Bench

Thanks, it's a good weekend for tool making.

Toolguy, thanks, looks like I'll at least make the tool for checking square but it goes back to S&W if it's out of square.

Thanks, I've been leaning a bit closer to having the gun get a trip through S&W.

Thank you practical man. Do you happen to recall what the adjustment was?

Thanks All, late last night I started working backwards...pulled the hammer and ext FP out, the FP is new and the hole is free and clear. Working up from the bottom of the hammer there looked to be nothing out of sorts. Then I saw a shiny rub mark just below the top radius on the right side of the hammer. I reassembled everything and could see that the hammer/frame gap on the right side was a lot smaller than the left side. As the gun heated up during a good session yesterday the issue came up later on and with this small of a gap I can see hammer travel impingement being an issue here. Is the solution as simple as removing small amounts from the hammer or is it a hammer shim kind of a thing? This is a new factory gun so there's no wear/slop that should be taken up by a shim. There doesn't seem to be any burrs on the frame so I'm not going to touch that.

The setup: 200-300 rounds through this new 686-6 357. 13# rebound spring and extended firing pin from TK has been installed. Factory hammer spring and the screw is tightened all the way. That's all there is to the set up other than factory. Issue: Initially I was getting FTF with CCI BR4 primers and that was the reason for ext FP though now even on my reloads (38 spl +p) I'm getting good solid primer strikes on some but then very light dimples on all others that are reloaded with CCI SPP. I gave up on the BR4's. It seems that it's not the usual 'tighten the screw' solution. If it was my reloads the primer strikes would look similar not some deep and others shallow in the same cylinder load. The ext FP appears to be free in the frame. I've done nothing else to the pistol. Is this some kind of 'interference' in the firing process of DA? Where should I be looking? I'm not sure if the issue presents in SA. Thanks.

I had that feeling a year back and left then.

I'm beginning to tune a CV P-07 and so far have CGW RP trigger return spring, ^ roller from 0.2235" to .225, RP main spring 13#, and 11# recoil spring. Looking forward to CGW Short reset kit in the mail soon. Should I be expecting any hardware issues with the 11# recoil spring? The recoil impulse is very manageable, just wondering about the continued function of the gun over time.

I've had good success with music wire through Amazon.

I know, I know, all the youtubes say it's easy and the left side pops right out after pressing down on the extractor and continues from there. I can get to the point of extractor pushed down, left lever bumped out a bit to disengage the notch on the bottom of the shaft...but that's as far as it goes. The decocker spring is loose and I tried removing the main spring. Prying with a screwdriver (ouch!) doesn't budge anything and it looks like there is clearance between the decocker shaft and the sear nose just barely. Edit: Looking at it closer I think it is the shaft and sear nose where the jamup is coming from. Looks like if I drill out the backside of the left decocker lever there will be enough room to get the sear pin out, catch flying springs and remove the decocker lever(?) Edit #2:used a diamond bur and ground down the jam point of the shaft and the left lever slid right out. Now to clean the gun up of all of the filings. Thanks all!

It' soooo easy to get good retention on a kydex holster once all of the blocking is done but that is for a pistol only. For a pistol with a light a trigger guard retention is out of the question. Looks like there are retention options with 1.)the ejection port, 2.)the pic rail between the light and the frame (to avoid the bilateral light switch). What am I missing? This is on a Canik TP9 with a fat bodied light. Thanks!

In addition to the strengthening the flexors with a good grip strength tool I'm using a dowel with a weight (1 gal. of paint) attached with a rope and doing wrist rollers. Start with the rope wrapped around the dowel (elbows bent at 90 and at your sides) and use your wrists and grip strength to lower (unroll the rope) the weight. When the rope is unwound off of the dowel keep rolling in that same direction until the weight is back up to the dowel. The drill is unwind the rope in one direction until the weight is back up to the dowel then do it again (all the way down and back up) rolling in the opposite direction. A good grip is necessary but more gun control comes from not only grip strength but wrist support too.

Where are you getting your molds?

Thanks, I've been using the press method on kydex but have expanded over to leather and want the vacuum method to have a cleaner leather surface. No use buggering up a vac bag if I don' need to. Thanks again.

Has anyone had any experience vacuum forming kydex using the 'bags' made of polyurethane? Thanks.

I'm worried that if I take a break from it this time, the hunger for shooting sports won't be there anymore. Any input would be appreciated.... Sounds like you are competitive at heart and when you say "shooting sports" do you mean USPSA only? At 74 I'm going through the similar process that you explain though for different reasons and situations. I got into the game later in life (older than you are now) and still fairly fit but nothing like I was at 50. For me those triathlon days are long past. As an RO at this age it's tough keeping up with those PCC shooters that are half my age plus the nuances of the rules and match volunteering...it just got to be over the top for me. One day I just decided to pull the plug and haven't looked back because I've picked up another shooting sport at my local range. Enough of my story, get out there and think beyond USPSA, IDPA, and 3-gun. There are plenty of of other sports out there that have a trigger and go BANG plus a bunch that don't but are super competitive. Let your competitive spirit take over, not your need for TRIGGER,BANG,RUN. You made a major direction change to your competitive spirit from car racing so recall what made those past transitions work for you. In short, what's more important to you, something with a trigger or something that's competitive? As the saying goes: YMMV.

I'm hoping someone will have available measurements for a 1911 main spring for a build I'm undertaking. Overall length: Overall length cap included: Inside diameter: Outside diameter: Coil count: Not concerned about wire diameter at this time. Thanks all!

11# in a SP-01 @ 129 PF

Get the slide cut. It's more secure as I've found out over my 'trial period' with EGW mounts over multiple guns. I finally gave up on mounts and had the slide cut on an SP-01. With regard to difference in shooting the offset is shorter.

Having gone through a number of pistols and sight adjusting: What Sarge said. Cheap, effective and works on all brands of firearms.

^^what SGT said^^I've had a vortex on plates for two different guns and just got fed up with odds and ends loosening up so I scraped the idea and sent my SP01 into CZ Custom for milling. It took a bit of time (I've read that other machine works have a shorter turn around) but that dot is ON THERE solid. I'm not a fan of back up sights and I don't use the vortex white stripes. Spend time on indexing and your natural point of aim and you won't need the back up sights or the vortex stripes.

Switched from TG to HP38 for 125 coated with 4.2gr since it was available. I won't be going back!

I don't know specifically why but I've always pushed them out to the left and put them in from the left. If you are putting in a Dawson sight look at the bottom for the arrow which indicates the proper direction for installation. Maybe it's the European way of all things "sights".

^^^

I'm about in the middle of a 4-5 week (per Gallant) order shipping schedule. Hoping it's shorter than 7+ weeks. What other vendors are you considering?