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MsDV8

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Everything posted by MsDV8

  1. Since April 2018 following my first IPSC Qualifier shooting a non-optic CZ Shadow 2, I’ve been dying to get the optic version. Will post a follow up video once I’ve sighted in the optic and had a chance to give it an objective review. I love the Shadow 2, it’s without question the best handgun I’ve ever shot (to date) and I’ve had the opportunity to sample quite a few. Here’s a little unboxing video and very first impressions.
  2. MsDV8

    Shadow 2 Optic?

    I’ll let you know when I receive it next week. I think the only difference is that they didn’t taper the sides to make it look like an IPSC target. The back end is wider to accommodate the optic.
  3. MsDV8

    Shadow 2 Optic?

    Just picked up an OR Shadow 2 from Al Flaherty’s and there was no word on when the optic plates were going to be available but happened to find a plate for the OR Shadow 2 using a Vortex Venom (of which I have two, lucky me) at Wolverine Supplies. Can’t remember what the other red dot plate was that they had on their site, might be a Delta Point. Probably doesn’t help you Southerners.
  4. Not that I could ascertain, it’s pretty heavy for a conversion kit.
  5. Yes, still functioning as well as it originally did. Been shooting more optics lately and with an OR Shadow on the way, I might permanently convert the original iron sights Shadow 2 to full time .22. My only beef is that replacement mags are very hard to come by. Got some of the CZ 75 Kadet mags and they are not the same (at all). Steel mags instead of plastic, which is great for the magnetic pouches but they don’t perform like the stock CZ Shadow 2 Kadet mags, meaning that don’t go to slide lock after the last round. My one and only beef and hopefully CZ comes out with the spare mags soon, as I’d like to shoot the .22 conversion for USSC.
  6. @TKHover I have a pound of n330 that I am going to load with some 124 JHPs instead of the 147 FNRP’s that I’m normally loading with n320. Can I ask what you about your load data on the n330 and JHP’s? Thanks. As for the n320 with 9mm, I’m using 3.5gn and 147 FNRP, COL 1.110. It’s my favorite competition load (so far).
  7. Yup, this was an isolated case of a total brain fart. I had left some decapped brass (that had recently been washed) close to my working area instead of storing it for future use, I used it too soon. Will not happen again, lol! I have no shortage of brass so there was no reason to use it, it was a short cut because it was there. Short cuts get you almost every time.
  8. Thank you! I agree with everything you said! Scorching hot is an understatement, we’re currently 14C higher than average, ugh. After this long winter, the heat is a nice change, for awhile. Lol. Have a great summer!
  9. OK the mystery is solved. Firstly, I need to make an endorsement. If you haven’t gotten yourself a Hornady Bullet Puller die yet, this thing rocks. Unless you are one of these people that never make mistakes, this die beats the hell out of those hammer type bullet pullers, but of course there is the neat trick with the vise grip pliers you could use which is also slick, but impossible to do on a Square Deal. Barely leaves a mark on the bullets too. So, I got my Lee Breechlock set up earlier than planned because curiosity was killing me. Pulled the bullets from the rounds of misfired ammunition and I can unequivocally state with absolute certainty that the primers were not the issue as they were spent when I popped them out of the brass, they fired. What did not fire was the damp powder at the bottom of the cases because dumb ass here mistakenly grabbed some recently washed brass, primed and loaded it, rather than letting it dry for weeks before priming it and then eventually loading it. Luckily this did not occur during a match or a qualifier and lesson learned. So to @Hi-Power Jack you hit it on the head right from the start. Thank you to everyone that commented and responded. I still have a pile of unfired ammo left to shoot which is probably a mix of dry powder and wet powder. I am not going to bother with pulling the bullets on the remaining batch because 90% of that is still good, the 10% of wet powder will show up, will not fire and I’ll save those, pull the bullets on them and discard the powder.
