M1A4ME

What would the MSM complain about in LE shootings if the officer only shot the bad guy once or twice, instead of 6 to 16 times, as it sometimes reported these days? They don't tell us what caliber the LEO was using, just how many times he shot the poor misguided youngster who was so loved by his neighbors, etc., etc., etc. They don't tell us where the bullets hit the bad guy. LE went down the road of the 9MM is best many years ago. I was in LE in the early 80's when the 9 was crowned the new king. My department issued 4" S&W 686's with 125 grain hollow points. Those had a hell of a reputation at the time, which is why we used them. Yes, I carry 9's sometimes these days. And they have lots of those nasty hollow points in them. My favorite/most often carried gun these days is a .40 S&W P07. Why? Because damn it shoots good groups and it has about twice as many rounds as my 1911's and it's 100% reliable and it fits my hand really well and all of that is what counts, to me. In the end, carry what is dependable, what you shoot well, and what you feel good about carrying.

I don't own one of those but it sounds like a design issue, either the pistol or the magazines. I've never heard of someone damaging a 1911 or a CZ (or even a Glock) by running it empty before inserting the next magazine.

My favorite powder for .223 has been IMR4198 since back in the early 80's. Pain in the butt to get consistent charge weights though. Recently went to the range with my nephew to sight in his new AR15. Long bull barrel thing from Stag Arms with a 4 X16 scope on it. He bought Remington and Winchester ammo for it. We sighted in at 25 yds. and then moved to 100 (longest distance at the range I belong to) to get the BDC set up on his scope. I handed him a magazine with my reloads in it to shoot after he got it sighted in. When we were done he was looking at his targets. Which targets did he keep? The ones with the tightest groups. Which ones were those? My IMR4198 powder reloads with 55 grain Hornady FMJ bullets. Having said that, I recently ran across another load that seems to approach the accuracy of that load in my rifles, if not equal it. That load used the same bullet but with BLC2 powder. BLC2 is much more consistent dropping out of a powder measure. I bought a big jug of it to speed up my .223 reloading. We've tried H322, H335 (my youngest son likes this powder and it's all he uses), Win 748, IMR4895, TAC and CFE223. Best accuracy overall has been with the IMR4198 and BLC2 in my rifles. I got decent accuracy from TAC, but the most accurate load would not cycle my 20" rifle. Worked fine in the 16" carbine with a mid-length gas system, just not in the rifle length gas systems. I'm going to retry the CFE223 as my accuracy issues might have been the bullets, not the powder. Neither load (IMR4198 or BLC2) is a max pressure/powder load. Best accuracy, in my experience, comes around 150 to 200 fps slower than the max loads. I've bought some heavy match bullets to test in the faster twist rifles we have but haven't gotten around to working up loads with them yet.

At least this time they have to stick to making the same thing longer than a couple years. I bought a 556R, and was considering another when they stopped making them and went to the 55Xi and then they quit making those, too.

All my CZs are pretty much "dull" compared to most of the guns in this thread. The only pretty one is the Pre B CZ 85 I got last summer. It looked pretty rough when I got it. Parkerizing wore off in places, rust in others, lots of Israeli dust under the grips/screws, etc. Barrel and chamber pitted inside, grips worn pretty badly. I put new springs in it, a new barrel (had to open up the front/inside of the slide to accommodate the new barrel as they are made different than the old ones), had to fit the barrel (threaded was all anyone had in stock when I found I needed a new one). I found a set of sights for a Pre B for a good price then found the front sight had a thin square tenon that didn't fit the round hole in the slide/barrel bushing. Bought a 1911 sight and filed the bigger square tenon down for a good snug fit. Bought a 1911 staking tool and modified it to fit into the smaller CZ slide/bushing. Made a new "punch" for the tool, too, as the round CZ tenon was not as big as the punch that was supplied with the tool. Put a set of the soft rubber CZ grips on it (I really like the way they grab my hand/fingers). I slightly shortened the frame to accommodate all those 16 round magazines I'd put +2 bases on only to find the lip of the base wouldn't completely let the magazines seat. I also opened up the back/inside of the frame to allow the use of all those new 16 round, and some 18 round magazines I'd bought. Then I sent the slide/frame/controls off to Primary Machine and got them cerakoted. If I was going to do it again I'd get the frame done in titanium as the satin aluminum is too "white" looking rather than a satin nickel look to it. The slide and controls are done in Socom Blue. Looks black in the house and dark blue in the sunlight.

I pick up all brass I think I can reload. I run it through the vibratory cleaner and inspect it. I sort by headstamp. I resize/bell/prime and finish reloading it sooner or later. I don't have a special die, just the Lee set with a carbide resizing die. I don't have any preferred brand of brass in .40 S&W, not yet anyway. My .40 S&W reloads get shot in a P07, an M&P FS and a Beretta 90-Two. No issues so far, except the Beretta has a really short chamber vs. the other two.

Well, there's the loop, the hasty and the hasty hasty. I use the hasty. I can "see" the improvement in crosshair wobble/movement on the target. Easy to get in/out of. Then again, I can take my time to make a shot and I know where the target is. No sling would be faster, unless you miss some targets because you didn't use the sling.

