KrymSIX

Yup. Just went through this same process. Got a 500 pack of .401 bullets (got a little too excited to start reloading/hand loading) can't seat the .401s out past 1.135 Got 2 sample 100 packs of .400 bullets and have dummies that plunk and spin ranging from 1.15 to 1.18. My gun luckily functions reliably with factory ammo so I'm not going to bother seeing if it will chamber rounds out to 1.2. Going to load out to 1.18 and now just gotta decide if I want the snappier 165 feel or 180s. Just get small sample packs and see what runs in your gun. Once you figure out what works order in bulk.

I think your best bet would be to contact someone who offers long loaded ammo and see if they would do a run of minor ammo for you. I doubt you'll find long loaded that's minor. Precision Delta offers long loaded 40 though so maybe they would do a run of minor loaded ammo for you. For anyone to do it you'd probably have to order a fairly good sized bulk order though but worth checking around. Also congrats on the new addition to your family.

I think having a ballpark budget is a good idea. It was one thing I did for myself to kind of say 'ok, I feel comfortable looking once I have this much set aside'. I ended up getting an older used SV from the classifieds. It was a little more than I initially wanted to spend, but it was at a really fair price and I knew I'd regret not pulling the trigger (terrible pun 100% intended). Save slowly. There are a lot of folks who put cool 2011s up for sale with enough frequency there is usually something or a few somethings cool on the board. Ask around your local shoots to see if anyone has a backup or older gun they no longer use that they might sell for a deal. Older doesn't necessarily mean bad or even heavily used. Especially if they're local you could ask to try a gun out for a match or stage. As for funding, do you have other hobbies? If you do, maybe you have some things that you have outgrown or don't use as much. I sold some other hobby gear that I just wasn't using and got fair prices back on them (talking like fishing rods, guitar equipment, archery stuff.) If you have some other hobby things to sell that you won't be sad to let go, maybe consider that to help move on to a new hobby you're enthusiastic about. Also, file your taxes. Tax return season is here so you could also look at your return as a potential little boost to your funding pool. Good luck finding the right 2011 for you.

The Bladetech holsters in general are pretty good. The 3 things you might consider to upgrade the holster 1. Get the little knob adjustment screws from ShootersConnection or whoever else has them. It'll let you really dial in how the gun draws a thousand times easiet than the screws will. 2. What belt are you using? Mounting the holster to a really stiff belt like the DAA or even the ShootersConnection (its really similar to the DAA belt) will help it feel like a more crisp draw. 3. Upgrade the hanger to either a RHT or BOSS hanger, it will give you more options for positions as well as be significantly stiffer than the stock hanger that the Bladetech holsters come with.

This looks pretty awesome. Really looks well thought out and seemed to function really well.

I have to second what is stated above. A Dawson CRP Edge or a Brazos Edge will both be a great starting point. They both get a realiability tune and some upgraded parts. The Brazos have a trigger job that's supposed to be pretty good. The best part is since a lot of folks get these for their first good competition gun they can be found in the classifieds section for a little less than new and often you can find packages with magazines. I'd say start there and then when you're ready to get a custom gun sell the tuned Edge for probably fairly close to what you bought it for. The only time a custom gun would really be beneficial (especially for a first time buyer) is if A. You had a set of requirements in your mind that a stock or semi custom would not have. (For instance, I knew I wanted a long slide from the jump so I ended up getting a custom from the classifieds.) B. You find a deal that is just too hard to say no to. At any given time there are a handful of really drool inducing custom 2011s floating around in the classifieds at really fair prices. If you see a deal like that that checks off the boxes you're looking for then it probably is worth it to go for it. If you don't have a pre set list of unusual features "you need" then Brazos Edge or Dawson CRP Edge are the perfect place to start.

If grip size is a concern you may want to check out a video from Hayes Custom Gunworks on youtube where they compare a number of differenr grips. For IDPA you probably won't be able to get away with a steel grip due to the weight restrictions. To get a gun that will allow you to shoot IDPA and also USPSA Limited you probably want to go the 2011 route. It seems like you've budgeted to go that way as well. One thing you really may want to consider is an STI Eagle and send it to Brazos for their reliability work and a trigger job. They do still list the High Performance Eagle (they tune it for reliability and do a trigger job) on their website so you may be able to buy one new. You can also find them sometimes in the classifieds here. If you go that route you have a very capable gun thats ready to roll in IDPA. To use it in USPSA Limited you would just want to get 3 or 4 140mm magazines but everything else would be good to go.