  10. You need to tell the CCI Primer that, haha. Believe me, if there was some way I could get it to squish further into the pocket I would, but the primer is only going as far as the pocket dimension and the press will allow. And despite the primers sitting flush, they are firing without any issues,... truly. My Shadow 2 eats them up, as evidenced by the last IPSC match I shot with every single primer sitting flush or occasionally 0.0005 or 0.001 below the headstamp. Not one single misfire. So this is isolated to the batch of ammunition I loaded, but I guarantee, the primer seating is not the problem. Having said that, a kind gentleman at the match gave me 4 boxes of Dominion primers to try, he swears by them and so I am going to give them a shot. I’m not married to CCI primers by any means, it’s just they’re readily available locally and since we only have Canadian Tire and one other store that carries supplies for reloading, that being CCI primers, selection is pretty limited.
  11. I did notice that the range brass that had a headstamp of NT in addition to the maker stamp was problematic in decapping and priming, so I don’t bother with those and throw them into scrap. The problematic brass was my own once fired brass, CCI Blazer Brass and there was no issue in priming, the CCI primers sit flush. My Lee Breechlock Reloader arrived today and this evening I will start pulling apart the problematic loads and see what’s what, if the powder got wet or the primers didn’t ignite. I just shot an IPSC match with brass I had pre-primed over a month ago (I put those neck side down into the plastic container that the factory loaded CCI Blazer Brass comes in). The basement has a relatively high humidity around 60%, loaded the ammo a week ago and didn’t experience a single failure to fire during the entire match. I’ve been reading (and probably been told) that apparently is a no-no, pre-priming the brass, but so far no problems with that. See pic if what I said makes no sense, lol. I know to some it seems like a lot of extra steps, but that’s my process and it’s been up until that one batch, been working for me and I’m comfortable with it as I have better control over each step of the process. If a primer doesn’t seat properly, it gets caught before the case gets a powder charge or a bullet seated. Curious to see how the Lee Breech Lock does with the Hornady bullet puller, I’m hoping I won’t have to use it too often from here on.
  12. The primer metal used in CCI Blazer Brass is a different colour, not silver, not sure if colour of metal has anything to do with it, but the after market CCI Small Pistol Primers do not fit like the factory ammo primers, they sit flush and not the 0.05 depth of the factory primers, so I am guessing that although they are CCI primers, they are still different than the factory loads.
  13. Thank you! I didn’t perceive it as a diss, perhaps a little patronizing. I’m not new to shooting by any means. Reloading, handguns and competitions yes, and my focus on competitions is fun and doing it safely, if it stops being fun or I get too many lectures on how I should be doing things, like being given “absolutes”, such as the “only” way to lower a hammer on a live round, then I start to lose interest in group activities. Some folks out there think that their way is the only correct way either because that’s how they were taught and have then accepted it as fact. Dare I throw out the term alternate facts here? Hahah. This was a good YouTube video on primers. Basically he’s saying that when the primer is seated as far as it will go into the pocket, that’s as far as it’s going to go. So maybe this is the case with the CCI primers, they are going into once fired Blazer Brass cases and one fired Winchester cases and neither of those companies use CCI primers, but I don’t think I’m going to switch because they are working for me, even if they are sitting flush with the case.
  14. I was merely making the contrast between the factory load Blazer Brass, which with the CZ 85, after a few mags finally settled down and fired like it was supposed to (I’ve shot over 2000 rounds of factory loaded Blazer Brass through my Shadow 2 without fail....ever), to my handloaded Win 231 which fired flawlessly through the borrowed CZ 85, once the hibernation bugs were worked out. This post IS NOT about loads that work in my CZ’s this post is about some issues I have with close to a 10% failure rate (or a box full of ammo) that I reloaded and there was perhaps some failure in the component of the load, whether the primers are not seating down low enough in the case, the powder might have contacted moisture in the case, or the primer pocket might have tumbling debris in it. Going to a club match with borrowed equipment is a non-issue in my mind. The equipment was functioning safely, I checked with the owner what ammunition the gun preferred (round nose to my usual RNFP bullets I reload) and that’s all I was concerned about. I’m not the only person that was having to tap-rack-bang their pistol that day and I actually do have load data that works for each of my hand guns and load accordingly to what I need it for (practice - competition/matches). You know what they say about “opinions”..... Thanks though
