvantage. So I figured rather than waste my time complaining, I may as well practice them. I also went through stoegers dry fire book (the Bible) and used post it notes on every page diagnosing each drill and what times I was able to make. There were only 2 drills I haven't been able to make the goal par time. I also made another drill that he doesn't have in there which is a draw, 2 on the target free style, reload, strong hand only 2 shots reload, transition to weak hand 2 shots. Then I also did the same drill except after doing freestyle I change to weak hand. This was useful to practice weak hand reloads which aren't really that bad if practiced. They are very unlikely for a stage but still I want that to be better.

I went through my classifiers and honestly everything is looking good. I am shooting at Mid to High Master class in field courses and in Classifiers, if I could just get this gun working my classifiers would show this. Honestly I should've shot my G34 at this match just because it is so damn reliable compared to the Tanfo at least right now.

In the match most of my draws were around 1.1 seconds (good for me for a match) and reloads were around 1.2-1.3 seconds (also good for me for match pressure). Transitions were good around .25 seconds, and most of my hits were good. Some of the targets were very close though, and I am used to using very very small targets so I overswung the alpha zone a tad, and ended up with 2 charlies an inch apart, just outside the alpha zone. So I will start to incorporate larger full size targets into my practice regime.

Shooting and moving has been good. In a match I can move forward and back and hit alphas out to around 12-13 yards. However when I shoot side to side it ends up around 8 yards as my max, so I have been really working hard to practice this.

I will be shooting the Idaho Sectional Match as one of my "majors" I am squadded with a bunch of Masters and GM's and I am really hoping to have my M classification by that match, along with my other goal of being a GM by the Utah State Match which will be my other "Major".

Thanks for reading,

WJM

TLDR: Things are going good, need to figure out the gun.

[FTF]

No sir. Although after running them through my Dillon from now on I will run through a pass through die.

WJM

[FTF]

Took the gun apart after my competition Saturday to see if I could figure out what was wrong with it.

Here are some pictures of the burr that I believe was causing me issues, and also of the extractor that I believe was causing this issue.

The reason I went back to this burr, and with the extractor is after having a FTF I did a tacticool tap rack and my dad picked up the round after being ejected. EVERY SINGLE one of the brass had something in common, a slight cut and subsequent burr on the bottom of the brass like this.

This is what the gun looked like after a FTF and what brought me to look at the extractor and the burr on the bottom of the slide.

I went shooting later that night to put some rounds through it to try it out and see if it was fixed. Another thing I did was run all my bullets through a pass through die which did seem to help whether or not a bullet would have this issue of FTF.

I shot around 200 rounds and didn't have a single FTF so I guess for right now we are back to good. Crossing my fingers this gun doesn't keep screwing up my matches.

Thanks,

WJM

[FTF]

Just about had a meltdown today at a classifier match.

Lost 2 GM classifiers because of this damn issue. Almost threw my gun away right then and there.

I still have no idea what is causing this. Does it with extremes and also with BBI's. Wondering if it just needs to be broke in more than 4k rounds or so? I know that this is still the break in period but seriously this is getting ridiculous.

WJM

[WJM's road to Master]

My first classification came in! 74.6%! Which naturally puts me right on the cusp of A class! (Was kind of hoping to make A class for my first classification but hey I will take it!)

I have that classifier match and I think it's definitely achievable to make M or GM at this next match. I have shot around half the classifiers, so I will watch my previous videos where I lost time and change how I approach them accordingly.

Figured I would update my goals and what I have done. I had to take a break from dry fire and working out. Been swamped with school, it's been killing me. But hoping to get some real dry fire in on mini classifiers tonight and tomorrow, and probably workout both days. (I usually do a leg day before a match, and an arm day two days before).

I signed up for my first "major". Idaho sectional here I come! I know my goal has been to be a GM by the end of the summer, but I would really like to shoot this match as a GM in production. The only other "Major" match I will be shooting is the Utah State Match! Really hoping to place well at both of them.

Thanks for reading,

WJM

[WJM's road to Master]

Match footage from two weekends ago! Ended up with a pretty decent match. Malfunctions cost me a lot of time but I flat out got out shot.

I was happy with the 40 yard target in the Video. 2 alphas almost touching at 40 yards!

Overall after changing the base pads I am very happy with this gun! Very smooth and supremely accurate.