Broke my M1A op rod (twice) many years ago. Back in the very early 80's there was no internet and I'd never heard you shouldn't use IMR4350 for M1A's. After the second break (op rods were $60 back then, I remember hating to pay that much for it, but I had to have it) I stopped using IMR4350 and a couple years later I saw an article in The American Rifleman about suitable M1 and M1A powders. It was a real shame. That was the only load that made my M1A look like real good shooting rifle. Awhile back, someone on another forum said they doubted that IMR4350 and 180 Sierra matchkings would break an M1A op rod. I dug it out of a box and took a picture of it. This is the original. It broke, I had it welded, it broke again. Had a CMP M1 start an intermittent clip ejection problem. Sometimes I'd have to remove the trigger housing to get the empty clip out of the rifle. Finally noticed the clip ejection spring leg that is bent to catch under the left side of the clip had a broken tip. Sometimes the end of the spring would slip inside the clip and catch/hold it in place. Didn't take long to replace it once I noticed what was causing the problem. Had the firing pin break in Browning BDM and no longer dry fire that pistol without a snap cap. Had the trigger bar start sliding up over the safety lever on my M&P .357 SIG. Luckily caught that during an after cleaning check vs. having an accidental discharge. Also had the striker start slipping past the sear on the same pistol. Noticed the upper corner of the sear was badly rounded off. Stoned it sharp again and stopped having the "dead trigger issue". Had the little pin on the back of the cylinder pin on my Ruger Super Blackhawk fall out at some time or other. It wouldn't cock unless you tipped the barrel way up (to allow the transfer bar safety to fall back from gravity) since the pin wasn't pushing it back. It was hanging up on the firing pin in the frame as it raised when you tried to cock the hammer. Lost a front sight out of my Colt Combat Commander that a "gunsmith" had silver soldered into the slide. Been shooting over 40 years now. These are the ones that pop up in my head as the worst.

I've been using Unique for .45 acp (and other handgun cartridges) since I started reloading in 1978 or 79. Especially when reloading lead bullets. I've tried AA#5, Red Dot, and Bullseye (bullseye's not bad, I just usually use Unique).

I've heard of guys using something call sugro (not sure of the spelling) to add plastic material to the grip area of their pistols. After it dries they work/shape it to better fit their hands/fingers.

Then, be sure to set the seating/crimping die up so you don't get an occasional crimped case mouth.

Loading longer might reduce pressure. Loading longer might mean the cartridge won't feed properly in your particular pistol. Loading longer might mean the cartridge won't chamber in your particular pistol. The load data in a reloading manual is pretty specific, for good reason. A lot of experienced reloaders can help you diagnose an issue/problem once they get enough good information to trigger their memory/experience to provide answers/suggestions. They wouldn't be asking questions if they didn't intend to help.

Back when I was having light strike issues with my M&Ps I loaded up almost a box of 9MM reloads with Tula small rifle primers. My CZ P07 lit every one of them off without any issues. Proved, to me, the problem was primers or seating, but M&P related (finally go that fixed but put them out to pasture anyway).

I don't. I paid extra for carbide resizing dies so I wouldn't have to put lube on the cases or take it off after resizing. I used to use a set of Lee dies for 9MM and resizing was really tough. Based on some suggestions on another forum I bought a set of Hornady 9MM dies with a carbide resizing die and that step is so much easier now. And the brass works just fine in my CZ 9MM pistols. The Lee dies were sort of like small based dies. You could see the bottle neck look in the loaded cases after the bullets were seated and the bullet swelled the top of the case back out from where the Lee resizing die had squeezed it down. With the Hornady die I don't see that bottle neck look nearly as much. With the other calibers resizing is easy if the brass is clean.

To approach what a .357 SIG does with a 9MM the 9 has to be pretty high pressure rounds (+P or +P+). It's hard on the gun, it's hard on the brass. Some people will tell you it's not hard on the gun and that modern guns are made to handle it. I always think about my Coupe. I bought one with the 3.8 liter V6. I could have bought one with the 2.4 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder. The turbo 4 puts out very nearly the same hp and torque as the V6 - but it's harder on the engine to do that. More wear and tear. If you don't think it's harder on the engine take a look at the oil change schedule. 7,500 miles for the V6 and 5,800 miles for the turbo 4. Why? Because the turbo 4 runs so much harder, to make similar power, that it breaks down the oil quicker. Same for you gun. You can run the really high pressure 9MM ammo and increase the wear/tear on your pistol. Or you can run .357 SIG and still get a little more velocity. Some guys really brag on their .357 SIG pistols and how far off they can hit targets, with quite a bit less bullet drop, vs. a 9MM. You may not be into shooting 100 or 150 yds. with your pistol, but it still shows the faster bullets have an advantage over the slower bullets. I've had two .357 SIG pistols. Neither one gave me the accuracy I was looking for. I don't think it's the cartridge. I have 9MM and .40 S&W versions of the same brands/models and they don't give me good groups either. I've found a brand that gives me wonderful groups, but they don't make pistols in .357 SIG. Go figure.

