hockeyref

Some background - I've shot maybe 250 rounds from a pistol since October 2019 and I attended a defensive pistol class last week with my daughter as a refresher. It was all basic/intermediate level stuff. Any where from contact - 15 yards, all draw and shoot: one or two shots center mass or a Mozambique, multiple shots with mag changes & slide lock reloads, failure drills with random dummy rounds mixed into your mags by the instructors, shooting from cover while squatting, kneeling, sitting, laying on your back or side, changing positions while behind cover, shooting while moving backwards, strong hand only with a light in your weak hand, mag changes while shooting with light, strong hand only at contact distance - all in all decent review considering I haven't practiced in a while. So, at the end of the day they had a challenge stage set up - best time of two runs .... Starting with hands hanging naturally at your side, at the beep draw and engage four ~10 inch round plates with 2 shots each @ 15 yards and add second for each missed plate. The plates were ~36 inches apart and to make it more interesting the heights of the plates varied up/down by about 3 feet (L-R the heights were about 24", 55", 36", 18"). My second run of the two was 3.93 seconds with 8 hits. In general I felt that I did OK but also think I definitely could have been faster. I took way to long to acquire my sight picture before breaking the she shot and could have transitioned a bit faster between plates. I was probably being too careful and dressing it up too much. So did I do ok getting 8 hits on 4 targets at 15 yards in under 4 seconds from an old leather carry holster? For reference I was shooting a Kimber Custom II .45 acp with 175 PF loads, the holster was a old leather OWB Bianchi Askins Avenger.

All, Thanks for the info. I pulled out the old Hornady Projector and cleaned her up this weekend. I ran about 500 rounds of 45 thru it to work out the kinks from the years that it sat dormant. Probably need to source a stronger spring for the Auto Powder measure (or just run it semi automatic) . Also gonna need to re-engineer the primer feed a bit as the little wire loop spring has gone soft over the years and there likely are no replacements at this point.I do have a few idea, just need to see if I can get some bits n pieces made.

Jack, Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it's not the cheapest way to get brass, but its not unusual to shoot cheap factory ammo and save brass until you are ready to reload it. I'll be shooting the M&P anyway and have yet to get ramped up for 9mm reloading. Once I have the load settled I will be buying in bulk. I am a relative newbie around here, but rest assured I am far from a newbie to crafting precision hand loads having shot Bullseye, IHMSA, NRA HP and LR over the last 30 years. Plunk test is a given, that's no different than running my Stoney point tool into a rifle barrel with a given bullet to determine where the ogive touches so pretty much SOP in my book. FWIW, I'm eventually going to load Bayou's in my 45 too. I currently shoot uncoated 200gr LSWC over 4.5 gr Bullseye in my both Kimber and Springfield.

I appreciate the data on known loads. I 'HAD" a crono... I "executed it" a month ago testing rifle loads.... swapped scopes and forgot to verify that it was turned down to 100 yard zero..... Sent a 175gr TMK through the LCD.... I plan to get a replacement but am weighing my options. Would like MagnetoSpeed but that looks like rifle only. Might get a Caldwell in the interim or pistol and archery only.

Looking for suggestions. Have a big jug of HP-38 and am looking to load 9mm minor for a S&W M&P. I plan to use Bayou Bullets, but don't know if I want to go 124 gr, 135 gr, or 147 gr. Currently I'm shooting whatever I fmj get cheapest at Walmart and saving the brass - WWB, Federal, etc usually 115gr. I'm thinking between 3.5 and 4.5 gr load depending on bullet weight, but don't want to beat the gun up with +P pressures for a minor load.

Kevin\sarge I respectfully disagree on spirit of the rules. Without the notion of spirit of the rules you cannot have a discussion about the legality of any action and can not don't have "failure to do right". I would describe it as the meaning\purpose of a rule. What are they trying to accomplish with a specific rule. You can know the black and white rules but need the spirit of the rules to actually understand Nd apply them.

Do you know the range commands? Then in this instance you are not the newbie, they are. The problem is that people defer to the "experience" of the older shooters and don't feel right in correcting the range commands. Like nick said. Unless the commands are exact, DQ's have been overturned before and RO'S have gotten a silent chewing off to the side. It still comes down to ME (ie: the shooter) knowing he ropes and making proper\safe actions....... I'm still new to the game and am working NOT to ingrain unsafe habits. I'm not passing that responsibility off to anyone else and it bugs me for at least the rest of the day when I do sometheng that gets a warning.... How flagrant was it? Did I get a warning because I was "close", or because I am a newbie? Obviously, I have not yet done any sort of RO training, but I DO have multiple decades of experiencing know and enforcing the spirit and letter of a rule book as well as teaching others how to do so. I approach reading any rule book from that perspective.

As for bringing it up to anyone, It's not worth stirring things up.... I'm the newbie here and I need to pay closer attention..... I still remember what it was like being a newbie - I have to learn the ropes....

I shot a USPSA match where the RO for our squad told me to "Go ahead and get ready" as I was standing at the starting position. Then warned me that he should DQ me touching my gun before he says, "load an make ready". "Huh? What? But you just told me.... Uhm... Ok, sorry"...... pretty easy confuse "Go ahead and get ready" with "load and make ready" wearing plugs and muffs as you stand at the starting position. OK, so I get the spirit of the rule and the letter of the rule so I searched the rule book and I do not see "load and make ready", all I see is "Make Ready"..... Coming over from NRA High Power, there are separate commands for calling the competitors to the firing line, when they are allowed to handle their firearm, and when they are allowed to load their firearm and prepare to commence firing. I cannot find any similar specific range commands in the rule book, only "make ready". Different shooting discipline and different range commands, but not having an official command telling the shooter that the range is clear and to take their position prior the "MAKE READY" command doesn't make sense to me.

I've been lurking here for a while. Back in the '90's I shot IHMSA, Bullseye, and some local plate shoots. Transitioned to NRA High Power and Long Range rifle in the mid '90's. I still shoot High Power, just not as often at ~$1 - $2 a shot (by today's prices I would be spending $10K - $15K in just ammo if I shot the same practice\match schedule I kept when I was really active). So, I bought myself am M&P 9 with 6 mags, and some other goodies as birthday present for myself and started looking for some local USPSA matches to learn the ropes. I'm shooting limited minor now while I learn the ropes and the gun handling. I may pull out my ,45 Govt at some point and shoot that too. Steve in South West PA