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fbzero

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Everything posted by fbzero

  1. I use one from Weber Tactical and the quality is excellent. You can't really see it in the pictures and I don't think the description mentions it, but it has a spring-loaded retention device that is adjustable instead of using side pressure regulated by a screw like many pouches. Makes for a super smooth draw and it's not going anywhere. This would be my recommendation.
  2. I have a Stretch 16 and really like it, but IMHO, is a bit more expensive than what is really needed. If I were building one now, I'd probably choose between a Criterion CORE 16" or Criterion Hybrid Rifle Length 16" for the length you want. Would lean towards the CORE, but availability with those is still an issue.
  3. I have the PCC model and also an AR-9 PCC and see pros and cons to each option. The MPX seems to shoot softer and reloads easier for me and these differences show up on the scoreboard. That said, while it is generally reliable, that seems to come at the cost of higher maintenance. The gas plug on it will get dirty as you shoot it and eventually lead to malfunctions. Usually this is well over 1K rounds for me, but during the panic, I ended up with a different brand of coated bullets than the Blue Bullets I usually use. Long and short, they were leading up my barrels something fierce and managed to gunk that gas chamber up enough to cause malfunctions within 100 rounds, which hosed me at a big annual steel match. General recommendations seem to be even against the coated bullets in these, but the Blues don't seem to gunk up the works too fast. Still, in the interest of reliability, best practice would likely be to use a TMJ or HP projectile with no lead exposed and a clean burning powder. My AR-9 PCC works well enough. Not quite as soft, but not bad, and reloads with Glock pattern mags don't seem as natural to me. The main benefit is that it runs and runs with almost no maintenance. When I was at the Lucas Oil PCC match a few years back, my wife and I both used it with one quick field clean halfway through the stages. Despite the hard use and heavy rain, there was not a single malfunction for the entire match. Needless to say, there were a good amount of PCC's going down at that match.
  4. I have a MR920 that I carry on occasion with one of the PA ACSS red dots on it. The trigger breaks lighter than a stock Glock, but as lgh mentioned, feels a bit mushier. It does smooth out some after a few hundred rounds. All in all, I like it quite a bit and seem to shoot it considerably better than a Glock. I shoot 2011's more than Glocks, so I suspect this has something to do with being able to replicate that grip angle on the MR920.
  5. The CORE profile is newer and has pretty much been hard to get since day 1, so I doubt many people have done this testing to date. I've seen very good accuracy reports from both, however. I think the main deciding factor for you should be intent. For a DMR style match, the hybrid may be a better choice, while the CORE would probably be a better choice for action shooting. Still, I expect both would be satisfactory in either setting. The main benefit of the CORE series is that it tapers down toward the end much like the Faxon Gunner profile. Faxon is not as high quality as Criterion, but I do have a Gunner 14.5" that I use for short range matches and it does handle better than the Stretch 16 on my other build(Stretch 16 is super soft shooting and accurate as heck though...). This creates less weight at the end of the hand guard, which is intended to offset rifle imbalances due to flashlights, IR gear, etc. Unless it's a tactical style match, we don't usually use that stuff in these sports, but it could still be a benefit in creating a rifle that is easier/faster to drive between targets. Just think about what you want to do and maximize towards that end. Some time ago, everybody seemed to use relatively thick 18" barrels for 3gun. Lately there's been a trend towards 14.5" and 16" barrels for the reason above, and long rang works out fine as long as you know your holdovers. The catch there is BDC's likely won't be as useful because you are unlikely to be meeting the velocities they were intended for. IMHO, a CORE 18" that swings like a shorter barrel and gets the velocities that most BDC's call for might have strong merit for action shooting.
  6. Sight in for your long range ammo, then use blaster ammo on everything up close with the same zero. It'll be close enough that you have no issues.
  7. This. Very nice holster, and as someone who helps RO a lot, I like the security it provides when I'm not the shooter. That said, the wait is quite long(like longer than the long quoted lead time lol...). If you're in a hurry, RHT is good as well and I've modified a CompTac pretty easy for one.
  8. I don't like claiming things are the "best", but definitely think it is way underrated. Like you, I started with one and then moved on to "nicer" options. That said, I just don't feel like I'd be losing much by going back to it. It's accurate, reliable, has good aftermarket support, and the PRP trigger in it is amazing.
  9. He may have been speaking from general knowledge because Blue Bullets are coated lead. That can happen due to coating, combination of the coating and powder, etc. I've shot many brands of coated bullets and many of them I will never touch again because of how bad they leaded up my barrels despite following good reloading practices. That said, I've never had a leading issue with Blue Bullets with any of the powders I've used, ever. One key thing to keep in mind with all coated bullets when reloading is that you don't want to over-crimp and you want to bell enough that the coating does not get disturbed when seating.
  10. Based on my experience with the MPX in competition, there's no way I'd trust it for any kind of duty. It's a fun rifle that shoots good when it shoots, but it just hasn't had the reliability I'd trust my life to. Just my two cents...
  11. When I was using S&B's, I was able to go down to a 4.5lb striker spring in my Glocks. Any lower and I'd get an occasional FTF.
  12. I used to do 3.5gr CSB-1M under 135gr Bayous at 1.095" OAL. That got me 133PF according to my loading logs. Good powder, but my local source dried up.
  13. fbzero