  15. Will try that once I’m through my 4000 CC!’s, lol. Small pistol primers in use only. I’m only reloading 9mm. I’ll check YouTube on adjusting primer seating depth on a Dillon Square Deal. I get my Lee “C” type press coming next week, I’ve already received the carbide dies, with the factory crimp and an additional undersize sizing die as I’m having the odd case turn up that won’t fit flush in the case gauge. , I’ll be using that press for resizing, decapping and priming.
  16. That’s what I’ve found as well. The ones that are actually proud of the casing anyways. The flush ones have all fired.
  17. The effort and seating is limited to how far the upswing of the press’ lever will let me go. When it hits the frame, that’s as far as it’s going, unless I start filing away at the frame or the lever or there is some way to adjust the machine internally? The primers are flush with the casing, 0.0005 or at best 0.001, nothing compared to what factory loaded Blazer Brass are registering at 0.007. So there is clearly a problem, but again, despite these higher than supposed to be seated primers, they have been firing for me, except recently. I shot an IDPA match yesterday with a borrowed CZ 85 and had loads of trouble with the box of Blazer Brass factory ammo (feed failure), but my reloaded brass using Winchester 231 and CCI primers (and their flush seating) fed and fired flawlessly. Part of that could have been that the gun hadn’t been shot in a couple years and needed a few stages to work out the hibernation bugs. But I’m still not sure my primer seating depth is such an issue as whatever else might be going on. The primer depth theory is not proving out, at least not in my experience with the exception of this one batch of reloads. Going to disassemble all of the VV340 loaded cases and start over and hopefully it sorts itself out. One thing I can say is that it’s been great for live fire problem solving. No shortage of tap, rack, bang practice, lol!
  18. Thank you @72stickThat is a great article. In looking at the indents on the primers of the misfired cases, (the three on the left) they don’t appear to have light strikes, in fact they possibly look deeper than the one that did fire (on the far right). I’ve used the CCI primers exclusively since starting reloading and have never experienced a misfire with them, the occasional misfeed yes, those get reloaded into the magazine and fire as they’re supposed to on the second feed. Will have a lot around for other primers, CCI seems to predominate in Canada and locally for me. Kind of like the limitations on powders as well, everything is more geared toward hunting around these parts so I need to buy powders and primers online through same the same supplier so that I don’t get killed on shipping. A case of primers for $49 will carry a $45 Dangerous Goods shipping cost, so I buy Primers and Powders at the same time. Otherwise reloading makes no financial sense at all.
  19. Have given thought to hand priming especially after the initial priming fiasco with the press. I’ll probably end up decapping and priming with the new inexpensive Lee Precision press that’s coming in which I’m using for pulling the bullets on the cartridges that are misfiring.
  20. THANK YOU everyone that has responded, I appreciate it very much as it’s super frustrating as a new reloader to experience so many failure to fire rounds, especially after a really good start. So here’s a thought. I had some problems with the primer feed system initially, there was a small seemingly inconsequential piece of plastic which stops the primers from all falling out at once when the handle is pushed up to seat the primer, it was missing when I first assembled the press. I ended up dismantling the whole primer system trying to figure out what was going wrong when my primers were spewing out all over the table and the floor. SInce I loosened that component and it’s directly tied to the prime seating, I’m assuming that depending on how tight that front face of the primer feed area is to the body of the machine makes a difference, as it limits the stroke depth of the handle which can affect the primer seating depth. So I did tighten up the primer feed component and the primers appear to be coming out a bit higher on the die, but when I tested the bullet, the depth gauge is still reading 0 (flush with the case) or at best 0.005. I am putting good effort into seating the primers and I can only push the handle up so far. Is there any other way to adjust the seating depth on that press, if the seating depth is the issue? I measured all my other non-VV340 powder loaded cases and they are all reading 0 and have been firing as they should. I ordered a cheap Lee press today and a bullet puller die and am going to unload all the questionable ammo and see what’s what. Thank again for the help and suggestions, super much appreciated.
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