50% of the time it works everytime!!

Any of the sports drinks will have too much sweetener or sugar in them if you drink them as they are. Too much sugar so they just run straight through and get flushed out. If you cut it with water at least 50/50 or as much as 75/25 your body will be able to absorb the electrolytes much better and you'll feel more hydrated throughout the day. Also since there's less sugar this way its a lot less likely to upset your stomach.

I may be wrong but I thought the OP meant like you see a cool custom online from Builder A. You then commission Builder A to make you the exact gun you saw online. So its a copy of a gun they've already built for someone else. I don't think they meant taking Builder As design and having Builder C make it for them. By all means please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd explore other avenues of adding weight up front if you think you want that. I'd try a tungsten full length guide rod first before committing to cutting up the slide and fitting a sleeve to the barrel.

The rounds plunk and spin at 1.14. Beyond that I could get rounds to plunk but not spin. Like as far out as 1.17 would plunk but not spin. Again, the previous owner told me JHP at 1.18 were running in the gun before I got it. I may place a trial order for Blue bullets and maybe some others. I may try some SWC too. The shorter OAL is feeding fine, but its just hittinf the ramp a little below halfway up, I'd like to get it to connect with the feed ramp about 3/4 up the ramp so its relying a little less on the ramp. It's not an issue yet, but it just seems like setting up to run the proper ammo length will maximize reliablity and minimize wear and tear. Thanks for all the help and great suggestions

I have two separate instances, these are from two different events and will likely be more useful anecdotes for fellow newer shooters than more seasoned contributors. I shoot Limited division with 20 rounds in my first mag 19 in all the others (plenty of rounds, right?) 1. Had a gameplan to shoot the first 8 paper targets, which were positioned along a "walkway" made by the fault lines. The difficulty wasn't in the distance of the shots but 3-10 yards from the walkway. The tricky part was the layout, planning where you would pivot to engage the targets on the left vs right. Anyways, in my walkthrough I decided reload after 8, just to be safe in terms of ammo. It then meant engaging 3 more targets before exiting the "walkway" and moving to the final shooting box to engage the remaining targets (like another 5 paper and then some steel). I'm making good time for me, I'm shooting Alphas and I'm reallu feeling great about my run. Too great in fact. I come to my pre determined reload section, but I'm really moving and I can totally Alpha these last 3 papers. 2 alpha, 2 alpha, CLICK!!!! "Oh ffs" drop am empty mag, load a fresh mag, rack the slide finish the stage pretty deflated. Everyone in my squad was super nice and encouraging about it so it was no big deal. Lesson, you've taken the time to create a gameplan for yourself, if you see someone else shoot the stage differently, that doesn't mean its a better way for you. Stick to the plan you came up with for yourself because it is probably the best plan for you. 2. This was a bad day all around for me. Just couldn't get anything to click into gear. To compound my frustration I found I was doing a lot of taping and spraying steels while some other squad members seemed to do a little more chatting. Anyways, don't stop your run unless the RO tells you to stop. Going through a stage and it finally feels like I'm having an ok run. My plan seems to be panning out well enough, reload is nice and smooth. I go to engage a target and see 3 holes staring back at me. I haven't engaged this target yet, these are untaped from the last shooter. I stop my own run and inform the RO why I am stopping. They inform me that I am supposed to continue my run and any course error issues or reshoot discussion would take place AFTER my stage was completed. By the rules I shouldn't get a re shoot. I was fine with the no reshoot but I was definitely a bit annoyed by the fact that there were untaped targets. At that point my attitude was "at least theres just one stage left, I'm ready to gtfo" Lesson, follow the ROs commands. If there is an issue with the course or a target wait until after your run is complete to lodge your complaint. It's tricky to keep going, but thats how the rule was explained to me in this instance.

Funny you mention that as EM .401s are what I'm having issues with.

This is a 2011 and I can see the bullets are impacting a little low and relying on the feed ramp to chamber the rounds. I was able to speak to the previous owner and he said JHP at 1.18. So I think the smaller bullet diameter and a pointier bullet profile are needed. Thanks guys.