    SIG P320MAX

    Really just depends on what you might use it for. It is basically an X5 Legion that is dedicated for CO. It comes with no iron sights or option to install any. If that's all you want to do with it, then it comes with four 21 round mags and is pretty much good to go. If you think you might want to do Production, Limited Minor, or 3gun with this pistol, then the X5 Legion might be the better choice for you with your choice of optic(pay attention to what fits and doesn't so you can make informed choices...the Romeo3Max, for example would need an adapter plate. Trijicon SRO hangs over the ejection port if you don't get an adapter plate, etc. Romeo1Pro is direct mount and a good choice). The bummer there is that it comes with four 17 round magazines leaving you to buy base plates for more rounds or different magazines.
  14. Hey All, Just wanted to say thanks for all the feedback. Been a crazy busy week at work and this coming week isn't looking any better, so troubleshooting this is temporarily on the back-burner for now. When I do get to take a look, I'm going to start with a complete disassembly and cleaning and pay attention to the extractor, springs, etc to see if anything doesn't seem right. After that, I'll stick to factory FMJ's to see if the problem reoccurs or not.
  15. Any update? Driving mine with a drill right now, but would like to do something like this.
  16. fbzero

    X5 trigger work

    To follow up on the previous post, my P320 Max just got back from Robert Burke today. I haven't been able to actually shoot it with live ammo yet, of course, but thought I'd share my initial impressions... The total travel is definitely less on the TSA job vs GG. The reset distance seems pretty close and I couldn't confidently say which is shorter based on feel alone. As far as the lightest pull, I'd probably give that to GG, but keep in mind that I ended up putting a heavier return spring in because of how sluggish the reset was(light isn't everything; crisp is equally important IMHO). The break is definitely cleaner on the TSA trigger, no question. Can't say much more than that without putting rounds down range and seeing what happens with the hits and on the timer. Initial impression is that it definitely seems like it is probably better overall, as it should be for the price premium. Good enough to justify the price difference for a lowly B-class shooter? Not likely, but the P320 Max was an early b-day present to myself and I didn't want to skimp
  17. Thanks for the reply Bdh821; I actually just saw some of your videos on YT the other day, good shooting! In response to your questions... How often do you clean the gas system? I'd say that I probably don't have any more than 2K rounds through it so far after the most recent match and that I last cleaned the gas system around 1K. Put in the TTI extra power spring for the +11 extensions - Figured this would be worth doing if for no other reason than to avoid lock back issues, just couldn't think of how it might cause this type of malfunction. When have you last changed the extractor spring? I haven't even taken it apart that far to date, though after this last round of issues at a match, I intend to do so and look for any obvious problems. Figured I'd probably change it at the same time just to be thorough whether I see any issues or not. How often do you clean behind the extractor? By "behind", do you mean the part that grabs onto the rim of the cases to pull them out of the chamber? If so, I'd say every 2-3 local matches(~150 round count each), and always before anything bigger. What is your ammo load data? Usually I shoot 135gr Blues over 3.5gr Sport Pistol, but they were pretty back-ordered last time I needed projectiles. This last match, I had one malfunction with 124gr S&B factory ammunition followed by one malfunction with 125gr DG bullets over 3.9gr Sport Pistol. I did not mix the ammunition in the magazines; Once I didn't have enough of the factory ammo to finish a stage, I loaded up with just the reloads.
  18. Hello, I'm reaching out for assistance in troubleshooting an ongoing problem with my MPX(Competition/Gen2.5). Unfortunately, the problem has been hard to duplicate for diagnosis. It only seems to happen on the timer, so I'm usually in a rush to clear it instead of diagnose it. Even more frustrating, it has generally run 100% at local matches, and only seems to do this at bigger matches(just my luck!). Basically, it ends up with either two rounds in the chamber area or possibly one round and one case that may have failed to eject. I'm not sure which since it's always in the clock, I just know that in each occurrence the RO's have told me that they saw two pieces of brass come out when I got the mag stripped and racked the bolt a few times. The most recent time, the magazine was also very hard to strip when this happened. From memory, I think it has happened more often than not with a magazine with a TTI extension on it, stock spring. Obviously I know I'm not giving much to go on as far as an exact diagnosis here, so I'll just make it a more simple with a couple questions; Did those of you who have these MPX's running reliably change anything in regards to extraction to get it there? Most people I've seen suggest extra power springs for magazines with extensions described the problems encountered as failure to lock back on the last round...could a magazine spring that is too weak cause the type of failures I am getting? TIA!
  19. I used to do it every 2-300 rounds. Ended up with a squib at a match, and I'm 99.9% sure that it was from having a brain-fart, checking a powder charge, and forgetting to dump it back in the case. Now I check once at the beginning of each loading session. Haven't ever had it change on me and I've never had another squib.
  20. fbzero