Thanks for reading,

WJM

[FTF]

It does however fix the issue of having a magazine not fall without pulling down on it.

Without breaking the edge of this it pulls the bullet in the mag forward and causes the mag to not fall freely.

WJM

[FTF]

I did that the second or third day I had this gun. This didn't fix this issue at all.

WJM

[FTF]

Like this?

WJM

[FTF]

1.135.

WJM

[FTF]

By now I have shot approximately 3000 rounds through my Tanfo Stock 2, and shot ~1500 this weekend.

I had this issue happen maybe 5-6 times, and it seemed to only happen when the gun got really dirty. I didn't shoot any extreme hollow points that would be plated and should shoot cleaner and be more smooth on the edge. I think this issue for my is primarily caused by the gun just getting dirty after those Blacks Bullets shoot through it.

I picked up a cartridge that had this issue and it seemed like it was rubbing near the neck of the case where the extractor would extract the round (cant think of the name of it).

Makes me think that MAYBE my brass isn't as clean down there as it should be, which could cause enough friction on it.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

WJM

[WJM's road to Master]

Got home from my first non-local club match and I had a blast! I shot the Berry's Steel Open match! Shot it in production, which involved a ton of reloads that needed to be done on the spot.

The gun shot great. Had 3 malfunctions that were pretty minor, one that was a major one that cost me a few places overall, but hey thats what happens and I should've cleared it faster.

I shot some steel challenge, and I am better at it with a glock. Can't really figure out why I would be better with my Glock, but it probably has to do with it being lighter and easier to swing.

There wasn't a lot of chances to really shoot fast at this match, so it was hard to do what I am normally really good at (shredding), but still I was able to place 3rd on a stage behind Matt Hopkins and Brian Nelson that involved weak hand and strong hand shooting. I am really happy with how dry fire regarding weak hand and strong hand shooting has improved my shooting.

I ended up placing 7th out of 24 in Production. Placed around 77% of Matt Hopkins who won Production (congrats and awesome shooting)! I was really happy with my improvements considering last year at this time I was shooting my first ever match and my first ever pistol.

One thing that I am still extremely slow at is from position to position. Not necessarily exiting the position or entering the position, its just time lost from position to position. I am thinking of shooting limited minor with my Glock 34 and some new basepads just to focus more on the shooting and moving aspect rather than having to always think of reloading. I don't think I will do this for more than a match or two, and I probably will not end up dry firing with my Glock a whole lot, but the Tanfo will still be my primary weapon used.

I have a classifier match this weekend. I probably will focus on reloads and draws. Not really much to classifiers other than Reloads and draws, so makes sense to me to practice those.

Thanks for reading,

WJM

[Rules question]

I was at a match this last weekend, shooting in a squad with some experienced shooters.

One of the shooters got up to the line, was told the load and make ready command, re-holstered his gun, then proceeded to grab his phone from his pants pocket to have another person record him. The RO said that because he reached in his pants he essentially swept himself, and that would be the only warning he would get.

I guess I am confused, once the gun goes in the holster it is almost out of the realm of this possibility right? Otherwise a lot of us would be DQ'd just for running in a way that the gun may cross our legs, or in a way that our hands swung underneath the gun.

Thanks for helping me if you can!

WJM

[Production Base Pads]

20 minutes or so.

I am signed up for the Idaho Sectional, but I was informed that I can't squad with some of my Utah friends other than my dad, so I haven't decided if I want to shoot that match yet.

WJM

[Production Base Pads]

Man I need to buy those with a reload of .4 seconds I will be a GM tomorrow right?

Just from buying from Grauffel I will be a GM right? Someone tell me its true..

WJM

[Production Base Pads]

The reason I didn't immediately go to the Eric Grauffel Base pads is that they are the exact same design (or very very similar to the Henning basepads) which I am assuming would have the same issue that I am running into, which would be somewhat a waste of my time to purchase.

http://henningshop.com/products/tanfoglio-aluminum-ipsc-base-pad-large-frame-h500-t

Alright Gump I will look at them. They seem to be a lot easier off than the other ones I have looked at. Both the Extreme Version and the Henning one has a screw in the rear that is alan head and it is a complete pain in the ass that is made of cheap material that wore out after removing them less than 10 times. I am frustrated because they take took long to clean and that screw falls apart after such few times.

Thanks,

WJM