So I've just started to get into reloading and I'm using .401 coated bullets from eggleston munitions. I can load out to 1.14 but then the bullets won't fully pass the plunk and spin test. I can get them to plunk but not spin freely in the chamber. The gun was purchased used but seems to be practically new. I'd like to load a little longer to help with feeding reliablity. The gun will run factory ammo but if I could load out a little longer it would mean the bullets would be even more in line with the chamber. The barrel in question is a Schuemann Ultimatch (not the aet type). I'm using a redding grx full length resizer to size the brass beforehand. Would switching to .400 coated rounds help with being able to load out a little longer or should I try .400 fmj/hp? Thanks as always, Alex

The SPS Pantera looks like it is a solid gun. The one thing to consider is the biggest selling point of the Pantera is its "reasonable" price tag. But it averages around 1400ish on gunbroker right now. As the OP said the internals all had to get replaced by 5000 rounds. The STI Hawk is right at the same price point with a little bit more bare bones but better internals. There's also the tried and true path of getting a used Edge for around 1700ish. Sure it's 300 more than the Pantera, but Edges are tried and true and generally just run with better internals. When the Pantera first hit the market and was closer to 1000 it was more price competitive.

If you dont mind my asking, what sort of budget were you looking at? The reason I ask is that stock factory STIs seem to have really dropped in reliability and quality lately relative to their prices. You might keep an eye out for a used CK Arms as another option to the Dawson and Brazos tuned STIs I previously mentioned.

@jcc7x7 My wife may go that way within the next couple years. She's really into revolver, partly because she got some slide bite when she was younger shooting with her dad. So she may never want to shoot anything other than revos which is fine with me. Like I said I've got some time for this to be on the backburner since it's going to be prohibitively cold where we live for the next 2 or 3 months

@GMM50 this was actually a revolver for me to use and go to icore events with my wife and not be "that guy" with the uspsa race gun. The group we shoot with is ok about it, but I think it would be a little rude to show up and run my Limited setup all the time. For the moment this idea has been tabled because its like 6 degrees here. If I were to get a revolver I'd probably just get an 8 shot of some sort and let my wife choose what division she wants to shoot that weekend and use the other one myself.

I don't think it's that 2011s are inherently more susceptible to failure than a Production gun. Open pistols certainly withstand more high pressure use and imo really warrant having a backup if you're going to a lot of matches. Limited I think the risk level is about the same as Production for a failure. The biggest difference to my mind is that with a 2011 Limited gun any spare parts you have on hand will generally need to be fit amd tuned for your specific gun. Most production guns will just be able to plug and play with spare parts. I think therein is the biggest determining factor. If I was spending the money and taking the vacation time to go to Majors I'd really want to have a backup so I could avoid having to do rushed parts swaps -even of fitted amd tuned parts- at the safe table. It would take me out of the moment too much to go back and achieve my best (which is pretty modest at the moment personally, but we're using hypotheticals haha)

I'm nowhere near the most experienced shooter in this thread, but from my perspective you already have the Eagle and you have said you travel to a decent number of majors it would make sense to just hang onto it. If your main goes down or has an issue you've got a gun that will let you do the re shoot and move on to the next stage. If its not immediately repairable you'll have a backup to complete the rest of the stages.

@Doublehelix which comply tips did you get to fit the Walkers? The 29nrr rating seems like it would be great for The Silencers. Thanks

I got a used 2011 from the classifieds earlier this year. I would highly suggest going that route. The biggest drop in value is from first buyer to second buyer. After that, as long as the gun is well taken care of you're not likely to lose much if anything if you go to sell it. Of the two options you gave in the OP I'd suggest looking for a used Edge or Eagle. You can often find Dawson CRP Edges (basically tuned, no trigger work). Or Brazos tuned Edge which has trigger work done. Both can be found used for what a stock Edge goes for new. Those are the best options imo because they've been looked over already and theoretically you won't have to do anything but take it to the range or match.

@Ken6PPC one thing I found with the Walkers Silencers is that I ended up using the smallest of the 3 foam tips they come with. They didn't feel as squished in as the mediums did but they wouldn't budge and they seemed to block even more outside noise while remaining fine for conversations. It just struck me as an odd little tip because my other plugs I really had to use the tightest fitting ear tip to achieve maximum protection. I suppose if you wanted you could also get some silicone tips to see if theyd work with these. anyways glad you like them. Absolutely agree indoors I feel they work best paired with some overear protectors but for outdoors they're perfect for having an in ear plug with good enough processing to have conversations on the range and hear all verbal commands from an RO.