matteekay

On that note, I'm also changing to Zero FMJ's from coated lead bullets. I love coated lead in my other calibers but the Square Deal B is a lot more finicky in terms of seating than my 650 is. I'm guessing I can make better rounds, faster, with the FMJ bullet.

Ah, roger, that makes sense.

Oh hey, I never posted my results! Everything was shot through a Competition Electronics chrono with an indoor lighting kit at 10 feet. The guns used were a 5" RIA 1911 and a 6" Chiappa Charging Rhino. The speed tended to be lower with the Rhino and the ES/SD was higher – this is expected, as it's blowing more gas out of the sides of the gun and I'm guessing the chambers aren't perfectly uniform. ES's might be a little high overall as I was adjusting the powder in the same run (though I did dump a case or two after every charge weight change). Bullet: SNS Casting 147 RN coated lead Powder: Alliant Sport Pistol (duh) Primer: Winchester SPP Brass: Mixed COL: 1.141" Crimp: Light/medium taper Grains: 3.0 Low: 855 (RIA) // 823 (Rhino) High: 908 (RIA) // 901 (Rhino) Average: 890 (RIA) // 879 (Rhino) Average Power Factor: 130.8 (RIA) // 129.2 (Rhino) Extreme Spread: 53 (RIA) // 78 (Rhino) Standard Deviation: 14 (RIA) // 19 (Rhino) Grains: 3.1 Low: 885 (RIA) // 872 (Rhino) High: 915 (RIA) // 930 (Rhino) Average: 904 (RIA) // 901 (Rhino) Average Power Factor: 132 (RIA) // 132 (Rhino) Extreme Spread: 30 (RIA) // 58 (Rhino) Standard Deviation: 7 (RIA) // 14 (Rhino) Grains: 3.2 Low: 904 (RIA) // 888 (Rhino) High: 945 (RIA) // 950 (Rhino) Average: 927 (RIA) // 915 (Rhino) Average Power Factor: 136 (RIA) // 134.5 (Rhino) Extreme Spread: 41 (RIA) // 62 (Rhino) Standard Deviation: 9 (RIA) // 15 (Rhino) Grains: 3.3 Low: 924 (RIA) // 822 (Rhino) High: 955 (RIA) // 953 (Rhino) Average: 940 (RIA) // 926 (Rhino) Average Power Factor: 138 (RIA) // 136.1 (Rhino) Extreme Spread: 31 (RIA) // 131 (Rhino) Standard Deviation: 7 (RIA) // 31 (Rhino) 3.1 hits the sweet spot of recoil, SD, and PF for me. Nothing seemed inordinately inaccurate or dirty. Though, to be fair, everything is dirty with the Rhino...

It doesn't leak on my 650 but I'm also using the older-style powder measure. Maybe that's what the difference is?

I'm familiar with the U-die and I'm currently using the Lee die. For right now, it's easier to pull the FC brass and run everything else as I'm hand-sorting range pickup brass. Still, I could toss one of those EGW's in and not have to worry about it. Ah, spending... Why couldn't I get into a cheaper sport, like jousting or automotive racing?

Federal (particularly the "FC" headstamp) and Blazer are both thin-walled as far as 9mm cases go. I've pulled all of the FC brass out of my pile - even reloading oversized coated lead and using a Lee FCD, I couldn't get enough tension on the bullet to stop it from sliding into the case when checking the size with a pair of calipers. I mean... yikes. Blazer is not as bad. It will load up oversized 9mm lead bullets without issue, but I did run afoul of it when loading some frangible 100gr bullets recently. Not sure how it would do with FMJ's.

The stages are (supposed to be), but the divisions are not. Limited 6 - 6 rounds only Limited - As many as the gun can hold (so 8, at present). You'd move yourself out of Limited 6 and be outgunned in Limited.

