They have a rep for not holding up on Open gun as it is. I've had two get the flicker of death before I gave up on them. Multiple friends are on their second or third. However, their warranty does ship out a new one every time thus far. Slide ride will beat the hell out of it faster but there will be exceptions
The thumb safety usually traps then from coming out. You could certainly have some play that would cause r issues if the holes aren't cut precisely parallel
Hornady case lube us a tremendous headache saver. Spray both sides of a Ziploc bag with a decent coating, throw your brass on and shake around all the brass.
I shoot 115s through mine at 135pf because the two weights your are asking about return the sights slower, for me.
Having shot limited major for a few years, I prefer a faster sight return. Recoil becomes an after thought eventually
Foreign primers are available in the USA but being exploited price wise as well by the manufacturers. That's capitalism and it won't go down for likely some years. Ginex are same price as CCI when they are online
There's a lot of loads to base your experimenting on other threads. It's honestly not that hard I've been in Open for a couple years now. The guns can handle higher pressure but obviously you don't want to be 180pf and cracking your gun
You could experiment and find something softer. Probably decrease your charge a half grain and maintain accuracy. If it works and you shoot it well what are you really chasing?