Guitarmageddon

So how about this concept.... if I have a great trigger weight/feel, lets say 7.5 lbs. But the hammer fall weight is shy, lets say its something like 36oz and I want to be closer to 40-45 as you say, if not more. Would I then maybe take some prebend OUT of the main spring but crank down on the strain screw to add tension back in? or would I add pre bend IN to the spring, but relax the strain screw. Im sensing this is a fine balancing act.... And as a final/last option, I would begin to play with actual different hammers/ weights then right?

When you talk about bending the mainspring, are you talking about me taking some of the bend out, or adding "pre-bend" in, or are you simply referring to cranking the strain screw til that hammer fall weight.

Thank you for the advice. I did also not know this and twice today took it off before relaxing the spring. Good information. Once I get the guts worked up to take the firing pin out I will confirm that length.

So if I still couldnt get the hammer fall heavier with an acceptable trigger feel, and reliablity of ignition, do I have to go to a heavier hammer? Im trying to keep it stock at the moment. Hopefully i phrased that question correctly, still learning some of the revolver trigger work quirks

Ok scratch that I was getting the hang of that measurment method, I got roughly 3lbs, give or take some.

If ive taken your hammer measurment right Im pretty close to 4lbs. still pretty heavy right?

When you say 32 or 50oz for fall, are you referring to the SA pull? Ive got it roughly 7-7.5lbs for todays range testing session as a starting point.

I just threw in the wolf 13lb spring and it definitely changed the dynamic of how the tension is applied. I currently have the stock strain screw in there, but will likely purple / blue loctite it soon, once I take micrometer measurements of things and where reliable ignition is obtained. Once I put the 13lb rebound in, it basically required me to tighten the factory strain screw basically all the way in, to get roughly 7lb of pull. Ive got some set screws coming that I intend to file down and blue loctite once I find the right length.

Ok after some more fine tuning I have the trigger consistently at 7.9lbs to 8.1lbs. I guess the problem is that its hard for me to percieve a difference?

Hello all, Firs time Ive gotten the backplate off my beloved R8. Wanted to start with just the reduced power main spring to see if things were any different. I replaced it, literally zero percieved difference. My fussy wheeler trigger gauge reports some reduction, but its all over the place on this gun. Will I feel a reduced effort to pull one I start playing with the rebound springs, or that is ONLY on the trigger return those come into play? I wonder if wolf sent me the wrong spring in the package, its literally identical in feel at any adjustment of the strain screw. This is odd and not what I expected. I suspect the stock pull was around 10-11 lbs. EDIT- after fine tuning my methods with the trigger gauge, It seems it is currently sitting at 9.6 lbs after the new spring. not what I was expecting. not sure how much I can really get from dialing out the strain screw.

What .357 do you choose? i have some blue bullets .358 but im wondering if those will be a hell of a time plunking. 125gr i use in my 38/357

So I did run the HAPs through the Chrono today. Again, .356 projo in my .356 barrel. I first did 3.5, 3.6, 3.7. grains I was unable to hit 1000 fps. I am going to do 3.8gr tomorrow to see what the results are. This is with n320 at 1.064 OAL. I didn't bother messing with hp38 like I planned. After 3.8 grains I start to get pretty darn close to 100% fill and I like to leave myself some wiggle room in there.

Yea after running lots of loads through GRT and comparing simulated numbers vs actual, this one doesn't seem to come close to reality. In the end, this just may be a bullet for n320. Even the VV reloading today doesn't show such a stark disparity in HAP vs regular more conventional fmj loadings at a shorter OAL.

Hello all, In the pursuit of optimizing bullet choice for my cz p07 barrel, which slugged out at .356, I decided to try a couple .356 FMJ choices. I got some zero 125gr fmj and also the hornady action pistol .356 125gr. The hodgon site shows an extremely conservative velocity and charge weight for the HAPs. Just so happens that my ideal OAL for plunking is what they have chosen for their OAL. But when I run the numbers inside GRT, I just dont see why they have chosen to be so conservative. I have attached what GRT shows for the listed hodgdon ladder. Yes a power factor of 118 for their "action pistol" bullet....odd. Im thinking I can comfortably take this to 3.6 and just about 1000fps. Has anyone else played with this powder/bullet? Ive seen forum posts here and there and seems hornady/hodgdon give the run around about it and dont comment as to why. But when I sit down to plan out my n320 testing, its not much different from any of their other FMJ listings to be honest. At least not as stark of a contrast as hodgdon shows. The peak charge of 3.3 on the hodgdon ladder is only a 57% case fill at that. something doesnt add up. Id love to hear your thoughts, thanks all.

