BJB

I've been shooting at Chad's matches for a year & a half. Several times after rain. There's just wet grass, not puddles. There's no bare dirt there either. It's like shooting on your grassy front lawn. He puts on great matches at USSA.

Try 3.6 to 3.8 gr Titegroup and determine your OAL. That should put you right where you want to be, assuming you're loading for competition. I use 3.7 gr.

It usually helps my accuracy to keep it a little hotter, up around 135PF. I don't really notice a difference at all in recoil between say 127PF and 135PF. But, when I shoot groups at 25 yards the 135PF loads group better and are more consistent for me over the 127PF loads. The powder seems to burn cleaner at the slightly higher pressures too.

As stated by previous posters, OAL is specific to your bullet & your chamber leade. You have to determine it. The OAL listed in manuals is a kind of guide if you will but it is still only relevant to that particular bullet and chamber leade. These powder charge weights guys are giving you are all good suggestions and are on the lower end if you look at it. They should all power factor at 130 to 135 or so. This is not pushing it as far as safety goes by any means.

I don't load those specific bullets but I bet somebody who does chimes in soon. As stated, plunk test them all. The OAL in one barrel might be too long in the other. Plunk test, find your OAL, then shorten it a little more. Also, when you chrono keep in mind that each firearm will produce a different power factor with the same load because the G19 has a 4" barrel and the Springfield has a 5". You can produce different OAL loads for each barrel if you so desire but that isn't strictly necessary, and can actually get confusing with a lot of guns in the mix. My short leade chambers dictate my OAL when loading 9mm, so for the longer leade chambers the OAL would seem much too short. In reality I haven't see a change in accuracy at 25 yards with a very short OAL versus what would be considered the optimum OAL. One thing to be aware of if you have to go to a very short OAL is spiking chamber pressures, so you might have to back off the powder just a smidgen. The required OAL can vary considerably d/t the different bullet geometry, ogive, etc. What will stay somewhat more consistent is the volume remaining under the bullet inside the case, the boiler room if you will. When you start compressing this volume is when spiking can occur. Titegroup can spike very fast. Also, if you haven't loaded coated bullets before you'll find crimp can play a big factor in accuracy and/or leading. Please use the search feature and investigate crimp for 9mm reloading. A lot of guys new to reloading will crimp the piss out of the casing thinking it holds the bullets better. For coated bullets this is incorrect. The resizing die constricts the casing and this is what holds the bullet, the crimp for 9mm is a taper crimp and only removes the bell you put in the case. Don't over crimp and damage the coating or accuracy will suffer and leading will occur. Just remove the bell, crimp to 0.379" and never worry about the diameter of the bullet you load again.

You'll encounter different ogives in different bullets makes, particularly in coated bullets. This will have a say in your OAL, which in turn can have a say in powder charge required. The OAL for one 124 gr bullet might not be the same as another. You'll have to determine all this based on your bullet and your chamber. Do the plunk test. For instance, the newer style Acme 124 gr RN bullets have a narrower ogive than the 125 gr RN Blue Bullet and can be loaded to a longer OAL than the Blues. For better information why don't you post the actual bullet you plan to load and in what pistol? I bet there's a multitude of load data for your specific requirements. To answer your original question, in general for coated bullets I use 3.1 gr Titegroup for 147 gr bullets and 3.7 gr Titegroup for 124/125 gr bullets but I use a much shorter OAL for the 124/125 gr bullets.

A little dust is no big deal. If dust becomes an issue for you some folks will put cut up used dryer sheets in with the brass when tumbling to capture some dust. When I put car polish or mineral oil in my walnut media to rejuvenate it there is the added benefit of all dust going away.