This one has close to 1k rounds on it and came out looking pretty sad. I'm going to run without one for a while. That being said, I don't understand why the buffer wearing in causes operational failures. Shouldn't the slide have more room to travel rearward as the buffer gets flattened? (Note: I completely believe you're right – I just need to see how things work in my brain, lol)

See, I must be a visual learner. It took all of about 3 minutes to determine that I need to bevel/radius the belly and hook of the extractor, and that it's currently contacting the case's bevel and needs to be knocked back a hair. Thanks again!

Oh wow, does it ever. Thank you!

Roger roger. I've used those "diamond" /rubber polishing wheels on my dremel to break hard edges on my revolvers - they work great and remove a minimal amount of material. Looking at my load notes... these rounds are running at 738 fps, so I'm not *completely* ruling out the recoil spring. I'll probably try lowering the spring rate, chucking the Shok Buff, and enhancing the extractor and mag-to-barrel transition.

I wanted to hit on this one. I checked the extractor tension and that seemed good, but the bottom edge of the extractor looked pretty square. If I'm reading right, that should be sloped toward the top of the extractor, right? Any good pics of how it should look? I must not be getting the right combination of terms in Google to get a solid example...

Good thoughts from both of you, thank you! The other thing I forgot to mention is that the gun has a Shok Buff in it that's starting to look pretty mangled. I imagine that that's not helping if the issue does stem from the mag not having enough time to feed a round.

Howdy! I've had a few failures to feed in my RIA TAC .45 ACP full-rail 1911 in the last few USPSA matches using Tripp 10 round magazines. I've been doing some reading at RangeHot and I'm apparently seeing the "bolt over base" malfunction, where the round is jammed under the barrel hood and prevents the gun from going into battery. I've been able to clear it with a quick racking every time. They cite weak mag springs as the common cause of these failures and also mention over-springing the gun. I'm a little hesitant to blame the mag springs - the gun has seen less than a thousand rounds in total, spread out over six magazines. However, the recoil spring comment got me thinking. I'm running handloads that make about a 169.5 PF and RIA installs a 18# recoil spring from the factory. Is it possible that the slide is out-running the magazine because I have too much recoil spring tension? It's not happening very frequently (once or twice a match) but that's still more than I care to see (again, once or twice a match, lol). I'm still pretty new to the world of 1911's so any help is appreciated.

Thank you for the replies, everyone! They're sincerely appreciated. I'm in an odd spot as I have a pair of 1911's already, one in 9mm and one with a full rail in .45. This lets me run IDPA ESP, USPSA Single Stack Minor, and USPSA Limited 10. I haven't shot Steel Challenge yet but I imagine the 9mm would hold its own there. I'm not currently 3-gunning and don't anticipate starting any time soon. It sounds like I'm better off with a major gun since USPSA is my primary focus. I've done the "Minor, but with really good hits" thing for a stretch, but I score better with the major gun since I'm not *that* much slower. And mine doesn't even have the goofy go-fast stuff like a *thumb rest [generic]* or a milled slide...

Hey folks, I've been doing research on a possible 2011 build and, naturally, caliber is one of the primary questions. The advice I've seen given most often is to do a .40 S&W build. That makes sense, as you can power your rounds up or down to make major or minor depending on your needs. That being said... I see a LOT of 9mm 2011's show up in the classifieds. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on why this is given that the prevailing notion is to build them in 40. Are people moving them to make room for a major gun? Or do they have a role outside of USPSA Limited, ie. 3-gun? Thanks!

THat's so odd. Do you think it's an issue with the feed lips? Or is the catch hole a little too low?

Noooooooo!! There's always another rule... oh well, still easier than Production! What's a "light rail attachment", though? Is that the really complicated way of saying "rail"?