Definitely agree. And when it came to basically every coated offering I was having to seat at around 1.070-1.090. I could get away with 1.095 for 147 gr coated stuff but not much longer. There were some longer nosed FMJ profiles that can seat to quite a bit longer OAL however. Hoping some of the .356 options I've ordered this week can accommodate. It's a total pain to have to go to such a great seating depth.

Something else I've observed. The hodgdon site lists an extremely short OAL and very conservative powder estimate for those bullets. I've seen a plethora of posts on this forum speculating as to why that is. But if I am shooting these in a .356 barrel would some of that pressure be mitigated? GRT (Gordons reloading tool) has this exact projectile in their database and it simulates I could likely go a bit higher. I intend on loading them a little longer and with a little more powder than the 3.3gr of hp38 the load data recommends, at 1.069 oal.

Ok thanks. I never noticed issues with leading until switching from FMJ to reloads, specifically coated. First round of tests were with blues, which Im almost certain caused the majority of it. Now that the leading is all scraped out. Im going to test again with .356 coated and inspect. Otherwise, I will get a pile of .355 or .356 FMJs and go from there. I found some .356 hornady HAP to test, as well as some ZERO .356 fmj to play with too today

Thanks. So I found some zero .356 fmj aka 38 supers to try. I thought that 38 supers were .355 but I guess I was wrong. Never a caliber I had a need to search for before. Aside from that, I see the hornady action pistol HAP at .356 but damn they are pricey. If prices come down I may snag a few to play with. So for jacketed I will stick with .356 in this .356 barrel and should be ok right? And for plated/coated/cast, .357 is the answer. Except that's kind of a weird size to find isn't it. They are typically .358. Downside of going to .358 if I use my 38/357 blue bullets i have is that I suspect Ill run into some problems chambering or have to seat so deep its not practical, due to the profile of the tip, and meeting the rifling, etc.

Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster. Since I have started reloading, this forum has inevitably been a top search result for almost every question I have. Now to my lengthy question... Im in kind of a pickle revolving around proper coated 9mm bullet size for my CZ. A few weeks ago, after developing numerous loads and relatively being new to reloading 9mm, I decided to have a close look inside the bore of my cz p07. Lots of lead throughout! Over several days I experimented with wipeout, mpro7, hoppes #9, clp, shooters choice lead remover, and a Lewis lead remover mechanical de-leading rod/bronze patch setup. I’ve pretty much gotten most of it out at this point but man it was stubborn. But the thought had not occurred to me before all this that hey, maybe you have got a large bore diameter for what you are shooting! Duh…. So I slugged the bore today with a kit from Meister bullets that I got on eBay. Quite a simple process actually. I had a hunch this barrel would be large, and it indeed was; it measured out at .356. So this definitely explains some leading. During my load development, I toyed with various blue bullets which actually measure at .355 (not sure why they do this, presumably to avoid coating shaving), and summit city bullets in .356. I can’t say definitively if I had issues caused by the .356 sized bullets but having a .356 bore that is entirely possible. As I do some research, I see this is quite an odd size to have. I can’t use .356 bullets presumably because they are the same size as my bore. So if I go with a bullet the same size, then I would be wanting a FMJ in .356. Do they make those commonly? I saw some marketed as 38 super, (.356 fmj) but all out of stock of course. Then I consider another option. I have a boatload of 125gr blue bullets in .358 for 357/38spl…would this be too big of a jump and cause other issues in a .356 bore? I experimented with a couple .357 coated rainier bullets a buddy had on hand earlier. And even at .357, while they did seat just fine on his standard Dillon 9mm toolhead/dies, I could see that the chamber was getting a little crowded. They plunked, but barely so…I have the feeling id have to seat a fatter bullet SUPER deep. Like..sub 1.060 deep. The tester at .357 was right around that. I am going to thoroughly clean the bore and test out the remaining .356 coated bullets and determine how bad (hopefully they don’t) leading is. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this? Thanks!