    X5 trigger work

    I currently have a P320 X5 Legion that I installed the GG kit into and a P320 Max with Robert Burke for him to work his magic. Obviously there is a considerable price difference between the two, so I'm interested to see how they compare when it gets back. Both seem to have their proponents. The GG kit definitely lightens things up and smooths them out decently. I initially used the light trigger return spring, but have since changed to their "snappy" reset spring because the return was so sluggish. All in all, I consider it a decent upgrade. It's light enough that weight is not a distraction, and while there is some "mush", it's minimal enough that the chances of noticing it after the timer goes off are pretty much zero. It does have more take-up than some other options, which is intentional per GG to ensure that no safeties are disabled by taking out too much pre-travel. If TSA takes out more pre-travel than the GG, it is my assumption that it will not be to the extent that any safety features are disabled. That's the difference between a gunsmith doing his/her art though, and making a mass-produced drop-in kit. Non-gunsmiths like myself don't necessarily know where the line is, so GG's approach is correct for their product.
  21. N330 was designed specifically for 9mm, but for shooting sports, N320 is probably a better choice. N330 gives good accuracy, but doesn't seem to burn very cleanly for me until I hit 140+ PF. N320 burns pretty clean around the 131-135 PF that most of us go for in minor and is plenty accurate.
  22. fbzero

    I Need Some Loctite

    NP! I had never heard of it until I got a CHPWS MOS plate for one of my Glocks. Looked into it because it's what their instructions recommended and a lot of people who had previously ran into issues with blue loctite said it worked better for them so I gave it a try. Best of luck, hope your issue is resolved with the new screws!
  23. fbzero

    I Need Some Loctite

    Red loctite or staking are probably both a bit extreme, IMHO. Blue loctite 243 is one option(242 works too, but 243 is supposed to be a bit more tolerant of oils). Clean the threads in your slide and on the screws, then degrease them. After that, you can apply the blue loctite to the threads on the screws, install the sight, and torque to spec. Allow to cure for at least 24 hours before using. Another options is vibratite VC3. Clean and degrease the screws with this option as well, then apply the VC3 to the bottom half or so of the screws, then let them sit for 10-30 minutes before installing the sight and torquing to spec. Of those two options, both *should* work, but I've had better luck with the VC3. As a bonus, it's less messy. Seems to dry into almost a rubber on the screw threads, which is supposed to help absorb vibrations and such. Loctite dries into a crusty mess and it seems to me like shock/vibrations just break it down over time and it eventually fails.
  24. Oh, hey Bob, didn't pay attention to where you were from or realize who I was talking to when I posted that lol! Hopefully the ammo situation won't be like this much longer...getting frustrating. Remington started manufacturing ammo again just recently I believe, so maybe that'll help some...
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