Glad to see that the OP got this resolved! I figured I'd post my findings for anyone who comes across this thread. Gun: Rock Island Tac Ultra Full-Size .45 ACP (full rail, single stack model 51485) Stock weight (posted, not verified): 45.12 oz Current Weight: 44.4 oz (ICE MSH and magwell, minor grip shaving and polishing of some parts, replaced mag release with Wilson extended version, stock RIA/ACT 8-round mag) Plans to make weight: - Replace steel full-length guide rod with Dawson aluminum (1.6 oz to .5 oz, 1.1 oz savings) - Replace VZ grips with Magpuls (2.1 oz to 1.1 oz, 1 oz savings) Total savings of 2.1 ounces, final weight of 42.3 ounces. Those parts weights come from the internet so I'll need to verify. I'm pretty excited about this. I assumed that this gun would be relegated to L-10 when I bought it given the factory weight, but it looks like I can make weight pretty easily without grinding anything off of the gun. I can also swap the guide rod back to steel when I'm practicing with it so I don't wear out the aluminum one.

Oh hey, I never posted mine. Seems like a good time as I just recently re-worked a few things to make it more usable. I'm dealing with pretty limited space (about 38" of my garage workshop) and can only push out about 2 feet before I start having problems fitting between this bench and the workbench on the opposite wall that all of my power tools are on. Solution? Go upward, young man! The base of the bench is a Harbor Freight tool chest with the casters removed and a slab of wood added to the top. The wood got a coat of black Glidden trim and door gel paint – it dries akin to an epoxy paint – and then was screwed into the wall studs using L-brackets for stability. Both the SDB and 650XL are chilling on Inline Fabrication UltraMounts, the former also sporting their bin system. I added an eye-level shelf that my powder scale sits on and a higher, storage shelf that holds my spare toolheads. Both of those were painted with that same gel paint. The lower shelf also has an Ikea gooseneck LED lamp that I point at whichever press I'm using. Directly beneath the lower shelf is a section of Gladiator rail with bins. Typically I'll store a handful of decapped/resized brass for whatever calibers I'm loading in these so I can grab one if a case gets mangled mid-cycle. Mounted to the bottom of the lower shelf is a magnetic bar that's perfect for tool storage, which usually amounts to a set of Allens, a pair of pliers, and a wrench. The bench itself stores load books, storage boxes, tools, spare press parts, funnels, etc, in the drawers. The very bottom of it is weighted down by my brass containers, boxes of bullets, and powders. It's a pretty concise and effective setup. I wish I had a little more real estate on the bench top but we work with what we have. It also forces me to keep everything clean.

Pulled this on a mandatory reload during a classifier. Yes, you should use your finger to index your mags, but you should also remove it before jamming the mag into the gun. The magazine and your finger won't actually fit into the magwell at the same time... Needless to say, my shots on the second array started dropping very low.

You're talking to a revo shooter - I have a stockpile of 7k or so Federal SPP's and my 650 is set up to seat the primers deeper than stock. So far, the 9mm revo likes Winchesters just fine. That works for me, as I can hold on to the Feds for my more sensitive S&W's. I don't remember the last time I saw Federal 100's on a store shelf...

I had actually forgotten that I was using mag primers. I think the only reason I have them is because they were on sale, lol. I'll switch those out and try lower Sport Pistol charges first. Maybe run 3.0 - 3.2 just to have the numbers on-hand. Hell, might as well load half with magnum primers and half without just to get even more data! I already have one powder measure set up with TG so I'll give it a whirl at some point. I use Titegroup in my .38 Special loads but I think the larger chamber helps guard against nuking the bullet's butt. That's really odd about WST as that's my go-to for .45 ACP. So I've now gone from a 160gr load to simply lowering the charge on what I already have. Nothing like derailing my own thread, lol!

That's great data - thank you! I'm guessing you were running into OAL issues because you're using a CZ-pattern gun? I know the 9mm I load for my 1911 and revo won't even chamber in my brother-in-law's Tanfoglio. I agree with you about Titegroup. I load it as carefully as I load any powder and haven't run into any problems. I will say that, as an experiment, I intentionally triple-charged a .38 Special case once and the powder still wasn't visible at the mouth. That was a good indication of how attentive I needed to be with it.

I decided that I'm going to try a different powder first before going to the heavier bullet (as I have everything on-hand already). Let's see what a 147 and Titegroup can do. I'll also try dialing back on Sport Pistol.