$40 + tax, I'm assuming around $44 total, also assuming just a regular small pistol primer and not a Match or Lead-Free, etc. That's 4.4 cents per primer and yeah, I'd consider that too expensive with the quantity I use each year. That would be $220 for a case. You can easily find a case for around $145, which is 2.9 cents per primer. Keeping your eyes peeled you'll find them around $130-$135 a case, which is 2.6-2.7 cents per primer. This info is for brands like Winchester, CCI, Remington. Fiocchi packages theirs in cases of 12000 for around $300 or just under, which is 2.3-2.5 cents per primer. Magtech SPP have been fine with me too but I haven't seen them much recently. Unis Ginex SPP are a little cheaper and should be fine for a gun that's not all lightened up. If you're looking for a 1k box price I'd say $28 to $30 for Winchester, CCI, or Remington. Federal might be a couple dollars more, if you can find them. The 1k quantity wouldn't be worth it to order on-line d/t hazmat & shipping turning your $30 order into a $50 or $60 order. You'd have to get a 1k box locally or at a gun show. Or, buy a 1k box from someone you know who loads a lot. If 1k is all you need to last yourself a long time then pay the $40 plus tax and don't worry about it. But, if you intend to load a lot more than that at $40 per 1k your're losing a lot of money .

If you're buying primers/powder small scale on-line then hazmat fees can get ya. If you're buying large scale then the hazmat fees kinda spread out and all is good....like buy your primers in a 5000 count case minimum. Even then it usually always pays to look around on-line for a sale and/or free shipping code and/or free hazmat code because they're fairly common. You don't have to pay full price. Large group buys are even better at spreading around the shipping/hazmat. Finding a case of Winchester SPP on-line on-sale, at MidwayUSA for instance, for around $135 to $145 is fairly common. Just have to look for shipping/hazmat codes from there. Some of the on-line dealers have sales more often than others. If you're just trying reloading out a little at a time at first don't worry about ordering on-line. If it's just a few hundred primers at a time you're looking at just go down to Academy or the like and buy a 100 count tray for around $4. If you find you enjoy reloading and get fully into it......then large bulk buys will be your best route.

I do the Pawnee event twice a year too. It's coming up in a few days. You can stroll or run. We run hard & it can be brutal between stages 3 and 4......especially for the July event. Shooting is usually hard as well. @Glock021 is correct as to the gear, no two runners are really the exact same, it's what works for you. I carry my gear on a high riding chest pack, not a backpack, and my rifle on a biathlon double-shoulder sling, not a tactical sling, and carry no water. Took me several runnings at Pawnee to get my gear how I wanted it, then went to Lead Farm and did their run & gun event and learned that my set-up wasn't optimum for it by any means. Lead Farm has a good event too. I've seen these run & guns grow in popularity over the last few years and the competition is getting better & better. You'll find all walks of life from all over the place doing these.

^^This.^^ But I'm coming from 550 experience, not 1050. If somebody wants shiny brass, that's cool, some people like me just want quality ammo with fewer steps involved. If you dry tumble your brass to prep try just a little mineral oil in walnut media. It will give the cases a shiny luster, if that's one of your goals, and actually protect them somewhat against tarnish if you were to store it for a while. It also has a very fine layer on the cases which aid in sizing similar to lube....without the lube. If you do try it use just a little, like a cap full, and let it tumble in the walnut for a good 10 minutes by itself prior to adding brass or you'll have clumps. I suppose you could also do this afterward with your loaded ammo to get that brass super shiny & clean.

Shot at CASA Sunday, good match as usual. There were stages which push you up close to the 180. Not a 180 trap though by any means. And, it's up to the shooter to be aware of his positioning and huge transitions, especially when shooting on the move.

As stated previously, 6 mags for Production. I also agree with the advice of starting out shooting Limited Minor. Keep your gear as is but just load out the Shadow 2 mags to capacity and shoot Limited Minor, at least the first few matches just to get a feel of what you're doing. Not having a double-stack .40 is not gonna make a hill of beans difference for you at first if you choose to go this route. And, if you face an array that is a Texas Star with 2 or 3 poppers next to it in one of your early matches you'll appreciate having the full mag capacity rather than static reloads with a pile of mags at your feet. Whichever route you take you'll have fun.

Push the de-capping pin up a little and just push the e-clip into the recess from the side. Next time you're at the local hardware store simply pick up some more e-clips. Should be over around the nuts & bolts bins and all that stuff. It's 1/4".

Hilarious!