I've had Bruce e-mail on weekends to let me know what he was doing to my pistol slides and to let me know they'd be back in the mail to me on Monday. I'm not sure he knows what "weekends" mean.

First DP Pro I've had mounted on a pistol. Primary Machine did the slide machining, sight installation and slide cerakoting. We've not yet shot the pistol. The DP Pro has been on for a month or so now, maybe longer. I think it was on when we sent it to Primary Machine but I can't guarantee that. It turns itself off when I lay it down and when I pick it up to check it the triangle is there.

If you want to have your frame (right side) drilled for the right side CZ 85 slide release go ahead and buy the CZ 85 left side slide release, too. The CZ 85 has a longer shaft on the left slide release so it sticks out through the right side slide release so you can push the left side release out far enough to pull it out of the frame to field strip the pistol. I was researching/buying parts to try to modify a CZ 75 Compact into a "CZ 85 Compact" or mini me, prior to my wife shooting the project gun and liking it so much better than her CZ 75 Compact. Now I have to wait till later in the winter to save up some more money for another CZ 75 Compact.

Had this happen in my Pre B CZ 85 about a week ago. First time I've ever had it happen to me. Absolutely no damage to the gun. If you don't count the smudge of burned powder on/in the magazine and inside of the gun in the chamber area. I didn't know anything was wrong till the next shot wouldn't go off, then my focus came off the front sight to the pistol. I tried to rack the slide and the base/rim fell out on that table. I took unloaded it and took the barrel out and the case pulled out with my finger tips after a couple of tries. As someone said on another forum, "CZ's are built like a tank."

Very thin blades for the screw driver. Like the old Browning A5's. I got mine from Brownell's. I've been told those screws will sometimes break but old surplus CZ 85's screw came loose (with a pop/crack). I did notice, when I reinstalled everything that if I screwed the screw down past tight, it turned the spring pretty tightly up against the left side of the frame and then the spring didn't want to move up/down smoothly on the side. I just very slightly turned the screw back the other way and that arm of the spring came off the frame and moved upwards to be level with the spring arm on the other side. The screw can be staked down again, if you feel the need. I just check mine every so often and it has not loosened up yet.

Different people have different reactions to stings of bees/wasps. For me yellow jacket or honey bee -- what was that, oh, a bee wasp - oh, dang that thing itches like crazy white faced hornet - like being shot with an air nailer loaded with red hot nails. Nothing like it, can't run away from it, can't make it stop the burning, stabbing pain soon enough. mud dauber - hurts a little, then the area starts to go numb, can't use my hand/fingers, just don't want to bend, grab, etc. for a period of time. I absolutely hate those white faced hornets. I remember my grandma burning them out of the bushes, trees, off the sides of the house and sheds at home. One sting was enough to make you want all of them wiped out. Their only redeeming feature is catching/killing flies and wasps.

My nephew bought one (9MM) for his wife a couple of weeks ago. He shot it this week. He said it was accurate (surprised him due to the small size) and didn't seem to have a lot of recoil (his usual pistols are .45's). He likes it, but it's hers......tough decisions sometimes. You know. He said it only came with one magazine so he called around to the local gun stores and found one that had two magazines in stock. I think they only hold 6 rounds. If you can find them, there is a magazine made for them that is extended long enough to make it a 7 round magazine.

About 4 years ago I ran across some powder and primers I'd put in the attic back in 1985. At that time most of that stuff was a year to five years old. I got it out of the attic and used up all the primers (4,000 of them) and most of the powder (have 3 or 4 partial one lb. cans left). The attic has got to be 115 F or hotter in the summer months and down to near freezing in the winter months. Damp/humid, too. Not a single misfire out of the primers and every can of powder I opened up was still good. I don't get tore up about powder/primer storage these days. I keep my stuff in an unheated garage shelf/cabinet where I do my reloading. I also ran across several boxes of ammo I'd loaded back in the early 80's. The rifle ammo was still very accurate and all of it, pistol or rifle went bang when I used it up (well, haven't used it all up yet. I need to start shooting that stuff up more often but I don't shoot .45 acp much anymore.

I've got some PMags but haven't bought any new ones (for the AR15) in years. What I have bought for the AR15's is the aluminum mags. that PSA sells. They're supposed to be D&H mags. and they've been working well in all the ARs we have. Oh, just 30 rounders, too. I did buy a couple 20 round mags. awhile back for use on a bench when testing new rifles/new loads. I did buy some new PMags for the DPMS GII that's on order. We'll see how those work out. Midway had them on sale.

Many of us had fathers and grandfathers that lived through the depression and a World War or two. They learned to take care of what they had for several reasons that was important to their survival. I was brought up to clean my gun even if I only shot it once (deer season for example). It got cleaned up, wiped down with an oily rag and put back in the case till the next range session (my M1A got shot a lot back then). If you take a gun out of the case and handle it, then you wipe it down with an oily rag to keep it from rusting where you touched it. I actually don't mind cleaning guns, or working on them, or reloading for them. All good fun. Heck, sometimes I clean one that hasn't been shot. My EDC gets cleaned a couple times a month. A couple others in the house get cleaned every 4 to 6 weeks just to make sure they are ready when/if needed.